It was a bright and sunny day with not even a cloud in the sky. The beauty of it faded quickly as her mind focused instead on the heat that bore down on her. With most of the cooling directed specifically toward the processors, she couldn't help but focus on the relentless heat that rapidly became unbearable. Sweat trickled constantly in rivulets. Aside from the fact that it wasn't comfortable, she knew the inside of the mech would reek of it later if she didn't clean it immediately upon her return.
It was exacerbated by the fact that there was really nothing to see from ground level. At the top of the cliff where their defenses were stationed, she could see for miles when she looked out onto the forests and the cities below—almost forever. On the ground, all she could see was the mud. The area had been cleared of all greenery and wildlife to make sure the folks on the top had a good view of anything that might endanger Sanctuary. It was a tactical necessity but made for dreary work.
Thankfully, there was no sign of the attackers the other bulletfoots had been afraid of and they had reset all the alarms and the minefield before the sun moved away from its peak in the sky. Jessica13 could still feel the soreness from the day before and she had a feeling it wouldn’t be better tomorrow and probably the day after as well.
Even so, it was nice to have someone to talk to. While Mini's speech capabilities were compromised due to his processing power being directed elsewhere, she at least knew someone was there listening to her.
The climb up the cliff was long and arduous and took almost an hour even with the grappler lines still in place to help haul them up.
The Guardians had remained in position and still watched to make sure there was no sign of an incoming assault, even though anyone who had any intention to do so would have attacked already. They gave the bulletfoots time to gather the materials they needed and headed down in the elevator.
"I've tried hailing the elevator AI," Mini said as they descended slowly.
"We call her El," Jessica13 replied.
"Noted. I received a hail in response but…I'm not sure what this means."
She played the sound that had been sent. It was definitely El’s voice and it sounded like a frustrated sigh.
"It sounds like she wants to be left alone," she explained. "That's what humans would call a sigh and it's directly linked to annoyance or frustration. Given that all you did was hail her, I'd have to say she was being…what was the term you used?"
"Drama queen?"
"That's the one."
They reached the bottom of the shaft and after a quick scan to make sure they weren't tracking in any poisons or radiation, the doors pulled open to allow them into the mech hangar. They shut quickly behind them again and the elevator moved up to collect the Guardians who had manned the defense point.
"While we are on the topic of upgrades…" Mini said tentatively.
"Were we on that topic?" Jessica13 asked.
"Your words were, and I quote, 'Maybe once we're back at Sanctuary, we can install a better cooling system'," he said before he replayed an audio of Jessica13's voice.
"Oh, right, so we were," she acknowledged. "Three hours ago but go on."
"My concern that the Minato has no weapons system could be addressed by the installation of that Aegis Cannon," the AI said. "The light-density plasmablasts could easily be integrated into the assault matrix with only a negligible addition to power consumption."
"The Minato is a support mech," she pointed out as they moved slowly across the causeway. "We don't need to upgrade the weapons system."
"Ah, well, if we integrated that Phasmodon Mark II power cell into the Matrix, you wouldn't need to worry about the cooling systems," Mini said and highlighted the piece in question.
Jessica13 hadn't known the name of that particular piece herself.
Still, she shook her head. "No. We can’t simply fit anything we take a fancy to. All upgrades are to make you function optimally, not to turn you into something else."
"Well then, if we could install that Brenner-Harbor z7 Processor, I would be able to transfer my lesser functions to it while I keep my main functions untouched," Mini continued.
Jessica13 sighed.
"That sound is identified as annoyance and or frustration," Mini extrapolated. "Am I to infer that the answer to the processor installation is also no?"
"Very good, Mini," she said and wondered if the AI could detect the sarcasm in her voice.
"Very well, only the cooling system upgrade it is." They reached the harness and the AI strapped himself in.
"It's not that I don't want to upgrade you," Jessica13 said. "It's that I can't really use the parts without getting approval from Armstrong7 and I know that he wouldn't approve it."
"You do not need to explain yourself to me," Mini said. "You brought me back to what humans call life. I trust you implicitly."
She smiled when the smiley face appeared on her HUD. "Thanks, Mini. I'll get to work on those upgrades now."
"That would be appreciated." With that, the mech went into sleep mode.
The bulletfoot climbed hastily out of the cockpit to snag some cleaning materials before anyone else could. Not many resources could be wasted on cleaning, of course, but a quick spray into an oiling rag would at least keep the smell of stale sweat at bay. She replaced everything where she'd found it when she was finished, which was before El returned with the Guardians.
It seemed Armstrong7 was more focused on the pilots than the bulletfoots and left them to either continue working on separating the piles of parts that had been salvaged from the pirates or repairing the suits that needed attention.
Her mech needed repairing.
Jessica13 climbed onto the back, opened it, and called up the data on how the AI was running. It reminded her that Mini had
