“You can really imagine the situation is that concrete?” Captain Foss said. “What use would that be when dealing with someone who might not actually exist?”
Lieutenant Katsuragi stared silently at the ceiling, but Rei could guess what he wanted to say.
“What this all means is that, fundamentally, we can’t precisely target the JAM,” Rei said. “The moment we know exactly where they are, we’ll no longer know where they’re going.”
“If the JAM are beings like that, all we can aim at are probabilities. We might get lucky and even hit them,” said Major Booker. “Well, that’s not too different from fighting a normal opponent. In that case, the question is what weapons are effective against the JAM? We can shoot down all the planes the JAM send at us, but as long as the JAM themselves aren’t in them, we’ll never land an effective blow. The same goes for the JAM fighting us humans.”
“We’re just likening the incomprehensibility of the JAM to quantum uncertainty for our own convenience,” said Captain Pivot. “As long as we don’t know for sure that the JAM manifest via quantum uncertainty, then all this discussion about it is meaningless. We’re just confusing the issue, and the last thing we need to be doing now is making the JAM seem more mysterious. First of all, we should make clear what we don’t understand about them.”
“You’re right,” said Major Booker. “If there’s one problem we have right now, it’s our poor communication with the JAM. That’s how they have us jumping at shadows. You could say that this entire war stems from our inability to communicate. Once we can reach them, the JAM’s identity will be made clear as a matter of course. Just as Captain Foss and I said before in our discussion about the existence of the JAM, it’s a question of finding something to make the JAM a certainty to us. Quantum theory may be useful for that, and it’s also possible that scientific methods may prove useless. The point is this—right now, all these arguments aren’t letting us get a handle on what the JAM are. What we need to do is collect data, just as we’ve always had to. If we’re to have in-depth discussions, we can’t lose here.”
“Major Booker…” said Captain Foss.
“Yes, Edith?” said the major.
“Does that taste good?”
“What?”
“That curry. It smells really good and it’s making me hungry.”
“It’s my special menu for when I’m tired. You can order one from the chef too, if you like. Doesn’t taste as good as when Chef Murullé made it, unfortunately,” the major said as he scooped curry onto some naan bread and continued to eat. The stew was spicy and sour, and the meal was completed with a cup of unbelievably sweet tea.
“I wanted to go over the recipe with the new chef but haven’t had the time. There’s also Chinese food on the Booker Special. Would you like me to introduce you to it?”
“No, thank you.”
“Captain Foss,” Cooley said, looking up.
“Yes, General Cooley?”
Having finished reading the profacting results submitted by Captain Foss, the general closed the file. The captain turned to face her, expecting a harsh round of questioning.
“Just how probable do you predict it is that the JAM will launch an all-out attack on us?”
“The T-FACPro II software can answer that for a human subject, but since I was calculating this myself this time, I can’t give you an exact number.”
“It doesn’t have to be.”
“Then I predict it’s highly probable.”
“How high?” Cooley asked.
“I think it’s almost a certainty. As I wrote in my report.”
“Certain enough that you’d give me the cake you’re eating now if you’re wrong?”
“No, General Cooley, I wouldn’t. If you’re asking me to bet something on it,” Captain Foss replied with total seriousness, “then I’d bet my life.”
“You’re still young,” General Cooley said. “If you get it wrong, you can always do it over again.”
“General, I’m being serious. I’d bet my life on it.”
“Edith,” said General Cooley, “one of the joys of aging is the chance to laugh at how foolish you were in your youth. I want you to get the chance to do that too. You shouldn’t bet your life on anything. If you lose, you’ll be left with nothing but regret. Treat it like it’s everything that you own.”
“Yes, General. I’ll do that.”
“Good.”
General Cooley laid the report down on the console and addressed the others.
“Gentlemen, the question at hand is how seriously to take this prediction upon which Captain Foss here has bet everything. I have a feeling you all already know the contents of the report. I’d like to hear your opinions on it. Major Booker.”
“Yes, General.”
“You’ll serve as the moderator. There’s no need for you to form an opinion.”
“Understood, General Cooley.” Wiping his mouth with a napkin, Major Booker stood up. “First of all, are there any objections? Does anyone here disagree with Captain Foss’s prediction? I’ll even take general doubts about it.”
Nobody said anything. The major nodded. “Well, that’s that,” he said and sat down.
“Hold it! What do you mean ‘That’s that’?” Captain Foss said. “Major, you aren’t just going to leave it at that, are you?”
Ignoring her, Major Booker turned to General Cooley.
“General Cooley, what I’d like to know is your opinion of this situation. We have the materials gathered to make a decision. True, it’s incomplete, but if we waited for perfection, we’d never make a move. The most important thing right now is what you think of the JAM’s moves and how you evaluate them. Simply put, what do you want to do? If you tell us that, what the best move is that the SAF can make, what tactics and strategy to use, that you aren’t worried about this, then I’ll do it. We all will.”
“In short, you want to know what my philosophy of life is,” Cooley said.
“I suppose. You could say that the SAF is your life, couldn’t you?”
“And what if I told you that I wanted to end my life here?”
“You wouldn’t!” said Captain Foss.
“That’s your business,” Rei said. “Even if your life ends, ours will continue. That’s all. If you want out of this, then I’d like you to say so. Tell us that we no longer need your permission.”
“You can’t end things that easily,” said Major Booker. “If you renounced your command of the SAF, your will would still remain after you left. In other words, we could still resist the JAM even without you as our commander. Even if you said that you wanted the SAF to self-destruct, it wouldn’t be that easy to do. That’s the difference between us and the other units in the FAF. And you were the one who made the SAF like that, General Cooley.”
“And there’s your answer,” she replied.
“What do you mean?” said Major Booker.
“Major, if you’re saying that the SAF reflects my will, then there’s no need to keep asking me what I want to do, is there? I want to beat the JAM, that’s all.”
Seeing Major Booker’s questioning look, she continued.
“But I understand your wanting to know my evaluation of the JAM’s moves. The information Yukikaze brought back, Captain Foss’s prediction, and the presence of JAM agents in the Systems Corps are all developments I never anticipated. If I misjudge this situation, it will endanger you as well, Major Booker. You’re worried about that. You don’t know what to do, isn’t that right, Captain Foss?”
“Please, I can’t answer something like that out of the blue, but…I think we’re all concerned about this, General. Even Yukikaze is showing signs of instability, so in a way, everyone involved is nervous about this.”