Bulletfoot One

by Marshall Rust

  It was a good idea. Tinker and Hammerhand had both agreed and so had most of the Knights.

  Then why did she feel so shitty about it?

  The answer was simple and possibly entirely selfish. She didn't want to go back. Not after everything that happened.

  "Do you think they got the message, boss?" Tinker asked.

  "They heard us," Hammerhand replied across the commlink. "They are trying to decide whether or not to let us in."

  Jessica13 scanned their surroundings. They had found a way around the minefield and tried to hail the AI that would allow communication with those inside. If they were willing to trade with the Knights, someone would be sent up on the elevator and cables would be let down the cliffside that would allow them to climb up.

  Either that or they would open the entrance on the lowest level on the other side of the mountain, but she hadn't ever seen them open that one in all the time she’d lived there. She had dreaded the dire circumstances that would make that necessary when she was inside but now, she couldn’t help but feel a little foolish about her fears.

  She took a deep breath and looked around again.

  "You nervous?" Tinker asked and shuffled a little closer to her. "There's no need to be, you know. If they don't want to trade, we can head over to one of the other bunkers nearby."

  "I don't think I'll be welcome there," she admitted. "I didn't part on the best of terms."

  "I don't think they much like anyone leaving Sanctuary," he replied with a shrug that triggered a comically exaggerated reaction from his mech. "They tried to stop me from leaving when I did, but as long as you did it without killing anyone, they're not too sour about it. Of course, they’re not happy about losing one of their own but they don't want someone who drags morale down to stick around. That's simply bad manners."

  "Wait—you came from Sanctuary too?" Jessica13 asked. "How come you didn't say that before?"

  He turned to look at her. "I must have. I feel like I talk so much, it's bound to come out eventually."

  "When did you leave?"

  "I can't rightly remember but it can't have been more than twenty, thirty years, though," he said. "Odd how time doesn't pass the same out here as it did in there. I’m not sure which one I prefer. Not too many people want to get out so they probably scrubbed my existence out of the books and started the replacement process."

  She nodded and wondered if the same had been done for her position. Someone would have been brought up to replace her from one of the other levels, likely with mechanical knowledge. The exchanges between levels would have continued until it reached one of the less-vital stations. Finally, the process of replacing her would culminate when they found one of the waiting mothers with the right genetic conditions who were ready to reproduce.

  It was a process that usually only occurred when someone inside died but maybe to the people inside, she had died.

  "There's our answer," Hammerhand said and raised his hammer to guide their gazes to the top of the cliff where a handful of Guardian mechs lowered the cables to allow access to the Knights.

  Only five lines descended, and it was quickly decided that Tinker, Hammerhand, Taylor, Carson, and Jessica13 would go up first. The leader’s massive mech required the combined strength of the cables to hoist him upward, and the other four waited until the lines were free once again before they followed. The other Knights would either hold their positions or join them later. She could understand why they would want to allow as few of the newcomers up the cliff as possible.

  Her chest pounded with every step she took closer to the home she had rejected. Mini was suspiciously silent on their return and she wasn't sure if it was because he had almost been “killed” when the Librarian tried to wipe his databanks or if he merely had nothing to say.

  They reached the top, where a group of mechs waited for them, but none had assumed any kind of attack position. She recognized Armstrong7's Argonaut standing tall in front as well as a couple of Guardians, one piloted by Lance7. It was a greeting party, and from the look of the open elevator door behind them, it seemed more welcoming than intimidating.

  "Hammerhand," Armstrong7 said an took a step forward. "It's been a while since I've seen that big ugly mount of yours, old man."

  "I'll bet you were counting the days, my friend," the Knight leader replied and extended his right hand forward, closed in a fist. The Sanctuary OC tapped it with his own before they turned toward the elevator.

  Jessica13 couldn't tell if they didn't recognize her or if they simply didn't care. Either way, it didn't really matter. She was far more intrigued by the fact that Hammerhand seemed to be on friendly terms with her erstwhile boss. Although she wracked her brain and sifted quickly through her memories, she couldn’t recall a single moment where the CO had mentioned personally knowing the Knights Mechanica or their leader. For the life of her, she couldn’t understand why the truth of the matter had been clouded and perhaps even deliberately obscured by the myths and legends that filtered through to the rank and file.

  Not only that but for the first time as far as she could recall, traders were actually invited into Sanctuary. This seemed entirely contradictory, and she could only assume that the CO was, in fact, well aware of who and what they were—to the point where they were given an open invitation. She wondered how in hell they would explain that to all the folks who suddenly saw one of the most basic rules being broken. It honestly made no sense at all.

  Once they were inside, Tinker moved to where Armstrong7 stood and nudged him in the shoulder the same way that he had with her, although the Argonaut was nowhere near as affected as her mech had been.

  "Xander, you son of a bitch, is that you?" the CO asked and turned his mech to face the man.

  "Hah, I thought you wouldn't recognize me in this little fucker." Tinker laughed. "How the hell have you been, Armstrong7? Do people still call you Xander?"

  "From time to time, yes," he said with a chuckle. "Not nearly as much as you did, though. How did you end up with Jessie over here?"

  Her ears perked up when she heard her nickname mentioned. There had been no indication that they recognized her, but who else would wander Outside in a Minato?

  Tinker leaned over and nudged her shoulder. "She came into the City-That-Was trying to help the bunker we mentioned in the message. And, mind you, tangled with a few bad eggs while there and killed a handful of them too before we had to step in and teach them a lesson."

  "How did you—" Armstrong7 turned to her. "How did you get that right? Installed new weapons on the Minato, did we?"

  She was almost stunned that they acted like she hadn't even left. While she appreciated the fact that she hadn’t been tossed out, she hadn't expected them to react like nothing had happened.

  "I…well…" she started, stopped, and tried again. "We were in a scrapyard. There were weapons that could be used around us so I improvised. It didn't work out great since I still needed to be rescued."

  "Well, that's why you don't fight combat mechs with a support mech but hey, that's still better than what most would have been able to do," he replied.

  "It was mostly the work of the AI but I guess I did contribute a little."

  Tinker laughed again as they continued to descend until they reached the hangar. Reeling from the apparent contradictions and feeling way out of her depth, she simply remained silent and hoped something would be said to clear up her confusion.

  It was all so familiar and yet, as she stepped inside, it seemed that what had once been home was now utterly strange. She looked at the lines and lines of mechs set up on their harnesses while the bulletfoots she had worked with for years labored studiously on those they were supposed to fix, upgrade or clean. The scene was vividly familiar but it was still somehow foreign.

  She acknowledged with both a sense of relief and a slight pang of regret that she wasn't a part of this world anymore.

  When they saw the foreign mechs approach across the causeway, the workers began t
o pull away, a little nervous of the newcomers. More than one astonished glance flashed over the visitors and it was obvious that they had no idea what to make of this unprecedented bending of the rules. They didn't run, though, as the Sanctuary mechs remained close and escorted them through until they could find harnesses for the new mechs.

  They didn't bother trying to find one for Hammerhand, though, and he simply deactivated his Excalibur and climbed out.

  The bulletfoots and other mech pilots still regarded the newcomers with suspicion but seemed to have adopted the stay away approach. She understood the feeling and knew it wouldn’t pass. There was a mistrust of anything from the Outside embedded in them, and from what she remembered of her own education, she couldn't blame them.

  No explanation was given as to who the newcomers were, which certainly didn’t help. It seemed that even now, with an obvious opportunity to present the truth, the status quo would be perpetuated and the Knights Mechanica would remain mere legend. She’d been present on a few occasions when a caravan had been allowed access to the plateau but they didn’t arrive often and it was usually peddlers. While she’d heard that other bunkers had sent a trade deputation, she’d never seen it herself.

  Little wonder then that her erstwhile colleagues felt uneasy and discomforted by the arrival of these unusual visitors. She could already imagine the CO’s brusque explanation—probably that they came from another bunker and he knew them personally, which was little more than a partial truth—in the tone that precluded argument. Perhaps that was why he hadn’t introduced them or mentioned the Knights Mechanica. He could simply pretend they were someone else.

  The Knights dismounted and moved to Armstrong7, who had exited his mech as well and now headed toward his office.

  "I can't guarantee that the admins will be willing to trade the parts," the man said and shook his head. "But we do need those you mentioned. The reactors especially—we're running low on those for the filtering systems. I'll put in a good word for you and maybe, just maybe, we'll be able to arrange a trade. You can wait here while I work on that."

  Hammerhand nodded. "Your assistance in this matter is appreciated."

  "There’s not much I wouldn't do for you, old friend." The CO patted the taller, leaner man on the shoulder. "In the meantime, I think you could all use work on your mechs. Let our bulletfoots know if you need anything. I'm sure they'll be glad to help."

  "They won't," Jessica13 said under her breath.

  She wasn't sure if he heard her but returned to the Minato without waiting to find out.

  The negotiations, as it turned out, dragged on almost interminably, which allowed her the time she needed to work on Mini. There were a few improvements she had planned and with help from Tinker, she was able to retrieve a few legs the man had recommended from his hoard.

  "Why are you giving the girl chicken legs, Tinker?" Carson asked, who approached while they worked to replace the limbs. "No need to waste the good parts on the new girl."

  "It’s better than wasting them on you, you old mange-covered mutt," her companion retorted and continued to remove the old limbs from the Minato.

  "Why are you putting new legs on me?" Mini sounded a little anxious about the changes.

  "I have footage of you running from the pirates," Tinker explained without pausing in his work. "Impressive running, of course, but I noted that you had far more traction on the back feet than the power that was transferred there. The balance was a little off too, so that would have been helped with these limbs. I'll keep the old ones in case you don't approve or have stability issues."

  Mini remained silent and Jessica13 could tell that he calculated how the change would affect his Bulletfoot mode. They would continue to make him more and more efficient as they initiated improvements.

  No mech was ever finished according to the Shimura/Sendai motto, which they printed on the front of the manus she'd gotten her hands on.

  "Hey, you!" Tinker called, and a head turned toward him. Jessica13 recognized the bulletfoot who worked on one of the other mechs but couldn’t recall his name. "This one here needs a new paint job. Do you know how to make up green paint?"

  The kid tried not to look hostile in any way as he approached them and shook his head.

  "You take a load of grease out from the joints of…let's say that baby over there." Tinker pointed at the Excalibur. "You mix it with a little engine oil until you get the right shade. When you're finished, come over because this Minato needs a new paint job to make him fit right in."

  Jessica13 couldn't help a small smile when the bulletfoot rushed away to collect the ingredients. "I thought you said you didn't like the green."

  "Well, I won’t be out there representing the Knights Mechanica," Tinker said. "You will, so you need to look the part. We'll fit Mini with one of those banners once you've been in a tussle or two."

  "But I'm not a Knight yet," she pointed out.

  "Well, you can be if you want to," Tinker replied and looked at her while he wiped the sweat from his bushy eyebrow. "Or you can tell him to go back to whatever he was doing before."

  "No, no, that's fine," she said and turned to help him. She liked the idea of looking the part of one of the Knights.

  It was quick work to replace the legs, made easier by the harness that held Mini up when he didn't have any other support and gave them time to fit the new parts without difficulty.

  Once they released him from the harness, Jessica13 held her breath as Mini settled into them. She wished she could have been inside but since he was the one who would operate the mech at the high speeds that would make it matter, it was better for her to simply let him move the mech alone and run his calculations.

  Once he was finished with those, he would be able to factor her added weight in.

  "Well, you are right," the AI said finally and moved experimentally on the causeway. "I do have better balance numbers with these legs than the others. I'll have to give it a proper test once we're outside."

  Tinker nodded. "Of course, and I'll keep the legs from the Minato original on the Beast if you want them back. It won't be as easy to get them on when we’re out of here, but we can do it. I think I have a couple of harnesses on the Beast if you need them."

  Jessica13 frowned when Mini moved the mech in an odd up and down motion like he tried to do something with it and it wasn't working. She tilted her head and studied his efforts for a few moments.

  "What are you doing?" she asked finally.

  "I'm trying to crouch," Mini explained.

  She shook her head. "No, no, you can't do it that way. It's against the joint lines. Your legs now bend backward, like a… What was the animal we saw in the city?"

  "A fox?"

  "Yes, a fox. The legs bend backward, which gives you better mobility when you're on all fours. I think it might slow us when we're on two legs, but it should give us better stability."

  The AI paused for a moment to adjust the coding that controlled the movement, then crouched, settled on the new legs, and moved tentatively in the fairly limited space. Jessica13 watched intently as the mech gradually adjusted to the new legs until they visibly worked better.

  She knew for a fact that she wouldn't have been able to get them working so quickly. Those with the legs that bent backward would always be more difficult.

  "Where's that kid with the fucking paint?" Tinker asked, looked around, and waved the young man toward them. He carried a can of the paint he'd whipped up and held it out for approval. It did have the greasy, green look the other Knights had, she had to admit.

  "Watch it with the joints," Mini warned him. "I don't want to have to clean them out before I can move properly again."

  Jessica13 could hear the Knights laugh at a bulletfoot being bossed around by an AI, but she didn't laugh. Not too long before, she had been the one doing that kind of job.

  While that was a recent enough memory to still be valid, it also felt like an age had passed since them.

  Arms
trong7 stepped through the door of his office. He seemed tired and carried a jug she had seen in his office before. He put considerable work into it and because having alcoholic drinks in Sanctuary was frowned upon, he usually kept it secret.

  She often wondered how much of a secret it actually was since she knew about it, but it wasn't like the admins would punish their head of security for making alcohol in his spare time.

  "They're discussing it, but I feel hopeful," the CO declared. "And it might be a little premature but I thought we could share a drink. A toast for the exchange, sure, but also to drink in the presence of old comrades."

  "Are you still making that shit from the barley cakes?" Tinker asked. He withdrew a handful of aluminum cups from his coat and handed them to the Knights and any other takers. None of the bulletfoots or mech pilots from Sanctuary responded. They still looked less than trusting of the Outsiders.

  "It's the best in the world and you know it," Armstrong7 replied and poured from the jug into the cups. Jessica13 took one for herself, held it while the milky-white liquid was poured, and frowned at it a little dubiously before she took a sip.

  It burned like battery acid and the moment it was clear of her mouth, she coughed and wheezed from the heat of it.

  "You know it's working when it makes you cough like that, little one." Tinker laughed, as did the other Knights as they drank.

  "You know she needs a drink when she's been working with you, Tink," Taylor said, still laughing and now a little red in the face. "But her work on the mechs is better than yours, so maybe you need some too."

  "Bah," Tinker spluttered and shook his head. "I'm a fucking genius and you damn better know it. You can always tell who's the genius because they're the ones getting laughed at. Remember that, Jessie."

  “But the fact that some geniuses were laughed at does not imply that all who are laughed at are geniuses. They laughed at Columbus, they laughed at Fulton, and they laughed at the Wright brothers," Armstrong7 interjected and sounded more serious than before. "But they also laughed at Bozo the Clown. A Prophet Sagan classic, and definitely one of my favorites."