The Mech Touch

indignity against the central government.
Rather than blaming the BLM for disrupting the economy, they would rather lay the blame on the elites at Rittersberg.

On that depressing note, the Barracuda swiftly reached the Bentheim System in less than half a day.
As his pilot and navigator Miranda Pham became increasingly more familiar with the corvette, her ability to plot a faster transition improved.

”Navigating gravitic space takes a lot of judgement. ” Captain Silvestra explained to Ves when he asked about the difference.
”Laymen often confuse FTL travel for taking a shortcut in a dimension where distances are shorter.
We ’re actually shifting to a range of upper dimensions where spacetime exhibits slight differences from one dimension to the next. ”

The key to reducing transit time laid in a ship ’s ability to plow the same route over and over to explore the most efficient set of upper dimensions.
What complicated this process was that substantial differences in mass and volume led to different transition times.

A slow, lumbering shuttle generally did better if it kept to the lower range of dimensions, while a fast corvette like the Barracuda preferred a higher range.
Ships that tried to transition into a range beyond their capacity risked being torn apart by the differences in forces exerted at various points of their hulls.

Fortunately, interstellar travel to a port system like Bentheim posed much fewer risks than normal.
Their journey went without a hitch and the Barracuda effortlessly descended into the atmosphere until it reached Marcella ’s private mech yard.

A smartly-dressed auburn-haired woman welcomed Ves and his companions to Bentheim with a smile.
”Mr.
Larkinson, it ’s a pleasure to meet you! My name is Antje Livinis.
I ’m the sales manager for Bollinger Mech Trade.
Miss Bollinger has put me in charge of your sales force for the upcoming festival. ”

After Ves shook her dainty little hand, he regarded her with a curious expression.
Unlike Bollinger who exhibited the muscular physique of an ex-veteran mech pilot, Antje looked like a fairy.
That must help a lot in the business as many clients probably underestimated her poise.

”Have you seen my show models yet? ”

”Oh, yes! They ’re absolutely fabulous! ” Antje gushed with genuine enthusiasm.
”They ’re as impressive as the artisan models in the museums! I don ’t know how you managed to design them like that, but if you ’re able to reproduce the same sensation in your production models, then I expect you ’ll be making a hefty amount of business. ”

Even though she praised his craftsmanship, she also put a couple of question marks in his ability to replicate the show models with all of their qualities intact.

”I can assure you that my fabrication skills are up to par.
I can easily match their qualities in my subsequent production. ”

Even though the sales manager still held doubts, she chose to believe him.
As a sales manager who handled a lot of routine business for Marcella, Antje had already become familiar with his Mark II.
Even the silver label mechs that Carlos fabricated every week contained a smidgen of X-Factor.

Technically, the Eternal series consisted of gold label mechs, and they displayed the traits typical to this exclusive range.
Even if Antje couldn ’t quite put her finger on why the models impressed her so much, she knew that people would pay a lot of money to own a mech that could radiate such pressure.

”Too bad my publicist Gavin isn ’t able to attend.
He ’d love to discuss the details with you. ”

Gavin and Calsie only worked part-time at the LMC while they focused on their studies.
They still had a year to go before they graduated from the local university in Freslin.

Ves shared the virtual documents that Gavin compiled to Antje.
It turned out that the sales manager performed her own analysis on his projected sales, though she didn ’t come up with three different scenarios.

She smiled at him.
”I know the sort of people who attend this festival, and I think it ’s very likely your models will catch on.
I think it ’s not too far-fetched if we assume the most optimistic scenario will take place. ”

Gavin ’s optimistic scenario envisioned a huge demand for his Eternal Edition mechs.
Under the assumption that there would always be more customers, he came up with a complicated pricing scheme for each models during the four-day festival.

The Mark II Eternal Edition started sales at a whopping 40 million credits, with a limit of ten models sold each day.
The limit ensured that his company wouldn ’t be burdened by endless orders that risked being cancelled after a couple of months.

The Caesar Augustus Eternal Edition sold at an even more incredulous price tag of 80 million credits, with only three models sold per day.
Gavin predicted that many collectors wanted to own this model in the optimistic scenario, thus he jacked up the price to almost twice its production cost.

As for the Marcus Aurelius, nobody knew if anyone wanted it more than the Caesar Augustus.
Due to its uniqueness and exclusivity, Gavin decided to hold a daily auction over this model.
This allowed them to avoid setting a fixed price for this esoteric model.

That could either go good or bad depending on its appeal.
Antje clearly questioned the need to hold an auction.
”Your design is rather conservative for a variant.
On paper, it ’s nothing impressive, though I admit it does make you forget about it once you see it in the flesh.
My main concern is that others won ’t see it that way and refuse to raise their bids. ”

Failed auctions showed that Ves had overestimated the value of his designs.
If he couldn ’t match or surpass the standard price of a Caesar Augustus, then his reputation in the mech industry could take a hit.

Ves stuck to his guns.
”I ’m willing to take the bet. ”

He charged high prices for his designs because they carried something unique.
His entry into the Vintage Festival formed something of a trial balloon.
Ves wanted to gauge whether the public had any stomach for mechs enhanced by the X-Factor.
The LMC ’s entire business model rested on the outcome of this event.