Feb 2018 v01 online

the machine’s behaviour, screaming through a
shower of lead at 20,000 feet? Was it a few
weeks into the war when the operational tempo
briefly let up and he spent a few days unable to
reconnect with the other humans on the base,
language having failed to communicate what he
had experienced vicariously through the high
definition lenses of Viper Squadron? Whatever
it was, it probably coincided with when he
started referring to Hellbat and the other Vipers
as his friends, and the technicians started
avoiding him. The hierarchy between the
supervisor and the supervised had become
inverted. Time spent jacked in had formed
dependence; a dependence that was not
mutual, as Hellbat could survive without him.
After touching up Hellbat’s eyes, Davids sat
down and leaned back against the SAFA's
armoured carapace. He activated the wireless
toggle at the base of his skull and heard a
procession of chimes as the Vipers
authenticated and allowed him into their
network. Part of his job was to monitor learning
computers on board each drone. This activity
was for the benefit of the public and the clowns
in his chain of command, who had no idea how
the artificial intelligence worked. It helped
assuage their fears that the learning computers
might develop their own personalities, deciding
to mutiny or go on strike. On one level Davids
scoffed at this; the AIs were not programmed to
act like higher order social animals. They had
no complex social structure, and no capability
to conceive of one, so they could never organise
among themselves. Nor could they set long
term goals. On another, he was well aware the
eccentricities of Viper's four AIs exceeded the
parameters of their factory settings.
The logs for the previous mission scrolled
across his eyes, the most pertinent information
colour coded. Surveying the patterns of data, he
marvelled at the extraordinary focus of the
drones; as usual, every observation they made
was mission related.
Viper Squadron loitered at 20,000 feet, out of
range of any known anti-aircraft defences, while
the battle raged to the west. Constant updates
flashed across Davids’ screen. Apparently, their
side was taking a hammering, with 20 percent
of SAVs listed as non-functional. After five
minutes, the message they were waiting for
came through from the intelligence cell. The
electronic warfare units which were bracketing
the combat zone had triangulated the location
of the enemy's local command and control
node. Viper Squadron rapidly descended while
accelerating on a vector to the target.
Amphetamines pumped into Davids' body,
allowing him to just keep up with the drone’s
constant course adjustments and the steady
flow of data streaming in. Barely five minutes
had passed and already the city loomed into
view, the enemy control node located deep
within its defences. Despite the battle raging on
the ground, Viper flight hugged the terrain so
closely that they had to gain altitude to avoid
some of the wrecked vehicles on the road. The
enemy’s ground SAVs were not suited to
engaging fast moving targets and had their
hands full merely trying to slow the advance of
their opposite numbers. Real predators lurked
in the skies above, specialised anti-air platforms
that would make short work of the Ice Bats.
This danger was hammered home when an
allied fighter a thousand feet above them met
its fiery demise, an indication that the enemy
still had functional anti-air missile systems on