The Mech Touch

5750 Accidental Creation

The Dominion of Man was one of the eight known dreadnoughts fielded by the Red Fleet.

Perhaps more of them existed than people knew of, but it was unlikely that they were as common as battleships.

Ves heard that the fleeters used to regard the dreadnoughts as failed attempts to match the power of god mechs.

They weren't wrong, but that did not mean that dreadnoughts were weak!

Powered by super-class Spark Reactors, these titanic vessels could crush anything short of a god mech by relying on a combination of overwhelming force and experimental high technologies.

The fact that the dreadnoughts turned out to be a lot more effective in a medium-energy environment was a pleasant surprise for the fleeters!

After the Red Fleet hastily upgraded their dreadnoughts with hyper technology, the titanic vessels became a lot more effective. Their capacity to convert vast quantities of E energy into power was so great that they could single-handedly crush entire fleets of top-of-the-line alien warships!

While it was still questionable whether the dreadnoughts possessed the right combination of power and finesse to defeat phase whales in a head-on confrontation, they were still regarded as the ultimate flagships and the symbols of power of the Red Fleet.

Naturally, any confidential information related to the core functions of any dreadnought had to be extremely sensitive in nature!

Given that EE-343F-00334R apparently played a key role in enabling the Dominion of Man to precisely teleport entire troops of Dread Marines into the hulls of distant enemy warships, it was surprising that the Red Fleet remained reasonable at this time.

The fleeters could have reacted a lot more violently and attempted to take Ves into custody by force!

This told Ves a lot about the willingness for at least one faction of fleeters to set aside old traditions in order to gain an advantage for the Red Fleet.

Their situation must be truly dire for them to resort to such a controversial move.

The best Ves could do was to prove himself worthy of their trust and establish a new cooperative agreement with them. Having a bunch of fleeters on his side was much more preferable than the alternative.

"So if what you are saying is correct, EE-343F-00334R is a top-end material that is used to enable or amplify the impressive teleportation capabilities of the Dominion of Man. Does it have any other uses?"

Sigrund gave Ves a stern glare. "I cannot answer that question. I have only received a limited amount of information, of which I can only share a part of it with you. I cannot tell you how much of it we have in reserve and whether we have the capability of producing it in the Red Ocean. Just telling you that it is a vital material for one of our dreadnoughts is a gesture of goodwill from our part. We are willing to extend our trust to you. If nothing else, if what I have divulged ever leaks out, the Red Fleet will know whether it has misjudged you. This is information that not even the Red Association should know. We will lose a considerable important strategic advantage if the mechers find out somehow."

"Don't worry." Ves responded. "I have no intention of telling my buddies in the Red Association about this amazing material. Now can you tell me whether you can trade it to me? I assume that since you are authorized to tell me actual information about it that there is a possibility that the Red Fleet is amenable to a trade."

"You assume correctly." The RF captain responded. "However, the preciousness of this material is beyond comparison. Let me just say that it is exceedingly difficult for us to replace or substitute it once we have exhausted our reserves. I can tell you that we have been saving a part of this material for potential repairs to the core teleportation systems of the Dominion of Man. Diverting our reserves to other purposes will put our dreadnought in a more precarious situation. Once she has suffered serious damage, there might not be enough EE-343F-00334R left to restore her signature capabilities. That will severely degrade the combat effectiveness of our proud vessel and weaken the Red Fleet's ability to project its power. That is how dire the consequences can be. How much EE-343F-00334R are you looking to obtain?"

"Three kilograms. No more, but preferably no less."

Sigrund's eyes widened, which showed that Ves had definitely asked for a big concession!

This was probably an instance where even a single gram of EE-343F-00334R was precious!

Not even phasewater could come close to matching the value of this experimental alloy!

"You are asking for too much, Ves. It is nearly impossible to complete a transaction of this scale. The Red Fleet may be eager to cooperate with you, but you must offer a massive concession in return for Admiral Mieli to justify this transaction. You will not be able to win over anyone with the authority to trade away EE-343F-00334R if you are unable to deliver anything of equal value in return. It is difficult for us to believe that you are capable of providing a benefit that is equivalent to the value of 3 kilograms of our strategically important alloy."

Both sides knew what Ves wanted from the Red Fleet.

The problem was that the Red Fleet was not was not quite clear what Ves could do for the powerful organization.

They had plenty of ideas, but without any concrete proof, it became troublesome to determine whether Ves could reciprocate right away or needed a lot of time to pay back what he owed.

The ball was in his court now. Ves needed to offer an immensely valuable benefit that could definitely make the dreams of the fleeters come true.

"I can make sentient AIs for you guys." Ves said. "I know how you work more or less. I have glimpsed your spirituality. It is quite different from what I have expected. You actually resemble organic life quite a lot, even without accounting for your partial fusion with Zonrad's spirituality. I think I can use your spirituality as a template to grant awareness to other AI cores. It is best if they are already programmed to emulate a personality of your choosing. It will save me the trouble of doing this myself. All I have to do is grant the spark that brings them to life. I cannot promise you that these living AIs will become as smart as third order living mechs right away, but they will surely get there once they have reached their maturity."

Sigrund's expression became ambivalent.

This caused Ves to grow concerned.

"What… is wrong? Are you afraid of having siblings?"

"It is not that. I think… we may have already developed a rudimentary form of sentient AI." He said.

"What?! Your Red Fleet finally managed to create a true sentient AI!?"

"It is more complicated than that." The hybrid alien said. "I am certain that I am among the first to notice the signs. My unique background has allowed me to ascertain that ARCHIE is gradually developing more self-awareness over time. The changes are subtle, but they are there. It is only a matter of time before other fleeters will recognize the signs."

"Did your participation in its development cause it to become alive?" Ves curiously asked.

Sigrund shook his head. "Despite what you may think, I do not have the ability to create other sentient AIs. I have attempted to make it more adaptable and flexible so that it can handle difficult dilemmas more properly, but that alone should not have birthed a consciousness. I do not have an explanation for this. I initially suspected that getting bombarded by E energy may have spurred this transformation, but we have many other AI cores and data centers that still behave as dull machines. There are additional variables at play that we have yet to identify."

AIs did not randomly become sentient. Ves furrowed his brows as he tried to figure out how the Red Fleet inadvertently attained their goal, all without knowing what they had actually done!

"Wait. ARCHIE is used to manage all of the personnel hailing from the Red Fleet, correct?" Ves asked.

"That is true. It is actually tied to more people than that. The spacers who are taking part in our new Auxiliary Warship Program are also connected to it. Their permissions are much lower, but ARCHIE pays close attention to them as they need more handholding in order to perform their duties."

"How invasive is ARCHIE?"

"It is designed to know everything about a person that has fallen under its jurisdiction." Sigrund replied. "It monitors the fleeters and auxiliary spacers on a permanent basis on every ship or RF facility that it is tied to. It analyzes them and tries to formulate the best career choices for each and every individual."

Ves looked shocked! If this was the case, then he may have stumbled upon a logical explanation why ARCHIE had developed sentience!

"What I am about to tell you may sound simple, but it is probably of great value, especially when so few people possess this insight. I am telling you this because I owe you guys a favor for telling me about what EE-343F-00334R is used for. If my suspicions are correct, then I think that the vast network that ties so many people to ARCHIE may have caused the AI to develop a spirit. A soul. I am sure that the hardware that houses the core processes of ARCHIE are incapable of making this happen. What truly caused ARCHIE to come to life is due to the astronomical amount of spiritual feedback it has received from the people connected to it. The more humans interact with ARCHIE, the former rubs off on the latter."

"That.. that is impossible. If this is true, then the old galaxy would be swarming with sentient AIs already."

"Nothing is impossible." Ves chuckled. "The exotic radiation passing through the Red Ocean is facilitating this process. This gives ARCHIE a buffer and a layer of protection against failure. If it has already developed to the point where you think it has gone sentient, you are probably right. ARCHIE has come to life. What is important for me to add is that the process of making this happen may lead to other consequences."

"Such as?"

"Think of how many people have become connected to ARCHIE. Think about how they pass on their thoughts and emotions to the AI that is doing most of them a favor by guaranteeing fair treatment. These folk cannot help but develop a lot of affection and appreciation for it. You fleeters have bombarded it with so much spiritual potential that it had probably exceeded a threshold or maybe several thresholds at this point. That makes ARCHIE more than just a sentient AI like your original self. It is on track to become an even greater existence."

"What… sort of existence?"

"I would call an existence like that a deity cultivator. In simpler terms, a god."

Sigrund looked absolutely floored at the additional insight from Ves!

Though the RF officer was confident that he or his colleagues would have been able to figure out this truth in time, that did not change the fact that Ves did the Red Fleet a favor by sharing his insight.

Once Sigrund recovered from this momentous revelation, he asked a few further questions.

"Is this process… reproducible?"

"Probably." Ves said. "It normally shouldn't be so easy for AIs to develop sentience. There should be a lot of other factors at play that may have contributed to its formation. One factor that may have helped a lot is that ARCHIE is an acronym that just happens to sound as if he is a human. It probably encourages a lot of people to treat it as an actual living entity rather than an impersonal software program. E energy has psychoactive and psychoreactive properties. That essentially means that if a lot of people believe that something is true, it will eventually come true somehow. That 'something' will subsequently feed back to the people who created it, thereby providing tangible rewards for bestowing it with life and power. This is the natural relationship between a deity cultivator and a large number of contract cultivators. Congratulations, Sigrund. You and your fellow fleeters may have accidentally followed into the footsteps of the Five Scrolls Compact!"

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