The smoke no longer seeped from the bunker behind them, but the ground was still covered by a light dusting of ash that had settled from the pillar of smoke that remained a vivid memory in her mind. Hundreds of tracks crossed the ash, and most of them weren't large enough to be made by the mechs.
It meant the air was clean enough to breathe out there again, at least. They had likely run the venting mechanisms inside the bunker, but it would be a while before it was fully clear of the toxic fumes that had flowed through it.
Jessica13 wasn't sure what to expect when the mechs activated at the sign of intruders. They obviously expected an attack by the pirates and assumed they had returned for what couldn't be carried away the previous time.
She increased the speed of her gait to make sure she was at the front of the line when they approached the group of people who waited silently for them.
While they would probably note that these mechs were different from those that had attacked them, there was no guarantee that they were there to help. Caution was the sensible response.
As they moved closer, she realized that a large group of civilians stood outside the small buildings they had erected. It was larger than the group that she had seen before. Whether they had been trapped inside the bunker and rescued or if there had simply been other survivors who managed to escape during the attack, it didn't really matter to her.
She was happy to see that so many had survived the attack and had worried that most of them had been killed.
Hundreds of people began to emerge from the shelters. The men, women, and children all looked a little tired and smeared with soot but were alive and well.
One of them raced away from the group and past the mechs that stood guard but were still a little unsure as to who these newcomers were. The child looked a little dirtier than the rest of them.
"That's Mini!" she shouted in an impressively loud voice. "That's Mini and Jessica13! They came back!"
It was Prissy, she realized suddenly, and warmth rushed through her along with gratitude that she'd managed to pull the girl up the elevator shaft while the bunker had still been filled with the noxious smoke. Thankfully, she remembered them, and the little girl's words immediately eased the tension in the faces around them. They smiled and laughed when the mother hurried to retrieve her daughter before she got hurt.
The little girl evaded her and rushed closer as the line of Knights came to a halt. None of them wanted to somehow injure the child who raced toward them.
Prissy all but bulldozed into her and wrapped her arms around Mini's right leg.
"I knew you'd come back, Mini," she said with a grin. "The others thought you wouldn't, but I knew."
"And we are happy to return, Priscilla," Mini replied. Jessica13 almost thought she could detect a hint of genuine warmth in the AI's voice. Of course, with the outside speakers still not working, the girl wasn’t able to hear the response.
"I can't say we thought you were coming back," said a voice through the radio she'd installed.
"So I heard," she replied.
"We're glad you did, anyhow," the man said. Marcus, she thought his name was. "And glad to see you brought friends with you. Are these them? The Knights Mechanica, I mean?"
She was about to answer when the now-familiar shaking underfoot silenced her. Hammerhand stepped to the front of the group and approached the Guardian Marcus piloted.
"My name is Hammerhand and these are the Knights Mechanica," he bellowed over the external speakers. He spoke directly to the leader but it was meant for all of the survivors of the bunker to hear. "News of the attack on your bunker saddened us deeply, and we are here to make sure you are allowed to rebuild and restructure your home so you can live in peace as all are meant to do."
A low cheer issued from the people gathered around them, and Jessica13 couldn't help a small smile.
Marcus took a step forward. It was surreal how the Guardian—which she had for so long seen as the largest mech ever—compared against the sheer size and power that radiated from the Excalibur as it vented steam once more.
Tinker moved in beside her. It appeared as though Marcus and Hammerhand were speaking or exchanging greetings.
"I've been wondering," she said as he came closer and she connected with him on their private commlink. "How is it that he's able to cool something that large? He can't carry very much water and certainly not enough to keep the mech cool for longer periods of time."
"Actually, that's an interesting question I don't quite have all the answers to," the man replied and sounded excited to be able to discuss it. "I've looked into how it works, and from the way I've managed to piece it together, the Excalibur has about twenty different fusion reactors running each element of the mech individually. These are different reactors than what's in your mech or mine. A new kind of tech from the Cities-That-Were had those reactors made to produce supercooled carbon dioxide—or what was called dry ice back in the day. It warms and turns into the steam, you see, and that steam is cold enough to cool the mech off without causing any kind of corrosion. There might have been pressure issues early on, but that was solved with the vents."
Jessica13 listened to the man and a small smile played across her lips. He couldn't see it, of course, but she did appreciate that he had a great deal of passion for his work. It also seemed like he was glad to have someone he could share his knowledge with.
She knew the feeling, having watched as even fellow bulletfoots dreaded her verbal involvement. More than once, their eyes had glazed over when she began
