The Mech Touch

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Ves and a number of suited figures entered a lab chamber and approached a table.

Among the accompanying figures were General Verle, Venerable Tusa, Venerable Imon. Each of them studied the object placed on the table with wariness and concern.

"Meow."

Lucky flew forward and sniffed the strange rock. His tail hung low as he too found the situation to be suspicious.

"Report." Ves commanded.

"We found this space rock drifting through space." Venerable Tusa replied as his mech was the one to discover it first. "Normally, the operating system of my mech has no reason to pay attention to random junk in space, but then the sensors detected signs of artificial tampering. That was when my mech sounded the alarm."

"Once you secured it and brought it back to our fleet, what have we found out about this rock?"

"The material composition of this specimen is mostly made up of silicate minerals." Ketis explained as she had been the one in charge of scanning the retrieved rock. "While the rock contains trace amounts of heavy metals on the surface, they are negligible. We have not found any trace of exotic materials in the rock."

In other words, the space rock was completely ordinary in terms of composition. It did not contain any materials of value. There were so many different rocks, asteroids, moons and planets that were made out of these materials that there was no reason to value this one in particular!

It wasn't the material composition that interested the Larkinsons, though.

The real reason why they paid attention to this otherwise unremarkable object was because it looked as if it had been sliced in half!

Lucky cautiously floated in front of the smooth and completely flat surface that had oddly cut this rock.

The cat looked confused as he was unable to figure out what could have created such a clean mark. 

"Are there any natural processes in the cosmos that can produce this kind of cut on a rock like this?" Ves asked.

"No, sir." An astrophysicist answered. "I cannot think of a process where such a cut could be produced without affecting the integrity of the rest of its structure. If some sort of sharp asteroid collided with this rock with sufficient force, then it should have cracked or disintegrated entirely. If the rock was subjected to a heat spike, then its surface should never look this smooth and flat."

"What about gravity anomalies or space warping?"

"These are anomalies that fall outside the range of normal phenomena, sir. According to our current data, we have developed two possible explanations that could have produced such an effect on this rock. Hazards and anomalies are one possible explanation. There are endless varieties of anomalies in space, and it is not out of the question that they may be present in a star system that is extremely energetic, has captured two foreign planets and is also hosting an abundant quantity of heavy metals. The presence of large quantities of exotics in concentrated form can potentially produce spatial anomalies that may have the effect of 'cutting' rocks like these as they pass through at specific angles. However, it is still difficult to imagine that the rest of the rock does not display any damage."

The suggestion that the Garimel System might be hosting anomalies did not make Ves feel at ease. Some of them might just be small fluctuations in space, but there were many that turned entire regions of space into danger zones!

Ves had encountered his fair share of space anomalies and hazardous regions, though he encountered most of them in the Nyxian Gap, which was in itself a giant pool of anomalies!

If the Garimel System truly hosted a major anomaly, then that implied that a large concentration of energetic exotics may be sitting somewhere. The most likely locations were Garimel I, the moons of Garimel II and some place within the giant dust ring orbiting the massive blue supergiant.

However, even if such a hazardous region existed in the star system, it did not mean that it was responsible for cutting this space rock.

There was another possible explanation.

"Technically, an anomaly might be responsible, but there are so many of them that it is unlikely that any of them have the effect of cutting a rock like this without inflicting further damage." The scientist continued. "If we apply Occam's razor, then the most likely explanation is that this rock was sliced through artificial intervention. In other words, someone or something has made this cut, likely with the help of a technological device."

Everyone grew grimmer and more vigilant as they took this in. The intelligence and the initial observation data on the Garimel System showed no sign of other presences.

The Blinding Banshee had scoured the star system as best she could but failed to detect any hint that suggested human or alien starships.

Of course, that didn't necessarily mean anything. The blinding energies outputted by the blue supergiant, the obscure former rogue planets along with the giant dust ring had frustrated every attempt to peer through them at a distance.

From the perspective of the expeditionary fleet, much of the star system ironically remained in the dark. The only way for the Larkinsons to illuminate these dark areas was to go forward and use their torches to light the surroundings.

They didn't harbor too many concerns before they found this abnormal rock. The fleet had detected no signs of dangerous anomalies or the presence of others in this hot and unforgiving star system.

This was different. Now that they had definite proof that this star system harbored unknowns, the Golden Skull Alliance had to adopt a more guarded posture.

Perhaps this visit to the Garimel System might turn out to be more than just a simple survey and mining expedition!

Ves wondered whether this space rock was related to whatever caused the MTA to conclude that something abnormal might be going on in this star system.

He needed more information.

"What have you found, Lucky?"

The cat had continued to inspect the space rock to no avail.

"Meow meow meow."

"Okay." Ves said before he turned to Ketis. "What about you? Do you have any clues of what might have produced this smooth cut?"

"It's unlikely that a sharp sword or other object has made this cut." She judged. "It's too smooth and there are no stresses to its structure at all. While I can technically reproduce this effect if I put in the effort, I seriously doubt an expert pilot or swordmaster is bored enough to cut random space rocks, and that one of them just happened to drift in the direction of our fleet."

"What do you suspect, then?"

Ketis raised two fingers. "I have made a couple of guesses. First, I believe this rock has been sliced by a spatial effect. It's the only explanation that makes sense to me. Rather than believing that it has been cut by a sharp blade, I think it is much more probable that some sort of space dome has appeared and physically separated the other half of this rock in an instant. Whether this spatial effect is produced by the environment or an alien race, I can't say."

That was actually a plausible explanation. Ves favored this idea as well because of the smoothness of the cut and the lack of any other traces of damage.

There weren't a lot of possible sources that could produce such a strange result, though. The ones that did were a bit terrifying!

"Second, I do not think this is the only rock that has been cut like this. The probability of encountering this kind of object all the way in the outer system is extremely small. There has to be more of them. If we can find additional specimens and map their trajectories, we may be able to trace their origin point."

This was another clever deduction. Finding a cut space rock in such an immense star system should be almost impossible if it was the only one of its kind.

The more probable explanation was that a huge amount of similar rocks must be floating in the star system!

The urgent priority right now was to find whether there was a second, third and more of these rocks!

"General Verle."

"Yes, patriarch?"

"Deploy search teams and spread them further away from our fleet in order to look for abnormal space rocks. We need to figure out how ubiquitous they are and whether they are all affected in a similar fashion before we can figure out what is going on. Try and determine whether they all originate from a single point in this star system. I think the most probable candidates are Garimel I or Garimel II. Use this assumption to narrow down your search range."

"Will do, sir."

Ves issued a few orders before he ended this meeting. The Golden Skull Alliance needed to become a lot more vigilant. The likelihood that there might be hazards or enemies hiding in the star system was not that small anymore. The mech forces needed to be on alert in order to guard against any sudden surprises.

Aside from that, Ves did not choose to stop the fleet's advance. There was little that his clan could do at this location. He had to get closer in order to lift a portion of the fog obscuring this star system.

Everyone else exited the chamber aside from Ves and Ketis. The two along with Lucky continued to stare at the space rock as if it held a hidden story.

"You know, the safest course of action that we can take is to abort whatever missions that you have accepted and leave this star system as soon as possible."

Ves shook his head. "I understand your concerns, but this is not enough to scare me away, Ketis. I've actually become more fascinated with the Garimel System. Exploring the Red Ocean and encountering abnormal phenomena is one of the principal reasons why I have worked so hard to pass through the beyonder gate. Now that we have bumped into an abnormality before anyone else, why should I pass on this opportunity? Whatever is out there will become another source of inspiration to me. I don't know about you, but exploring and assimilating new phenomena is the best way for me to advance my design philosophy!"

"I don't want to sound like Venerable Jannzi, but you're being reckless again. Why do you need to bring our entire fleet along?"

"We are not going to split up our fleet, especially in a place of danger. I am in charge here, Ketis. I am not going to change my mind on this. Perhaps we might be able to afford to do so in the future, but for now we need to stick together and concentrate our forces."

Ketis did not bother to argue further. Ves was never going to change his mind. She instead directed her attention back to the rock and picked it up with her gauntlets.

"Whoever or whatever produced this cut could easily do the same to our starships, you know. There are plenty of powerful threats in the Red Ocean that we cannot afford to confront. What if we find a powerful enemy hiding in the Garimel System?"

"The risks are great, but the rewards are greater." Ves grinned as he became more excited at the possibility! "This is conquered territory. If a remnant alien group is hiding out here, I seriously doubt it is as threatening as before. What can these aliens do when they are cut off from their former empires? As long as we expand our search perimeter and make sure our scouts discover them first, our main fleet shouldn't collide against the unknowns right away. This is a good opportunity to put our new scout mechs to test. The Light Hunter model should especially be useful in this scenario. We just have to make sure they receive additional reinforcement in order to shield them against the hostile environment."