[1-200] THE MECH TOUCH

Chapter 188: Opportunity

Ves spent the next couple of days pretending to be physically infirm while dragging his feet on the redesign of the Kaius. Jutland frequently hounded him in his free time and made sure that Ves presented some progress.

His job became vastly more complicated due to its dual nature as a mechanical and living machine.

The huge chimera mech incorporated a vast amount of living tissue that Jutland spent a lot of time trying to keep alive. The incomplete schematic included in the datachip only briefly mentioned the various functions of the strange organs inside the beast.

In truth, Ves only partially directed his attention on the Kaius. Most of its complexity lay in its living components. As for the mechanical parts, they mostly provided support, taking the place of bones and tissue that Jutland hadn't managed to save.

They were simple to design but difficult to fabricate. The lacking facilities available in the cave forced Ves to be a little more creative in his designs. He had to take into account his meager proficiency with the low-tech autoforge.

Whenever Jutland holed up in his lab to cook up his latest biological horror, Ves slacked off in his current duties and focused on his goal of upgrading a transceiver and providing it with a vast amount of power. Both of these challenges required a lot of effort to make any headway.

Ves gained an opening when the doctor suddenly appeared alarmed and readied the Kaius for action. "The nerve of these outlanders! I will be off for a while!"

Before he left, Jutland gave a stern warning for Ves to stay put. He called out even more hexapods and stationed them around the entrance and his most important labs. If Ves got anywhere near the creatures, they'd gobble him up without hesitation. The biolab practically turned into an impregnable fortress by the time the doctor finished his arrangements.

Seeing the Kaius come to life and emerge from the pool of water once again gave Ves a sense of majesty. Even devoid of actual life, the chimera mech still provided him with a sense of dread.

Each step elicited a minor earthquake. Its vast bulk forced the Kaius to expend a mountain of energy which its modified heat organ provided in spades. It slowly crawled out of the cave like a dragon about to raid a village.

Something serious must have happened that caused Jutland to bring out the big guns. Ever since he kidnapped Ves, Jutland had been content with keeping an eye on Ves while he holed up in his precious labs. Perhaps the expeditionary forces stumbled upon something important to Jutland.

"I'm finally alone."

Without the good doctor looking over his shoulders, Ves could accomplish a lot more things. He scoped out the outpost for the last few days and got a good measure on Doctor Jutland's security arrangements.

The man generally disdained relying on technology. Everything high tech had already degraded to the point of turning into scrap. The plentiful amount of hexapods standing guard spoke of Jutland's trust and reliance on these remarkably dimwitted beasts.

Though Ves still hadn't gotten a clue how Jutland directed the alien creatures. Still, no matter the control method, he doubted they worked like cameras, which meant that Ves had free reign of much of the outpost.

Besides the biolabs and exit, Ves could walk everywhere as he pleased. In his boundless confidence, he judged that Ves should still be coping with his runaway internal energy cycle.

Ves indeed suffered a lot of pain and a loss of control, but that only happened when he stopped suppressing his Jutland organ. Once the doctor and his giant mech disappeared, Ves sharpened his focus once again and dedicated at least a third of his mental capacity to dialing down his rebellious organ.