their ultimate goal, is in all of this. Besides that, why are they sending these human duplicates to infiltrate us? I think it’s because they want to know more about us, but I want some theoretical backing to that supposition.”
“The JAM’s ultimate goal?” asked Captain Foss. “That’s pretty obvious, isn’t it? They want to invade Earth and conquer it. Are you saying that’s not what they’re after?”
“While it may be true that the JAM invaded Earth before and are still trying to gain a foothold, the idea that they’re trying to conquer the planet is just our subjective impression as humans. Or rather than
“You’re right,” Rei added. “I don’t think the JAM’s objective is simply to conquer Earth. If they were just trying to invade, they could have pulled that off without us humans knowing it. They still could. They may already have.”
“I agree. It’s as though the JAM never expected humanity to try and stop their invasion, and their actions toward us since then seem to support that. That still holds true, but their behavior is changing. They’re changing their strategy because they now seem to have realized that achieving their objective is going to require dealing with us humans first. If they’re adopting a new strategy, then we can’t afford to ignore it. We’re about to see a major turn in the course of the war, which means we can’t keep fighting it the way we’ve been. We’ve got to come up with a countermeasure, and fast! Is that clear, Foss?” Major Booker said, chiding the young doctor.
“You have to understand that conquering Earth and conquering human society are two entirely different things.
“I’m not a specialist in analyzing JAM behavior and psychology!” Captain Foss insisted.
“Nobody’s a specialist in that,” Rei said. “No human at least. Yukikaze and the computers probably know more about that than we do.”
“We can’t go on saying that!” Major Booker shot back. “First of all, there’s a problem in our not being able to take pride in being the ones who know the most about the JAM. There are probably lots of civilians outside of the FAF who also have an interest in this. Some among them may be doing analysis that’s even more pertinent than what the SAF is doing.”
“Yeah,” said Rei. “Like Lynn Jackson.”
“People like her who think outside the box are a dying breed. Yeah, I was also thinking of her while I was talking just now.”
“Lynn Jackson? You mean the world-famous journalist?” asked Edith.
“Right,” replied Major Booker. “She’s been covering the JAM and the FAF for a long time now. It’s her life’s work. We owe her a lot, especially Rei here.”
“Really?” replied Captain Foss. “I read her book and found it fascinating. That’s what first gave me the idea of joining the FAF.”
“I wonder what Lynn would say if she heard that,” Major Booker said. “Well, the younger generation is definitely growing up. You’ve put yourself a lot closer to living JAM than she has. It’s an undeveloped field, and you’ve got a chance to pioneer it. That’ll become a real feather in your cap, one that may even outdo what Lynn’s working on.”
“Are you being sarcastic, sir? Because that’s how I’m hearing it. I came here to be a doctor for the SAF first and a researcher second, so —”
“I was hoping to get you fired up for this, Captain Foss. If I rubbed you the wrong way, you’re just going to have to accept that your superior officer is that kind of guy and then move on. I may not mean to wound your pride, but I don’t have a lot of time to always be careful not to. In short, I really don’t give a damn. No matter what your motivations were in joining the SAF, right now, your talents are needed. Do your profacting thing on the JAM. That’s an order. You’re both to get to work on it at once and make it a top priority ongoing project. This is the first stage of our strategic reconnaissance mission against the JAM. That is all. Dismissed.”
“Yes, Major.”
Captain Foss saluted. Rei followed suit. They left the office.
AS THEY WALKED into the hallway, Captain Foss turned to Rei. “Let’s go,” she said. “We can use my office. This is a priority matter, so you have to do this too. We were ordered to work on this together, right?”
“We were also told that our mission is ongoing,” Rei replied. “You keep dragging me to your office so much that it’s getting so that I can barely breathe in there.”
“Well, you don’t have an office. Want to go to the mission briefing room instead?”
“I do my work aboard Yukikaze.”
“Fine with me,” Edith Foss replied with a smile. “That’d be an appropriate place to try profacting your new flight officer. Yukikaze might have an interest in it as well.”
“The new flight officer is going to be trivial to her. But it’s possible she might show some sort of response to us analyzing the JAM. Anyway, let’s start by getting the trivial stuff out of the way first. I guess we can use your office for today.” With that, Rei began walking down the corridor, but Captain Foss’s voice stopped him a moment later.
“Hold it, Captain Fukai. You had a good idea there.”
“What?”
“Your suggestion to do this aboard Yukikaze. I also think it’d be a good idea to tell her about Colonel Rombert and this new flight officer she’ll be dealing with. I think... I just think so.”
Rei tilted his head as he looked at the doctor, wondering why she’d think such a thing. He said nothing, waiting for her to go on. Sensing his curiosity, Captain Foss continued.
“I think Yukikaze is also interested in the humans she comes into close contact with, not just the JAM. Major Booker told me about the incident with Lieutenant Yagashira. He said something about Yagashira sabotaging some of Yukikaze’s systems.”
Rei nodded. “Right, the AICS. Sorry, the Air Intake Control System, I mean. It was a part that she didn’t have direct sensor input on. You could think of it as an autonomic system. Yukikaze didn’t realize it’d been tampered with, which was probably why Lieutenant Yagashira chose that system to target. There aren’t many combat-vital onboard systems you can do that to, but the AICS was one of the few exceptions.”
“Was? You mean now it isn’t?”
“It’s just jury-rigged for now, but we added in a chip that allows the central computer to monitor all onboard systems. It’s not perfect, but it plugs the security hole Yagashira found. Now you can’t pull a circuit card from the fuselage without the central computer knowing it.”
“Did Yukikaze demand that you do that?” Foss asked.
“No, it was Major Booker’s idea. The tactical computer in headquarters also said we had to do it, but it was Major Booker who made the final decision. Except ... You know, now that I think of it, Yukikaze was probably aware that she was in danger from Lieutenant Yagashira’s sabotage. From the way she queries the HQ computers about her status in combat when she returns to base, to make sure that her own analysis is accurate, I’d say that she still senses that danger.”
“Then you understand what I’m thinking about this, right?”
“Just what do you expect will come from us doing our work aboard Yukikaze while she’s on standby? Do you think we’ll just talk about stuff at her and she’ll just say ‘Right, I understand’?” Rei said.
“Don’t you think that, Captain Fukai? I’m only suggesting it because I heard that you told Major Booker that Yukikaze seems to be able to understand natural spoken language on some level.”
“You’re nearly as good at collecting information as Colonel Rombert. The thing is, I kind of doubt that you really believe that she has that ability. Nobody’s as close to Yukikaze as I am, so I have to wonder how someone in your position can believe that of her so easily. It’s not the sort of thing that an outsider would say, so I wish you’d stop pretending that you believe it.”
“Are you sure you just don’t like that an outsider like me could so easily realize something that took you so
