The Mech Touch

As red humanity continued to go through a period of great upheaval, the Larkinson Clan finally received an important shipment.

The Red Fleet had gone all-out to assemble the SF-02 and ship it over to New Constantinople as soon as possible.

In order to expedite the delivery, the fleeters even made use of portal jump technology, which significantly sped up the transit at the cost of burning phasewater!

Soon, a light cruiser arrived in orbit and directly teleported the large components and modules related to the SF-02 to an specially prepared chamber located underneath Diandi Base.

Different from the much more massive and powerful DF series, the SF series was inherently designed to fit into capital ships.

That did not make the SF-02 particularly small. When fully constructed, it could easily take up as much room as an office building!
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The maximum energy consumption of this processor cluster was so immense that the Premier Branch had to purchase a capital ship-grade power generator from the Devos Ancient Clan and install it in an adjacent chamber in advance.

Otherwise, it was impossible for the design labs to take advantage of the prodigious processing power offered by the SF-02!

A large and extensive team of fleeter engineers and technicians teleported from orbit in order to assemble and activate the processor cluster.

Ves did not trust them entirely. He made sure to send Kelsey Ampatoch and other clansmen who possessed expertise in advanced computing systems to supervise and assist the installation process.

In addition to that, he also inducted the fleeter computer experts who agreed to transfer to the Larkinson Clan.

To be honest, Ves expected these fleeters to retain so much loyalty and commitment to the Red Fleet that they were unwilling to sever their connection to the Fleet Network and join the Larkinson Network.

It turned out that the Red Fleet paid much more attention to this matter. They only selected the individuals that genuinely did not feel at home in the RF and admired the Larkinson Clan.

As Ves chatted with the potential new recruits, he understood why they were a better fit than he expected.

The transferred personnel were largely oddballs who wanted to pursue greater extremes when it came to smart AI research.

They disliked much of the traditions of their old organizations and hated the existing hierarchy.

Most of their leaders emphasized caution and were reluctant to make too many changes. That did not mean they were incapable of adapting to new situations, but they always sought to preserve traditions and principles as much as possible.

While this stance maintained the existing structure and culture of the fleeters as best as possible, it also generated increasing dissatisfaction among the younger generations.

The junior officers and specialists weren't as entrenched in the existing hierarchy. They had yet to make it to a more senior rank and enjoy the privileges of a highly secure and comfortable position of authority.

That caused them to become more prone to making trouble as they realized that the only way to climb the ladder quickly was to generate disruptions. They proposed radical measures, pushed for innovations that invalidated the expertise of senior engineers and conspired to form their own factions within the Red Fleet.

It was natural for them to encounter a lot of setbacks. Most of the transfers amounted to political losers who consistently got outvoted and had no choice but to obey.

By listening to their introductions, Ves gained a small glimpse into the internal rivalry within the departments of the Red Fleet.

The research department in charge of developing smart AIs was split up into multiple sides.

There were fleeters who wanted to prioritize safety over effectiveness and wanted to slow down any subsequent development of smart AIs.

There were other fleeters that became dissatisfied by the lack of progress and wanted to implement new and improved features a lot faster than the schedule allowed.

The transfers that had agreed to join the Larkinson Clan overwhelmingly came from the latter group!

"If you manage to pass our loyalty test, you will become the founding members of the Artificial Life Division of the T Institute. The mandate of your division is to safely promote the evolution of smart AIs and other artificial life forms if you can help it. I will be relying on you to train, educate and supervise the smart AIs that came with our new SF-02. While I am unable to provide you with the same level of funding and high-facilities that you had access to in the Red Fleet, I promise you that you can pursue your own research. My only requirements are that you do not waste my money and produce results that can pass muster. Have I made myself clear?"

"Yes, sir!"

If the new transfers had any doubts or misgivings about moving over to the Larkinson Clan, then this promise should definitely give them a better impression about switching employers!

The Red Fleet was a large and highly formalized institution. Its hierarchy was filled with old geezers who had prolonged their lifespans at least once. That caused them to be set in their ways. No matter how competent they may be, they always defaulted to tried-and-true solutions even when their entire work environment was changing before their eyes.

The Larkinson Clan was much younger and did not feature a bloated bureaucracy. In fact, it was too skinny as the clan struggled to keep up with its rapid expansion.

Combined with a recruitment policy that predominantly sought out younger talents rather than old and experienced professionals, the Larkinson Clan had proven its flexibility and adaptability time and time again.

When the new transfers understood the circumstances that they were about to join, they genuinely expressed enthusiasm towards becoming a Larkinson.

So long as they proved their competence and earn enough merit, they should easily be able to gain enough autonomy to pursue their passions and receive support for their pet research projects!

"In short, I expect much from you guys." Ves stated. "The T Institute will transfer a few specialists to the Artificial Life Division in order to bring you up to speed on how our clan does business. I also want you guys to cooperate closely with the other divisions. They can offer a lot of improvements to smart AIs as some of their work has obvious parallels with yours."

Ves saw great potential in these computer wizards. As young and inexperienced they may be, just the fact that they were able to participate in research & development of processor clusters and smart AIs proved their competence. The fleeters were famous for raising the best mundane researchers, so their standards were definitely high.

When Ves took out the Larkinson Mandate and formally inducted the computer experts into his clan, he became pleased that his effort to personally win them over was not in vain.

Only a single fleeter failed to earn the Golden Cat's approval.

This was not because he was incapable of committing to the Larkinson Clan.

The reason behind his rejection was because he solely regarded smart AIs as tools to be manipulated and exploited rather than existences that had the potential to become alive.

Such a perspective did not fit well in the Larkinson Clan. It was completely unacceptable for anyone with this stance to work in the Artificial Life Division.

After taking care of this little ordeal, Ves faced the remaining recruits. "Alright. That's it. Welcome to the Larkinson Clan. Normally, we would give you a tour, let you partake in team-building activities and allow you to familiarize yourselves with your lives, but the ongoing enemy offensive does not permit that luxury. I need you to head downstairs and supervise the installation of our SF-02. Make sure to keep your former colleagues honest and report anything that looks suspicious. I am relying on all of you to keep our new processor cluster as secure as possible."

The process of installing the SF-02 took half a day despite all of the advance preparations. This was actually too fast according to the fleeters. The process would normally take about 5 days if they followed proper procedures.

Ves was not too concerned. The fleeter computer experts were too good at their jobs to make any serious mistakes while they rushed the installation. They also made use of excellent tools and many of them also had lots of experience under their belt.

In order to make sure that the SF-02 could work without producing glitches, Commodore Zonrad Reze led the installation effort in person!

The work finally came to an end. Gloriana went down in person in order to witness the first activation of the mysterious SF-02 herself.

"So this is the physical shell of the SF-02." She asked as she held Lucky in her arms. "Impressive."

The gem cat curiously sniffed the air. The components that housed the high-tech processors developed by the RF made use of all kinds of precious materials!

"Meow."

Ves turned to Commodore Reze, who stood at the head of his team of experts. Each of them looked proud of what they managed to bring into existence.

"Can we activate the processor cluster?"

"You may." Sigrund responded. "As soon as the power generator begins to feed energy into the SF-02, much of her systems will go through a lengthy diagnostics procedure before becoming active all at once. After that, all 5 smart AIs that are preinstalled into the processor cluster will activate for the first time. They will greet us and become acquainted with their designated owner, which is you. This is an important life event for the young smart AIs, so you should try to treat them well. You can make a good start by bestowing them with their own names."

"I understand. Let's get on with it, then. Activate the SF-02!"

Commodore Reze dramatically pulled down a large manual lever. This caused the entire processor cluster to become active.

Indicators lit up. The processors began to generate heat. The SF-02 began to execute all sorts of software programs under the supervision of all of the computer experts.

All of the systems and subsystems soon began to check and diagnose each other in order to verify that everything was in order.

It took over half an hour for this process to run its course. Aside from detecting a few minor glitches and errors, the SF-02 detected no major issues that would necessitate a shutdown.

Commodore Reze then proceeded to pull down a second lever.

This time, Ves could feel the gradual activation and emergence of 5 powerful but relatively blank spiritual entities.

It was like witnessing the birth of multiple new living mechs, but in a different and more exotic manner.

Both Ves and Gloriana widened their eyes as they felt the reason why the SF-02 was able to spawn these artificial life forms without needing to rely on a lot of fanfare.

"These newly born smart AIs are formed inside Mentalist Crystal fragments." Gloriana said. "5 different fragments have become the containers of 5 new smart AIs."

"You didn't tell me that the smart AIs rely on Mentalist Crystal fragments in order to come to life." Ves told the RF senior officer. "There was no mention of it in the documentation either."

"You never asked." Commodore Reze simply responded. "Besides, we only insert necessary information in the user manuals. You are quite lucky that we have resorted to using Mentalist Crystal fragments for your order. We originally intended to use inferior mind-attributed hypers to anchor the smart AIs, but we changed our minds as a gesture of goodwill. The most luxurious material we could use was a single whole Mentalist Crystal for each individual smart AI, but even that is too extravagant for us. The Hunting Association is only able to offer us a limited supply of this strategic material."

Ves nodded in understanding. The Hunting Association had quickly made itself indispensable and unassailable by establishing a monopoly on the most effective mind-attributed hyper material in the Red Ocean!