"That could be a reference to the old legends of the wandering gunslingers of times past," Mini commented. "Are you sure they even exist? As a group, I mean, because it could be that there are people who helped others and have thus been elevated to the status of a Knight Mechanica."
She thought about it for a moment and tried to recall the various snippets she’d heard during her life in Sanctuary. "I suppose it is possible but I don't think so. Outside, you wouldn't see too many people living alone and helping people like that. They might not be called the Knights Mechanica but there is a group out here that helps people. There…has to be."
Mini understood and gave her a thumbs-up on the HUD screen as they continued to move across the landscape, still in Bulletfoot mode. The trees began to thin and gave way to thick grasslands that were a little easier to traverse. It also provided a good view of the smaller buildings that indicated they were now inside the city.
"Do you think we should try to connect with the Knights?" Jessica13 asked as they moved between the walls that had crumbled for years and were already overgrown by plants and vines.
"The CO at the bunker said to be sparing with the use of the radio," Mini replied. "I don't think it was because he was afraid we would break it."
She nodded. "He was afraid someone else might listen in. Pirates are in these parts, and if they hear a random message sent out, they'll see the opportunity for an easy score. It’s best to only send the message out when we're sure it'll reach someone we want it to get to."
"How will we know that?"
"Honestly? I have no idea. I guess we'll know it when we see it."
That wasn’t even remotely reassuring but it was the best she could think of. The closer they got to the city, the taller the buildings became and to her, it felt like they had stepped into another forest. There weren't too many trees and the concrete structures and ground appeared to be relatively intact. Relatively was the operative word, as there were cracks from which grass and smaller trees sprouted.
Most of the foliage appeared to be from vines that climbed all the buildings as well as the steel light fixtures that looked to have been there forever.
Animals could be seen moving across the open spaces. They moved quickly in groups to keep from being targeted by the birds of prey she could see circling in the sky above them. Despite everything and all the terrifying horrors that had destroyed the human population in the area, the plants and animals had survived and, by the looks of it, thrived.
She'd never seen any of these creatures in person but some, like the deer and even a few rats and marmots here and there, she had seen before in the instructional vids that had been shown to her when she was a child.
Most of them, she hadn't seen before. Many of the birds displayed bright yellow and red plumage and chirped and chattered as if in conversation with each other up in the buildings. It created a somewhat confusing kind of harmony. The oddest creature she saw looked like a smaller-sized dog but with a finer snout, bright red fur, and a bushy tail that was tipped with white.
"Do you have anything in the databanks regarding that?" Jessica13 asked as she watched it run into the sanctuary of a building close by.
"That is a quadruped known as the red fox, or Vulpes Vulpes, common to these parts," Mini replied.
"You know that explains almost nothing, right?"
A pause followed while the AI tried to correlate it in a way that she would understand. "Think of it like a creature with dog hardware but running on cat software."
"What's a cat?"
"That is a difficult question to answer, honestly. These are the pictures in my databanks."
Jessica13 leaned forward and narrowed her eyes to study the ginger-colored creature with soft white stripes, diamond-shaped ears, a lithe frame, and a long, thin tail. It stared at the camera that took the picture with large, slitted eyes.
"Did we used to keep those creatures as pets too?" she asked.
"Well, the question remains as to whether humans kept them as pets or if they kept humans as pets, although a compromise would conclude that it was a symbiotic relationship where humans provided the cats with shelter and food and the cats kept smaller pests away from the humans' food.” A few more images of cats displayed, including what looked like a carving of the creature into yellowish rock. "There are also reports of humans worshiping cats as deities, although whether the worship was directed toward a deity who was a cat or if all cats were deities is hard to determine."
"Huh." She scrunched her face in distaste. "I don't think I could ever worship a creature that was an eighth of my size. I like the symbiotic relationship."
"Affirmative," Mini said. "That is the more likely scenario."
"And these foxes were like cats, then?" Jessica asked as they approached a small structure placed in a clearing in the middle of the buildings that rounded out into a circular wall about as tall as her knee, an open space, and then a taller, more elaborate structure in the center.
"They were comparable, but foxes were never domesticated by humans or, at least, not to the extent cats were," Mini continued as they came to a halt. "Although that wouldn't have explained much if you don't know how cats behaved."
"Well, they were creatures with similar characteristics," she said. "I've seen a fox and I can assume that cats would have acted in a similar fashion."
"That is an interesting assumption." Jessica13 pushed the doors of the mech open and stepped outside. "What are you doing?"
"Well, it's around the time I would normally indulge in a midday meal," she said. "As long as you keep your sensors
