6904 Superdimensional Globe As Ves continued to chat with Master Laila Rebecca Devos about the artworks that her ancient clan had put up for display, she continued to diverge into unexpectedly weighty subjects. It put Ves on edge. He gradually realized that there may be more to this farewell banquet than sending him off with a wave. Ves felt snookered by the Devos Ancient Clan. He thought he had built a relationship based on mutual trust and goodwill. Right now, that trust and goodwill had begun to erode when he started to pick up more and more clues that the Devosans or rather the Terrans were up to no good. A mech designer as clever as Master Laila could not possibly miss his growing suspicion and unease. However, for whatever reason, the old woman did not bring up the subject directly, but continued to show him different plants and artworks that added a lot of class to the Hymn of the Trees. Ves suspected that the Devosans sought to test him. They probed his reactions and evaluated his opinions. They likely planned to tailor their plan based on all of the gathered data. A part of Ves wanted to spark a bit of mischief and deliberately give off false responses. That was not a good idea. Not only would the Wind of Destruction be able to detect Ves' lack of sincerity, but it would also invalidate the test and risk eliciting an inappropriate reaction from the Devosans. As much as Ves disliked it, he would be better off if he simply played along and allowed the Terrans to take his measure. Master Laila Devos brought him to a more secluded corner of the garden retreat. They even had to pass through a privacy screen that obscured the artwork. As soon as Ves glimpsed at the piece in question, he understood why the Devosans wanted to keep it out of sight. "What the…" The Devosans had taken a cow-sized piece of hull-grade superdimensional matter and shaped it into an intricate sculpture. The floating superdimensional orb had clearly been shaped to resemble a planet. A single artist had meticulously carved and shaped the dark metal exterior to follow the contours of islands and continents. The landmasses themselves possessed a lot of depth and texture. The artist had playfully carved out rivers and mountains. The proportions looked a little exaggerated, as if the sculptor had made a passing attempt at realism, only to prefer to make everything look more dramatic than normal. What was interesting was that the deeper valleys that represented the lakes, seas and oceans were not empty. Instead, the artist had filled them with pure phasewater. The exotic liquid had not been processed in any way, therefore causing it to lap across the deeper surfaces of the globe as if it was being perpetually disturbed. Due to its strong and untamed superdimensional properties, the globe continually generated spatial activity. It made the metal orb look far more than just a metal mass that was partially covered by a liquid. The interaction between the dynamic phasewater and static superdimensional matter produced continuous ripples that gave Ves the illusion that the planet was constantly transforming before his eyes. The globe even appeared to spin around its axis due to its own spatial forces. It took a lot of calculations and careful manipulation in order to make the superdimensional artwork spin at a constant and consistent rate. Ves grew a little concerned about whether it was safe to stand so close to the superdimensional globe. When he looked around, he could not spot any obvious devices. He knew that the Devosans had carefully placed space suppressors and maybe other precautions that carefully prevented the artwork from damaging the surroundings. That said, they were not quite effective, as he could still feel small ripples running through his body, making him feel a little weird, but no more. He possessed plenty of defenses and also possessed a natural resistance against spatial disturbances due to his phase lord cultivation. "Fascinating, is it not?" Master Laila Devos finally broke the silence. "When one of our Master Mech Designers requested a sample of hull-grade superdimensional matter, he claimed he would use it to conduct an experiment on developing a superior shield generator by replacing phasewater. Instead, he squandered his resources earmarked for research and development on this… curiosity." "Did you punish the guy for misappropriating strategic resources and wasting your time?" "We did, but we also rewarded him for creating a novel meant to experience the splendor of Old Earth through this depiction." It figured. The Terrans were obsessed with Old Earth. Even now after they were separated by a much larger distance from the Milky Way than before, they could not stop themselves from pining after their lost home planet. Any subject related to Old Earth instantly caused the Terrans to lose their rationality. Not even the most intelligent Master Mech Designers were immune to this effect. "So why did you bring me here?" He asked. "Not that I appreciate a good artwork, but this superdimensional representation of Old Earth is not particularly good in my eyes. It doesn't make much use of the remarkable properties of superdimensional matter to produce a more interesting effect." Master Laila smiled in response. "You have noticed. That is good. You are correct. We did not bring you here to admire this sculpture. We instead brought you here as an extra precautionary measure. The Wind of Destruction keeping watch from above is capable of preventing nearly every instance of data leakage, but not all. This superdimensional artwork and the devices we installed to contain it is generating enough turbulence to disrupt even the most hidden signal transmissions." "I see. You want to speak to me in absolute confidence." "I do. These precautions are not absolutely necessary. Our plans have already reached a stage where we can proceed regardless of whether they are leaked to the wrong parties. Nonetheless, we can continue to accrue advantages the longer we are able to maintain secrecy." Ves started closely at the old woman. From his frequent interactions with her, he felt she had strayed too far away from mech design. She had become a consummate politician and spent way too much time and mental energy on scheming, management and other tedious affairs. While a mech designer of her stature naturally assumed leadership duties, there came a point where they became too consumed by their power and authority. If they did not leverage their power and access to further their own mech designs, then they had already deviated from the purity of their profession. Was it possible for Master Laila Devos to become a Star Designer? Perhaps. She was not doing herself any favors by continuing to place other affairs above her own mech designs. Of course, Ves did not intend to voice his true feelings about the old Master. She was smart and experienced enough to understand her own situation. Maybe all of her actions made sense from her perspective. "What is the matter? Please tell me clearly." "Since we are in a secure enough location, I am finally permitted to divulge the truth to you. We wanted to give you advance warning of what may come. The delay may only last a number of weeks, but the changes we are preparing are enormous. The truth is that we are preparing to sever the Terran Alliance from the reign of the Red Three and declare our independence from greater human civilization. While we acknowledge our blood ties with the rest of red humanity, no longer will we tolerate the rule of non-Terrans. The mechers and fleeters will be asked to evacuate all of their direct members, employees and other close dependents. Soon enough, the Terran Alliance shall exist as an independent star nation. I can tell you that the Rubarthans are preparing much the same." "..." Ves fell silent for a time. Did he hear that right? He already knew that many parties had already sought to fight against the yoke of the Big Two back in the old galaxy, but the Red Ocean was supposed to be different! Even if the Terrans and the Rubarthans in the dwarf galaxy hated the mechers and the fleeters, that did not mean that Ves supported an extensive dissolution of the current order! "Are you truly going through with this, Master? Can't it wait until our civilization has beaten back the alien invasion and bought a lot of respite for the troops? It makes no sense to split red humanity up when we need unity the most!" Ves had known from the events unfolding in the Milky Way that the Terrans and the Rubarthans really hated the mechers and fleeters. It was not a surprise that the former would try to shake off the rule of the latter if they saw a good opportunity. However, the situation was completely different in the Red Ocean! Against overwhelming external enemies, red humanity needed to do its utmost to defend its lines. Any miscoordination or mutual suspicion could doom their race to near-extinction! However, Master Laila Devos appeared completely unmoved. "We disagree with your statement. Humans have never truly united. We are too numerous and different from each other. Unity is an empty promise. It sounds noble, but it is devoid of any real substance. When the linefighters are resisting the aliens, are they doing this for goals such as unity? Absolutely not. It is too abstract for most humans. They fight for reasons that are closer to their heart. They fight for their families. They fight for their 'states'. They fight their culture and way of life. None are more dedicated to their nation and people than Terrans such as ourselves. If we declare our independence and tell our soldiers that they can contribute to the refounding of a sovereign Terran empire, then they will fight against our enemies twice as hard." The Terrans held many grievances towards the mechers and the fleeters. The extensive deprivation of sovereignty rankled them the most! Even in the new frontier, the relations between these old powers continued to remain poor. There was too much bad blood between them for this dispute to end. "Why now?" "Because we can afford to take the risk." Master Laila said with a confident grin. "If we start sooner, we risk bringing the wrath of the Red Two down on us. If we start too late, then our civilization may have suffered too much damage in the process. We predicted that the current time is right. The mechers and the fleeters are too tied up in defending the frontlines or protecting their key star systems from alien incursions. They cannot effectively respond if we try our best to break away from their institutions." "What about cooperation? The Terran Alliance is only guarded by a single god pilot. You need the help of several dreadnoughts to hold the line. Are you going to kick them out as well?" "We will fight to preserve our own territory and beginnings of our reborn empire without relying on fickle assistance. We have made the strategic decision to drive away any mobile assets and personnel from the Red Alliance and the Red Fleet. Before you ask, we have not excluded the Red Collective." 18:36 Many thoughts went through Ves' minds. He absolutely understood how valuable it was to learn that the Terrans had been performing a lot of investigations. "Is this it, then? Are you seriously going to sever the Terran Alliance from the rest of human civilization? Won't we grow weaker as a response?" "No." Master Laila Devos grinned. "That is because without the taboos imposed by our former rulers, we can make use of tech that was previously hidden from us all. We have already revised our mech designs to incorporate shield link or energy link nodes." She raised her arm and activated a fuzzy projection that displayed a slideshow of mech designs that all possessed common additions. That was when Ves realized without a doubt that the Terrans were serious about this. They had very clearly slapped on shield link or energy link transceivers thinking that they would offer better protection and greater endurance! By blatantly violating the taboo that kept these high technologies exclusive to the Red Association and the Red Fleet, the Terrans clearly showed their determination to build up forces that would grant them the power to defend themselves against the mechers and the fleeters! Ves made another scary guess. "Since you are going as far as violating the prohibition on support link technology, are you going to field warships as well?" Master Laila Devos grimly smiled. "Yes. No longer will we keep our starships unarmed because of old paranoia about destroying ourselves. The Age of Conquest is well behind us now. We are old and wise enough to make responsible use of warships. As soon as we publish our declaration of independence, many of our shipyards and other facilities are assigned to hastily mount whatever weapon systems that can be installed on the vessels on short notice. It will cut into the production of new starships, but this is a necessary step." Thank you for reading my work. If you wish to support The Mech Touch, please vote with your golden tickets! Purchase Privilege for The Mech Touch! Read a varying amount of chapters ahead of regular readers while enjoying a 99% discount on unlocking new chapters! Join The Mech Touch's unofficial Discord server: https://discord.gg/APB5KCU