I have T-FACPro II/use it… Capt.
“Lieutenant! Open the utility warehouse in Yukikaze’s central computer! Run the program called T-FACPro II! Hurry!”
Lieutenant Katsuragi had also read Yukikaze’s message, but he had no idea what sort of utility T-FACPro II was. He couldn’t remember ever being told that Yukikaze had such a program. But there was no time to think about it. Rei was the pilot, and so Katsuragi obeyed. He accessed the utility program memory area called the warehouse and found T-FACPro II there. The startup indicator was shown, then the display changed completely.
“What am I supposed to do with this?” Lieutenant Katsuragi asked.
The running program itself answered him, displaying a message on the screen.
This is a psychological tool designed to predict a target subject’s behavior. Please input target data. Now inputting…
A section of the main display showed Rei what was happening. Data was being entered automatically. He could guess that Yukikaze was inputting the PAX code for the JAM. Was the program going to output a behavior prediction for the target plane?
No, Rei thought. Even without using T-FACPro II, Yukikaze should have been able to predict what the JAM was doing now. No, she was expressly using the program not as a behavior prediction tool, but rather so that she could translate her intentions into a language comprehensible by the humans aboard her. T-FACPro II had a natural language processing engine to speak fluently to humans. It also had an extensive vocabulary dictionary and apparently could use speech input as well. Rei had a hunch that Yukikaze was using that engine in order to communicate with her human crewmen.
Yukikaze was going to be able to speak freely to him, not just in halting baby talk.
“Yukikaze, what is this JAM doing?”
The answer came immediately. And just as he’d expected, it wasn’t a behavior prediction from T-FACPro II. It was clearly communicating thoughts from Yukikaze. Rei would have been deeply moved if there’d been time for him to be.
The target plane is carrying out communication by means of modulated ultraviolet light. According to the SSL 1.03 protocol, it keeps repeating the tag [follow me].
Prior research had established that JAM planes would confirm each other’s position within visual range by emitting UV light through a slit located near their noses. It could be thought of as the equivalent of the nighttime running lights FAF planes were equipped with. Right now, the target plane was modulating the intensity and wavelength of the light to try and use it as a means of communication. It was saying “follow me” over and over, although none of this could be discerned with the naked eye.
“Impossible,” Lieutenant Katsuragi said. “You mean the JAM have cracked our SSL encryption?”
Having the JAM just come out and tell them that they’d cracked the SAF’s coded communications system came as a shock to Lieutenant Katsuragi. The tag that Yukikaze had mentioned referred to a prepared reference code set used for such things as identifying a message’s sender or marking the end of a transmission. If you had something very simple to convey, it was possible to just use the code number by itself.
To Rei, however, it hardly mattered. Version 1.03 was the one in use when the old Yukikaze had flown her missions. He wasn’t surprised at all that the JAM had cracked it.
Okay, fine. The target plane was saying “follow me.” By why was it turning in smaller and smaller circles? Were the JAM just trying to see how far Yukikaze would go along with it? The G forces the turns were generating were threatening to exceed the limits of human endurance. Maybe the target plane was trying to see at what point a human body would just break, Rei wondered.
“Do you understand the reason for these turning maneuvers, Yukikaze? Answer me. What is this JAM trying to do?”
T-FACPro II predicts, Yukikaze displayed on the monitor, that the target plane desires direct communication with you. It can also predict, however, that the target plane does not want any other FAF plane to hear the contents of the communication, and so it is in the midst of guiding you to a place where you will not be disturbed. I also judge T-FACPro II’s prediction to be correct.
“And where is this place where we won’t be disturbed?”
MYSTERIOUS BATTLE ZONE.
Rei reflexively choked as he read the message. The G forces were making it hard enough to breathe as it was, but Rei didn’t want to accept the reply Yukikaze had just given him. She might as well have been inviting him back to a hell he hoped he’d never have to return to.
“What’s it mean by ‘mysterious battle zone,’ Captain?” Lieutenant Katsuragi asked.
The G-stress on Lieutenant Katsuragi must be even worse than what I’m feeling, Rei thought. That medical exam had been spot on. It was an odd thing to think about, all things considered. The Gs were so bad now that Rei couldn’t even turn his head.
The mysterious battle zone… the place where he’d tasted the flesh of Lieutenant Burgadish. And no, that hadn’t been the first time he’d visited it. He’d been there before, with that journalist Andy Lander, who’d come from Earth to do a story on the FAF. He’d been flying with Rei in Yukikaze to experience it for himself when they were pulled into that bizarre space. They’d found a yellow swamp in a forest that seemed to be made of mechanical devices, and when Lander had reached his hand out to touch it, he’d lost his hand up to his wrist… The entire thing had seemed like a waking dream, but when they’d returned to normal space, Lander’s hand was still gone. They’d never found the zone’s exact location. Indeed, Rei had even written in his report that the zone might not be on Faery at all. That was when he’d named that unknown space the “mysterious battle zone.” It was a unique name, one that Yukikaze knew but Lieutenant Katsuragi did not.
When they’d flown there before, the fuel transfer system had been interfered with, causing Yukikaze’s engines to shut down. They had to defeat the JAM’s intense electronic warfare in order to escape. Yukikaze had been the one who had beaten them. All I’d been able to do was hope that she didn’t lose, Rei thought. This time, the JAM were probably after him, the human component of this partnership.
Even so, there was no way he could run back home after coming so far. This was exactly the situation that Major Booker had hoped would arise, so Rei steeled himself in resignation. Make contact with the JAM, then bring that information back to base. Come back alive, no matter what.
“Yukikaze, get ready for EW jamming from the target plane. Don’t let your guard down. Remember, it’s a JAM.”
Everything is ready/I don’t lose/trust me… Capt.
Yukikaze had switched back to her own words. And Rei did trust her. As much as he trusted his own judgment.
“Lieutenant, monitor the passive air space radar. I’m expecting the JAM to try some sort of trick. Keep your eyes on it and brace for a shock.”
Lieutenant Katsuragi had no idea what Rei and Yukikaze were agreeing to, but they seemed to know what was going to happen, at least.
The information from the various radars was integrated for display on the electronic warfare monitor panel. This time, there was no interference from Yukikaze. Apparently, she was obeying the pilot’s instructions as well.
Well, I can definitely perceive some form of consciousness, but what exactly is this machine intelligence? Asking that question was useless, Lieutenant Katsuragi concluded coldly. The plane would probably just answer, “I am Yukikaze.” He’d just as likely get the same response from Captain Fukai. “I am what I am, Lieutenant,” he’d say. What he was more interested in was what Rei was doing and just what his relationship was with the JAM. Aside from that, there was no need to ask them what was about to happen. He was about to learn that through personal experience.