by Dale Brown
captured every day, yet he not only successfully penetrated the
most top-secret flight research lab in the U. but became the
only pilot of the most advanced flying machine in the whole
world. How anyone could keep calm and collected through all
that without going crazy was unbelievable. Add on thathe had
to fly DreamStar itself-and in Maraklov's case take it into bat-
tle, with no "knock it off" calls or prearranged attack scenarios,
no "wait ten seconds then come and get us" stuff. And Mar-
aklov had proved himself in battle, handily defeating two F-16
ADF interceptors . . . "How the hell does he do it?"
"He's tuned into the ANTARES computer as if it was made
especially for him," replied immediately, as if he was
thinking the very same thing as McLanahan. "It's logical,
though-if he's a Russian mole like they say he is, he had to
forget completely about being a Russian and transform himself
into an American. It's like he can ram-flush his own mind and
fill it with whatever he wants. The same with ANTARES-he
can empty his mind of everything and allow that machine to take
over. I don't know how he snaps out of it-he must keep back
a bit of his brain, enough to remind himself that he's a human
being-sort of like leaving . bread crumbs behind in a maze to
help find your way out . . . "
"But how can a guyfight like that? I've flown lots of different
high-performance fighters, including Cheetah's simulator, and it
takes every ounce of concentration I have just to keep the thing
flying straight. How can a schizy guy like that fly one?"
"Practice helps," said. "Sure, you've flown a lot of
fighters-always with an instructor pilot and always in ideal day
VFR conditions-but you don't have many hours. Maraklov has
got hundreds of hours in DreamStar. And let's face it-the man
is good. With or without DrearnStar, he's a top fighter pilot. I'm
no psychologist, so I don't know too much about his mental
state, but just because you're schizy doesn't mean you can't
function normally or even above norm. Hell, they say most of
us fighter pilots are schizoids anyway . . . But ANTARES is the
key, Patrick. If you had a full-time, high-speed computer telling
you what to do each and every second you were at the controls,
you could fly any jet in the inventory. The problem you and I
have is that we can't interface with ANTARES. Maraklov is the
opposite: he's probably at a point where he can't exist without
ANTARES. He's not whole unless he's hooked up to that ma-
chine. When he's not hooked up he's less than himself. He's
388 DALE BROWN
probably more dangerous when he's not hooked up. When he's
hooked into ANTARES he's sort of at the mercy of it."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, no matter how far we've come with high-speed inte-
grated circuits, micro-miniature computers and neural interfaces,
there's no unlimited amount of info you can take on board an
aircraft. We call ANTARES artificial intelligence, and in a way
it is, but the critical difference between my brain and AN-
TARES' computer is that ANTARES can't learn. And learning
creates an unlimited pool of info that you rely on in combat.
There's a lot of it available on DreamStar, but it has a limit, and
we know what the limit is. James-Maraklov-can call on his
own experience and training to improve his own pool of infor-
mation, but we've seen before that he doesn't do that. He relies
more and more on ANTARES to make crucial decisions for him.
So his advantage can become a disadvantage for him, and that's
a one-up for me. On Cheetah I've got a lot of options available.
Including ones I dream up or choose. He doesn't-"
"But ANTARES has hundreds of options available," Mc-
Lanahan said, "and it can execute them much faster than you
can-"
"ANTARES executes a maneuver based on what it figures
out I'm doing, true," said, "but he also makes moves
based on the probability of what I'll do in the future, based on
what I do now. ANTARES is thinking ahead and maneuvering
to counter or press the attack based on what it thinks I'll do. But
what if he's thinking the wrong thing?"
"The chances of it computing the wrong thing are slim,"
McLanahan said. "It computes dozens, sometimes hundreds of
combinations to any situation-"
"But it can only execute one of them," said. "The one
it executes is based on current activity and probability-highly
accurate mathematical statistics and historical averages but still
chance, educated guesses."
"So if you do something different, it recomputes on that move,
executes the maneuver, and computes another dozen situations - - - "
" You got it. And when it stops and thinks-and I don't care
how fast it does it-I have some advantage. If it's thinking in-
stead of fighting that's good for me."
McLanahan's head was pounding. "You've got a machine
that can think and react faster than a human being. A lot faster.
How can you get the advantage over that? " ,
"Because of the way it's programmed," JC. said.
"DreamStar is a fighter," McLanahan said. "It's been pro-
grammed to fight. Attack. It can compute a dozen different ways
to attack every second. Where's the advantage?"
"What would you do?" asked, "if you were chasing
down a bogey at your twelve o'clock and you had the overtake
on him but you both had a lot of smash built up? What would
you do? Would you go max AB, firewall the throttle, close on
the guy and attack?"
"I could, but it wouldn't be smart."
"Why?
"Because if I had a lot of overtake, the bogey could reverse
on me easier. Then I'd be on the defensive-"
"Exactly. DrearnStar does not think like that. DreamStar has
not been programmed to hang back, match speed and power,
maintain spacing, look for an opening. DreamStar goes for the
kill when the target is presented to it. It will always engage. If
you're ever in doubt about what it will do, it will attack. You
can count on it. Remember our last flight test with DreamStar?"
"Sure. James almost pancaked into those buttes."
"He did that because even in what we would call an unsafe
situation, DreamStar's computers will press the attack no matter
what. If there's the slightest opening, the tiniest chance for suc-
cess, DreamStar will use it in its attack equation.
"I wasn't involved with the programming part of DreamStar's
computers," McLanahan said, "but to me it doesn't make sense.
Isn't defense as much a pan of dogfighting as offense? Why
wouldn't DreamStar's computer programmers teach it about de-
fense?
"Who knows? DreamStar was probably programmed by some
computer weenie who never was in a cockpit. But then again, I
suppose if you have the ultimate fighter, the most agile and fast-
est there is, it would be easy to ignore defense and concentrate
on offense. But it can afford to ignore cut-and-run options be-
victories. Guys lose because they're amazed by how fast it is.
It's not fast-you're dead because you did exactly what DreamStar
figured you would do, and it was right there waiting for you.
Boom. Dead meat."
390 DAIZ BROWN
"So if you make DreamStar play defense
"DreamStar does not play defense, Patrick," said,
pounding on the canopy sill to drive home his point. "The only
defense maneuver programmed into that system is high-speed
escape, and that's only if the ANTARES interface is broken or
damaged. As long as it's fully functional, it never thinks defense.
DreamStar is always thinking attack. Always. If you force it into
a defensive role you know that DreamStar is thinking about how
to attack in response. And when it's thinking, you have the ad-
vantage. True, it may only be for a second or two, but during
that time you have an advantage, and that's when you have to
take him out."
"Sounds like you got this all figured out, "
"Hey, DreamStar's a fantastic machine, you can't beat it in
technology or maneuverability-you have to think at a level where
even ANTARES has a weakness. You fly unpredictable, fly in
three dimensions, fly by instincts instead of by the book or by
some computer. ANTARES has problems handling that .
As the KC-10 began a shallow turn right toward Tegucigalpa
in southern Honduras, gently yawed Cheetah around to fol-
low. They had just crossed the north coast of Honduras directly
over the Honduran Air Force base of La Cieba. Even though the
Hondurans had only twenty-five aircraft, La Cieba was a large,
modem, high-tech base-mostly because of the U. military,
which used the base for "joint training missions," and subse-
quently "assisted" with base improvements that virtually built
an American air base at La Cieba. There were often more Amer-
ican planes at La Cieba than other aircraft in all of Honduras.
"Storm Tvo, Sun Devil Three-TWo is ready for your final
refueling any time," the copilot aboard the KC-10 tanker re-
ported. "Airspeed coming back. Cleared to pre-contact posi-
tion.
I I Roger, Sun Devil, " JC. replied. " Moving to pre-contact.
pulled the throttles. back to eighty percent power and
watched as the KC-10 moved slowly ahead. Cheetah would get
one more refueling as they transited Honduras; then Sun Devil
Three-TWo would land as scheduled at Tegucigalpa and refuel,
and Cheetah would continue on its strike-escort route.
The refueling went without a hitch. They stayed in contact
position right up until the KC-10s initial approach fix to Ton-
contin International Airport at Tegucigalpa, so Cheetah could
fill up to full tanks right until the last possible minute-Cheetah
had to complete its mission, escort the strike aircraft out of the
danger area, then return to La Cieba and land. Every drop of
gas was critical.
"Well, boys, you got another ten thousand pounds courtesy
of the people of the great state of Arizona, " the pilot of the
KC-10 radioed after he had started his approach to Tegucigalpa,
"Take care, I don't want to read about you in the papers.
"Likewise," replied. "We'll see you in about three hours
if we need you. Over."
"We'll be waiting and ready. Sun Devil out."
The channel went dead. ordered the voice-command
computer to reset the radios to the strike mission channelization,
with the command radio on the strike-aircraft frequency and a
scan on all UHF and VHF frequencies for ground-controlled
intercept activity in Nicaragua. At the same time, Powell started
a turn toward the east and a rapid descent to five-thousand feet
which would put him about a thousand feet over most of the lus@
tree-covered mountains of northwestern Nicaragua. They were
skirting the northern Nicaragua border, staying deep within the
Cordillera Entre Rios valley to avoid Nicaragua's main surveil-
lance radar site situated on top of a fifty-seven-hundred-foot
mountain near Cuyali in the center of the country.
"Shouldn't we have heard from them?" asked a few
minutes later. He had fitted a night-vision visor over his eyes to
help him pick out the rugged peaks and valleys surrounding them
in the rapidly growing darkness.
"Few more minutes," McLanahan told him. He had the sat-
ellite transceiver unit set on the strike frequency as briefed back
at Dreamland; because of the high terrain all around them, UHF
or VHF communications would be impossible. "Then all hell
will break loose."
It wasn't like the old days, Major Kelvin Carter told himself. It
was a damned sight better.
He was sitting in what could best be described as the inside
of a computer surrounded by multi-function, multi-color com-
puter monitors, LED readouts and synthesized voices. The cock-
pit windscreen undulated with laser-drawn images describing
search radars, terrain and performance data. The big two-homed
yoke and massive center-console throttle quadrant were gone,
392 DALE BROWN
replaced by static force side-stick controls, a special control stick
that did not move but sensed the amount of pressure being
delivered and commanded the appropriate input to the flight
controls, and electronic mini-throttles.
He was sitting in what probably was the most advanced elec-
tronic cockpit outside DreamStar's-the cockpit on the upper
deck of Dog Zero TWo, the second experimental B-52 M-model
Megafortress Plus.
She was a more potent weapon than her predecessor, Old
Dog. Every possible system in the aircraft, from flight controls
to navigation to weapons, was controlled by computer-and
many of those systems could be activated or monitored by voice
commands, helping to reduce workload even more. The Mega-
fortress Plus had been virtually rebuilt from the spine up with
advanced composite materials, even lighter and stronger than
fibersteel.
But her most outstanding feature was her weapons fit: she had
been redesigned to carry almost every missile or bomb in the
Air Force inventory. In her role as a defense suppression "super
escort" battleship, as on this mission, she carried enough weap-
ons to equip a dozen tactical aircraft-and she could carry those
weapons almost eight thousand miles without refueling.
For self-defense, the Megafortress Plus carried fifty aft-firing
Stinger "air mine" missiles, which had a range of almost two
miles and could be steered by the fire-control radar operated
from the gunner's position, and six AIM-120C Scorpion air-to-
air missiles, three on each wing pylon, for defense against fighter
attack. She also carried a wide array- of electronic jammers and
decoys to confuse or shut down enemy radars. Her terrain-
following capability, where she could automatically fly any de-
sired altitude above ground "hands off," was also a valuable
self-protection
feature.
For destroying enemy radars and weapon sites, the Old Dog
Two carried four AGM-136 Tacit Rainbow anti-radar drones,
two on each wing external pylon, which would home in on en-
emy radars from long distances. These were planned for use
against the four known fixed-radar defense sites along the flight
route. For unexpected threats she carried six AGM-88 HARM
High-speed Anti-Radar Missiles on a rotary launcher in the aft
bomb bay, designed to destroy mobile anti-aircraft guns or mis-
sile sites.
For attacking the KGB airbase itself, she carried four AGM-
130 Striker glide bombs in the forward bomb bay, which could
be launched from as far as twelve miles away against the aircraft
hangars or other high-value targets at Sebaco. To destroy run-
way, taxiways and parking ramp she carried two cluster-bomb
dispenser drones on the rotary launcher in the aft bomb bay,
small winged vehicles that would fly around a preprogrammed
or designated spot and scatter (one hundred) twenty-pound
bomblets over a wide area, cratering'concrete and destroying
aircraft or vehicles unlucky enough to be there at the time.
TWenty-two attack weapons, plus the fifty mini-rockets in the
tail-the weapons on Old Dog Two could outfit four or five mod-
em F-15 or F-" fighter-bombers. The aged B-52 bomber-this
particular airframe first rolled off the assembly line in 1963-
had been given a new lease on life, ensuring its usefulness in a
major combat role beyond the year 2000.
"One minute to start countermeasures," the navigator, Cap-
tain Alicia Kellerman, reported. The call shook Carter out of
his reverie. It was so easy to slip into a sort of hypnotic trance
flying this beast-it'was as quiet as an airliner and as comfort-
able as the leather recliner back in his own living room.
Carter checked the threat radar display projected onto his
windscreen after first tearing his attention away from the sight
of the iridescent dark green sea rushing past as they skimmed
only a hundred feet above the Caribbean. A green dome not far
in the distance signified their first electronic barrier, the sur-