Chapter 2751 - Migration Waves (1/2)
When Ves and his wife returned to Gentle Lotus Base, they ate a simple dinner before splitting up. Gloriana wanted to spend time with the Glory Seekers, which wasn’t that unusual.
Ves had some free time on his hands. He moved over to the balcony of his temporary office and began to look at the darkening skies.
Night time was a vastly different experience on Prosperous Hill VI. The trees lit up the surrounding spaces in a different manner than ordinary structures. Their leaves glowed in different colors of the rainbow as they illuminated the areas below them. Their luminosities were kept low in order to prevent anyone’s biorhythm from thinking it was daytime.
From a distance, the forest of glowing leaves looked like an alien landscape. Ves could hardly imagine that he was looking at a distant human city.
”What a weird place.” He muttered.
Weird was an understatement. The NuMan and the biomech boneyard were so odd that Ves felt as if the locals were aliens instead of humans. Their culture diverged so much from the galactic norm in many areas that he felt as if Lifers belonged to a different species.
Fortunately, they still possessed enough human traits to remind him that he was dealing with fellow humans. People like Master Cline were very aware of their place in human society. As long as the Lifers remained within the boundaries set by the rest of humanity, they did not pose a risk to the current order.
Ves wondered what would happen if the Life Research Association became unconstrained. What if the MTA collapsed? What if the LRA moved to a different galaxy or reality where the Big Two no longer held sway?
”Well, I doubt that biomech designers are the only ones we should be fearing.”
If the current rules no longer applied, then everyone became unconstrained.
Mech designers were able to impart their mechs with city-destroying weapons of mass destruction.
Shipwrights were allowed to mount massive weapons on their starsh.i.p.s.
Ves could easily imagine hundreds more horrifying consequences. He hadn’t realized until now how much restraint that humanity showed these days. The Big Two exerted so much deterrence that few had the courage to flout the rules!
”Maybe it’s a good thing the Big Two are hanging above our heads.”
He never thought he would make this conclusion. As a mech designer, he felt awfully constrained by the MTA’s meddling. The Association was like an overprotective nanny who treated everyone else as irresponsible children.
Yet once he elevated his perspective beyond his case, he started to see the MTA in a better light. By suppressing any excess behavior, the organization that Ves loved to complain about was actually making life harder for anyone with dangerous ideas.
”I can live with that, I suppose.”
That didn’t mean he became a full-throated cheerleader for the MTA. He merely preferred the status quo over the alternatives. Ves would never be able to do business at his current level if the MTA didn’t regulate the mech market. He also wouldn’t be able to travel across the galaxy and venture into the Red Ocean without a unifying authority forcing every human state to play nice with each other.
As Ves contemplated the benefits of the current order, he received an unannounced visitor.
”Meow!”
Lucky perked up as the door slid open. He jumped from the desked and soared in the air before entering Calabast’s open arms.
”Hehehe. I missed you too, Lucky.” The woman grinned as she embraced the gem cat like a baby. ”Are you hungry? Here’s a snack.”
”Meow meow!”
Ves turned away from the balcony and frowned. ”Lucky already had his dinner. You’re spoiling him at this point.”
”I doubt a creature as remarkable as Lucky can grow fat.”
”You never know.”
Calabast sauntered forward and began to lean against the side of his desk. She looked around the office. There was hardly any decor to be found as Ves hadn’t bothered to decorate this place.
”This is hardly an office that befits the patriarch of the Larkinson Clan.”
”I don’t intend to meet any foreignn guests here. In fact, I didn’t intend to meet anyone at all. Why the visit, Calabast?”
”Can’t I drop by for a simple chat?”
Ves threw a suspicious glance at the black-clad woman. ”You never do anything simple. What’s this about?”
”Oh, Ves. You’re too stiff, you know. Don’t you do anything for fun? You should get a hobby. It will do wonders in relieving your stress.”
”I don’t have any time for hobbies.” Ves crossed his arms. ”Every second of my life is valuable.”
”What are you doing now, then? If you truly think you need to spend all of your time on a productive activity, then you should be working on a mech design right this moment.”
”You don’t understand. Our remaining mech design projects are already close to completion. I have already provided sufficient guidance to three of them. As for the other two, I am still in the process of figuring something out to help them reach their maximum potential.”
”You could have started another design project.”
”That would complicate my schedule and put everything out of order. I prefer to organize my projects by rounds. It’s not time yet for me to start the third round.”