Chapter 71: The X Gene
Alto wracked his head as he sat in the mech engineering room looking up at the holoscreen before him, he was staring at a collection of reports about a subject he was still baffled by. Alto, as an aspiring mech designer, had discovered a passion he had hidden within himself—the urge to build a mech that could be piloted by a non-X gene user. It sounded weird to him when he sat down to consider what the X gene really was and how only carriers of it could use a mech.
It was said that piloting a mech without the X gene would cause severe brain damage. He wondered if it was a type of rare blood type dopamine that boosted mech efficiency. Alto believed that if he could understand this subject and how it interacted with a mech system, he would be able to build a more efficient mech. He went through some of his mech designs and many others in the past few days, trying to see if there was a component that exploited the X gene, but there was none. All of the reports and textbooks he came across online all followed the same pattern, with very little variation, all depicting how some people were born with a type of gene of sorts. Alto knew it was nothing like a blood type because the selection of X gene users would be random. He clicked on a video online by a notable genetic professor.
"What is the X gene? I’ll say it, it’s a mutation," said Professor Macornekle Goswillow from a republican planet he had not heard of. The talk show was called "THE HEART OF SORIN TALK SHOW." According to the description, the professor majored in advanced genetic study and evolution studies. It was one of the things he had happened to come across online while browsing the side net for information concerning the X gene.
The professor looked very old; he had thick grey hair and beard. His eyes were a tint of green. He wore a brown suit and addressed the woman that happened to be the anchor of the talk show. Her name was Reporter Milicent.
"And why would you say that, Professor, if everyone says different?"
The professor responded almost immediately, "Of course they will say what they are paid to, but I am not tied to any coalition, so I will simply give my report of my research to the public I serve."
The anchor, Milicent, looked at the professor deeply and said, "So, Professor Goswillow, what would you say the X gene is? What report could you have to give that deviates from those circulating the public, and how does it shape our vast view of the subject in entirety?"
Professor Goswillow gave her a respectful bow of his head before continuing their discussion. "Since I have been a child, I grew up with the same aspirations a majority of young children must have gone through. I wanted to pilot a mech one day, but unfortunately, it was not in the cards for me. A friend of mine was drafted into a neighbouring mech division because he carried the X gene, and I had to claw my way up with my own unique skill sets. Such is the life we now live in. With everything we now know now revolving around mechs, it was a mystery as to what really made these pilots special. My initial thought was that they had a special blood type, which made no sense at first."
"Continuing in my research, I came to a conclusion after many years, and it might be shocking to believe at first, but I might not be around to develop more on my theory. The X gene, as I have said, is a mutation, and I stand by it. As we know, what makes the mech function is its AI system, which is linked to the brain of its pilot through the link-up system. This brings out the best in a mech. The stronger the AI interface, the more the X gene would be used. The X gene is a mutation that increases the brain’s ability to tolerate the influx coming from the AI interface."