Good Luck, Yukikaze

by Chohei Kambayashi

  “I know exactly what you mean by incomprehensibility,” said Captain Foss. “Comparing something to God makes it seem like you understand it, but the truth is it just means you don’t understand it at all, doesn’t it?”

  “Even if the JAM are ambiguous quantum beings like that,” said Lieutenant Katsuragi, sounding pleased with himself, “then they can still be observed and recorded, meaning it’s possible to calculate the probability of where they’ll appear. Conjugate attributes mean that, if you can observe one, then you can calculate the other.”

  “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’r
e 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.”

  “I feel no nervousness at all,” said General Cooley, cutting her off. “Rather, I prefer the JAM to be ambiguous entities. The reason I joined the FAF was to declare my existence to creatures like that. I didn’t want to do it to other humans. If the JAM had turned out to have humanlike consciousness, to be easily comprehensible, I probably would have been disappointed. In any case, what I want to do is make something simple and clear to them: that the SAF is a threat to the JAM. As for how specifically to do that, I want to borrow your wisdom. That’s why I’m asking for your opinions. However, Major Booker…”

  “Yes, General Cooley.”

  “As I am not, as I said, troubled by this, I’m leaving this to you. Determine which strategy and tactics the SAF should adopt. I’m going to get some rest. Come up with some executables before Yukikaze’s repairs are complete. Then I’ll make my final decision.”

  “Understood.”

  The general stood and turned to Major Booker.

  “Major, there’s one thing I want you to pay attention to.”

  “What is it?”

  “How the JAM respond to the SAF in this situation should not be overestimated.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “The JAM’s enemy is humanity, and we’re only one part of it,” Cooley said. “You mustn’t forget that. I’m saying that if you think they’re giving us special treatment, you’ll make the wrong judgment.”

  “I’ll keep that in mind.”

  With a stiff nod from Major Booker, General Cooley made a quick exit, followed by her secretary. Captain Foss was the first to open her mouth and break the silence.

  “What was that all about? That attitude of hers.”

  “You’re the specialist at predicting how the human mind works,” Rei said.

  “That was me completely screwing up,” said Major Booker, rubbing his face with both hands. “I pissed her off.”

  “It didn’t look like that to me,” said Lieutenant Katsuragi.

  “She was furious,” the major said. “I might as well have told her that she was incompetent and should take herself out of the game. That we’d be able to fight the JAM if not for her. And for that, I got to feel the queen’s wrath upon me.”

  “If you’re going to call that anger, then it’s a quiet and deep anger. You’d have to call it a rage against existence,” said Captain Foss. “But I never knew she felt such intense rage.”

  “Somebody once said, when confronting God and the universe, ‘I am here!’ ” said Major Booker. “The response they got was ‘So what?’ General Cooley has always been in that situation. This is the first time I really understood.”

  “So what?” said Rei. “It’s not our problem.”

  “Captain Fukai, that’s not what you’d say now, is it? Or are you reflecting on those words? How that attitude you used to have would hurt the general—”

  “I mean it’s literally not our problem. Our flattering or speaking badly about the general doesn’t concern her at all. The only thing that she’s afraid of is having the JAM tell her, ‘You don’t matter at all to us.’ Jack, there’s no reason for you to feel depressed. If anything, it should have motivated you.”

  “All it did was remind me of what a complete wanker I can be at times,” Booker said. “Still, I suppose I should be glad that she told me exactly how she felt.”

  “The general’s last point was vital,” Captain Pivot said. “If we make a mistake in judging how much interest the JAM have in the SAF, this could all end up with us simply being seen as a mutinous unit within the FAF.”

  “We can’t move carelessly,” said Major Booker. “To General Cooley, we’re all just her pawns on the board. But I don’t see it that way. I don’t want to lose a single man or machine.”

  “General Cooley doesn’t want to lose her people meaninglessly, either,” said Rei. “Jack, Yukikaze and I work the way you think we do, but we’re also individual beings. If you get hung up on one particular piece on the board, you’ll lose the whole game. If you’re going to play chess that badly, I don’t want to be in the game with you.”

  “Hmm… Like that saying ‘A poor player cares more for his rook than his king,’ right? Before all else, you have to think about your own survival.”

  “Taking this to its logical conclusion,” said Captain Pivot, “each individual should do what they need to do. Maybe that’s what the JAM are predicting we’ll do.”

  “No, they’re not,” said Captain Foss. “I don’t think the JAM are expecting us to do that at all. I think that they expect the SAF to change. I predict that the JAM will try to alter our behavior through some method of attack and will observe our status here.”

  “Not doing anything is another measure we could try, but I doubt it would work against the JAM,” said Major Booker. “They’ve likely worked out every possible contingency and are provoking us to act, which is probably why they sent in the duplicates of those dead men. The thing is, it may be too risky to come out and face them. Defense can be a lot harder than offense.”

  “What we need to know is what’s happening with the FAF as a whole,” said Lieutenant Katsuragi. “What strategy are they currently following?”

  Captain Pivot ordered the strategic computer to display an FAF tactical map on the main screen.

  “The FAF has determined that Cookie and Richwar have been wiped out,” said Captain Pivot. “The next pair of bases targeted are Rakugan and Kanworm. Currently, our main fighter forces are being moved to the front-line bases nearest them, beginning with Faery base, as well as those from Siren, Troll, Sylvan, Brownie, and Valkia. They’re probably planning to launch simultaneous attacks on both enemy bases. There is no JAM resistance to this at the moment. No skirmishes. Nothing at all for the last few hours. It probably hasn’t been this quiet since the war began.”

  “This is a very dangerous situation,” said Captain Foss. “I can feel my spine tingling.”

  “General Laitume is requesting tactical recon on both bases from us,” said Captain Pivot. “Scratch that. It’s not a request. It’s an order. General Cooley’s been delaying him by saying we’re tied up analyzing the new data, but that’s not going to hold him off forever.”

  “Let’s run for it,” Lieutenant Katsuragi suddenly said.

  Everyone stared at the young lieutenant.

  “Oh, don’t look at me like that,” he said. “I’m proposing a strategic movement. Would you prefer me to call it a withdrawal? If we don’t want to get uselessly wasted in battle, I think that’s the only option. We should let the JAM know the SAF is leaving the battle zone, and then retreat our planes to some prearranged airspace.”

  “I can’t think of any way for us to escape,” said Major Booker. “You couldn’t call it a strategic withdrawal. That’s desertion in the face of the enemy. We’d never get away with it. It’d be taken as a tactical operation against the FAF. Besides, where would we run to?”

  “Sounds like fun,” said Rei. “Skipping out under cover of night.”

  “Some might say skipping out is the sort of move they’d expect of the SAF,” said Captain Foss.

  “The JAM don’t matter anymore,” Rei replied. “It’s pointless to go on arguing about them when we’ll never get any answers. What we need to consider now is how to oppose the FAF, because they’re not going to let us just run away.”

  “It’s worth considering,” said Captain Pivot as he watched the screen. “The SAF has no ground forces. The only weaponry we have are survival guns, and we don’t have much ammo for them. If the human duplicates in the FAF attack us, even with our fighter planes, we’d hold out for maybe an hour before we’d have to run for it. The question is whether or not there’s safe
airspace to run to anywhere.”

  “There is,” said Lieutenant Katsuragi. “Earth. We should fly through the Passageway. The FAF would finish off any JAM chasing us. It’s the safest place.”

  They all stared at the lieutenant, dumbfounded.

  “It wouldn’t work?” he asked.

  “Lieutenant,” said Major Booker. “What would we do then? We can’t keep flying forever. The nearest place to go would be an Australian air force base, but we’d violate their airspace if we headed there. They’d treat us like JAM.”

  “Any evacuation to Earth,” said Captain Pivot, “would require consent from Earth. Only the FAF high command are authorized to negotiate that. It’s not like I haven’t heard of articles covering the emergency evacuation of FAF combat units, but in this situation, it would be something the FAF would have to do, not us. The SAF would send this information to General Laitume and have him call a top-level FAF strategic conference for the one thing we could do—initiate an emergency evacuation of the FAF.”

  “We’d first have to get the general to consent to it,” said Rei. “Then he’d have to convince the other ones in the high command. I don’t know how long it’d take, or if they’d even act, but even assuming they went for it all we’d be doing is moving the battlefield from here to Earth. That’s probably exactly what the JAM want. There’d no longer be any point to the combat bases we have on Faery. Why did we even build Faery base in the first place? Earth would never go along with it.”

  “It’d become a political war in which we wouldn’t be able to participate,” said Major Booker. “We couldn’t afford to wait to see what the outcome would be. Look, what we—what I want to protect isn’t the FAF. It’s the SAF and my own self.”