Then again, none of them had been about the Minato itself, so it made sense that she had missed much of the specific information. There was also the issue of her experience with mechs as a whole being limited to what was available to her in Sanctuary.
Still, it seemed odd that he would know something about her Minato that she hadn't known until recently.
"Yes," she answered finally. "There's an actual name for it, but the AI told me that people back in the day called it Bulletfoot mode. It seems like an odd name, but I get the feeling behind it. A support mech supposed to deliver bullets by foot is suddenly able to move quicker like it was shot out of a gun."
"It seems to work on two levels, that name," Tinker chuckled.
"It’s odd, though, since our mechanics at the bunker were called bulletfoots too." She once again considered this, still no closer to a real explanation. "I haven’t been able to find out if the mode came before the nickname or the nickname is what caused the mode."
"It will be one of those mysteries," Tinker replied as they pressed on. "Something to keep your mind busy on the boring nights. You'd be surprised how many of those there are out here."
He wasn't wrong. The team of mechs marched through the night and pushed through the same forests she had come through, but at a much slower pace. The Excalibur and the Raptor were the slowest of the group, of course, and both needed time to cool off every hour or so. Tinker had to exit his mech to put grease into the lower joints of the Raptor as well.
While having those mechs with them meant there wasn't much in the world that would fuck with them, it also meant they would travel for the whole night. They couldn't cut across the forest either as they had to stay on the paths where the less agile and mobile of the mechs were still able to move.
The Excalibur would probably be able to push through the forest, Jessica13 thought, but it would mean pushing trees and even felling them, and that would do all kinds of damage to the mech itself. It was far more sensible to simply stay on the road.
It had been a long day, and Jessica13 eventually curled in her cockpit, found a reasonably comfortable position, and turned control of the mech over to Mini so she could sleep for some of the night. There wasn't much movement, which meant it was far more restful than her previous night's sleep when Mini had moved them at high speed.
She had wanted to spend time looking at the stars for a few more hours first, but the deliberate movements of the mech quickly lulled her into a deep sleep.
It had actually been a long couple of days, and she couldn't ever remember sleeping quite so well.
Despite that, she still felt like she could use a couple more hours when she was dragged slowly from her dreams of fighting alongside the Knights Mechanica by a light flashing in her eyes.
She rubbed her eyes and took a deep breath. The memory of the dreams began to slip away as she stretched as well as she could inside the cockpit. There was a trace of pain in the back of her neck that would prove to be annoying later in the day, but all she could think was she was being alerted that they were under attack.
"What's the matter, Mini?" she asked around a massive yawn.
"There is nothing to be alarmed over," he said in his calm, feminine voice. "I didn't want to interrupt your sleep but I thought you would want to know that we will arrive at the bunker in a short while. Being awake for that is advisable, according to communication from Hammerhand."
"Wait, Hammerhand is communicating with you?" Jessica13 asked and looked around hastily to confirm there was actually an external comm link open.
"We were included in the Knights' group comm link during the evening, courtesy of Mr. Tinker," Mini replied.
She grunted. "That was nice of him. How far are we from the bunker?"
"About a klick and a half," Mini replied quickly, then paused. "How did you sleep?"
Jessica13 smiled. "It was the best sleep I've had in a long time, I won't lie. I’m a little stiff and sore in places, though."
"You might want to think about installing some kind of modification that would make sleeping in the mech a little more comfortable."
She nodded agreement and focused on the fact that the group hadn’t slowed their pace. The sun had begun to rise in the distance and painted everything in a wide array of golden rays. If there was one thing she was sure of in her ever-changing circumstances, it was that she would never get tired of the many gorgeous sights that filled a world that was supposed to be desolate of all kinds of life and beauty.
Or, at least, that was the impression she had been left with before her first time Topside with Armstrong7.
She settled into the controls but let Mini retain them for a few seconds while she adjusted to her surroundings before she took over. The structure of the Bunker was now visible ahead in the road, almost impossible to miss as they approached the wide area that had been cleared around it.
Since she’d left, the road had been opened and it appeared that most of the mines had been removed to be repositioned when their defenses were set up again. There was no point in leaving them out for someone to step on accidentally when they worked to restore their security measures.
As they approached, Jessica13 realized that a handful of temporary living quarters had been erected outside the bunker, watched over by a group of mechs that assumed the responsibility of temporary security. They made use of what had once been their balloon tether station as a location to start rebuilding from.
The smoke no longer seeped from the bunker behind them, but the ground was still covered by a light dusting of ash that had settled from the pillar of smoke that remained a vivid memory in her mind. Hundreds of tracks crossed the ash, and most of them weren't large enough to be made by the mechs.
It meant the air was clean enough to breathe out there again, at least. They had likely run the venting mechanisms inside the bunker, but it would be a while before it was fully clear of the toxic fumes that had flowed through it.
Jessica13 wasn't sure what to expect when the mechs activated at the sign of intruders. They obviously expected an attack by the pirates and assumed they had returned for what couldn't be carried away the previous time.
She increased the speed of her gait to make sure she was at the front of the line when they approached the group of people who waited silently for them.
While they would probably note that these mechs were different from those that had attacked them, there was no guarantee that they were there to help. Caution was the sensible response.
As they moved closer, she realized that a large group of civilians stood outside the small buildings they had erected. It was larger than the group that she had seen before. Whether they had been trapped inside the bunker and rescued or if there had simply been other survivors who managed to escape during the attack, it didn't really matter to her.
She was happy to see that so many had survived the attack and had worried that most of them had been killed.
Hundreds of people began to emerge from the shelters. The men, women, and children all looked a little tired and smeared with soot but were alive and well.
One of them raced away from the group and past the mechs that stood guard but were still a little unsure as to who these newcomers were. The child looked a little dirtier than the rest of them.
"That's Mini!" she shouted in an impressively loud voice. "That's Mini and Jessica13! They came back!"
It was Prissy, she realized suddenly, and warmth rushed through her along with gratitude that she'd managed to pull the girl up the elevator shaft while the bunker had still been filled with the noxious smoke. Thankfully, she remembered them, and the little girl's words immediately eased the tension in the faces around them. They smiled and laughed when the mother hurried to retrieve her daughter before she got hurt.
The little girl evaded her and rushed closer as the line of Knights came to a halt. None of them wanted to somehow injure the child who raced toward them.
Prissy all but bulldozed into her and wrapped
her arms around Mini's right leg.
"I knew you'd come back, Mini," she said with a grin. "The others thought you wouldn't, but I knew."
"And we are happy to return, Priscilla," Mini replied. Jessica13 almost thought she could detect a hint of genuine warmth in the AI's voice. Of course, with the outside speakers still not working, the girl wasn’t able to hear the response.
"I can't say we thought you were coming back," said a voice through the radio she'd installed.
"So I heard," she replied.
"We're glad you did, anyhow," the man said. Marcus, she thought his name was. "And glad to see you brought friends with you. Are these them? The Knights Mechanica, I mean?"
She was about to answer when the now-familiar shaking underfoot silenced her. Hammerhand stepped to the front of the group and approached the Guardian Marcus piloted.
"My name is Hammerhand and these are the Knights Mechanica," he bellowed over the external speakers. He spoke directly to the leader but it was meant for all of the survivors of the bunker to hear. "News of the attack on your bunker saddened us deeply, and we are here to make sure you are allowed to rebuild and restructure your home so you can live in peace as all are meant to do."
A low cheer issued from the people gathered around them, and Jessica13 couldn't help a small smile.
Marcus took a step forward. It was surreal how the Guardian—which she had for so long seen as the largest mech ever—compared against the sheer size and power that radiated from the Excalibur as it vented steam once more.
Tinker moved in beside her. It appeared as though Marcus and Hammerhand were speaking or exchanging greetings.
"I've been wondering," she said as he came closer and she connected with him on their private commlink. "How is it that he's able to cool something that large? He can't carry very much water and certainly not enough to keep the mech cool for longer periods of time."
"Actually, that's an interesting question I don't quite have all the answers to," the man replied and sounded excited to be able to discuss it. "I've looked into how it works, and from the way I've managed to piece it together, the Excalibur has about twenty different fusion reactors running each element of the mech individually. These are different reactors than what's in your mech or mine. A new kind of tech from the Cities-That-Were had those reactors made to produce supercooled carbon dioxide—or what was called dry ice back in the day. It warms and turns into the steam, you see, and that steam is cold enough to cool the mech off without causing any kind of corrosion. There might have been pressure issues early on, but that was solved with the vents."
Jessica13 listened to the man and a small smile played across her lips. He couldn't see it, of course, but she did appreciate that he had a great deal of passion for his work. It also seemed like he was glad to have someone he could share his knowledge with.
She knew the feeling, having watched as even fellow bulletfoots dreaded her verbal involvement. More than once, their eyes had glazed over when she began to talk on a topic she really, really cared about.
"So, how is the supercooled carbon dioxide produced by the reactors again?" she asked.
"I’m not sure, but it's made as a byproduct of the reactors, so while the mech is heating up, it cools itself off too," Tinker continued. "It's really an ingenious piece of technology. People kind of focus on the sheer size of it—and I can understand how that would happen because it is a monster—but that usually makes folks ignore the small things that make it much more special. Even Hammerhand sometimes. He gets tired of me talking about the fucking thing, and it's his mech."
"I know the feeling," she said with a laugh. "I would like to take a look at it. That one and the Raptor."
"Tinker?" a voice intruded on their conversation. It took Jessica13 a few moments to realize it was Hammerhand but without the booming voice.
"Right here, sir," her companion replied quickly.
"I need you to bring the Beast to see if we can't find a way to help them get the Bunker working once more," their leader said, his voice a sudden and uncharacteristic divergence from his usual cadence.
"Right away, boss," Tinker replied and spun away from her to hurry back the way they'd come. For the kind of mech it was, it moved surprisingly quickly.
"Is there anything I can do?" she asked Hammerhand.
"For now, we need to help these people get back into their bunker where they can set up their defenses," he replied. "Your technical skills would absolutely be appreciated."
"I'll get right on it." She joined the other Knights as they moved toward the civilians. Prissy had been dragged away from Mini's feet by the girl's mother, which enabled them to move again.
She realized the civilians had gathered along the road that had been cleared of ash and soot. They held armfuls of wildflowers collected from the forest and as the mechs marched past them, they cheered and threw the flowers at their feet.
It was a heart-warming sight and she couldn't help but smile as they passed. The group moved in closer to the bunker itself, where they immediately set up to help them not only to repair the bunker itself but modify their temporary living structures to be more effective.
The Watson was otherwise occupied, having settled on the ground. Taylor, the pilot, began to draw parts of the mech out in sections in an area that had been cleared of ash. It was immediately apparent that these compartments contained everything needed for a temporary medical location, and the wounded bunker folks or those who needed other medical help began to draw near for the assistance they needed.
She liked how the Knights seemed to be prepared for almost anything and ready to help in a variety of different ways. Plus, more was on its way from the sound of it, as Tinker had been sent off to find the Beast, whatever that was.
She scrambled out of her mech and strode to where some of the Knights worked to improve the temporary living areas. They appeared to be somewhat confused about the water filters. This had been one of her first jobs in mechanics and she knew it like the back of her hand.
It was quick and easy work and they would definitely need a few upgrades. She saw that condensers had been set up outside to collect water from the air, although they were what was usually used to collect water from the air inside the bunkers to avoid waste.
The system they’d created wasn’t all that efficient but out in the open, there was likely enough water in the air to make up for it.
One of the women whom Jessica13 recognized as Prissy's mother came over to where she worked.
"Thank you so much," she said and sat beside her. She smiled at her little one who ran around Mini's legs. "The Knights Mechanica have really been a blessing in our time of need. A godsend, I think they usually called it in the Cities-That-Were."
"I'm not one of the Knights," she said. "I'm only a messenger."
"The Knights Mechanica need messengers too," the woman said with a small, tired smile. "And you're helping like one of them. That makes you one of them."
She opened her mouth to counter the statement but she wasn't sure why she would do so when she wanted to be a part of the Knights. It had been a decision she made almost without realizing it the night before. Why would she want to dispute it?
Her thoughts were interrupted when the Excalibur approached the entrance to the bunker where the Argonaut that had been there when she had arrived still remained to partially block the entrance. She once against felt a thrill of awe at its final act of courage and defiance to attempt to defend the people inside from the pirate attackers.
The trapdoor at the bottom of the body of the Excalibur opened and a man climbed out. It was Hammerhand, obviously, although he didn’t quite align with how she had pictured him. A part of her had vaguely assumed he might have a thick bushy beard, but this wasn’t the case. Like almost everyone who spent most of their time inside mechs, he was bald and clean-shaven and yet still a tall, powerful man with broad shoulders that bulged through his flight suit.
He held something in his hand and
knelt in front of the Argonaut, lowered his head, and said a prayer for the man who had died within. After a few moments, he placed what looked like a gear from his own mech at the Argonaut's feet before he took a piece from the thigh's armor and tucked it into a pocket.
Jessica13 wandered over to where Taylor operated their improvised Med center while a handful of the other Knights moved to the Argonaut as well and followed Hammerhand's lead to kneel in front of it and place pieces near the mech before they took a piece from it.
"What are they doing?" she asked the man.
"Paying their respects to the fallen," Taylor explained. "A prayer, of course, and then a memory. It gives them something to take with them. You leave a part of yourself behind and take something with you. The last exchange of humanity, Hammerhand calls it."
"Do you think I should?" she asked.
"If you like," he replied as he applied bandages over a woman's burns. "No one will force you to but it's a good way to remember them and carry them with us."
She nodded and decided she would engage in the last exchange of humanity. It felt like the right thing to do, but only once she finished fixing the water filters.
Chapter Nineteen
It felt impossible that she was back where she had started.
Returning to the mountain had been something she had dreaded during the past few days, but as they worked on restoring the bunker to full operation, it became more and more clear that they didn't have all the parts necessary to do it. Tinker returned with his Beast—which was called a Beast of Burden and was an improvised bandwagon that he used to carry all the parts he wanted. It was massive, almost the size of the Excalibur, and piled high with parts. Even so, they had nowhere near enough to accomplish what was necessary.
Given how she felt about the bunker she’d once called home, it was odder still that returning to Sanctuary had been her suggestion. They would have the parts that were required and from her recollection, they had many to spare too. Besides, from the kinds of parts that had been piled on the Beast, there was bound to be enough for them to trade for what they needed.
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