Maybe he realized that or maybe he didn't. Either way, their new ally continued to move forward and guided the troop to the top of the mesa.
The structure of it was unlike anything Hammerhand had seen before, in person at least. He'd visited enough of the bunkers out there to know how they were generally built and set up, but this one appeared to be far more fortified. It went with the idea that they had constructed it to sustain anything up to and including an orbital bombardment, and this certainly didn't disappoint.
The entrance into the bunker was built into the structure of the mesa itself and thus managed to retain the defensive qualities of being underground while having the visual advantage over the terrain around it provided by an elevated structure. It was fairly ingenious, and Hammerhand had to wonder if they had set the groundwork up for those elements to be used or if the mesa had already been in place and they had merely taken advantage of it.
It was difficult to see into the minds of the people who had lived on their planet that long before. The culture was too different for him to be able to even try.
He did like the way it was built into the mesa, which enabled the earth to carry the first line of defense, but as they moved into the bunker building itself, it looked more like a hangar. A huge chamber greeted them, large enough for the Excalibur to stand in it with room to spare, which meant it could house the few medium-sized orbital defense ships he had seen the schematics to back in the day.
Although, he decided, it was unlikely that any production happened there. As large as it was, it was still too small to be a manufacturer of the ships it could house. It was more likely that the hangar bay had been designed for transportation purposes.
Again, he couldn’t possibly assume that he knew much about what they had thought back then.
The hangar was reinforced with steel plates, which were in turn held in place by steel-reinforced concrete. He could see the plates only because the concrete had begun to erode and reveal what was beneath. It didn't seem safe, especially as the floor they walked on was covered in a light coat of the concrete dust that had fallen. If he didn't know better, he would have said the place had been abandoned for years.
Of course, he did know better. More importantly, tracks in the dust revealed where the mechs they had recently fought had strolled through not long before. In addition, the massive steel door at the back of the bay—which appeared newer than the rest of the structure—still showed the gleam of clean steel.
A quick scan revealed that the metal was almost a full meter thick and the supports around it were even more secure. It wasn't only steel either, he noted, but the scanner couldn't detect what alloy had been used to forge it.
They would definitely not be able to cut through it, though, that much was clear. Even Windchime's swords would likely dull themselves and break if they tried.
"I suppose we should have anticipated something like this," Hammerhand said, moved closer, and placed his hand on the steel door. "I’m reasonably sure that the number of explosives needed to break through a door like this would turn this whole mesa into a fucking crater."
"We could speak to my men at the bottom," the Prophet suggested. "They would have a steel-cutting lance that would find a way through. It would take considerable time, but—"
He stopped talking when something moved suddenly behind the door—or perhaps it was the door itself. Low yet unmistakable clunking issued from inside the steel and something ground to indicate motion.
Seconds ticked past as it continued while they simply stood and stared.
"Do you suppose they're reinforcing their position in there?" Tinker asked finally when no one else seemed inclined to speak.
They didn't have to wonder long. After five full minutes had passed, a loud creaking filled the hangar bay and the door swung open.
It moved outward, which forced Hammerhand to take a couple of steps back to keep it from knocking the Excalibur over. Movement was slow and it inched wider until there was enough space for a small mech to pass through.
Instead of a mech, however, an unarmored woman stepped out in a white coat and with her brown hair secured in a braid.
"My name is Erica8," she said as loudly as she could. "Welcome to the Hall of the Ecologists."
Chapter Fifty-Four
Hammerhand reminded himself that he had seen his share of bunkers during his life. In fact, he had seen more than a few people's fair share of bunkers over his time traveling the Outside to help those who needed it so he could make a way for as many as possible to live in the peace he wanted for all.
It seemed necessary to remind himself of what was necessary and familiar—what he considered normal—because he had never seen anything quite like this.
Of course, it wasn't exactly a bunker, at least not in the traditional sense. Erica8 invited him and the Prophet down the hallway that led to a staircase and guided them past row after row of what looked like giant freezers. Within, men and women worked wrapped in thermal suits.
Eventually, they reached what looked like a mess hall but once again, it was unlike any he had ever seen. The walls were decorated with dozens of paintings of nature scenes from before the Invasion. These included waterfalls and forests, for the most part, as well as depictions of great scientists of times past, complete with small plaques with their names and contributions.
The food was similar to that of the other
