The Mech Touch

5630 Project S1

In order for Apprentice Mech Designers to advance to the next rank, it was not enough for them to settle on an original design philosophy and conduct successful research.

The people who designed mechs for a living did not call themselves scientists or researchers for good reason.

The approach, mindset and work processes were substantially different, though there was also a lot of overlap.

However, any mech designer that wanted to formulate a design philosophy and realize it could not get away by conducting research alone.

They needed to apply their theories and inventions into actual mech designs and prove that their work had practical value!

A mech designer whose research capabilities was stronger than their design ability often did not go far in their careers. They lacked the love and comprehension for mechs that enabled them to break the conventional standards and improve them in a way that had never been done before.

The same was true for the opposite. Mech designers who excelled at designing mechs yet found it difficult to conduct original research were unlikely to advance to the rank of Master. They actually had to be ingenious and rigorous enough to understand deep knowledge and be able to innovate beyond the current capabilities of their civilization.

In short, good mech designers had to excel in both areas. As a first-class mech designer who attended one of the oldest and most exclusive universities located on Old Earth, there was no question Alexa's ability to design first-

class multipurpose mechs!

In order to design the mechs that represented her chosen design philosophy for the first time, Alexa did not have to design mechs according to first-class standards.

She could have settled for second-class mechs that she had grown increasingly more familiar with as she assisted Ves in his work.

It would have made her design projects a lot cheaper and easier to complete.

Yet she chose to implement her design philosophy into true first-class mech designs because they were her root and her original area of expertise.

Of course, there was no need for her to pull out all the stops and design a fully featured first-class multipurpose mech.

She had settled for designing fairly basic first-class mechs that were not that complicated, enabling her to avoid any excessive bloat.

This allowed Alexa to invest much of her attention into designing and fleshing out the novel procreation mechanisms that she had devised but never really implemented in full up to this point.

The result was two radical mech designs that Ves would have never thought about designing in his life!

Ves possessed an active mind and tended to come up with the craziest ideas at times. Whacky ideas such as the Elemental Lord showed that he was more than used to taking unusual detours in his work, if only to satisfy his curiosity and his need to create unprecedented works.

Yet there were many areas that Ves did not dare to touch or simply didn't care about.

Procreation was a topic that he admittedly never showed much interest in. As far as he was concerned, every living mech was born in a factory or workshop, and that was it. He never thought that there was anything wrong with this production process. Wasn't it logical that living mechs started out in the same way as conventional mechs?

Obviously, Alexa Streon did not think so. She recognized a major shortcoming in Ves' paradigms and sought to plug a hole that he had overlooked!

As Ves studied the two mech designs, he could clearly discern that the smart metal mech came first.

This was easy to figure out as it was a lot easier for Alexa to implement her idea when mechs came in a much more malleable form.

Although Ves was not able to study all of the intricacies of a mech that completely consisted of nanomachines due to how much of their functions were tied in their programming, he could still feel that it was made with procreation as a core feature from its inception.

"Project S1 is the initial mech that I have designed to translate my chosen design philosophy in a concrete form. I believe that it is the first design that meets the standard of a living mech. It is 100 percent made out of first-class Terran-developed smart metal, which means that it is expensive and lacking in rigidity. Project S1 nonetheless makes up for that with flexibility. Similar to your Bright Warrior model, my smart metal mech functions as a humanoid machine that can alter its configuration on demand to wield a variety of handheld and mounted external weapon systems."

The younger mech designer demonstrated what she meant by manipulating the projection that showed the smart metal mech.

The initial form of Project S1 looked like a generic unarmed mech. It soon bulked up and wielded a sword. It then slimmed down and wielded a plasma rifle. The smart metal mech then proceeded to acquire more mass and integrate a lot of laser weapons into its mech frame, allowing it to fight like a hybrid mech.

There were no limits to what the Project S1 could turn into. It could embody both humanoid and beast mech types, though Alexa had locked her mech design to solely humanoid mech configurations in order to limit the complexity of her project.

On the surface, Ves figured out that the overall point of Project S1 was to deliver a smart metal mech that could accommodate any mech pilot, no matter whether they specialized in melee or ranged combat.

Although Project S1 did not promise stellar performance when wielding any weapon, it at least guaranteed a minimum degree of combat effectiveness when it adopted the form of any common humanoid mech archetype.

"This is like a super-expensive version of my old Bright Warrior concept." Ves remarked as he grew fascinated with this seemingly simple mech concept. "Yet unlike my Bright Warrior, there is greater depth to it that I cannot fully deduce just by studying it. I can feel that there is a much greater goal and ambition behind your first true living mech design."

Alexa smiled with pride. "Good observation. Project S1 is not just designed with the present in mind. It serves as the heart of a larger framework that is based on the concept of inheritance. The first-generation copies of Project S1 all start out as blank slates in mech production facilities. When they are delivered to their customers, they will get used in the configurations that match the skills of the mech pilots and the needs of their owners. Each smart metal mech will grow, learn and develop on an individual basis from that point."

Ves nodded in understanding. This sounded no different from the growth trajectory of ordinary living mechs. This was not the extent of Alexa's expansive scheme.

"As the Project S1's are being put to use, they will experience setbacks and losses. Whether their defeats can be attributed to their qualities or not, the process of survival of the fittest will filter out the weaker and less adapted smart metal mechs. After five or ten years of active fighting, only the strongest and most well-adapted Project S1's will remain standing. They have not experienced substantial growth in their respective mech archetypes, but have also proven to be stronger than their less fortunate counterparts. If you have to choose the parents that are tasked with passing on their secrets to the next generation, the survivors among the first-generation living mechs are the most suitable candidates."

Her scheme mirrored the generational development of organic races. Natural selection was a universal process that took place on any life-bearing planet.

Natural selection contained the word 'natural' because it was able to come about without any deliberate intervention.

That made Alexa's idea so subversive. By transplanting the process of natural selection to the framework of living mechs, she essentially brought her products closer to nature!

"How does your Project S1 produce the next generation, exactly?" Ves inquired. "Can they generate the second generation of their mech model through parthenogenesis, or do you require your smart metal mechs to engage in a mechanical form of sexual reproduction?"

"Theoretically, Project S1 can do both, but I have decided to restrict it to the latter, sir. This is a principle that I have deliberately adopted because parthenogenesis is too selfish and solitary to match my ambition. By demanding that my living mechs can only procreate if at least two of them come together to produce a single offspring, I can encourage the formation of more complex social structures."

"Complex social structures." Ves repeated the phrase. "You mean families. You want second-generation mechs to be raised by both a daddy mech and a mommy mech, is that correct?"

His disciple nodded. "It is a much more desirable social unit than a single parent and a single child. Two parents who care about their offspring will be able to teach a wider range of lessons. Any mistakes or bad habits acquired by one parent mech will not be blindly passed on to the next generation."

"Have you thought about applying a more communal child raising model?"

"I did, but that may lead to unexpected consequences. It is best not to be overambitious. The initial family unit should be identical to a typical human family structure. The commonalities between the two will make it much easier to promote mutual understanding between the living mechs and their human owners and mech pilots."

That was extremely important, as humans tended to get freaked out whenever their complex machinery behaved in a bizarre or inscrutable fashion!

"Continue." Ves said. "I have the feeling that this is not the extent of your new framework."

"The process of procreation is never meant to end in two or three generations." Alexa emphasized. "Let us assume that my Project S1 model will remain usable and relevant for many years. As the original Project S1's continue to get used, they will constantly grow and eventually procreate when they have reached a mature stage. The second-generation smart metal mechs that are born from the originals will grow up faster and become much better prepared to confront the challenges that their 'parents' have experienced. It is conceivable that their growth trajectories are considerably better. Once they are ready to reproduce, the third-generation living mechs will not only be able to benefit from the gains of the second-generation living mechs, but also acquire a part of the inheritance passed on by their 'grandparents'!"

Ves widened his eyes. He finally understood what Alexa was truly trying to create.

A couple of reproduction cycles was not enough to produce dramatic results. Yet as long as they continued to take place over a longer stretch of years, the growing number of Project S1's would have accrued so much collective strength and knowledge that the 20th or 30th generation of living mechs would enjoy much better starting and growth conditions than their distant ancestors!

A second-generation Project S1 might start out 20 percent stronger than the first-generation copy of the smart mech model.

A fiftieth-generation Project S1 could start out 300 percent stronger than the originals that started their lineage!

This intricate process of growth, procreation, accumulation and inheritance reminded Ves of one enormous concept.

He looked at Alexa with an astonished expression. "If these reproduction cycles continue to take place over decades and centuries, then a huge web of family relations and inheritances will form. This can lead to the formation of larger and much more complicated social structures!"

"That is exactly what I am aiming for! Only with a larger and more complex social structure will subsequent generations of living mechs be able to inherit the gifts and wisdom of their elders even when their family units have broken down. Combat mechs live a violent life. It is inevitable for parents to fall. This is not a complete loss as the child mech should have already inherited a part of their spiritual strength and talents. The responsibility for raising the child mechs can be left to the grandparents, more distantly related living mechs or dedicated teacher mechs. In short, the chain of inheritance will remain unbroken as long as the living mechs grow numerous enough to form their own dynasties, and eventually an overarching civilization!"

A civilization built by living mechs alone!

Alexa certainly did not hold back in her ambition!

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