The Mech Touch

Chapter 7552 Renner Alvous

Renner Alvous felt increasingly less in tune with his environment.

As an elite Terran mech pilot and a test pilot for the Arboreal Project, Renner never felt as detached as now.

It was as if a dark filter had attached itself to his mind. Everything he saw, felt or tasted gradually became less stimulating to him. It was as if he was living in a monochrome universe where dull and boring had become the norm.

This sense of detachment had sapped him of his drive and motivation. He used to feel so excited about becoming the first to pilot an incredibly innovative Carmine biomech designed by the founder of the Red Collective himself!

Until recently, every day he woke up, he made sure to express a form of gratitude for the rare and coveted opportunity handed over to him. He had competed with many other Terran mech pilots to be the first to test out the brand-new Woodsap mechs. He never took for granted that he had been chosen above many other rivals and colleagues. Each day, he strove to practice his skills and learn more about piloting his new partner in battle.

Yet when his personal Woodsap mech underwent a drastic change, Renner found it increasingly more difficult to care about these matters.

He still recognized on an intellectual level that he had been one of the chosen few, and that he should continue to work hard to prove that the higher ups had been right to select him. Yet the lack of the joy and motivation in his body caused him to stop caring about why it was so important to him in the first place.

Though Renner Alvous possessed enough awareness to understand that his new mental condition was not normal, he gradually lost the emotions that would have caused him to feel alarmed about this transition.

His attitude had not been the only aspect about him that was being transformed.

While he hadn't noticed it at first, many different sensor and monitoring systems precisely detected the gradual decline of his physical health.

Practically everything about his body started to deteriorate. His skin lost its suppleness. His eyes grew dimmer. His brains worked slower. His muscles started to atrophy.

The changes alarmed the Terrans around him so much that a team of doctors confined him to a treatment room and began to monitor his physical condition with high-powered scanners!

Those doctors might not fully understand the esoteric mechanisms that caused the Woodsap mech pilot's body to deteriorate, but they were highly familiar with all of the symptoms that they had detected with their instruments!

"You are aging at a hyper-accelerated rate." One of the doctors explained the findings so far. "Your 'Woodsap Pact' has bound your life to that of your biomech. We used to believe that this was a figurative statement, but the evidence that we gathered in the previous hours has forced us to rethink our assumptions. We find it difficult to accept this conclusion, but the evidence before our eyes does not care about our old paradigms. The fact of the matter is that you have skipped your middle years and are currently racing through the later phases of your lifespan. After our brief discussion with Professor Larkinson about the approximate natural lifespan of his 'Poison Willow', we believe that your extremely rapid aging process will only cease once you are about to approach the terminal years of your life. If you do not experience any further radical or unexpected events that affect your lifespan, we believe you only have another decade to live at most."

"..."

Any pilot who was previously at the prime of his life until very recently would be alarmed to hear that his entire life had been cut short by so many years!

Yet Renner Alvous barely experienced a ripple in his mind.

For a moment, he felt mild regret that he would not get to live long enough to become a hero with his new bonded partner.

He would not be able to witness the unstoppable rise of the Terran Alliance for very long.

He doubted he would get an opportunity to start a family when his body was failing left and right.

All of these regrets should have made him feel scared or indignant.

He did not. He felt nothing. It was as if the doctor had just revealed that he had become afflicted with a seasonal flu.

The medical professional naturally understood his patient's condition well enough to understand what was going on. The man wearing a clean white lab coat let out a regretful sigh.

"Your condition is… unnatural. Technically, you are still a norm. The absence of a neural interface in your Woodsap Mech means that your brain has never experienced any accelerated wear-and-tear. Conventional life-prolonging treatments should still be effective. However, the fact that your physical condition is a direct mirror to the physical condition of your Woodsap mech makes us believe that the treatment will fail, though this is not the only possible outcome. Regardless, we dare not take any risks unless we are left with no other choice."

"..."

The doctor paused for a few seconds before resuming his explanation. "I also bring good news. The fact that this mirror effect exists leads us to believe that we can eventually reverse your physical decline. Your Woodsap mech is the origin of your decline. It can also become the source of your revival. If Professor Larkinson is able to reverse the changes he has made to your assigned biomech, we believe that its rapid physical improvement will subsequently be fed back to your deteriorated body. However, we dare not assume that every fault will be repaired to perfection. In the biotech sector, it is common knowledge that it is easy to accelerate aging, but incredibly difficult to reverse the same phenomenon. Aging is a universal biological rule. Every organic being has a limit to their lifespan. Even the most long-lived species possess hidden limitations that may not be obvious on the surface."

"..."

Renner Alvous did not really care for all of these wordy explanations. On the other hand, he no longer possessed the ability to feel irritated, so he wordlessly endured all of the talking.

The doctor released another sigh. "Head over to the exercise room and complete a light workout. You are still needed on the battlefield. Keeping your body active over the next few days will not reverse your unnatural aging, but it will help to keep it healthy enough to reduce the chance that you will spontaneously collapse once you start to fight. If not for the fact that we still do not understand the mirror effect associated with the Woodsap Pact, we would have begun to replace your weakened flesh and organs with bionic alternatives."

Renner Alvous remained motionless for three seconds before he belatedly nodded and moved to the exercise room.

While the rapidly aged Woodsap mech pilot continued to disturb the people around him with his increasingly more terrifying condition, the same doctor moved to the combat carrier's biomech workshop in order to report the latest findings.

Ves had already completed his modification work on the first Woodsap mech that was paired with Renner Alvous.

Though the biomech still needed a few more hours to wrap up the ongoing growth process, Ves no longer had to tinker with the organic machine in person.

He had already handed the nascent Poison Willow over to the local Terran biomech technicians.

They possessed more than enough practical expertise and knowledge to babysit the first Poison Willow and take care of minor issues.

As he began to work on the second Woodsap mech, he diverted a portion of his attention to listening to the doctor's report.

"Hm, I see." He said as his hands continued to manipulate a projected interface. "I feared this would happen. I had already taken into account that the life and vitality between the two partners are shared, but not to this degree. I underestimated my own work. There is far more to the Woodsap Pact than what I have already ascertained. It is unfortunate that Mr. Alvous has to bear the brunt for my ignorance."

The Terran doctor looked sympathetic. "I agree, but at least he volunteered with the knowledge that he faced unknown dangers. This is not the first or last time that we have engaged in new and groundbreaking research. The Age of Dawn has opened Pandora's box for us all. Every single field of science is experiencing a nirvana of breakthroughs, yet we cannot deny that a large fraction of that progress is paved with human lives and suffering."

Ves turned his head and looked at the older man in a new light.

"Oh? Your tone suggests that you do not entirely disapprove of this activity. Aren't doctors like you supposed to follow an oath and seek to avoid harm whenever possible?"

"I have many colleagues who hold this stance, but I maintain a broader perspective, sir. In my humble opinion, the greatest harm that we can suffer is total genocide. Our species is at risk of becoming extinct in the next decade. Our margin of error is woefully thin. Any critical mistake can doom our future. If we want to avoid this outcome as much as possible, we must be cruel to ourselves and fight for any chance to secure our survival. Although many of my stodgier professionals refuse to acknowledge or admit it, the ugly truth is that much of the ethical rules that have kept our sector honest for centuries have become suggestions as of late. I cannot divulge any specific details, but I have heard stories and rumors of dangerous research projects."

That certainly sounded ominous.

Ves grew curious. He wanted to know more about them, if only to get an early warning if these crazy scientists accidentally created something that they couldn't control!

"Do the authorities have a good grasp on what is taking place?"

"I cannot give you the answer to that question." The doctor shook his head. "The Terran Alliance is still young. Many of its institutions are still trying to find their bearing in this new age. Space is enormous. You can hide many illegal research labs in the endless cracks among the stars. I would like to believe that the ancient clans are at least aware of what is taking place in their own territories, but that may be too unrealistic given how the ongoing wars have strained their resources. Without sufficient oversight, we may see a return of the abuses that our civilization had embraced during the final decades of the Age of Conquest."

Ves had no doubt that was the case. He knew that biotechnology possessed a lot of forbidden research directions. Many scientists that previously did not have the guts to defy the order established by the Big Two no longer faced the same constraints and suppression as before!