"Doing so would risk damaging your filters," Mini asserted. "Besides, a quicker rescue would be to use the grappler to let her climb up. Use the maglev to bring her up."
Jessica13 paused, considered that, and nodded. "Okay, but you'll have to fire it. I can't see down far enough and I might hit her with the dart."
"Agreed. Position the mech over the edge so I can begin the calculations for the shot."
She complied immediately and noticed the temperature in the processors spike as the AI began the necessary process.
"Firing now," Mini declared. It was followed quickly by a kick from the air cannon to fire a dart and cable down the shaft. She heard it impact and the retractor quickly reversed to leave it as taut as possible.
The maglev descended from her arm. It was meant to carry crates up and down difficult terrains using a series of magnetic coils to climb up and down the cables. It would have trouble carrying a full-grown human but a ten-year-old girl… It was possible.
"Hey!" Jessica13 called from her position at the top of the elevator shaft. "Climb onto the lev and let it bring you up."
"Are you my mommy?" said the voice from the bottom.
She grimaced and wondered what the hell she was supposed to say to that. "I…no, but I can take you to her!"
Why the hell did she say that?
"She has boarded the maglev," Mini announced.
"Oh…well, if it works, it works," she said and raised her eyebrows. "Bring her up."
"I did as soon as she boarded."
"You're so efficient."
"Your compliment is noted and appreciated."
Jessica13 couldn't help a small smile as the lev began to raise the girl. It was slow work and she needed to maintain her position. Her heart ticked a pattern to the rest of her body as she needed to keep herself absolutely still. Any movement from her could destabilize the cable and the child would fall.
"I really wish I had connected it to the ceiling first," she whispered.
"Stay still," Mini advised. "She's almost at the top."
She scrunched her face. "Oh, stay still, huh? And here I thought I could start dancing to the music in my head."
A pause followed. "Is that sarcasm?"
"Look, get her up, okay?" she muttered. There were few things in the world she hated more than standing absolutely still. It was like she was allergic to it or something.
A small head appeared through the smoke. Short red curls were clearly visible outside a filtration mask, one of those used if someone needed to dive in water tanks for repairs. It was meant to filter the oxygen out of virtually anything, including billowing clouds of smoke, but it wouldn’t last in a situation like this. In diving, the water itself washed any problems away. Out in the open, the soot would build up in the filters to the point where she would have to take the mask off.
And from its already blackened condition, the kid didn't have long.
"Stay right there…." Jessica13 said calmly and softly as she stretched down, caught the girl by the collar, and yanked her out of the shaft.
The dart detached as the lev fitted into her arm and retracted as she moved through the hole in the Argonaut, stepped outside, and jogged away from the elevator door with the girl cradled in her arms.
It was a delicate balance between holding her close enough to keep her from slipping from her grasp and trying not to crush her against the chest plate of the Minato. She was relieved when they were finally clear of the smoke, for the most part, and set her on her feet.
"Where's my mommy?" the girl asked and looked around.
She pushed the door open and clambered out of the mech. She coughed reflexively as the residual smoke tickled the back of her throat.
"Let's get that off you, for now, sweetie," she said and removed the mask.
"I knew you would come for me, Mommy!" the girl squealed and wound her arms around Jessica13's neck.
She scowled. "No, no, I'm not your… Okay. Fine."
"Wait," the girl said and pulled away. The rest of her body was covered in soot but her face was surprisingly clean and revealed a mess of red hair and freckles to go with it. She had never seen hair quite so red before. "You're not… Where's my mommy?"
"See now, I needed to get you out of danger," Jessica13 said and patted the girl on the head. "Now that you're safe, we can go ahead and try to find your mommy. Did she get out of the bunker?"
"I don't know," the girl whispered. "People ran all around me, someone put the mask on me, and then I fell. When I woke up, there was smoke and I started to walk away from the fire and up to the elevator."
"Shit," Jessica13 grumbled.
"Shit?" the girl asked.
The bulletfoot's eyes widened as she turned to look at the little girl. "No…no, not that. Don't say that. It's a bad word."
"Why is shit a bad word?" the little redhead asked, her head tilted curiously.
"It's meant to represent when we're in a bad situation," she explained and shrugged a little helplessly. "It means we're in a bad situation. The word means poop and the poop is the situation that we're in."
"Oh, okay," the girl said. "Why not say poop then? And why isn't poop a bad word?"
"Because…those are actually good questions. I'll get back to you on that," Jessica13 replied. "Do you mind if I ask you a question?" The girl nodded. "What's your name?"
"Priscilla," she replied and extended her hand. "Mommy calls me Prissy but no one else does."
She smiled, took the girl's hand, and shook it gently. "Well, it's nice to meet you, Priscilla. My name is Jessica13. And this"—she patted the mech—“is Mini. He'll talk to you too."
"It is a pleasure to meet you, Priscilla," Mini said through the external speakers. "Do not be confused by my voice. It should be noted that I was designated male upon production although they allocated me a female modulator in error. The distinction is not important, however, as I have no reproductive organs, but it is a distinction."
"What's reproductive organs?" Prissy asked and glanced at her rescuer.
Jessica13's eyes widened. "This is not the time for that question.” She smiled but she didn't like where the rest of the conversation was going. That aside, she still had no idea where the mother was or if she even made it out of the bunker alive. Now, it raised the question of how to break the news to the girl. She didn't even know where to start.
"This conversation is pleasant but I regret to inform you that there is movement on the edge of my sensors," Mini said, his voice still calm—likely for Prissy's benefit.
"Okay, Prissy, you get to ride inside the mech for a while." She helped the girl inside and squeezed herself in as well.
"It's a little tight," Prissy said as Jessica13 shifted beside her.
"Well, you are a tiny little thing and so am I, come to think of it," she replied. "There might be room for both of us. Mini, are there any weapons in the mechs we can use?"
The AI conducted a quick scan of the nearby mechs. "Twelve meters to the left, there is a detachable assault rifle on the Balthazar. You won't be able to access any of the reloads so what's in the gun will be all you have. When it runs out…well, there are a couple of chain swords nearby that you could use."
"It’s better than nothing," she said. "You'll need to manage the controls. It's a little tight in here for me."
"Understood. Taking control now," Mini replied and moved the Minato over to the assault rifle she mentioned.
The hand shape wasn't quite ideal, which forced Mini to keep control of it with one hand. There was the grappler on the other, however, which could also be used as a short-range weapon if they needed one.
"Okay, stay calm, Priscilla. Everything will be fine," Jessica13 whispered as Mini turned them to face the mechs that advanced on them.
"Are they pirate mechs?" she asked.
"My scans are inconclusive," the AI replied. "They're still in tree cover so all I can determine is that they are mechs—or perhaps a very large kind of lizard. The kind that a
ren't native to this part of the world."
"Is it weird to say I really hope they are mechs?" she asked. "Honestly, even pirates would be better."
"I don't want it to be big lizards either," Prissy shouted and made her companion duck instinctively.
"Well, it seems we have a consensus."
The movement in the trees drew closer and could now be recognized as definitely mechs, and large ones too. As they moved out of the woods, Jessica13 could identify the models. Most of them were Guardians with a couple of Argonauts among them. They were accompanied by a handful of support mechs and escorted a group of civilians not in mechs but wearing the same kind of masks they'd put on Priscilla.
"It is safe to assume these are not pirates," Mini said. "Can I lower the weapon?"
"Sure," Jessica13 said. "It's not like we would be able to stand a chance against one of those Guardians anyway."
"Put your weapon on the ground!" one of the Guardians yelled.
Mini complied and raised the mech's hands.
"What are you doing?" she asked.
"Data suggests that humans are less likely to shoot when the gesture of raised hands is offered," the AI said. "Should I put them down?"
"Well, no, obviously, keep them up. You know, just in case."
"Who are you and what are you doing here?" the Guardian's pilot said as it moved closer.
"My name is Jessica13," she replied and decided on honesty. "I'm from one of the nearby bunkers. I saw smoke rising from here and I thought someone might need help. As it turned out, I was right."
"Hey, that's my mommy!" Prissy shouted into the microphone.
One of the civilians, a woman with the same bright red hair as Prissy, stepped forward. "Is that you, Priscilla?"
"That's my mommy!" the child shouted again and in the close confines of the mech, Jessica13's ears were left ringing. She pushed the door open and let the squirming little girl out. She ran across the mud and into her mother’s embrace.
"Are these all the survivors?" she asked and closed the door again.
"I’m afraid so," the Guardian pilot said and stopped a few paces away. "They attacked us from the north without much warning, heavily armed and looking to kill people. We evacuated those we could but the pirates got the rest. We came back to see if the bunker was still livable."
"I’m reasonably sure you could vent the smoke, take the oxygen out for a few hours, and let the fires die down," she said and glanced at the building. "That done, you'll have to do considerable repairs to get it working again, but… I guess it's better than no shelter."
"Not if they come back for more it's not," the Guardian responded brusquely.
"Our bunker was attacked a few days ago by pirates," she said. "We managed to fight them off but they had large numbers and serious firepower and almost got past our defenses too. Maybe they have more chavs hiding in some of the Cities-That-Were who came here for payback."
"Your bunker send a support mech to help us?" the Guardian asked and closed the distance between them to loom over her.
"Not really," she replied. Would he chew her out for running away?
The chest compartment opened and a man wearing one of the filter masks pulled clear. "Do you think they could spare any help for us here? I know it's not usual but we're desperate. Not many folks will help us."
"I'm…I don’t really know but I don't think so," Jessica13 said. "Can you contact them?"
"I’m not sure," the man said. "We have a radio but we're not sure if it's working. We tried calling the Knights Mechanica for aid but had no response. "
"I’ve heard of them but…well, in Sanctuary, they’re only a legend. So they are real people?”
“Of course. I wouldn’t try to call them otherwise. In fact, they were supposed to be in one of the Cities-That-Were about fifty klicks from our location. Maybe distance is the issue for the radio.”
“They're closer than my bunker if that's right," she said. "If you let me look at that radio, I think I could fix it."
"I hate to do it, but can I ask you one better?" the man asked and withdrew what was presumably the radio from inside the mech. "You might need to get closer to the City-That-Was. We're all set here but it looks like your mech could move much faster than we can. Do you think you could carry the radio out there and connect with them?"
Jessica yanked the doors open again and stepped out. The man's eyebrows raised, likely in surprise at seeing someone so young out on her own, but he didn't say anything. That made her realize that no one evidenced any concern that Prissy no longer wore a mask, so she assumed those the others wore were to protect them from the smoke. Resentment flared once again because clearly, Sanctuary must have known what these people knew. Now, however, was not the time to dwell on the lies of the past.
She took the radio from his hands. "It's a short-range comms booster and not really the best either."
"It's all we were able to salvage."
She pulled a couple of the wires out and immediately ascertained that three of the disrupter crystals were destroyed. "Nope, your message didn't get out. You're lucky it didn't blow up in your face. Old radios like this had many issues. Mini, do you think you can wire the radio up to your disrupters? I think we might get a better connection."
"It is possible," Mini replied.
"Just a sec." She climbed into the mech and removed a couple of the panels. It took her a moment to find the right wiring but once it was connected, she pinged the comms a few times to test them.
"It’s working now!" the pilot outside shouted.
"Well, the good news is, I think I can get the radio to the City-That-Was to help you," she said as she exited once again. "The bad news is, I'm the only one who can do it."
"Well, we could spare a couple of—"
"No," Jessica13 said and interrupted him. "The Minato can move three times as quickly as your fastest mech and it's much smaller, so they won't be looking for me."
The man scowled but nodded. "I suppose you're right. We do need this done as quickly as possible. We're trusting you with an awful lot here, Jessica13."
"You can trust me…sorry, I didn't catch your name."
"Marcus," the pilot replied. "I appreciate your help. Do you need any supplies?"
"Some food and water would be nice."
He nodded and gestured for some of the civilians to help her. They didn't have much but she didn't need much.
"I'll be back soon," she said and mounted up.
“Be safe,” Marcus replied. “And remember, when you get within transmitting distance to the City-That-Was, radio that you are looking for Hammerhand. He’s the leader of the Knights and will be the one to ask for help.”
“I’ll remember that.” She closed her mech securely.
"So," Mini said as they moved into Bulletfoot mode, “we left one bunker and now we're helping another?"
"It’s not like there's anything else I can do," she grumbled. "They need my help. How could I say no?"
Chapter Twelve
Most of the day was spent traveling, but there was no way to miss the City-That-Was rising into the sky above them.
It was even more difficult to miss when they entered a reasonably clear area and the absence of greenery provided them with a better view of the city in the distance. They had moved through the night hours as well, but as the sun began to rise, the massive buildings towered not five klicks from where they had stopped.
"I can’t even begin to guess why all these buildings were needed," Jessica13 said in a tone of something approaching awe. “What did people actually do here?”
"My records indicate that this was once the thriving metropolis known as Séraphine," Mini said. "It was home to one of the largest open-air theaters in the world and one of the largest opera circuits in the world as well, with an influential and powerful high society. The city was known for its film production too, due to the tax benefits designed for cultural projects, but most of the GDP came from the thriving mech design w
ork and production, thanks to the nearby iron ore mines."
"Okay," she responded with a laugh. "I think I understood about half of that. What the hell is a theater? Or an opera? Or a GDP? Film production?"
"GDP is the gross domestic product. It means what made the most money—think of it as canteen credits—for the people living in the city. As for your other questions… Well, films, theater, and opera were what people did for entertainment. When you had this many people to entertain, those who did the entertaining made considerable money too."
She shook her head and needed a while to grasp what Mini had explained. "How did they feed this many people? If there were so many of them entertaining and building mechs, who did all the farming? The…"
Jessica13 paused and tried to think of all the different kinds of jobs from the bunker that might be necessary. That led her to consider all the jobs that had been a part of the world she knew nothing about. There could be any number of things she had never heard of pursued by people who had their own lives and made their own choices.
"Mini?" she asked. "How many people lived in this city?"
"The latest census records state that fifteen million, seven hundred and eighteen thousand, four hundred and ninety-two people lived in Séraphine," the AI replied.
"Fifteen mi—holy shit." She gasped.
It was impossible for her to even comprehend how many people that was. How did you keep track of the reproductive cycles of fifteen million people? How did you feed that many? Questions flooded her mind, but she wasn't sure which one to start with.
Through all her confusion, however, one hung heavily over her head—one she knew she wouldn’t be able to avoid, even in thought, so she decided to simply ask it.
"What happened to all of them?"
Mini paused as if he sensed the weight of the answer. "The initial Skyfall came down in this area of the world. Orbital drops started about three hundred clicks from the center of the city. They sent a group of emergency relief workers thirty-eight days later, who reported a hundred percent fatality rate due to the biological weapons that had begun to spread. Then, the relief workers died too."
"That's horrible," she said softly and shook her head at the enormity of it.
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