"Your compliment is noted and appreciated," Mini replied.
"Enough dallying!" Hammerhand roared at them. "Those who need our help will not wait, nor will those who wish them harm!"
"Ready to move, Jessica13?" Tinker asked.
"Affirmative." Mini answered the question and completed the diagnostics.
"Let's move," she agreed.
Chapter Eighteen
The day had begun to wind down by the time the mechs were ready to move. None were quite as fleet of foot as Jessica13's Minato but she lacked the kind of firepower they had.
Whether they had killed most of the pirates in the battle or whether those who survived knew better didn't matter. The fact remained that as the group moved through the city, they were left unhindered.
"Do you think the pirates will try to attack us again?" Jessica13 asked Tinker, who had opened a comm line with her.
"Well, you can't ever account for stupid," he replied with a chuckle. "But many of them only survived this long because they know who they can attack and who is best left alone. When an Excalibur wanders around the city with a mech-flattening hammer and flanked by a group like ours, those who know their way around the world stay away. Those who don't won’t last very long anyway. The fun thing about natural selection is how brutal it can be in weeding out the weak."
"Natural selection?" she wondered.
"The evolution of animals," Mini interjected and displayed a couple of diagrams on the HUD. "Animals tend to evolve according to a fundamental premise that those with the best traits for survival in their current environment tend to pass those genes on to their progeny, whereas those that don't die or are killed off. Tinker’s reference implies that those intelligent enough to stay clear of the Knights Mechanica are those who will survive long enough to pass that intelligence to their progeny."
"Oh." She frowned as she considered this. "How come this wasn't taught to us in the instructional vids?"
"It is possible that those in charge of running Sanctuary did not think of it as relevant to your education," the AI pointed out.
"You know, I can tell when you're still talking to your mech," the man interjected. "Even if you don't have your speakers on. Most folks don't really take small things into account like body language. If you shrug, tilt your head, and do anything, the mech moves too so it's like I can see a quarter of the conversation."
"Oh, I didn't mean to be rude," she said, still not sure what the etiquette between these knights was supposed to be. "It was only…it's a little embarrassing. The AI was explaining a part of what you said to me to give me context."
"Don't you worry about anything. We all have gaps in our knowledge," he reassured her. "Was it about the accounting for stupid?"
"No, I understood that part," Jessica13 said. "I've actually heard it before from my CO at the bunker. He liked to say it almost every time the pirates attacked us."
"You don't say?" The man grunted as if surprised. "Ah, well, it's good sense, I suppose. What was the part you needed help with?"
"It was mostly the 'natural selection'," she explained. "But Mini already explained what he thought was the context you used it in."
"He?"
"Yes. They originally fitted him with a female voice modulator, and because the AI wasn't functional when they brought the mech to operation, they didn't think to fix it."
"I…huh." A pause followed, and she waited for his response. "Have you thought about whether you wanted to fix that?"
"What do you think, Mini?" Jessica13 asked. "Should we start looking through the scrap yard for a modulator that best fits your personality?"
"My personality is perfectly adapted to my current module," Mini replied. "I am finicky, as you said."
"No, I said that AIs can be finicky to get to working," she clarified. "And I'd say you're less finicky and more…sassy, I think the word is."
"Sassy. I like that," he said. "I suppose I will continue to be sassy with a new modulator. Therefore, if it makes you feel more comfortable, we can search for one."
"You're doing it again." Tinker laughed.
"Sorry," Jessica13 said. "We're discussing getting him a male modulator instead of the one he has now. He's a little iffy about it but doesn't mind if it would make me happy."
"Oh, well, it wasn't a complaint on my part. I only assumed the AI was…well, based on the voice…"
Tinker didn't appear to know where to go from there and she wondered if he was not used to having someone to talk to. She could understand the sentiment. Machines and mechanical things talked to her in a way she couldn't get from other humans. She even got along better with an AI than she had with any other human she'd met. Maybe the man was the same way and that was why everyone called him Tinker instead of his real name.
"Well, it's not something we're really thinking about," she continued in an attempt to break the awkward silence with the older man. "It’s something to talk about as we make our way to the bunker to see if we can help the people there."
"I can understand that." Tinker sounded a little relieved. "Priorities are important and all that. Hammerhand will likely keep us moving through the night to make sure we reach the bunker in time to help them. Although I guess you can move faster in that Minato. Tell me, does it operate with the Bulletfoot mode? Is that what the others were talking about when they said you moved on all fours?"
Jessica13 hadn't expected someone to know about the Bulletfoot mode. She hadn't found any reference to it in the manus she'd been able to get her hands on so it had surprised her
