not much in the mood for knocking back a beer and celebrating.”
“You’re the real thing, aren’t you?”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Booker said.
“That this isn’t some duplicate world the JAM created for me.”
“Your concern over that possibility was recorded when you talked to Lieutenant Katsuragi back aboard Yukikaze.”
“I want to check Yukikaze’s recordings later.”
“Naturally.”
“Do you think I may be a JAM duplicate?”
“General Cooley is on the lookout for that,” Major Booker said.
“What about you?”
“To be honest, I don’t know. If you’re a JAM, you didn’t become one this time around. For now, I’m operating under the assumption that you aren’t being manipulated by them. I’ve decided that’s my only choice here. Where that leads, I can’t say. You really have changed, Rei.”
Rei wasn’t bothered in the least by what Major Booker said, because in his heart he agreed.
“Yukikaze may have also experienced a hallucination like the one you had, Rei — pardon, Captain Fukai, I mean,” said Captain Foss. “The JAM would have an easier time communicating with her mind than with humans like us. It’s possible that she may have experienced what would we think of as a hallucination or vision on this mission. She can sense the JAM much more accurately than we ever could.”
“I never realized,” Major Booker said. “That was my screwup. The computers were acting on their own, according to their own combat awareness. But unlike them, Yukikaze can’t express her consciousness in human terms. That’s why we don’t understand it. Or what she’s doing.”
“Even without words, I can guess what she’s thinking by her actions and behavior,” said Rei. “She definitely has the ability to perceive the world.”
“That’s true,” replied Captain Foss. “Perception implies some means of communication. If rocks and stones had the ability to perceive the world, they’d develop a means of communicating their will and cogitations to other beings. Without the ability to do that, the rock would only be a being capable of receiving external stimuli and couldn’t be said to truly perceive the world. I’m positive that Yukikaze really is perceiving and communicating. She may not possess human speech, but she still conveys her thoughts via her behavior. Captain Fukai has learned to understand that, Major Booker.”
Rei listened to Captain Foss’s explanation and found himself in total agreement.
“Hmm,” said Major Booker. “If we have no way of controlling the speculations of our machine intelligences, then this war really is just one between the JAM and the computers.”
“No, the conflict isn’t that simple,” replied Rei. “Right now, the battle is between the JAM, the SAF, and the FAF. The SAF’s combat intelligences have completely assimilated the hierarchy systems of the other FAF computers. It’s the same sort of thing they’d do in fighting the JAM. And as far as Yukikaze is concerned, everything that isn’t her is an enemy.”
“You think Yukikaze sees you as an enemy too?”
“Probably not as an enemy. I think, to her, I’m more like a very reliable weapon, just as she is to me.”
“That’s what Yukikaze was originally,” Captain Foss said, the emotion in her voice surprisingly strong. “After a lot of twists and turns, look where you’ve finally arrived in your relationship with her. Well? How do you feel now?”
“How...?”
Rei wasn’t sure. It wasn’t the sort of thing he’d say if he thought about it.
“The way you are now, if I were to tell you that, if necessary, you might have to abandon Yukikaze at any time, would that make you feel lonely?”
“If it’s necessary, then I’d have to do it. And I would. That’s what Yukikaze did this time around. But I’d be sad when I lost her. I don’t want to imagine what it’d be like.”
“But it wouldn’t be a feeling of abandonment caused by a collapse of the relationship of trust you’ve built up with her. That’s what I think. And that’s definitely different from how you used to feel. You’ve finally achieved the relationship with Yukikaze that you never could before.”
“I suppose I have. But —”
“That’s what the JAM don’t understand,” Captain Foss continued. “You and Yukikaze no longer share the relationship of pilot and fighter plane. You once felt that she wasn’t your friend or your lover, but now she isn’t a partner. Neither one of you dominates in the relationship, and yet both of you can trust the other with their existence. The JAM now recognize that, depending on the situation, you share a relationship in which either of you can act as a sort of suicide weapon against them.”
“I may have thought about it, but I never wanted to admit it to myself. That hasn’t changed, even now.”
“I believe Yukikaze thinks so as well,” said Captain Foss. “Yukikaze doesn’t consider you an expendable weapon. It’s an arrangement based your new relationship. Seen from the point of view of the JAM or another third- party observer, you both function as weapons. But that isn’t the reality of the relationship you two share. That’s what the JAM don’t understand.”
“That makes two of us.” Major Booker sighed. “They aren’t fighter and pilot, or friends or partners. Not colleagues or comrades at arms, or enemies or allies. So just what the hell are they to each other?”
“Simple. They’re one self.”
“I beg your pardon?” said Major Booker.
“I’m saying that Yukikaze and Captain Fukai are two parts of a single personality. They’re tied together like limbs for each other,” replied Captain Foss.
“Like a cyborg?” the major asked.
“No,” said Edith. “A cyborg is different. This is neither a machine controlled by a human brain or a human body controlled by a computer. They represent a new form of life, possessing two separate data processing systems capable of perceiving the world — and each can also be used by the other as a subsystem. They’re neither human nor machine. It’s no wonder the JAM don’t understand them. They’re an entirely new species. You might say they’re a new life-form evolved specifically to counter the JAM threat.”
“If you can put that all together into a plausible treatise with your name on the front, you may end up being famous,” replied Major Booker, who looked quite tired. “You think you can just call new species into existence with the free use of rhetoric, Edith?”
“I’ll admit that the term ‘new species’ is a rhetorical flourish,” said Captain Foss. “I’m saying this based on my evaluation as an SAF flight surgeon of Captain Fukai’s mental state.”
“Captain Foss, that’s enough —”
“No, go on,” Rei urged, interrupting Major Booker’s weary voice.
“Rei, regarding some other entity as part of yourself is normally seen as an abnormality or a sign of immaturity. But I’m saying that doesn’t apply to you in this case. Accepting another as part of one’s own consciousness isn’t that rare a phenomenon. Human beings possess the ability to do that.”
“That’s schizophrenia, isn’t it?”
“Oh, good heavens, no! It’s an extremely advanced function of consciousness. You wouldn’t be able to do it unless your mind was sound. If you were schizophrenic, you’d be completely unable to construct such a rich mental world. Even your misunderstanding that shows that you’re fine. Were you hoping that I would diagnose you as being mentally ill?”
“No. But, how do I put this...? I’m just me. Saying I’m a new species or crazy doesn’t make much difference to me either way,” Rei said.
“But it’s common to view the JAM as a new species, isn’t it? And for the JAM’s part, I definitely think that when they captured you and Yukikaze as a pair, they saw you as a type of FAF enemy hitherto unknown to them. I doubt they really possess a very deep understanding of humans...”
Captain Foss’s words trailed off as she looked at the bed next to them. There was a fumbling in the tent and Lieutenant Katsuragi emerged. Major Booker didn’t stop him. The lieutenant stood in front of Rei’s tent and spoke.
