Chapter 4062 Alacritous Stork
When the MTA made a commitnt, it quickly delivered on it. Only a day after Ves made an agreent with Master Dervidian, an MTA frigate called the Alacritous Stork portal-jumped into the Davute System and matched orbits with the Larkinson fleet.
Soon enough, thirteen junior researchers teleported in one of the conference rooms of the Blinding Banshee.
Due to the controversial nature of the experints that Ves had in mind, he thought it was best not to conduct them on the surface of a busy planet.
The Blinding Banshee was the right venue to test the MSTS. As long as the Tutor Project did not have to move, the espionage vessel offered enough room to test its revolutionary new simulation program.
Aside from that, the Blinding Banshee also contained a lot of high-security cells that could discreetly and securely contain a lot of sensitive prisoners.
Ves had especially boarded a shuttle that brought him all the way back into orbit so that he could et with the researchers and supervise at least a portion of the experints.
The chers that teleported inside the conference room looked younger and less senior than he expected.
Master Dervidian was most definitely capable of mobilizing senior researchers if he wished. It was curious that he decided to send a bunch of brats who were predominantly in their twenties and thirties.
Despite their high backgrounds, the MTA researchers that showed up did not assu an air of superiority that was characteristic of their kinds.
Ves did not need to ask any questions to know that they had been briefed beforehand. That was pretty nice and thoughtful of Master Dervidian. It saved him the trouble of showing who was in charge.
The junior researcher at the lead hovered forward and made a strange salute with his hand.
"Good afternoon, Mr. Larkinson. It is an honor to et an accomplished ch designer such as yourself. I am Yarach Stimmons, a research assistant serving on the Paracelsus Optimus. Master Dervidian has recently commanded my colleagues and I to assist you in your research. We have brought specialized lab equipnt to collect additional data and thoroughly determine the effects of your new invention on different individuals."
Ves shook hands with the young man. He could imdiately tell that the guy was more than just a researcher. He was a Journeyman who possessed a lot of curiosity towards the Tutor Project.
If the training ch design was valuable enough for soone as impressive as Master Dervidian to intervene in its developnt, then it had to possess extraordinary properties! There was no other reason for such a formidable figure to make so many moves just to assist a ch designer who wasn't even a part of the Association!
"I don't really understand what each of you can do. Can you explain your expertise and how you can facilitate my research?"
"Why certainly." Yarah Stimmons nodded without any fuss. "I am a Journeyman who specializes in neural interface systems. Master Dervidian chose for this assignnt because I have thoroughly studied the risks and dangers of interfacing with chs. I possess a considerable understanding of human biology with a particular focus on the brain and how they react to different forms of interactions with neural interfaces. I am mainly tasked with detecting and registering any possible degradation to the health of the ch pilot."
The other junior researchers reported their professions, their specialties and their presud roles in the upcoming study.
None of them were ch designers aside from Mr. Stimmons. Many of them were dical specialists who were highly knowledgeable about human physiology or psychology. Each of them were supposed to monitor and study the health and state of the test subjects as they trialed the MSTS under various circumstances.
Soon enough, the topic of the discussion shifted towards the test subjects that the MTA frigate had brought.
"We have brought a total of 420 experintal test subjects." Stimmons revealed to Ves. "With 40 first-class ch pilots, 300 second-class ch pilots and 80 third-class ch pilots of varying degrees of skills, origins and specialties, we should be able to collect a sufficient amount of starting data to gain a preliminary understanding on the safety and the soundness of your ntal Simulation Training System."
That was more than enough test subjects to obtain the data that Ves needed! He was quite impressed by how many ch pilots the Transhumanists were able to bring on short notice.
However, he recalled that they did not belong to him. Ves could only borrow them from the MTA.
"How much control am I allowed to have over the test subjects?"
"We will have to discuss that in detail later on, Mr. Larkinson. The experintal subjects are valuable assets that we have only put at your disposal in order to understand the safety of your MSTS and how far we can push the boundaries before anything breaks. One of the assignnts that we have received from our superiors is to test your new system out under extre circumstances. In order to fully understand the conditions where it is safe to use by the general public, we must explore the circumstances where it produces detrintal effects towards its users."
This was easy to understand. It was not enough to declare the MSTS safe after using it under normal conditions.
There were lots of stupid custors in human space. No matter how many safety instructions Ves issued with his product, there were bound to be dummies who utilized the Tutor Project and the MSTS in conditions that were outside the scenarios that he envisioned!
Rather than remaining ignorant of the consequences of using his spiritual system in unknown circumstances, it was better to explore them in advance and thoroughly understand the consequences of misuse.
After Ves chatted a bit more Mr. Stimmons, he did not object to these plans. He saw how useful it was to explore all of these extres and anticipate any potential disasters in advance.
They soon began to get to work. It turned out that the Blinding Banshee didn't need to host the test subjects or serve as the venue of the experints. The Alacritous Stork was already set up to collect all of the data the MTA needed on the effects of Ves' invention on different ch pilots.
Both sides were impatient to start. After Ves filled in the research team on what they needed to know, they soon made the appropriate preparations.
Ves, the MTA researchers teleported to the Alacritous Stork and began right away. The MTA also brought over a prototype Tutor Project ch and thoroughly scanned its fra to understand its technical properties.
There were no surprises on this front. While its ability to morph its limbs and proportions to adapt to the physiques of different ch cadets was rather interesting, it was nothing new to a ch designer like Yarach Stimmons.
The truly valuable property of the Tutor Project was its ability to connect to the MSTS, which was supported by Vulcan, not the ch itself.
This also made it easy and convenient for Ves to hook up other living chs to the MSTS in the future.
"We shall start with testing your MSTS with an ordinary adult second-class ch pilot." Stimmons said. "We are aware that your Tutor Project is designed to be piloted by ch cadets, but we have not brought many of them due to their relative scarcity."
"I see. Well, there shouldn't be too much of a difference. If sothing goes wrong with the initial test subject, then we should fix that first."
Stimmons summoned a random second-class ch pilot and forced the man into the cockpit of the Tutor Project.
The chers had already modified the cockpit of the prototype machine to make sure its pilot remained 'in control'.
Ves deliberately did not request or summon any information about the test subjects. He did not need to learn their backstories and how they ended up in the hands of the Transhumanist Faction. He only needed to know their basic piloting properties.
The man that the chers had chosen to beco the first person to connect with the ntal Simulation Training System did not look like a criminal or pilot at first.
He possessed the deanor of a professional soldier and did not seem to harbor much resistance against his captivity.
The first test subject complied with each instruction and dutifully activated and interfaced with the prototype as instructed.
"Everything is within tolerance so far." Stimmons stated. "Let us test a number of basic paraters before connecting the test subject to the MSTS."
After making sure that the prototype itself was functioning as expected, they soon moved on to the critical mont.
There were nurous control options for the MSTS.
There was a setting that allowed the ch pilot to activate it on his own initiative.
There was another setting that required the permission of both the living ch and pilot to engage the MSTS.
Then there was a setting that would not allow the Tutor Project to connect to the MSTS without permission from a ch instructor or other supervisor.
Right now, the prototype had adopted the latter setting, so Ves personally had to press the button before the prototype perford the critical act.
He leaned forward as soon as he did so and examined the ch that was standing silently in the hangar bay of the Alacritous Stork.
Yarach Stimmons and the other MTA researchers did not really notice anything special. Though the sensor readings displayed a few changes in activity, the only obvious change to the Tutor Project was the fact that its third eye began to emit bright blue light.
Ves had added this setting to the ch as a symbolic representation that the ch pilot had cast his mind to an entirely different reality, one that was entirely illusionary and crafted according to his own design.
A few awkward minutes passed in the control room where he and all of the MTA researchers were studying the teletry transmitted by the ch and the sophisticated sensor systems.
While Ves had no doubt that the incoming data was all valuable, Stimmons did not look entirely pleased with the current state of events.
"Mr. Larkinson." He spoke up. "Did you include any interface that allows us to observe the ch pilot's interactions with your MSTS? While we can observe our test subject's ntal and physical changes, it is difficult for us to understand the context of these fluctuations without knowing what is taking place in the active simulation program."
Ves blinked. "Oh. Sorry. I overlooked this issue. Let arrange a solution."
He thought for a second before he pulled out the Hamr of Brilliance from his toolbelt. He communicated with Vulcan for a mont before placing it on a console.
The hamr glowed with power before it projected a spiritual illusion. Vulcan directly used the relic as a channel to transmit the 'live footage' of the ongoing simulated environnt it had created for the inaugural user of the MSTS!
Everyone grew interested as they looked at the first glimpses of this mysterious new simulation program.
At first glance, it did not look different from ordinary simulations. The Tutor Project had deployed into an empty arena and was fighting against an identical Tutor Project ch.
The only unusual part about the current simulation battle was that the opposing machine was controlled by a remarkably skilled and clever 'AI pilot'!
The test pilot was no slouch, though.
As ch pilot with military training and experience, the man quickly familiarized himself with the properties of the Tutor Project and skillfully utilized its default loadout of a sword and shield to resist the aggressive adversary!
Soon enough, both sides traded more and more blows as they maneuvered around the battlefield.
As a premium training ch, Ves designed the Tutor Project with both defense and mobility in mind. It was fairly well-protected while also possessing enough mobility to agilely move around the battlefield.
The only truly disappointing aspect about the Tutor Project was that its offensive power was considerably below average.
This was not considered a disadvantage for training chs as their lethality was supposed to be limited in the first place. It wouldn't do for ch cadets to be in control of a combat machine that was capable of blowing up an entire campus building if it lost control!
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