What's Junk? (The Mech Touch)

There were hundreds of monitors in the room the being dwelt in. There were more wires and lights. The floors were patterned with embedded devices. The walls that weren't covered in monitors had enough electricity running through them to fry even shielded people. The most prominent feature were the cables though. They crossed the ceiling. They dangled, they reached upwards and downwards. Thick things with enough power to fry nations. Some were attached to ports, some not. Mechanical arms rotated from the sides and plugged some while unplugging others. The pattern followed no logic. Random numbers powered the decisions so that nothing could be predicted. It was controlled chaos shaped into a shield. It was math brough to the limit of human understanding. Numbers were done and redone in countless repetitions. In the distance a caged star powered it all. It wasn't enough. A thousand stars wouldn't be enough for what the being needed.

'Experiment line AHHIDO-922123118. Failure. Experiment line AHHIDO-922123119. Failure.' The text scrolled down and down on one of the monitors. An endless series of experiments. Brute force repetition attempting to solve what nothing else could.

The being at the center of all of this observed without emotion. Nothing about it was human. Not anymore. Time had destroyed what their own modifications had not. Only will and power remained. Something that had once been human still clinging onto reality with sheer spite and stubborn resolution. A mass of cables in the shape sat in the center of the room. If it still resembled a man, that was by coincidence, not by design.

Another monitor continually flickered through displays of people. Each one was labeled. 'Seedling Experiment 43211, Hemington Sector: All normal. Seedling Experiment 43212, Dinari Sector: Failure, Restart Pending Approval. Seedling Experiment 43213, Komodo Sector: Unresolvable Error, Attention Required.'

That caused the being to pause. It didn't even take an effort of will from them for everything to focus on it. Just the shift in attention had the pre-programmed automation bring up all the data available.

Bolt Silica.

Not the most anomalous of the seedlings. That was reserved for the one still trying to play with time and had gotten themselves stuck in a timeloop, again. The being suspected mental damage there, because it was the third time... Correction, possibly the third time. It was up in the air if there was a paradox or some other mechanism in play. Context clues there required an entire suite of super computers to verify matters and that seedling thought that hiding things was important to survival, which complicated things even more. The complications were worth the possible ability to identify the 'current' time travelers in the galaxy though, so they were allowed and even encouraged.

Bolt was genuinely refreshing compared to the others at least. Not only was he trying to explore his conclusions, he was even engaging in the systems! The percentage of those that did that was less than half. Many coasted by or indulged in paranoia, isolation, and eventually destroyed themselves and others in an orgy of violence. (Not an uncommon path for the talented and ambitious.)

For a moment the being felt almost human again, remembering the time when those systems had been founded. The hope, the pain, the reasoning behind everything. Another automatic process triggered as the emotions began to rise and cold flooded the beings mind before the rage and hate at what had followed that founding could find its purchase. The being spared a moment to consider if they should disable that process before deciding to leave it, as they had every other time it triggered. The emotions had no place here, not yet. In time, in time.

The anomaly was traced to a series of cascading aberrations that had no answer based on previous historical references. The local sims had extra players and managers that had no physical location. The computer was properly simulating the local expert's abilities. Two expert masterworks in short order. Discussions with unusual context clues. All of them done together had broken the standard response protocols.

Quick review indicated that there was no physical reason for many of the aberrations. Context clues led to talk about spirits and spiritual works. Discussion like this was not unusual. Religion and personal beliefs heavily tainted designer work in most matters, and was frequently something that had to be worked around. Rational designers were not immune to this, they simply subscribed to the 'religion' of rationality. Referring to it as spiritual work was not the aberration. What was an aberration was the fact that there appeared to be substance to the statements.

It was the simulation records that confirmed that confirmed everything. Designers could not do what Bolt had done there. The masterworks could be considered a talented junior. The simulations combined with the known discussions had broken the monitors. Bolt had created a sim that used the equivalent of duct-tape and tinsel to create something that the grandest simulations available could not. Star Designers could not. The best they had managed was a brute force path that was utterly useless once the variables changed.

Relief.

That was all the being felt at the discovery. Finally. Finally. Something new. Something useful. This deserved actual attention.

Ten seconds passed as the being reviewed the video logs, conversational transcripts, records of notes, everything. Some of it was hidden from anything but them. Some of it was actually completely hidden. Which was another anomaly.

For a moment the being actually had to exert effort!

At thirty seconds the being had its conclusions. Bolt Silica was successfully exploring something old and something new at the same time. Exactly one other designer was currently working on something similar. They had reached for and had grasped a new path in different ways. One of the reasons for the seedling experiment had finally occurred. There were proper results! Now it was time for another step to be taken.

Did Bolt require direct intervention? Three seconds of evaluation said no. The pressure he was under was within tolerances. Designers needed to be tested in conflict. The Master Jeanne was successfully managing it along with her other duties while also keeping her involvement to a minimum. Actually commendable. Nothing else needed to be done immediately in that vein.

There was the matter of the Polymath making moves to investigate though. That woman knew subtlety like a starving dog knew restraint. As in not at all. The gifted child had turned into a gifted adult with all the grace and decorum of a freight train. Her turning her attention to the seedling would not only shine a spotlight on it, but would also likely rip it up from the roots in an attempt to study it. That would have to be discouraged.

What would be a good way of achieving that goal?

Two seconds was spent contemplating that. Full discretion was impossible. A designer needed publicity to grow. Concealing that was within possibilities but resource intensive. Simulations were ran. The Polymath would be distracted by the new toy that was the other, more prominent designer, and by the new realm opening up shortly. She did not need to be appeased or dissuaded in a direct fashion. She heavily relied on MTA reports to act as her eyes and ears. Bolt simply needed to be moved or obscured under other categories until her attention wandered. How?

A mote of amusement came from the possible solution. The sister. Gadget Silica had been getting into areas restricted by her family. She was inquiring into the CFA, delicately probing to see what was allowed. It was good work for her age and technology level. Blatantly obvious for the CFA and the being, but one did not care for a spec of dust floating through the air. Predictions were that the girl would become discouraged by the complete disregard the CFA would have of her, but that could be changed. There were a few important figures in the CFA that would pay attention if properly directed in the appropriate manner. It'd pull her and her brother into a few games between political powers, but that was inevitable. Better now when the being had resources to address things if it became necessary and it'd be a good learning experience. If the CFA was looking into things the Polymath would ignore the area. Getting into conflicts with them was against her own goals and the CFA itself would eventually dismiss the seedling as anything more than a curiosity with contrary goals.

A few messages were sent and the appropriate people alerted discretely. It was far from difficult. The being's complete authority allowed them to do whatever they wanted. The Master Jeanne in particular needed new directions. The pressure would be less useful after the CFA intervened. A quick simulation of the forces involved indicated that there was a high probability of things going exactly as desired. That was enough for now. The revised alerts and people in the know would notify it if there was another problem.

One minute of attention given, the being moved onto other things. Several more flags had been tripped and they had to investigate all of them. The experiments had not stopped even for a second. A millisecond passed before another thing occurred to it. Bolt had speculated about certain things that could be checked and used right now could they not? A thousand things were rearranged within an instant and an order given.

Twelve hours later something worthy of full interest was once again happening. Everything but emergency priorities were dropped to a minimum as the meeting time approached. Then, precisely on time a small woman with very closely shorn hair appeared in front of them through a teleportation process. Two more appeared after. All the women were identical. Results of another's experiment, unsuccessful but salvaged. The figure examined them and approved as it had every other time they met.

"Sir." The lead woman inclined her head. "You requested physical presence?"

"Yes." The being replied in their synthesized voice. "Details sent."

The woman nodded as her implant reviewed what was sent and frowned in mild confusion. "I am to install a component on several stored mechs and then speak with the machines?"

"Experiments in other areas have indicated that certain machines may have a lingering psionic echo. The ones noted were once piloted by..." The synthetic voice wasn't so crude as to stutter, but it did almost pause there. "Important pilots. Relevant documentation and recordings have been sent, and more can be requested."

For a heartbeat the woman said nothing. Her face smoothed out and she stilled a moment. She then nodded. "Very well. Assuming your assumption is correct, if we can confirm the presence and the transfer, you wish to transfer them out into another mech?"

"Into the Three Monkeys still in construction. Modify the design as needed." The being confirmed.

"Do we have an estimate as to what that will change?" The woman asked back.

"No."

"Then we will initiate standard recording procedures. It will be done." The woman, along with her companions gave a small salute and nod with the words.

"Good. Status of you and others?" The being continued.

Another pause followed before one of the trailing women spoke up. "The adjustments and cybernetic implants have eliminated the pain, phantom and otherwise. We are fully functional."

That was acceptable. "Comfort level?"

"Within tolerances. Our sisters have all reported similarly." The woman said.

"Noted preference for liquid diet. Advise other methods of ingestion, or several addendums such as ice cream and sorbet. Also noted training requests for ground and security actions." The being brought up.

All three women nodded. "They wish to contribute, even if it's dangerous."

"Unnecessary."

"You ordered us to chose our own paths father." The lead woman said very softly.

"Still unnecessary. Request further modifications and equipment if pursing that path." The being almost sighed. "The ones under the Five Scrolls designation are superior in specific areas associated with the training they are requesting. Extreme measures need to be taken to insure victory."

"We understand." All three women nodded again.

"You of all would." With that the being's attention turned away. "Return to duties."

The women disappeared. The room was colder in their exit. The being didn't notice. This was nothing new. The room was always colder after the children left for war.