“Yukikaze, are you saying that you have counted the tens of thousands of human beings on the planet Faery? Every person living, breathing, sleeping, and fighting?”
I have.
“Might not the data be in error? I’m asking you that, Yukikaze. Respond.”
The data related to management of all humans extant in the FAF is not only stored in the personnel management computers of the units each person is attached to. It is also stored in the memories of several other devices, including FAF facility access control computers and the FAF soldier registration bank. I cross-checked them to verify any errors in their records, but could not find any. There are no errors in the original data. That is all.
“This definitely isn’t the work of a human,” Rei said. “It shows all the hallmarks of a computer’s doing.”
“Amazing… For Yukikaze, so long as that target data about the Systems Corps exists, her only explanation for those two extra men is that they’re JAM. Even if the count is wrong.”
“Making the number of humans match up really isn’t what Yukikaze’s concerned about here.”
“I agree. I’m definitely getting the feeling that she’s been manipulated into acting this way by the JAM. It isn’t so much a question of logic, but rather of her intuition. I think she’s trying as hard as possible to logically rectify the existence of something that shouldn’t exist.”
“Which is what I believe I said at the start, Edith.”
“Yeah…if the original data were consistent with the target data, then Yukikaze wouldn’t have tried to match the numbers up,” Foss said. “This is all caused by the names of the dead men also being registered in Systems Corps’ computers as deceased. The Systems Corps probably hasn’t even considered that two of its people have the same names as two dead men. Still, the discrepancy would be revealed as soon as they confirmed that Lieutenant Burgadish and Lieutenant Lancome are dead.”
“There probably isn’t anyone in Systems Corps who would know either of them. Well, that’s to be expected. Those guys are the elite. I doubt they’d know anyone who served on the front lines.”
“In other words, the only people who’d realize what was going on just by looking at the names would be us—you and Yukikaze and the SAF.”
“Here at Faery base, at any rate. The JAM acknowledged that by sending those two in to be the surplus,” Rei said.
“Only one man could have arranged this. The only one who could modify data without alerting the computers there or arousing the suspicions of the humans in Systems Corps would be the retraining unit’s true supervisor, Colonel Rombert. He has to be a JAM.”
“Not necessarily.”
“Even after all this?”
“You heard Major Booker before, didn’t you? There are those who may not be JAM but who would still use them to destroy the FAF. He might even be acting as an agent for some government agency aiming for total global supremacy,” Rei said.
“That’s impossible. The JAM are the enemies of all humanity.”
“I don’t think the JAM would agree with you. They know by now that human beings are life-forms that would do exactly that sort of thing. They intend to use that aspect of human nature to make the FAF destroy itself from within. Right now, the JAM have positioned the retraining unit as their vanguard, and they’ve used Yukikaze as their messenger to deliver their proclamation as they launch their final attack on the FAF. It really is a declaration of war. If we keep quiet, the FAF authorities won’t know about it for a while.”
“So the JAM tell us and then sit back to see what moves we make?”
“The battle’s beginning. Or, actually, it’s been going on for a while now. The JAM don’t rest,” Rei said. “By neutralizing Yukikaze, they’ve robbed the SAF of a part of its military might. Putting her into this state is a tactical attack by the JAM. It’s like they’ve hypnotized her and gotten her so paranoid and worried about ghosts that she can’t think of anything else. I doubt she could even fly a combat mission now. Unless we snap her out of this, we’re going to lose.”
Captain Foss considered who Rei meant would lose in this. Yukikaze would lose, and that would also be a loss for Captain Fukai, she thought. They really were one and the same now. This new species of composite life-form was also a part of the combat machine that made up the SAF. And as far as the SAF was concerned, the FAF’s fate wasn’t their problem. Their primary concern remained their own personal survival.
This unit I joined really is nothing but trouble, Captain Foss thought. If they took the action Captain Fukai had suggested to return Yukikaze to normal and launched an electronic attack to delete the target data from the Systems Corps’ computer without authorization, it would be a clear violation of FAF military regulations. That kind of arbitrary action wouldn’t be tolerated. She had to stop this; that was all there was to it.
But what then, Edith Foss asked herself, as Captain Fukai might have. Was she so convinced that she was willing to die in battle for it? That’s right, she thought. Right now, this is about my own life or death. Which was more likely to guarantee her survival, either taking the side of the FAF as a soldier or believing in the SAF’s might and supporting Yukikaze and Captain Fukai as his physician? Which position would let her accept the consequences if the choice proved to be wrong?
Captain Fukai and the others in the SAF don’t trouble themselves over these matters because they just aren’t normal. But I am, thought Captain Foss. And that was when it hit her.
She’d never win against the JAM by thinking of herself as a normal human. Hadn’t she been the one who’d said that the way for them to win was to become that new species of composite life-form? She didn’t want to have to die to confirm her prediction, which was another way of saying that she’d be satisfied if she could accomplish that feat of evolution herself. There was nothing for her to agonize over here. If she wanted to live, then she should become one with the SAF. That way she would finally know if she were right.
“We can’t lose,” Captain Foss said. “I don’t want to lose either.”
“Then I’m issuing the order to attack,” said Rei. “I’ll have Yukikaze engage them.”
“No, you mustn’t,” said Captain Foss.
“Why not?”
“We need time. Yukikaze isn’t at full strength now. She still needs to have her engine replaced and repairs and maintenance done.”
“I suppose, but—”
“Captain Fukai, if you attack the retraining unit now, I predict that they will immediately initiate destructive action. If we don’t have some sort of plan to counter them, then Yukikaze could end up being destroyed.”
“Then what are you saying we should do?”
“I think the saying that a sound mind requires a sound body applies to Yukikaze now. Part of Yukikaze’s unease may be due to her physical damage. Captain Fukai, you should give top priority to Yukikaze’s repairs, then attack only once you have permission from General Cooley. We have to come up with a plan that will allow the entire SAF to survive.”
“Edith, to Yukikaze, inconsistencies in data are a real threat. We humans may think of it as some sort of illusory code, but she sees leaving it unrectified as the literal potential for her own destruction. If we don’t deal with it soon—”
“I understand that. I understand it better than you do, even without your telling me.”
“Oh, like you understand anything about Yukikaze,” Rei said.