"We're walking on shit soil," Tinker pointed out as they pushed on at a steady pace. "Nothing will grow here."
"Windchime pointed out the same thing," Jessica13 said. "It makes you wonder how they manage to have any villages or towns in the area."
"You have to understand that there's potential even in shit soil," he said. "I might know a little about that from my time working in the grower level at Sanctuary. A little water and fertilizer are enough to turn shit soil into useful soil. And as you well know, humans living in numbers anywhere tend to produce fertilizer."
She made a face. Of course, she knew every resource they could get their hands on was necessary and turning her nose up at anything was the way to end up without any food or resources. It didn't mean that she had to like it, though.
"So, only a little water," she said, ignored the mention of fertilizer, and looked around. "So they would settle around somewhere that has a river close by."
"Or maybe where the water simply comes up from the ground," Tinker said. "I read that a couple of the older bunkers—the first ones that were built—were put on top of wells that could draw water from deep underground. In some places, the water comes up without any help. That actually is the source for many rivers, but if they find one of those, they know to set up beside it and get the water as clear as possible."
The amazing amount of knowledge he had was one of the things that made these long trips with Tinker enjoyable. It also seemed like he was glad to have someone with whom to share all the knowledge he had stored inside.
Jessica13 wondered if there was another reason why he wanted to keep talking about soil instead of the actual purpose of their mission and what they were likely to find. She didn't want to press what appeared to be something of a sensitive issue for the man, but she still needed to know what they would ultimately face. It was a matter of survival for her.
"I'm being rather clever over here," Tinker said when he noticed she had zoned away from the conversation. "If you don’t pay attention to my cleverness, what's the point of having you on the team in the first place?"
"Well, it's because I'm actually rather clever myself," she countered. "And…I'm sorry. I was thinking about something else and was a little lost in thought is all."
"What's on your mind, lass?" he asked as if he hadn’t already guessed what had distracted her.
"Well, everyone appears to know what we're dealing with," Jessica13 said. "Okay, except for some of the newer members, I suppose. You and Hammerhand clearly know who it is and so does Windchime. It can't be a good thing if you're willing to suddenly abandon what you argued so fiercely for."
"It's history, lassie," Tinker said, and she could see him shaking his head inside his cockpit. "Not the kind of thing anyone would wish to think about unless they ever had to."
"Well, it would seem we'll have to think about it a great deal," Jessica13 insisted. "If the person we have to handle, for lack of a better term, is piloting another Excalibur like Hammerhand's, I can't help but think we'll need to know as much about it as possible. I still need to be prepared even if I won’t be involved in actually fighting anyone."
"Not intentionally, anyway," Tinker grumbled. "It was very much like her to circle and attack the support mechs that were exposed, either delivering supplies to the combat mechs or returning. With an Excalibur like hers, it was almost impossible to stop the attack and even more difficult to anticipate it. That’s assuming these people had combat mechs to start with. It’s as likely that any mechs would have limited combat ability and be used mainly for support purposes."
"So, it's a she, then? Well, either that or you think of the mech as a she. Does that mean Hammerhand's mech is a he?"
"No." Tinker growled annoyance and clearly bristled at this line of questioning. "Well, the pilot is a woman, although it would be an exaggeration to call her human. Pile of crap would be a more accurate description."
"Well, I assumed there would be some feelings," Jessica13 replied carefully and kept her tone pleasant. "I simply thought forgiveness would be the kind of thing that keeps the Knights Mechanica afloat."
"There are things you forgive and things that you don't," he said and still sounded annoyed. "She did things that can’t be forgiven, even by the holiest of the saints Hammerhand follows. We're still not sure where they came from, but Hammerhand and Athena were the first members of the Knights Mechanica—the founders, you could say. Both took their names from the weapons they bore in two different classes of Excalibur mechs. The Hammer also had the shield you saw. Athena's had all the power directed to an electro-spear instead. I was there in the early days of the Knights and it was inspiring to watch them fight together."
"I have the feeling things didn't quite end that way." She didn’t want to sound sarcastic but it was fairly obvious that Athena had obviously not remained with the group and had left it, along with considerable bad feelings. While she knew she needed to proceed carefully, she also didn’t want him to end the story there and leave her with even more unanswered questions.
"Not quite," the man confirmed. "The Knights were a much larger group then, and the two leaders took us through the Outside with all the power that could be expected. Morality and strength were what led us, though, until Athena decided we would be able to do our job better as benevolent dictators rather than watchful helpers. Hammerhand
