"What are they doing?" she asked the man.
"Paying their respects to the fallen," Taylor explained. "A prayer, of course, and then a memory. It gives them something to take with them. You leave a part of yourself behind and take something with you. The last exchange of humanity, Hammerhand calls it."
"Do you think I should?" she asked.
"If you like," he replied as he applied bandages over a woman's burns. "No one will force you to but it's a good way to remember them and carry them with us."
She nodded and decided she would engage in the last exchange of humanity. It felt like the right thing to do, but only once she finished fixing the water filters.
Chapter Nineteen
It felt impossible that she was back where she had started.
Returning to the mountain had been something she had dreaded during the past few days, but as they worked on restoring the bunker to full operation, it became more and more clear that they didn't have all the parts necessary to do it. Tinker returned with his Beast—which was called a Beast of Burden and was an improvised bandwagon that he used to carry all the parts he wanted. It was massive, almost the size of the Excalibur, and piled high with parts. Even so, they had nowhere near enough to accomplish what was necessary.
Given how she felt about the bunker she’d once called home, it was odder still that returning to Sanctuary had been her suggestion. They would have the parts that were required and from her recollection, they had many to spare too. Besides, from the kinds of parts that had been piled on the Beast, there was bound to be enough for them to trade for what they needed.
It was a good idea. Tinker and Hammerhand had both agreed and so had most of the Knights.
Then why did she feel so shitty about it?
The answer was simple and possibly entirely selfish. She didn't want to go back. Not after everything that happened.
"Do you think they got the message, boss?" Tinker asked.
"They heard us," Hammerhand replied across the commlink. "They are trying to decide whether or not to let us in."
Jessica13 scanned their surroundings. They had found a way around the minefield and tried to hail the AI that would allow communication with those inside. If they were willing to trade with the Knights, someone would be sent up on the elevator and cables would be let down the cliffside that would allow them to climb up.
Either that or they would open the entrance on the lowest level on the other side of the mountain, but she hadn't ever seen them open that one in all the time she’d lived there. She had dreaded the dire circumstances that would make that necessary when she was inside but now, she couldn’t help but feel a little foolish about her fears.
She took a deep breath and looked around again.
"You nervous?" Tinker asked and shuffled a little closer to her. "There's no need to be, you know. If they don't want to trade, we can head over to one of the other bunkers nearby."
"I don't think I'll be welcome there," she admitted. "I didn't part on the best of terms."
"I don't think they much like anyone leaving Sanctuary," he replied with a shrug that triggered a comically exaggerated reaction from his mech. "They tried to stop me from leaving when I did, but as long as you did it without killing anyone, they're not too sour about it. Of course, they’re not happy about losing one of their own but they don't want someone who drags morale down to stick around. That's simply bad manners."
"Wait—you came from Sanctuary too?" Jessica13 asked. "How come you didn't say that before?"
He turned to look at her. "I must have. I feel like I talk so much, it's bound to come out eventually."
"When did you leave?"
"I can't rightly remember but it can't have been more than twenty, thirty years, though," he said. "Odd how time doesn't pass the same out here as it did in there. I’m not sure which one I prefer. Not too many people want to get out so they probably scrubbed my existence out of the books and started the replacement process."
She nodded and wondered if the same had been done for her position. Someone would have been brought up to replace her from one of the other levels, likely with mechanical knowledge. The exchanges between levels would have continued until it reached one of the less-vital stations. Finally, the process of replacing her would culminate when they found one of the waiting mothers with the right genetic conditions who were ready to reproduce.
It was a process that usually only occurred when someone inside died but maybe to the people inside, she had died.
"There's our answer," Hammerhand said and raised his hammer to guide their gazes to the top of the cliff where a handful of Guardian mechs lowered the cables to allow access to the Knights.
Only five lines descended, and it was quickly decided that Tinker, Hammerhand, Taylor, Carson, and Jessica13 would go up first. The leader’s massive mech required the combined strength of the cables to hoist him upward, and the other four waited until the lines were free once again before they followed. The other Knights would either hold their positions or join them later. She could understand why they would want to allow as few of the newcomers up the cliff as possible.
Her chest pounded with every step she took closer to the home she had rejected. Mini was suspiciously silent on their return and she wasn't sure if it was because he had almost been “killed” when the Librarian tried to wipe his databanks or if he merely had nothing to say.
They reached the top, where a group of mechs waited for them, but none had assumed any kind of attack position. She recognized Armstrong7's Argonaut standing tall in front as well as a couple of Guardians, one
