[1-200] THE MECH TOUCH

Chapter 62: Leviticus

"So anyway, I didn't only invite you here to talk about old times. To be honest, I wanted to ask you something."

"Oh?" Ves raised his eyebrow. "What's that?"

Carlos stopped paying attention to the match entirely and turned to face Ves with the most serious face he had ever seen on his friend.

"You know what kind of job I have now. Even if you say I'm likely to move out of my current position, it will take many years, perhaps even decades before I go anywhere near the development process of a new design And that's only if I resign and switch companies, as the current one I work for is just a wholesaler which buys completed mechs from other manufacturers."

"You can't rush a career, Carlos. I've seen you studying for nights on end back in college. You've got a good head on your shoulder. Any employer will be bound to appreciate your talents."

"But I can't wait that long." Carlos shook his head. "A successful mech designer always starts his career when he's young, we both know that. So what if I wait until I'm in my 80s or 90s until a company sees fit to include me in their research and development department? I'll be playing second fiddle to a 30 or 40-year old who is either a genius or who had the right connections for the job. I don't want to be an expendable cog in the machine."

Ves had an idea what Carlos was going for with his little rant. He wasn't sure if he liked it. "That's the way the world works. The ones with the silver spoon in their mouths already have their foot in the door. Us regular people need to either take risks or just keep working out butts off to close the disparity between us and them. There's no shortcuts."

Carlos' eyes burned. "I admire you Ves. I already said that, but it bears repeating. You've taken that gamble. You looked at that impossibly tall mountain and successfully climbed the top. From getting the equipment together to receiving a couple of production licenses as grants, you got through every obstacle in the way of starting your wholly owned mech business. I'm not like you. I can't take climb in your footsteps. But..."

"You want to work for me. Accept a lower position under my employ and grow along with me."

The pair stayed silent for a time. Carlos nodded then, looking a little bit pained as he had to accept a status that was lower than Ves. "I can't climb the mountain myself, but if you drop down some rope, I can pull myself up."

"I've been doing fine on my own so far. What makes you think I need an extra hand?" Ves asked with a bit of reservation in his tone.

"Having worked with many mech manufacturers delivering crappy mechs, I know a bit how they work. Someone like you can't shoulder all of the jobs of running an independent mech design and fabrication studio alone. You need someone to do the grunt work of fabricating mechs at the very least."

Ves released a sigh. He had indeed been thinking of hiring a fabricator, "I appreciate your honesty in telling me your ambition. But it's going to be awkward if I'm going to be your boss. I'm looking for someone in the near future to fill up the fabricator position in my workshop, but since it concerns certain trade secrets, I'm hesitant in letting anyone else work under my direction."

"Then that's an even better reason to consider taking me under your wing. You know me and I know you. We've been pals for years. I'm a hundred percent sure you don't trust anyone more than me when it comes to getting your hands dirty with mechs."

He had a point. Ves did not have too many friends in the mech circles. Hiring a stranger was a complete gamble as far as he was concerned. He could spend an excessive time screening potential employees and still get burned by them. Sure, with the current laws in place, he possessed a lot of means to make abusers pay for it, but enforcing a punishment after the deed was done did not help him out in the long run if certain secrets were exposed.