The Mech Touch

because she was smart enough to figure out that Ves would continue to put her in charge of this entire division.

Ves didn ’t trust any of the Lifers yet.
He especially did not trust their scientists and researchers who were mostly too full of themselves.
He had witnessed the hubris of their ilk first-hand when he was stuck in their former state.

From a governance perspective, replacing Ranya with a respected Lifer was counterproductive.
Elevating such a person would send a signal that the old LRA pattern of allowing the best researchers hold the most authority would continue to remain a custom in the Larkinson Clan.

He had a lot of objections to this stupid practice, so letting a relatively junior and inferior biotech scientist like Ranya remain in charge was a good way to signal that the Larkinsons intended to do things differently.

Besides, there was an even greater reason to keep Ranya in her current position as the director of the LBI.

He trusted her.
After filling her in on the existence of spirituality and roping her in on helping him research a couple delicate matters, she had become a part of his inner circle.

None of the former Lifers who joined the clan could match her status in his eyes.
As long as she stayed in place, Ves felt assured that the research teams under her wouldn ’t perform any rogue and dangerous experiments.
He had seen enough of that in the LRA to know that these Lifer researchers needed to be collared to an extent.

As the group continued to discuss various matters, they eventually arrived at the upper decks.
The scenery turned a lot whiter and the amount of foot traffic had reduced considerably.

In fact, aside from the size of the compartments and corridors, the interior reminded him a lot of the pinnacle lab he once entered!

”The upper decks of the Dragon ’s Den mainly consist of research laboratories. ” Ranya introduced.
”This is where most of our researchers can be found when they are on duty.
For now, there isn ’t much to see here because our men are still settling in.
In a couple of months, you will soon find thousands of scientists working diligently on their respective projects. ”

They briefly entered a couple of biolabs.
Some of them were empty, others only featured a bunch of organic lab equipment.
Cargo bots kept hauling different goods and equipment to the labs under the attentive supervision of the scientists who would soon be making use of the facilities.

They soon entered another section of the upper decks.
They briefly entered a section that was dedicated to treating humans.

To his surprise, Ranya led him to an ongoing operation on a very familiar looking human.

He could feel her force of will from the observation window!

”Is that Ketis? What is she doing here? ”

”Didn ’ she tell you? ” Ranya raised her eyebrow.
”She is currently undergoing an operation to install her new implant in her brain.
From what I have heard, the head of the Heavensword Association personally gifted her with an implant redeemed from the MTA. ”

Ketis never told him of this gift!

”This is reckless! Can these implant surgeons be trusted? ”

”We are far from the days where a lone saboteur such as the doctor who I shall not name can single-handedly botch an operation.
Each implantation operation is carefully planned and conducted by at least half-a-dozen highly-qualified Lifer surgeons.
I even requested Calabast to thoroughly test loyalties of the doctors and nurses who are currently performing this procedure.
If anyone doesn ’t do their part, the security systems will restrain them one way or another.
If that doesn ’t work, the Swordmaidens will take action. ”

There were numerous armored soldiers in the operation chamber.
Though their presence clearly wasn ’t welcome, the Swordmaidens didn ’t care.
Ketis was the most important member of their sisterhood.
The operation had to succeed!

Though Ves didn ’t intend to watch how the implantation surgeons cut a hole in Ketis ’ skull before they carefully inserted a small white device inside her brain, he couldn ’t move away.
He stayed for an entire hour.
He felt he owed it to his student to watch the doctors and nurses carefully and constantly gauge their emotions to know whether they had any ill intent.

Fortunately, the operation went completely according to plan.
No complications had occurred and Ketis ’ brain fully embraced the sophisticated implant without any signs of rejection.

The head implant surgeon transmitted a brief report to Ranya.

”The news is all good, sir.
Ketis is stable and her brain is accepting all of the new neural connections that the implant has formed.
Of course, we owe much of this success to the highly-advanced nature of her implant.
The MTA does not cut any corners when it comes to their products. ”

Ves briefly frowned.
”Have you checked and verified whether the implant is safe and free of bugs. ”

”That is natural.
Ketis wouldn ’t have chosen to proceed with this operation if she was uncertain.
Due to their sensitive nature, the programming and design of these implants are always an open book to us.
Despite the high tech nature of the implant in question, its functioning is completely clear to us.
We have even spent the equivalent of billions of hex credits in order to obtain the judgement of at least a dozen different highly-respected implant specialists across the galaxy.
We have found nothing suspicious.
MTA implants are very popular in human space.
If they were suspicious in any way, then we would have heard about it already.
It won ’t do the Association ’s reputation any good if they are caught with tampering their own products. ”

Oh, Ranya didn ’t know the true face of the MTA, but that was fine.
He believed her for once.
It was beneath the MTA to turn any implant they sold into a listening device.
Trust and credibility was one of the Association most valued resources, so it would be incredibly stupid for the mechers to risk all of their hard work because they wanted to spy on some mech designers.

As much as Ves felt uncomfortable about this, he had to accept that he couldn ’t be around to do everything in person.
He had to teach himself to trust his subordinates to do their jobs.

”How long until Ketis recovers? ”

”She should be up and running in a week at best, though we might hold her back for another week or two as a precaution. ”

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