"So, how is the supercooled carbon dioxide produced by the reactors again?" she asked.
"I’m not sure, but it's made as a byproduct of the reactors, so while the mech is heating up, it cools itself off too," Tinker continued. "It's really an ingenious piece of technology. People kind of focus on the sheer size of it—and I can understand how that would happen because it is a monster—but that usually makes folks ignore the small things that make it much more special. Even Hammerhand sometimes. He gets tired of me talking about the fucking thing, and it's his mech."
"I know the feeling," she said with a laugh. "I would like to take a look at it. That one and the Raptor."
"Tinker?" a voice intruded on their conversation. It took Jessica13 a few moments to realize it was Hammerhand but without the booming voice.
"Right here, sir," her companion replied quickly.
"I need you to bring the Beast to see if we can't find a way to help them get the Bunker working once more," their leader said, his voice a sudden and uncharacteristic divergence from his usual cadence.
"Right away, boss," Tinker replied and spun away from her to hurry back the way they'd come. For the kind of mech it was, it moved surprisingly quickly.
"Is there anything I can do?" she asked Hammerhand.
"For now, we need to help these people get back into their bunker where they can set up their defenses," he replied. "Your technical skills would absolutely be appreciated."
"I'll get right on it." She joined the other Knights as they moved toward the civilians. Prissy had been dragged away from Mini's feet by the girl's mother, which enabled them to move again.
She realized the civilians had gathered along the road that had been cleared of ash and soot. They held armfuls of wildflowers collected from the forest and as the mechs marched past them, they cheered and threw the flowers at their feet.
It was a heart-warming sight and she couldn't help but smile as they passed. The group moved in closer to the bunker itself, where they immediately set up to help them not only to repair the bunker itself but modify their temporary living structures to be more effective.
The Watson was otherwise occupied, having settled on the ground. Taylor, the pilot, began to draw parts of the mech out in sections in an area that had been cleared of ash. It was immediately apparent that these compartments contained everything needed for a temporary medical location, and the wounded bunker folks or those who needed other medical help began to draw near for the assistance they needed.
She liked how the Knights seemed to be prepared for almost anything and ready to help in a variety of different ways. Plus, more was on its way from the sound of it, as Tinker had been sent off to find the Beast, whatever that was.
She scrambled out of her mech and strode to where some of the Knights worked to improve the temporary living areas. They appeared to be somewhat confused about the water filters. This had been one of her first jobs in mechanics and she knew it like the back of her hand.
It was quick and easy work and they would definitely need a few upgrades. She saw that condensers had been set up outside to collect water from the air, although they were what was usually used to collect water from the air inside the bunkers to avoid waste.
The system they’d created wasn’t all that efficient but out in the open, there was likely enough water in the air to make up for it.
One of the women whom Jessica13 recognized as Prissy's mother came over to where she worked.
"Thank you so much," she said and sat beside her. She smiled at her little one who ran around Mini's legs. "The Knights Mechanica have really been a blessing in our time of need. A godsend, I think they usually called it in the Cities-That-Were."
"I'm not one of the Knights," she said. "I'm only a messenger."
"The Knights Mechanica need messengers too," the woman said with a small, tired smile. "And you're helping like one of them. That makes you one of them."
She opened her mouth to counter the statement but she wasn't sure why she would do so when she wanted to be a part of the Knights. It had been a decision she made almost without realizing it the night before. Why would she want to dispute it?
Her thoughts were interrupted when the Excalibur approached the entrance to the bunker where the Argonaut that had been there when she had arrived still remained to partially block the entrance. She once against felt a thrill of awe at its final act of courage and defiance to attempt to defend the people inside from the pirate attackers.
The trapdoor at the bottom of the body of the Excalibur opened and a man climbed out. It was Hammerhand, obviously, although he didn’t quite align with how she had pictured him. A part of her had vaguely assumed he might have a thick bushy beard, but this wasn’t the case. Like almost everyone who spent most of their time inside mechs, he was bald and clean-shaven and yet still a tall, powerful man with broad shoulders that bulged through his flight suit.
He held something in his hand and knelt in front of the Argonaut, lowered his head, and said a prayer for the man who had died within. After a few moments, he placed what looked like a gear from his own mech at the Argonaut's feet before he took a piece from the thigh's armor and tucked it into a pocket.
Jessica13 wandered over to where Taylor operated their improvised Med center while a handful of the other Knights moved to the Argonaut as well and followed Hammerhand's lead to kneel in front of it and place pieces near the mech before they took a piece from
