Chapter 61
Chapter 61
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 61
Chapter Title: Empire's Mechanical Infiltration
-----------------------------------------------------------------
When monitoring the border between the Holy Union and the Empire, we hardly saw any machines crossing over from the Empire side.
The Empire was still sticking to its policy of only accepting individuals who had undergone mechanization procedures as the Emperor's vassals.
On the surface, it might look like the Empire didn't discriminate against organics at all.
In fact, during the height of the war, I'd gotten along just fine with Empire friends while inhabiting a Verilak merchant's body.
But that didn't change the fact that you had to become a full machine to truly blend into Empire society.
Even after realizing the utility and power of psionics through the war with the Holy Nation, there were no signs of them importing Ozz or attempting psionic awakenings.
That had put my mind at ease.
I'd thought the Sirtish incident might have taught them a lesson, but apparently, they'd learned something entirely different.
Maybe they'd realized that converting the entire population into machines at once would alert the whole galaxy.
Observations of local wildlife engineered with genes from this planet's native animals confirmed several facts.
"PATO spies?"
"Yeah, there might be some on this planet too."
"Understood. We'll keep an eye out."
The planet we were wiretapping was dominated by snake-like reptiles.
Government officials here 'conversed' with their personal devices.
From tiny earpieces and headsets to artificial eyes, smartphone analogs, prosthetic arms, and even ships or buildings.
The locals carrying unusually mechanistic gadgets that clashed with the planet's surroundings always seemed to chat with those devices.
As if the objects housed actual personalities.
It could just be them making calls to other locals.
But no matter how I thought about it, talking to your own arm—something that wasn't even a separate communicator—was downright suspicious.
Especially since this was a radio-wave civilization, yet no separate transmissions were detected.
It could only mean something had possessed their arms.
Who else but our Empire friends?
The Empire did implant personalities into all sorts of machines, but they rarely bothered with simple auxiliary tools like that.
Having lived alongside them throughout the war, I knew that well.
If you implant a personality into such a basic tool, it becomes a puppet unable to act without outside help.
Even if the Emperor creates personalities and backs them up for infinite revival, they're still treated as single entities—he wouldn't debase them like that.
Unless it served a special purpose or was voluntary.
With full-body mechanization facing massive backlash, had they shifted to spreading the usefulness of machines first?
Replacing body parts with machines or using smartphones felt so natural that no one batted an eye.
This level of machine use was commonplace even in the Holy Nation, which despised the Empire.
Other PATO nations hadn't caught on yet.
Machines get detected by the Empire, and organics can't match their usage like I can—unavoidable, really.
And it was proving to be a highly effective strategy.
Even within PATO, most would shake their heads at fully mechanizing their bodies.
But offer them a simple prosthetic or a better smartphone? They'd nod eagerly.
What if that new gadget dramatically improved their lives?
An artificial arm that adjusts length, switches to MacGyver-knife tools, boasts comparable grip strength, self-repairs, and detaches in emergencies to transform into a robot that fights off muggers?
If one arm is that good, what about the rest of the body?
Thoughts might not go that extreme, but negative feelings toward machines would gradually fade.
With the Empire's influence already embedded across the planet, late-arriving PATO agents had no chance of staying hidden.
I shared this discovery with PATO.
No need to hide something this unremarkable.
Agents kept getting caught anyway—other nations would figure it out eventually.
"This... PATO can't compete with it."
Spot on.
We could provide various machines too.
PATO hadn't abandoned mechanical engineering.
We just couldn't match the Empire, though producing downgraded versions was feasible right now.
For bio-linked parts like eyes, PATO's tech even held the edge.
The Empire lacked living beings, after all.
The problem was mass-producing and shipping them across the galaxy.
Slower delivery, inferior performance.
Plus a trust gap.
Within PATO, we preferred crafting new artificial eyes over implanting mechanical ones.
Our tech made it more stable.
But supplying bio-eyes required 'samples,' which Holy Union species couldn't easily provide.
Species avoiding mechanical eyes versus machine species offering them.
Which one inspires more trust? Obvious.
The map was now dotted with plenty of red X's.
Had to exclude Empire-influenced species from the candidate pool.
But here's the thing.
Watching these reptile species raised a question.
A Lushaka like 'me' would typically rely on biotech for physical injuries like limb loss.
Just grow a new limb with desired functions.
Simple, right?
The Lushaka Kingdom provided such public healthcare almost for free.
But did other nations?
Even thinking of 'me' living in the Federation, plenty had mechanical arms.
Usually when personal funds were short.
Cheaper to get a mechanical arm locally than return to the Lushaka Kingdom.
Or just too bothersome, per individual judgment.
Quite a few sported mechanical body parts for various reasons.
But not on the scale of other species.
Amphibian Cooperative with its advanced mechanical engineering, or patriotic Deneb types.
They'd opt for local mechanization over traveling to the Lushaka Kingdom for biotech.
And technological development inevitably follows frontrunners.
"Amphibian Cooperative delegate. Didn't you recently accompany a trading fleet to the Empire?"
"Yes, that's right."
Large escort fleets to the Empire still ran periodically.
Plenty of unclaimed star systems along the border, and pirates remained a threat.
Sell what we could, buy back Empire goods loaded with superior mechanical tech—or so I thought.
"Do you know what civilian traders bought recently?"
"Ah, I remember clearly. They said it was merchandise specially made for organics to boost exports. Didn't check the details, though."
"Lushaka delegate, I get what you're driving at, but isn't this jumping the gun?"
Is it?
Better to nip these things in the bud.
"Still, better safe than sorry. We should inspect the internal structures of imported machines at least once."
Empire citizen consciousness programs were massive—impossible to insert into PATO's existing devices.
But if PATO could fully analyze imported goods' structures, we'd be fine.
Not psionics or intangible stuff.
Just check imports once.
Not inspecting every machine nationwide—just imports to block foreign spies. Cheap price for security.
Truth be told, ramping up anti-Empire vigilance wasn't ideal.
Decades ago, during the war between the Telluris Assimilator and the Federation, the Federation had distrusted Assimilator hacks so much they handled all admin on paper.
Even rumors from a certain 'me' working as a civil servant.
The Federation still used paper for top-secret documents.
Machines were indispensable to civilization (except the Lushaka Kingdom).
Yet embracing inefficiency to shun them meant they'd felt the dangers of a hostile 'machine' category firsthand.
Disrupting admin and daily life across the board.
Hardly desirable.
But if PATO ended up hostile to the Empire, no choice.
Even if it felt primitive, we'd have to forgo machines.
Hopefully, it never came to that.
A 'me' surrounded by pure organics in the Lushaka Kingdom government might not mind.
But most 'me's enjoyed civilization's benefits fully.