[1-200] THE MECH TOUCH

Chapter 58: Profligate

Lucky finally woke up the day after Ves visited the MTA. The cat appeared to slink in a satisfying manner, as if he ate the biggest fish in the universe. Ves gave his pet the stink eye.

"So… you got anything to say?"

"Meow."

The cat acted cute and brushed its smooth body against his legs. Ves let go of his irritation and just picked up the cat and hugged him in his arms. It was easy to forgive the loss as he never really owned the strange material in the box to start with. He suspected the advanced alloy may have been meant for Lucky in the first place.

"Do you feel the need to go to the litter box?"

Strangely enough, even after a couple of hours the cat never visited the toilet or his backyard. Ves picked up his cat again and inspected his body closely. Lucky still looked and weighed the same. He started to doubt whether anything really changed. Did the cat just ate a bunch of priceless alloys because it tasted good?

He fed Lucky his usual meal of minerals and let it go out and play. Ves still had work to do.

His harvest from the MTA mainly consisted of directions. He did not gain much knowledge, but he did gain avenues for further study, as well as a couple of books. He went over the three electronic books sent to his mail account.

The three books all consisted of introductions to the laws concerning the production and use of mechs. The books appeared to be prepared by the MTA to give out to young mech pilots and mech designers, so the level of jargon and the depth of topics remained fairly shallow. It was the perfect set of books for Ves to familiarize himself with the laws around mechs beyond the brief lessons he received from his days in college.

The first book revolved around the most important laws that govern the use of mechs in human space. It detailed the history just after the invention of mechs about 400 years ago, and explained how human space grew more chaotic with this advancement in warfare.

The main point this chapter conveyed was that mechs made war easier. The ability of all human states to wage war increased substantially because mechs packed more firepower and mobility while requiring relatively less maintenance than other unit types such as planes, tanks and infantry. It gave smaller nations a chance to stir up trouble against their larger neighbors, but it also allowed these behemoths to crush rebels thoroughly by flattening everything in their way with ease.

War between the human states intensified, with conflicts happening up to five times more than before the invention of mechs. It led to a lot of suffering among the poor. Something needed to be changed.

Naturally, as the book was published by the MTA, it predictably presented it as the savior of mankind. With hardly any explanation of how it came about, the MTA splashed onto the scene with powerful mechs and warships and suppressed the most gruesome conflicts with an even bloodier fist. Quickly, all the smaller human states got cowed while the larger nations negotiated treaties. The MTA firmly established itself as the arbiter of human conflict.

The rest of the book introduced all the major laws the MTA enforced with vigor. From the prohibition on the use of starships in internal human conflict, to the abolishment of nuclear, biological and chemical weapons, pretty much all weapons capable of inflicting mass harm were limited to external defense against aliens. The only thing that really remained untouched were mechs.

Ves found it peculiar why the MTA focused so much on promoting mechs and the technology behind it. They not only encouraged its use in wars, they also supported the industry behind it with licensing laws and certification services. The MTA single handedly changed human civilization to worship mechs.