"If you knew the kind of scum Athena called on to help with her cause, I don't think you would have wanted him to attempt a peaceable solution," he countered. "She even let a few of the bastards into our ranks and tried to give them the legitimacy they needed to establish themselves with the nearby bunkers. There was no negotiation that would keep Athena from tarnishing the reputation of the Knights as a group that fights for those who cannot defend themselves. In acting quickly, Hammerhand preserved the lives and the reputation of the Knights."
He seemed somewhat less than unbiased in his assertions, but Jessica13 could tell that his viewpoint was the result of long discussions with Hammerhand about the future of the Knights, likely similar to the conversation she had seen before. They were equals and didn't always agree on how the group operated, which gave them a good sense of diversity in their leadership.
"What do you think the chances are that we'll actually engage Athena and her group if it is them we will encounter?" she asked and scanned the flat terrain yet again, although Mini provided no alerts that anything might lie ahead. A quick check of her signals confirmed that Windchime was still about a klick ahead of them and would likely return or call for their support if he thought he needed it.
"Chances?" Tinker asked and shrugged in the exaggerated gesture that came from doing so while still in control of the mech. "I’m not sure what you mean by chances. Are you talking about our chance of actually engaging them or our chances of succeeding if we do?"
"Either or," she said. "You know her better than I do, and if we were to encounter the group, there's not much I could do to prevent any fighting from happening. I doubt I would be able to put up much of a fight or make any kind of significant contribution to a battle if that were to happen either. You will know what chance we have of actually being engaged as well as what we would have of walking away from that alive, to say nothing of victorious."
He glanced at her and chuckled. "I think you underestimate the capabilities of your Minato there as well as your AI. From what I was able to see between your own abilities and what your mech was able to do while being pursued by those pirates, I'd say we have much more in mind for you to do than merely support the combat mechs. It would be a waste to keep the two of you aside from any particular situation in which we might need you because the Minato is technically a support mech."
"He does have a point," Mini added for what felt like the first time since they had left the Beast and begun their scouting mission. "Even if we were kept away from the heat of central combat, using us solely for resupply and support as the mech type dictates would be a waste of our talents."
"Don't distract him," Jessica13 said with a chuckle and patted the inside of her mech to show appreciation for the AI before she returned her attention to the man who marched beside her. "As much as I appreciate your confidence in our abilities, don't change the subject. I get that you think it'll make me feel calmer and better if I didn't know what kind of chances we have, but believe me, a person like me doesn't feel better not knowing. And don't even think about lying either."
Tinker barked a laugh again and this time, sounded genuinely amused by her words. A short silence ensued as they continued through the tall, dry grass that still covered the landscape as far as the eye could see.
"Well, I wouldn't want to insult your intelligence, lassie," he said finally. "Don't think I'm trying to hide anything from you. You should know by now it’s simply how I work. I'm honest to a fault, or I try to be. The fact is, I don't know how likely it would be that any of us would survive an assault on Athena and her followers. When we parted ways, she came away with the larger numbers of the Knights Mechanica but that was years ago. As we haven't encountered her since then, there's no way for us to know if her numbers have dwindled or increased or if her power in this area is the same as it was back then."
"Well, if she spends her time making the lives of simple and undefended farmers difficult, I suppose it would be safe to say she doesn’t rule the landscape with an iron fist," she commented. "Especially if she is a new enough addition to their lives that they would look for help instead of simply finding a way to pay her to leave them be."
"That’s true, I suppose," Tinker admitted. "But she has the Excalibur and her spear, which means she is still a force to be reckoned with. It could be that she is expanding the borders of her control by oppressing open towns that don't have much in the way of protection like you said. Or they're merely doing it because they want to. There’s no way to account for the kind of fucked-up shit folks with addled brains might do for fun Outside."
That much she could agree with. She'd often wondered what led people to be pirates instead of helping the people around them to survive and thrive while they did the same. There were folks who saw it as freedom to release their foul nature that had been restrained in more civilized environments and sometimes, there was no accounting for what those people would do simply because they felt like doing it.
"I have records of studies in this regard if you would like to see them. They indicate that some humans are more likely to engage in actions they truly desire when the supervision and threat of retaliation are reduced," Mini added and displayed a couple of graphs she couldn't understand on the HUD.
“So what are you saying? That people are only good if they have rules and regulations?” She was a little confused, but maybe Hammerhand and the Knights were good only because they had their own rules they enforced themselves?
"Not at all. Unlike AIs that are pre-programmed with certain responses, humans behave according to a wide variety of emotions, character traits, experience, and reactions. In the case of people who are genuinely good like Hammerhand, when given the opportunity to act without anything or anyone punishing their actions, they choose to do good. Those who are motivated by other human driving forces like greed or lust are less likely to help others unless doing so furthers their own goals. It is likely that Athena was always a less than good person from the beginning and only feigned it because she saw the opportunity to benefit from his determination to help others."
"Okay, I can understand that," she said, although it raised any number of other questions. "Few people are like Hammerhand and the Knights, so does that mean there aren't many people who are genuinely good in this world?”
“It’s not black and white,” Tinker interjected. “Athena and Hammerhand could be said to represent the two extremes, although it’s more complicated than that. Everyone has some good or bad in them or at least started out with it. Most people lean toward good, I’d say, otherwise we’d have a horde of Athenas running around killing and rampaging.”
She nodded at that but remained silent, so Mini continued when the man said no more.
“I have computed that, and it is a perfectly logical deduction. However, my records indicate that a human’s primary response is based on perceived personal benefit.” He said it as a statement, but there seemed to be an unspoken question behind it as if he wanted clarity but didn’t want to show his ignorance. Perhaps a hundred years asleep had left bigger gaps in his database than Jessica13 had first realized.
Tinker chuckled. “Well, yes, that’s true. But again, folks are too complex to simply sum up in one sentence. It makes sense that we’d look out for ourselves before we looked out for others. That’s the first rule of survival—to make sure we have what we need like safety, security, food, and all the other things. But that doesn’t mean everyone would kill to achieve that. Besides, if we don’t take care of ourselves, we wouldn’t be able to help anyone else.”
“Again,” Mini stated after a moment, “that appears to be a reasonable assumption. Seeking personal benefits is not necessarily bad but is also sensible.”
“Exactly.” Tinker must have nodded as his mech jerked in an odd way. “Folks who simply do what they need to do are…I dunno. I guess you could say it kind of puts them at a middle point. They’re not bad but if they’re not helping others, they’re not necessarily good either.
It’s when folks help themselves by hurting others that the problems start.”
“But we all need to survive,” Jessica13 said as her mind struggled to assimilate information and ideas she’d never really considered before. Her communal upbringing was still firmly entrenched and would no doubt remain so for a while, which complicated things. So many of her previous assumptions rose up to cloud the issue and she had difficulty, in a single moment, in deciding what was right and what wasn’t. “I don't understand why they don't get what they want through cooperation. The bunkers work because people combine their efforts for the benefit of everyone.” For the present, she ignored the little voice that suggested some might benefit more than others and hurried on lest she distract herself. “And besides that, humans united to fight the Invaders together when the planet was at risk."
"There is, of course, an odd human response to what might be called an external threat, since you are social creatures by nature.” The AI sounded like he might be reading from a file. “If something threatens the existence of a large group of humans or is even perceived as posing a violent threat to a significant group, most will find ways to cooperate despite any differences of opinion or social standing—even humans who would otherwise fight each other should that threat not exist." A slight surge in the readings indicated that Mini was doing ongoing research in the background.
"Humans do live in a threatening world," she insisted. "Why wouldn't that drive us to cooperate in that way?"
"It is certainly a valid question," he said. "However, my data indicates that the reaction to violent threats versus existential threats is different, for some reason. I can continue to research this oddity in your species if you are curious to discover more about it in depth."
"I…well, go ahead. Aside from the fact that I have no clue what existential threats are, I don't see how I can lose by learning more about folks," she said.
"Again, you can’t generalize," Tinker protested. “I’m sure that even when the Invaders came, there were folks who only involved themselves because it suited them. Maybe the pirates we see today were those who cared only about their own skins and what they could get out of it.”
"I guess we’ll never know," she said and shook her head. “And I’ll never really understand it. Things were definitely simpler in Sanctuary where everyone did your thinking for you.”
Tinker laughed. “And where did that get you?” he reminded her, his tone good-natured despite the hint of mockery. “You couldn’t wait to get yourself away from it.”
“Yes, but—”
"Are you two finished bickering like pirates over scraps?" Windchime asked through the commlink. "If you are, I thought you might want an update. It's not a big deal and you might not want to get right on this,” he said with an edge of sarcasm, “but I've come across what looks like the town we were called to help. What do you think we should do?"
"Why didn't you tell us immediately?" Tinker asked and sounded happy to have something to distract them from the conversation that had made him so uncomfortable. They’d moved way beyond the original matter of Athena, of course, but things had a way of circling.
"And stop you telling the other member of our party what and who it is we'll probably have to fight and why?" Windchime seemed both amused and annoyed at the same time. "In truth, I only caught sight of the buildings a few minutes ago and you’d started to discuss all that other crap, so the timing was perfect."
Jessica13 focused on the location they needed to move toward. They increased the pace without a need to discuss it despite the heavy loads they carried. The two teammates closed the distance between themselves and Windchime quickly. He held a position near a cluster of hills that were very noticeable because the underbrush had begun to gain in profusion and density. The green leaves on the plants around them spoke of a water source close to the surface, and as they drew closer, the sound of running water in the distance confirmed that they were approaching it, whatever it might be.
Their scout indicated for them to remain low. "The town is a few klicks away in that direction. It looks like they found a way to divert the water to their fields, but the underbrush still has water."
"Lucky for us," Tinker said, dropped his load, and covered it with loose grass. "Some cover would be nice to approach the town. There’s no way to tell if they have any defenses that might stop any potential intruders."
Jessica13 dropped the supplies she had carried on her back and tried to make as little noise as possible before she followed them through the surprisingly thick cover of trees and bushes. She grimaced when she realized that while it did provide protection, it also made moving quietly almost impossible.
Thankfully, though, it seemed as though the rest of the world around them was more than content to make as much noise as possible, and once they found a way through the thick underbrush, it was easier to sneak closer to the town in question.
The first indication of civilization that she could see was a tower that rose at least fifty meters. Out in the open, it would have been easy to notice but with the hilly terrain and the tree cover, they could almost have missed it if they hadn’t been both cautious and alert.
The other buildings were a little easier to see. They had been assembled with a patchwork of materials obviously scavenged out of necessity. Most had actually been arranged rather ingeniously, she noted as she zoomed her HUD in on a few of them. Sections had been set up to keep the houses away from those that appeared to be used for storage by the rest of the town.
Most of the storage structures had been erected using what looked like sheets of aluminum, even the roofs. Not much thought had been put into them aside from putting them on stilts, likely to keep rodents and other pests away. After a moment’s consideration, she wondered if it was maybe because the area flooded with enough regularity for it to be considered a real problem for the locals.
The homes had a little more thought put into them. Small windmills had been erected around them, either to push water to the towers nearby or maybe to draw it up from the ground. Another possibility that Mini brought up on the screen was that they attempted to generate electricity. A little intrigued by that possibility, she made another careful scrutiny and determined that there were no buildings that might store the nuclear reactors that would otherwise power the location.
The buildings themselves were interesting, aside from the stilts, with some sections made out of simple wood and a little more elegant than the aluminum used for the barns and storage buildings. Other sections were cut with rudimentary steel posts to reinforce concrete walls and their roofs were made of ceramic plates.
It looked like the people were genuinely committed to building a future in the location and had put both thought and effort into having a decent place to live.
The fields were equally impressive. The lack of electrical power to run the entire operation had been overcome and a variety of tools was used to bring water up and keep the fields around the area watered and fertilized. Neat rows of what looked like grain plants were in evidence, for the most part, but there was also a handful of crudely assembled greenhouses that suggested there were a variety of plants under cultivation.
A group of older steel structures—Mini pointed out that they had been vehicles in the past—were used to construct plant beds, and smaller aluminum wheels were set up around the houses. These grew brightly colored flowers that he was unable to find information on in his database.
A rebellious part of Jessica13 liked the idea that their only purpose was to brighten the area. They certainly lent the town a sense of cheerfulness and hope, but her more sensible Sanctuary-taught self told her that their visual appeal was most likely coincidental. The chances were that each one of them was functional for medicinal or food-based use.
There were also fenced-off sections near the houses where smaller flightless birds mingled with four-legged creatures of various types. Some looked similar to the fox she'd seen in the city, while others had hooves and tall, p
ointed ears as well as bright pink skin.
"What are those?" she asked as she settled into the location Windchime had chosen for them to use as an overwatch position.
"The furry, smaller ones appear to be domesticated dogs," Mini said and zoomed in on one that had black fur over one eye and white fur over the other. "The rounder, longer ones with bristly hair are pigs, grown for their meat, and the birds are chickens, raised for their meat as well as their eggs."
Despite her earlier discussion with Windchime, she still had difficulty in fully accepting the idea of animals as a food source. It made sense on a purely superficial level but it had been a foreign concept in the bunker and even the Knights Mechanica didn’t have them. She’d grown up with the firmly entrenched belief that feeding animals only to eat them was considered a waste of resources, although part of her now wondered if that hadn’t been a way to avoid explaining why they didn’t have them.
Still, Windchime had explained that the animals could produce more nutritious food and therefore there was no real waste of resources. Not only that, they might survive and even thrive where it wasn’t possible to actually grow crops. Now, as she studied the actual evidence in front of here, it seemed to support what he’d said.
These people obviously didn’t have unlimited resources—the scavenged building supplies indicated that very clearly—and if they thought it was important and worthwhile to raise animals, maybe the problem was yet another of Sanctuary’s deceptions.
"Although I doubt the domesticated dogs are eaten," Mini continued when a few children came out to play with the animals. A low hum indicated that he was either searching or updating his database or perhaps both. "It would appear that there are still significant gaps in my database, which I shall continue to attempt to restore or update as we encounter new information. I do, however, find some records of certain situations where they were consumed, but these seem to be the exception rather than the rule. From what I can see, their abilities enable them to help to herd and hunt other animals, which is considered more valuable than being used as a food source."
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