“It wasn’t a nuclear explosion,” said Major Booker, “but the Rafe’s gone.”
The strategic computer displayed an alert.
JAM aircraft are appearing simultaneously from multiple directions. Extremely large numbers of them. It is possible that this data is being falsely generated by the JAM. Requesting visual confirmation from the humans in each aircraft, ASAP.
“Roger,” said Major Booker. Captain Pivot displayed all combat theater maps on the big screen. The presence of JAM was indicated by red, and starting with the front-line bases, their entire surroundings were now stained red. And that red stain was moving toward Faery base.
“If this is real,” said General Linneberg, “then there’s no way we can resist. But Colonel Rombert will survive. We can’t let him escape from here.”
“Can he fly a fighter?” asked General Cooley.
“Yes, he can,” said General Linneberg.
“Major Booker, don’t let a single aircraft leave Faery base. Stop all fighter squadrons from launching. STC, send cancellation orders to all computer systems.”
STC, roger. However, it’s difficult to say if all systems are currently operating normally. They’ve fallen into a panic, unable to judge the situation. In this state, either way, they won’t be able to cope with normal troop management.
“Even so, if anyone takes off, shoot them down—”
“No! Don’t shoot them down,” said General Linneberg. “We need the colonel taken alive.”
“General—”
“General Cooley. Lydia, the world doesn’t belong just to you.”
“I’m aware of that.”
“If the colonel leaves the base, we can track him and know what he’s doing. Shooting him down would be simple. You’ve shown me just what your people are capable of. But what will we gain by killing the colonel now?”
“Then please find him,” Cooley said.
“I have all my people giving it their full attention. Trust me.”
“This is Minx.” A message was coming in from Captain Kozlov, B-6’s flight officer. “Currently conducting tactical recon of JAM air superiority zone at Rakugan. The FAF aircraft gathered here have begun attacking each other.”
“What?” said Major Booker. “Our forces are firing on each other?”
“I don’t think this is an exercise, so yes, that’s what they’re doing. They’re using live ordnance.”
“They might be causing the crews to hallucinate, or they’re disrupting the planes’ electronic warfare systems. Check it out!”
“That’s going to be difficult, sir. Both sides in this fight are targeting me as an enemy, and we’ve got real JAM forces closing in as well. Let’s get back to base and analyze the data we’ve gathered. Captain, prepare to break to portside…NOW!”
Transmitting the sign that they were engaged in combat reconnaissance, the comm chatter from Minx continued.
“These guys look like they’re trying to settle a whole bunch of old scores.”
Major Booker turned at the sound of the voice, Generals Cooley and Linneberg following suit.
“They never liked how callous the SAF acts. That goes for the JAM too.”
“Rei…it took you long enough. What have you been up to?”
“Looking carefully into the mirror, shaving. For the first time, I wished I had a better one,” Rei said.
“I assume Captain Foss has briefed you on the mission.”
Captain Foss stood silently at Rei’s side.
“Yukikaze isn’t ready to sortie yet. You can ask Lieutenant Eco for the details. Captain Pivot, send out Llanfabon. Have them tell us what the situation is at Kanworm.”
“Send out Yukikaze too,” said Rei.
“Sending you out now would be suicide. Yukikaze’s the last ace the SAF has up its sleeve.”
“Which is why you need to send us out now.”
“What do you mean?”
“The JAM are waiting for me and Yukikaze,” Rei said. “As long as we stay hunkered down, the attacks will continue.”
“What, are you the Messiah or something?” Booker asked, incredulous.
“What happens to the people of Earth or the FAF isn’t my problem. I don’t really care. I just want to do what I want to do.”
“Oh, spare me the heroic bullshit. And just what do you want to do? Kill yourself?”
“Jack, a strategy where only one person survives would still be acceptable to the JAM. As long as one survives, you haven’t lost.”
“And you’re going to be that one person, is that it?”
“It could be anyone. You, Colonel Rombert, General Cooley. That’s not what I’m interested in. I want to be with Yukikaze, that’s all.”
“I think that Rei’s—that Captain Fukai’s belief that the JAM are waiting for Yukikaze is the vital point here,” Captain Foss said. “It’s not that they won’t attack Yukikaze, but as long as we don’t send her out, they’ll keep pressing this attack.”
“This is Lieutenant Bruys in Unit B-7, Llanfabon. Engaging JAM. Six hundred units have been wiped out. Shit, it’s not just the JAM. The FAF guys are targeting me too! Cutting my drop tanks. I need to lighten my load, or I’m dead. Won’t be able to make a direct RTB. Direct me to a refueling point.”
“Head for TAB-16,” Major Booker instructed. “After you neutralize its air defense and radar system, work something out with the people there. Is that clear? With the humans, not the base computer. I’ll send over the data the SAF is collecting on the overall combat theater. Analyze it yourself and work out a survival strategy.”
“Understood.”
“Pass it along to the other two planes.”
“No response. I guess they’ve been shot down. I don’t have time to confirm the collected data. Okay, I’m receiving it. Once it’s downloaded, I’m switching on my jammers. Just wanted to warn you in advance that I’ll be going dark for a while.”
“Roger.”
“Over and out.”
Two SAF planes had been shot down at the same time, and Llanfabon was left on her own and in danger. The command center fell silent, but only for a moment.
“This is Carmilla. Control, please respond.”
“Control, Major Booker here. What’s up?”
“Skymarks III and IV are designating tactical fighter groups approaching from Troll base as enemies. We’re confirming that the approaching planes are FAF, but Skymark’s still judging them to be enemies.”
“This is Lieutenant Tang aboard Chun-Yan. Control, the approaching aircraft aren’t just fighters from Troll. They’re coming in from the other main bases. They must be coming to attack Faery base, sir. It looks like they think that we’ve been taken over by the JAM.”
“This is Zouk. Dozens of alert fighters launched from Faery base to mop us up are moving to intercept them. We’re saved.”
The strategic computer cut in on the display.
This is a war between the computer systems of the FAF. It’s possible the bases surrounding Faery base think a coup has occurred. The FAF humans are getting caught in the middle.
“You could describe it as a panic from false rumors,” General Linneberg said. “A common tactic in an information war is to exploit normal fears and frustrations to produce a state of panic. Now it’s been done to our computers. This must have been exactly what Colonel Rombert was trying to achieve.”
This is SSC. Carmilla team, I am also recognizing the approaching planes as JAM. I believe this is the result of a JAM deception. Will correct error based on your data. Send data. If possible, visual confirmation by onboard crewmen is preferred.
“This is Carmilla, roger that.”
This is STC. I anticipate actual JAM forces will be closing from behind. Do not overlook this.
“Kill or be killed,” said General Cooley. “Carmilla team, keep watch on the other planes taking off from Faery base and divert them. We’re sending out Yukikaze now. Cover her takeoff. If anything tries to stop her, even an FAF plane,
destroy it.”
“General, you’re sending him out?”
“Go, Captain Fukai,” she said. “Find the real JAM out there, then report back to me in real time. We have to keep the SAF from falling into a panic as well.”
“We need accurate information inside and out in order to stop this panic,” said General Linneberg. “The SAF are the only ones who can stop this.”
Rei nodded as he entered the flight plan from Major Booker into Yukikaze, then left the command center to suit up in his flight gear.
“Rei, look at this,” said Major Booker, stopping him in his tracks. “You’re going out, even now? If you jump into that, you won’t be coming back alive.”
The tactical display was stained bright red showing the enemy offensive under way.
“Why? Because you’re ordered to?” Booker said.
“You always ask me that, even when you already know the answer, Jack. See you. I’m borrowing your watch, though. Don’t worry. I’ll return it.”
He raised his arm lightly in a rough salute, just as he always did. And then Rei headed for Yukikaze. Her repairs complete, she’d been moved to the armament loading area for her final inspection. Wearing his flight suit, helmet in hand, Rei walked in to see the normally unmanned area crowded with maintenance personnel hanging all over Yukikaze, making their final checks on her. Some of them were carrying machine guns. Then Captain Foss approached.
“Edith. What are you doing here?”
“I came to check on your state of mind.”
“Don’t tell me you’re planning to come along with me.”
“I honestly wanted to, but General Cooley won’t allow it. But I think being aboard Yukikaze is the safest place to be at the moment.”
“So do I.”
“Or, rather than safe, maybe I should say it’s the most comforting place to be. I’m sure that’s how you feel. But it would be wrong for me. I shouldn’t come between you and Yukikaze.”
“I still don’t like you,” Rei said to Captain Foss. “You’re an annoying tag-along who just makes my life difficult. But I have to admit that you’re good at what you do. There’s one thing I have to ask you, though.”
“What’s that?”
“My relationship with Yukikaze. You said that simultaneously viewing her as a separate person while also acknowledging her as a part of me wasn’t that rare in people, that people have that ability. You said that it wasn’t an illness.”
“Yeah, exactly.”
“What does that mean, specifically?”
“You know perfectly well. Isn’t that what you said to Major Booker before? You ask even when you know the answer. Still, I can understand why you might be shy about saying it, so I’ll lay it out for you,” Captain Foss said. “It’s what happens when you love someone. It’s an ability that’s been born of the love between you and Yukikaze, between a human being and the artificial intelligence of an SAF fighter plane.”
“It’s ridiculous, isn’t it?” Rei said.
“Yes. When I take a step back and think about it, the truth is that I want to laugh. But it’s the truth. Love can take this form. It’s the ability to feel as though another person is a part of you. It’s not the transient passion of infatuation, but the intense love that would drive you to willingly sacrifice yourself for their survival. We need to teach the JAM about that. The JAM don’t know love. If you wanted to express what the JAM don’t understand about the SAF in a literary way, that’s how I’d put it.”
“There’s no need to teach them.”
Rei put on his helmet and switched places with the maintenance man running the preflight checks in Yukikaze’s cockpit.
“Why not?” Captain Foss asked Rei as she clung to the side of the plane on the ladder. “Are you afraid that the JAM might love you back?”
“Maybe I am. Once the JAM understand that, the war will bog down into a quagmire. We’ll be reduced to a nasty mudslinging contest, and an even stronger hatred will be born of it.”
“Better to keep things as they are, is that it?”
“Yeah,” Rei said.
“Such a typical answer from you. But I predict that the JAM will evolve to understand it in order to match us. I’d even go so far as to say it would make them even more powerful.”
“And us too?”
“The two sides will continue to change. Assuming you live through this, I’m interested in seeing how you’ll continue to change. Be sure to make it back.”
“I was planning to, even without your asking me. Now, if you don’t mind, get out of the way. And have them pull all the safety pins out of the missiles. I’m taking off as soon as I’m topside.”
Captain Foss silently climbed down from the ladder. As Rei watched her, he thought that surviving the JAM wouldn’t necessarily mean he’d return home. But he didn’t say that. Instead, he felt for Major Booker’s watch on his left arm and took it off. And then, after telling Captain Foss to catch it, tossed it to her.
“Give that back to Major Booker for me, will you?” Rei said. “Good luck, Edith. You fixed me up well.”
Captain Foss nodded.
“Like you guys fixed me.”
And, as if answering him, Yukikaze scrolled a message onto the main display.
Everything is ready… Capt.
As they began towing Yukikaze toward the elevator, Rei was no longer aware of Captain Foss as an individual. She, the maintenance teams, the humans and the AIs of the SAF…the SAF had tuned both himself and Yukikaze to perfection, and as they sent him out, all he felt now was satisfaction.
He started the engines as soon as they’d exited the elevator. This was already a battlefield. On the runway, several FAF planes were burning. Three Super Sylphs, Carmilla, Chun-Yan, and Zouk, were speeding low, barely skimming the ground.
“This is Yukikaze. Taking off.”
Night had given way fully to dawn. The crimson jet of the Bloody Road could no longer be seen from ground level.
Yukikaze shot away from the ground at maximum thrust, zooming upward in a combat climb. She soared high, aiming for altitudes where the Bloody Road could be clearly seen, even at noon. The soaring fairy. The queen of the wind. Maeve. Yukikaze.
I Am That I Am
Commentary by Maki Ohno
SF Critic, Translator
THIS BOOK, A sequel to the 1984 release Yukikaze, was originally serialized between 1992 and 1999 in SF Magazine. It was later revised and corrected before being released in hard cover form in 1999 as Good Luck, Yukikaze. It is truly worthy of the title of author Chōhei Kambayashi’s lifework.
It’s the story of a fighter plane and its pilot and their battle with an enemy on an alien world. But that mainly serves as a specialized stage, merely a background for a drama of society and humans. Amidst the extreme circumstances of war, it paints a picture of a hero joined to a cool piece of mecha and destiny in a symbiotic relationship that could almost be called fetishistic. However, what’s depicted here isn’t a war in the usual sense. (The book itself refers to it as a “struggle for existence.”) It’s full of detailed descriptions of the mecha served to wow the fans, but that’s not the sole source of this book’s appeal. Herein lie the major themes of what is intelligence? What is communication? And the author pursues those themes repeatedly. It’s loaded with deep speculation about the perception of the self and others, an ultimate example of SF as speculative fiction.
WARNING! The following contains spoilers about the previous work, Yukikaze. Those who have not read it yet, beware. As this book is a sequel, you are strongly urged to read Yukikaze before proceeding.
A THREE-KILOMETER-WIDE COLUMN of mist appears on a point on the Ross Ice Shelf in Antarctica. This is the “Passageway,” and through this hyperspace corridor fly an alien intelligence known as the JAM to invade Earth. However, the human race form an Earth Defense Organization and begin their counterattack. On the other side of the Passageway lies the mysterious planet Faery. Humanity establishes bases there, and this be
gins a long war with the JAM that is to last thirty years.
The main actor in the war is the Faery Air Force (FAF). Evolving from our current jet fighter planes, the Sylphid fighter with an advanced electronic brain is deployed at the bases on Faery. In addition, an organization charged with reconnaissance and intelligence gathering is established within the FAF: the Special Air Force (SAF), who deploy an improved version of the Sylphid with more powerful computers known as the Super Sylph. The Super Sylph’s artificial intelligence, along with the base’s tactical and strategic computers, possess individual consciousness, making them sapient life-forms that exist along with the humans.
The SAF’s mission is to survive and bring their data back to base, and they are prepared to let their comrades die if necessary to achieve that end. For that reason, the pilots must be callous and coldhearted. In a sense, they require personalities that put them at odds with most ordinary human beings. Rather than human beings, they are more like parts of their fighter planes, organic combat computers that are a part of the Super Sylph.
The previous novel told the story of an SAF Super Sylph named Yukikaze and her pilot, Rei Fukai. As befitting an SAF member, he has trouble communicating with people, only really able to relate to his commander, Major Booker, and Yukikaze. But as he fights, he gradually begins to face the meaning of the war he’s fighting. Quite simply, he comes to believe that the war isn’t a battle between mankind and the JAM, but one between the aliens and the computers that mankind has built. What meaning could human existence have in such a war?
This question also seems to be an important issue for the JAM. They seem unable to understand what humans are, and subtly change their tactics in order to determine the answer to that question. The previous novel showed that they’d reached the point of being able to duplicate human beings. Rei is captured by them, and from this vital story point, the sequel develops.
At the end of the previous novel, Yukikaze is destroyed, and her core data that could be called her consciousness is then transferred into a state-of-the-art fighter plane called the FRX00. And so begins this book, the story of a reborn Yukikaze and Rei Fukai.
Good Luck, Yukikaze Page 48