Milo walked along with Ursula and Amarella, surrounded by a swarm of bees lazily flying in loops and patterns as she stopped at each display of new bear-tech. Ursula wasn't interested in the biggest guns or the largest chassis, but there was a pattern to what she liked. She'd been thrilled at the idea of an expanded voice-box and better roars. She nodded her approval of retractable roller skates on each foot that would let her zoom along any rail line. But it was one of the projects that Nina had worked on that made her the happiest.

Like the earlier project, there was a large, sculpted bear head. This one stuck out of a compartment that reminded Milo of the one inside of the original bear that held her jar. Which turned out to be exactly what this one was designed for.

Nina explained. "I saw that there were receptors throughout the old body that gave he feedback on her movements and proprioception. She could move using the pathways in her brain set up for a natural body. Likewise, she could see and hear. But she lacked both a sense of smell, and the ability to taste. It was tricky, but I think I've cracked the problem and this design will add both senses. She'll have to help me fine tune things, but we're ready for a test run."

The bear made an inquisitive "urrrr?", followed by a forceful growl that Arabella translated as, "Then what are we waiting for. Who has some honeycomb?" The bee girl giggled and sent off her swarm who returned with large sheets of wax from their new hive, dripping with honey. They returned just as Milo and Nina had installed her brain jar in the compartment and Ursula was experimenting with moving the mechanical jaws and tongue, and sniffing the air."

A drunken dwarf, her hair shining with gold beads laughed, "What the heck does a mechanical bear eat?" There was a bit of laughter at that.

The twins, being used to pondering strange questions began talking to each other.

"That is a good question, don't you think? Asked by a brave person. What do you think the answer is, brother?"

"I think a large mechanical bear eats whatever she wants to eat. Which is why the person who laughed is very brave!"

"Very brave indeed....oh, maybe not so brave, she is quickly moving away from this area."

"Not so brave, but she is showing intelligence."

"That's what makes a brave scout: Not so brave that you laugh at bears, and smart enough to know when to run."

"Should we enquire if she wants to be a scout?"

"No, I don't think so. Very short legs, and quite wobbly. She never be able to outrun a bear, let alone an angry Larry."

Milo was listening to the exchange with one ear, and listening to the bees with his other...the buzzing was distracting him, as was the way they kept moving around each other, dancing in midair. He silenced them by handing each a large honeycomb. "Come feed Ursula, we need to see how good her control is, and I know both of you have been practicing your regeneration to fix things like missing fingers."

"Oh, this is true! But we must point out that you are so much better at regenerating parts. You break stuff all the time. We've been keeping track. The list of injuries is an important part of teaching young scouts about the potential dangers of our arduous profession."

Milo grinned at them, "I'm happy that even in my absence I can teach lessons. But I will point out that you get so much more experience in regeneration by using it. This is a gift to you. A chance to show you are brave, and not worried about losing a few fingers. Try not to lose a whole hand though. Trust me, whole hands take a long time."

The twins shared a look and shrugged. "This is true. We do what others are not brave enough, or too smart to do." Slowly, each of them placed a piece of honeycomb in the mechanic bear's mouth, and Ursula did her best to carefully close her jaws and not snap off any extra parts.

Milo watched as the level of honey in the jar rose. "What about the wax and other components?"

Nina showed him where the leftovers were stored. "The bees will happily reclaim the wax if it's cleaned so we'll incorporate a processor for that. That way, Ursula can refuel herself on honeycomb, and the bees will be able to carry off the wax and and waste through a hatch on her back. As long as she has a beehive nearby, she'll have brain fuel. And for recharging, your friend Arloth has something he's working on. We needed to know how to power our apparatus and his method seems the most advanced."

Ursula finished her snack and then her brain case was put back into her current chassis. The twins sat and ate the leftover honeycomb, counting their fingers and being thankful they were all there. The loss of regeneration experience, they could live with. Tweedle looked at Ringtail, "I have to wonder if Tallsqueak is getting better at sarcasm and deception."

"Yes, it is growing harder to understand him. In the old days he would say things like, "Don't upset Larry or Larry will tear off your tails." Very straight forward. But this gift he offered did not seem like a gift. My fingers tingled the whole time they were close to the bear."

"Perhaps it was a subtle gift with a subtle message?"

"Ah, like teaching us not to stand to close to experiments or risk becoming test subjects? I understand the message now."

"Always something to learn."

"Let us follow along, stealthily staying in the back of the crowd."

"Wise."

"We are learning."

From their new vantage point, safe from being chosen as volunteers, they watched as professor Arloth began to lecture the crowd, a strange apparatus spinning behind him. "While the Arloth-Tallsqueak Storm Mana Generator is still considered one of the most innovative designs of the last decade, I realized we could do better. With access to stronger materials, and premium tools, we have made vast improvements to the design. Notice that the rotating coil is made of mana-conductive material and surrounding a perfect crystals. This gives improved storage capabilities that regulate power flow and prevent stray lightning bolts until we are ready for them. The copper mesh surrounding the coil holds 128 natural lodestones and rotates in an opposite direction from the coil. Observe the Mark Two Arloth-Tallsqueak Storm Mana Generator!"

He pulled a switch, and a coal generator began to turn a belt that spun the coil at an extreme rate within a count-spinning globe of copper mesh spun in the opposite direction. An aura of visible, glowing mana surrounded the generator.

"Now, to utilize this power, we have a charging station to the left. All that is required for a quick recharge of any lightning powered machinery is a connection to their battery system. From Professor Tallsqueak's data, the old charger would have taken two hours to recharge the old bear chassis. We are currently working on a storage system with more than ten times that much energy, and yet the Mark Two Generator will take only 23 minutes to fully charge such a battery."

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His hair was standing on end from the nearby energy as he pulled a lever and the accumulated power started pouring into a large battery sitting near the generator. Everyone clapped politely, still confused slightly at what they were seeing, but like many students, not wanting to ask questions that would give them even more complicated answers. But Milo had a question.

"Given the size restraints of the old bear chassis, is it possible to create a simple, walking prototype that holds both a standard coal generator and your Mark 2 generator?"

Zander, who was working with Arloth immediately saw the implication. "Rather than a charging station a bear has to come to, you're suggesting that we make a drivable mechanical bear that has the ability to go to where its needed. And of course, keeping within the Bear theme."

Milo nodded, "Exactly."

Zander and Arloth began to whisper to each other and then then the professor said, "Two days to complete, but we should use a much larger crystal for power storage. Why have a Battery Bear that can only recharge one other Bear?"

Ursula agreed. She'd spent years sitting around without enough power to wander or explore interesting places. Milo got the specs for the crystal they would need. He'd been wanting to return to the cavern where he and Georgie had gathered a huge supply of magi-tech crystals. A few heavily armed dwarves with a couple of support bears would make that much easier. His thoughts were interrupted by the rapid fire sounds of a dwarven rivet gun, if said gun was the size of a 32 pound cannon. The noise was immense, and accompanied by the sound of shattering rock, dust and flying bits of debris. The joyous laughter of Professor Boom could be heard as the sound came to a halt.

"Ok, that looks like a success. We didn't blow up and all the targets did." As the dust cleared, the curious onlookers saw that every target was gone, rocks shattered and snail shell broken into small pieces. Only the thick shell of Gargantua was still intact, if heavily dented and pockmarked.

Butch and Brad were cleaning the gun and Bork was checking for any wear and tear. CleverHands was loading more ammunition with a type of powder Milo hadn't seen before while Ratchet tried to tidy up the area and note all material expenditures into his logbook. Ursula walked up and growled, wanting an explanation.

Boom-Boom was happy to explain, "This little thing? Just a new-fangled, heavy-duty, twin rivet gun using Professor Boom's patented Boom Powder. This beauty has twice the range of a normal rivet gun with six times the power. We upgraded the ammunition to Hammersteel casings with Deep Copper Rivets. These things will tear up damned near anything short of a Chimera."

This was the only gun that Ursula had shown interest in, and she had a lot of comments and questions for Amarella to translate. "Does it need a gunner or could a bear fire this herself? Can it have a detachable mount? Retractable guns? Interior ammo storage is needed or could extra ammo be stored in another Bear?"

Boom-Boom grinned. "Yes to all of that, whatever the customer needs. But damn... I like the idea of a mobile ammo dump. Good thinking. Alright you idjits, let's get to work. I want this design thoroughly tested. I'll be in a meeting with miss Ursula to grind out the specifics of what she needs. Then we'll blow more stuff up."

Ursula growled happily.

It actually took until the end of the week for the project to finish up. Innovations led to redesign which let to more efficiency and then more innovation. A dozen different bears stood half finished waiting on a resupply of magi-tech crystals and rare metals. Ursula was placed into her new home and a minute later began to move around, stretch, extend her metal claws and sniff the air. Then she ran in circles, rolled in the dirt, stood on her hind legs and roared with pleasure.

Amarella clapped with glee. "She says it feels like her original body. She's playful as a cub."

Milo did not want to play with her. Her new body, made with Steelspinner wire for the pseudo-muscles, a Hammersteel frame, and carefully constructed snail-armor plates weighed over two tons. And that didn't take into account a full load of ammo for her retractable rivet guns. Standing ready to accompany her were a Battery Bear, a Hive Bear, and an Ammo Bear. Engineering crews were outfitting three more basic walking Bear chassis with twin thirty-two pound ships cannons and getting them ready for testing.

All of this work had not gone unnoticed by the Scavengers who were drinking heavily and watching the gun crews practice. Eventually, Whale and Sledgemonkey found Milo for a small talk.

"When are we leaving?"

He looked at Sledgemonkey suspiciously. "Leaving? Who said we were leaving?"

He laughed, "No one gets this much heavy firepower ready, with more on the way, just to please one bear. So, as the person supposedly in charge around here, I've got to ask: When are we leaving?"

Milo sighed, "Tomorrow? I was hoping to get more done, but we really need more rare materials. But this is going to be a dangerous trip." He took out a map tube from his pouch and began to unroll it. "I've been working on a map of the areas I found in that package of stuff that I looted from the Chimera's chest. It took forever to work out the different scales and match them to existing maps. But, I think I've found a route to the place we want that doesn't require climbing back up to Limburger Hollow and then down through a maze of caverns and narrow stairs. But I've got no idea what we might find along the way."

Whale looked at the new map and the old bits of rotting paper. "Nice work. Remind me to tie you up and shanghai you when I set sail next. I can always use a good navigator. How many of the girls you want along with the spanner boys and crazy people I expect you'll take?"

Milo was unsure if she was serious, or if that was a compliment. You could never tell with Scavenger Captains. "I think a dozen of each. The adventurers will give us some versatility, while the Engineers provide heavy fire power and the Scavengers can work as small arms troops or shock troops. We may run into some pretty nasty stuff."

"A damned army. This is gonna be fun. What are we killing?" Milo was getting used to Whales fearless attitude.

"Snails to start with, and at the end, a swarm of Gneiss-Lurkers. In-between, I've got no idea, but I expect there will be something interesting waiting to kill us."

"Sounds great. I'll make sure the girls pile a few kegs of rum on top of the ammo Bear."