She watched the man as he walked away. As soon as he was out of earshot, she let the shiver of disgust she had somehow managed to contain rush down her spine. She still felt like she was being watched, inspected by those who might suspect that she wasn't who she said she was. The man's oily demeanor and the way he spoke almost made her unable to look him in the eye.
Even now, she felt greasy merely from the conversation.
"He mentioned checkpoints?" Mini said as she stepped inside the cockpit and cleaned her hands. "Checkpoints with guards who would be able to stop us?"
"Something like that. But I think I can use his name for a little more exploration for a better assessment of this place before we rejoin to Tinker and Windchime. We need to make sure we know as much as we can for their benefit and Hammerhand's."
"I've mapped the roads and pathways through Auburn since we arrived, so I think I have a good idea of how we would be able to reach the bunker, even if it did go through one of the checkpoints," Mini told her.
"Well, in that case, we can simply drop Barrios' name and pass through," she muttered. As if it would be that simple. “But it might be best if we collect the payment old Caysom promised for our work on the purifiers first. We wouldn’t want anyone around here to think we work for free, right?”
“That is a good point,” Mini replied.
Chapter Twenty-Four
A feeling of being watched followed her around the town of Auburn as she continued her work. It was mostly tinkering with a variety of smaller devices that would need a little effort to repair them. The people could easily have learned to fix the machinery themselves, including the mechs that were used for the fieldwork.
A couple more of the men with brightly shined boots and buckles appeared here and there and watched her. It seemed her invisibility had faded as her reputation grew and she could only hope their curiosity had more to do with the novelty of a young woman who traveled the Wild alone and less with her possible ulterior motives. It didn’t come as any surprise to see that the same type manned the checkpoint.
She had the name of the man that would get her through, or so he had claimed, but she didn't want to draw any more attention to herself. Children had begun to follow her around as she worked, and more of the people talked around her to spread the gossip and stories while tried to listen to any of the stories she had to share.
It was difficult to be a storyteller when she constantly had to think before she spoke. Most of the stories she knew had to do with the Knights Mechanica, and with Athena’s men watching her, the last thing she wanted was to inadvertently let slip that she was a part of them. They worked with or close to Athena, so the chances were the Knights were known. If they discovered she was a member, she was likely to be the next to be sent into a building that was set on fire.
They didn't approach her, fortunately, although their constant scrutiny fueled her growing tension and the icy fear that coiled in her gut. Aside from Barrios, none of them interacted with her but seemed content to study her every move through the town and even when she worked on the mechs out in the fields. Small bits and pieces were exchanged as she played the part of the peddler as well as the mechanic, and she shared stories she and Mini were able to think of while they wandered.
It seemed like a good idea to both of them to keep his existence a secret once they heard mention of 'those damn AIs' that suggested that some of the locals might feel he was some kind of abomination. She could only hope that no one other than the first trader had seen the mech move on its own and that he wouldn’t feel inclined to mention it. Mini had once told her about a time when people thought AIs were a danger to humans as a whole based on stories and films that had been released in that era.
As it turned out, AIs were actually part of the reason why humans had survived the attacks of the Invaders. It was an odd idea that AIs would be the death of humans, given that people were the ones who created them.
"Humans were quite capable of wiping themselves out at a few points in history," Mini had said at the time. "Maybe in creating AIs, they thought their creation was capable of the same thing."
It explained the mistrust that people held for an AI, at least. Either way, it was a quick and easy decision to keep Mini's existence a secret for the time being as they worked through Auburn.
"How much data do you have on the town?" Jessica13 asked as they moved through the streets, supposedly looking for more work as the light started to fade from the sky. It was only a few hours from sunset, but the fact that they were in a valley meant it was getting darker at a faster rate than it would have out in the open.
"I have developed detailed maps of Auburn’s streets, buildings, and underground sewer and water systems," Mini replied and displayed smaller versions of the map on her HUD. "The underground streams are of particular interest, as they appear to lead toward the bunker that was pointed out before as controlling the water. It could be that the bunker itself is
