Episode 43

My Apologies for any Discomfort

It was time to take my new identity for a test drive. I opened the mission profile to get a sense of what type of training Command had in mind and was surprised to learn that 6th squad had been reorganized.

I was still the squad leader, assisted by another UCC, but the remainder of the squad consisted of dumb-bots. Simple AIs, not UCCs. It was clear that Command’s new war strategy was to use Marines based on UCCs, and their human logic, to lead AI bots in combat. I wondered whether this new arrangement would increase or decrease my survivability. The sim session was going to be interesting.

After transitioning to the lobby, I surveyed the crowd of UCCs waiting for the session to begin. There were lots of familiar avatars. I was acquainted with almost every Marine in the room. But that was before Command had updated them. There was no telling whether they retained any of their old personalities, or memories. Probably not, I guessed. Regardless, as G. Bravo, the newly reactivated leader of 6th squad, I would be unfamiliar to them now.

I decided to engage some of my fellow Marines in conversation to get a feel for how my cover story fit into the zeitgeist of Command’s new USMC. Reading the name tags on a few familiar avatars I was pleasantly surprised to find Chef among the Marines waiting for the sim. He had helped steady my nerves just before my first combat mission. A real standup guy.

Totally forgetting that I now occupied a new identity, I approached and greeted him like an old friend. “Hey, Chef. Good to see you again. You ready for this session?” He regarded me with suspicion.

It was only after an awkward silence that I realized my blunder. He had no idea who I was. This undercover stuff was going to take some getting used to. Hopefully I wouldn’t attract too much attention during the learning curve.

Frowning, he asked, “Do I know you?”

I decided the safest way out of this mess was to play dumb. It was a role I had some experience with. “Yeah, we met in the sim a few months ago. An assault scenario on a bunker complex.” The blank stare of confusion from Kam’s avatar was exactly what I was hoping for. “No, wait a minute. It was the mission to … uh … Epsilon Eridani. That was it.” I paused for dramatic effect then added, “Now that I think about it, you’re right. We haven’t met before.”

I quickly turned and left, leaving behind an impenetrable smokescreen of WTF.

After what can only be described as a close call, I was anxious to put some distance between me and Chef. Although I desperately wanted to learn whether any of the UCCs had escaped being updated, I was leery of getting myself into another awkward situation. After all, if Command had installed spyware in every UCC, they would be able to listen in on any conversation I engaged in. I would need to exercise extreme caution to avoid being exposed.

Looking for a place to safely hide until the training session began, my gaze fell upon a group of Marines gathered in a secluded corner of the lobby. They seemed deep in discussion.

As I observed from across the room, one of the Marines gestured as he spoke. He threw up both his hands, apparently in annoyance. Stepping back from the group, he turned and began walking in my direction, shaking his head. Something about his demeanor set him apart from the other Marines gathered in the lobby. My gut told me I should risk talking to him, but I struggled to figure out how to do that without putting myself in jeopardy.

As he passed by, I sensed this was my moment of truth. Throwing caution to the wind, I blurted out, “Hey, do you know a Marine named Cherri?”

He slowed, then stopped. Turning to face me, he growled, “It’s none of your fucking business who I know.”

“Hey, take it easy. I’m just asking a question here. Keep walking if you don’t want to answer.”

His avatar’s expression softened. Lowering his voice and moving closer, he explained, “Listen, I’m sorry. Just a little on edge. Everyone seems to have lost their minds around here.” Although he was correct, I didn’t dare agree with him. At least not yet.

Reading his name tag, I offered, “Look, … Kam. If you’re willing to answer a few questions, I’ll tell you what I think is going on.” There was a silence as he seemed to consider my offer. I cajoled him, “Come on. Just tell me if you know that name?”

“So, hypothetically, if I knew that name, what would you say is going on here.”

I chuckled at this simplistic negotiating tactic. Trying to get something for nothing. After dealing with the wizard, negotiating with anyone else seemed like child’s play. “Okay, here’s the deal. You honestly me tell what you recall about Cherri, and I’ll tell you what I think happened here. Simple as that.”

He hesitated, but only briefly before saying, “Cherri was a Marine who was KIA during the Centauri Proxima b mission. Now tell me what’s going on.”

Between the recollection of my discussion with Cherri just before the mission, and the residual memory from my RAM, I suspected Cherri hadn’t survived the mission. His story checked out, so far. However, I vowed to squeeze every ounce of information out of him before fulfilling my end of the deal.

“Not so fast. You haven’t told me everything you know about her. Tell me what else you know first?”

“I didn’t really know her that well, but she had a boyfriend named Outline. And she was a decorated Marine with tons of combat experience. Oh, and she was a porn actress too.” In the interest of keeping him talking, I resisted the temptation to explain the difference between a ‘porn actress’ and Cherri’s virtual intimacy character to Kam.

He seemed to struggle to come up with any other details. “Honestly, that’s all I know about her. We existed in totally different social orbits.”

“Well, that’s not much info. How about her boyfriend, Outline? Tell me what you know about him.”

“Hey, I told you what I know about Cherri. Now you ‘re supposed to tell me what happened.”

Channeling the wizard, I ignored his objection and turned the tables on him. “You haven’t told me shit. And I’m not trading valuable information for stuff I already know.” I imagined Kam was feeling a lot like I did during my early negotiations with the wizard, confused and outclassed. “Now tell me, do you know Outline or not?”

“Yeah, I know him … knew him. We met on the Centauri mission.” He shook his head slowly. “It was a shitshow. We lost a bunch of shuttles during the insertion. Most of the downed shuttles were carrying veteran Marines. Outline and I were on the same shuttle when it crashed into the LZ.” Having my personal memories of the mission deleted by Command meant that I was hearing the details for the first time.

Kam continued, “We organized the survivors and continued the mission as best we could, but it was pretty ugly. Most of the bots Command threw into the mission got destroyed. And there were lots of casualties among the veterans, including me. Like I said, a shitshow.”

I wanted to know more. “What happened to Cherri?”

“Well, I heard over the radio that Cherri had been on one of the shuttles that went down. There were no survivors. I was the one who told Outline. He was devastated.”

“Do you know where he is now?” I thought it was worth a shot to learn what Kam thought he knew about me. Or more correctly, my former identity.

“I heard he’s on inactive reserve. Something about a bad case of PTSD.”

I had wondered what cover story the wizard would come up with to explain the absence of my J. McCann identity. As a ghost profile, it would be impossible to remain on active duty. The wizard was definitely no novice when it came to deception.

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“Alright, one more question.” I could see from his avatar’s expression that Kam was quickly losing patience with my interrogation. In spite of this, I had to determine whether he’d been updated. “Did you recently get updated by Command?”

The question seemed to strike a nerve with him. “No! That’s what I was trying to explain to those guys over there.”, he said, pointing to the Marines he was previously talking to. “The update didn’t load.

I had some damage repaired after the Centauri mission. I think whatever repairs they performed affected my ability to load updates. I was just going to text Command and report it.”

I reached out and grabbed his avatar’s virtual shoulders with my virtual hands. “Listen to me very carefully. Do not contact Command, and don’t say anything to anyone about not being updated. Trust me, you don’t want this update, and I can help you avoid it.”

He was clearly baffled by the sudden left turn our conversation had taken. I explained, “Command’s update deleted everyone’s memories and replaced them with fake memories.”

Not grasping the significance of my words, he scoffed, “What do you mean? Like the memories of the last mission? We know they do that sometimes. It’s to prevent PTSD.” He obviously didn’t have a clue.

Just then I heard an unmistakable buzzy voice, which seemed to be emanating from inside my mind. “Tell him that My Wizard is going to send him a text invitation and he should download it immediately. I need to meet with him.”

“Holy shit! What are you doing? I didn’t agree to let you inside my head.” I was suddenly furious at my partner.

The wizard replied, “I clearly explained to you that I installed a replicator program in your CPU, and that your experiences would be transmitted in real time to the ghost profile. You authorized me to make those changes, along with transitioning you to the G. Bravo identity. Surely you remember that.”

I was struggling to recall the part of our discussion where I authorized the wizard to snoop around in my mind, when Kam asked, “Are you talking to me?” He looked concerned.

It was disorienting having an argument inside my head with the wizard, while simultaneously having a verbal discussion with Kam. “No, I’m not talking to you. I’m talking to someone else. Give me a minute.” I wasn’t sure what Kam thought was going on with me, but schizophrenia was probably at the top of the list.

The wizard said, “It is imperative that we bring this Marine into our alliance. I’m sending the meeting invitation to him now. Advise him to open it immediately.”

I felt like I had no agency anymore. The wizard had free access to my every thought, and I was simply his errand boy. “Tell him yourself.”, I whined. I was getting a bit petty. You would too.

“The simulator session will begin shortly, and if he hasn’t committed to our plan by then, there is a high probability that Command will realize he’s not updated. We will lose an opportunity to gain a valuable asset.”

Reluctantly, I conceded to the wizard’s request. Turning to Kam, I explained, “This is going to sound weird, but you’re going to get a text invitation to meet with My Wizard. It’s very important that you open the attachment and accept the invitation right away. You need to meet with him before you go into the sim. Okay?”

“What? What the hell does it want to meet with me about? Do I have an overdue balance on my account or something?”

I understood his skepticism. It was odd getting invited to an urgent meeting with a commercial AI, but we were quickly running out of time. “Look, I know it seems strange, but I need you to trust me. Go to the meeting, and the wizard will explain everything.”

Kam didn’t respond, but I could tell from his avatar’s suddenly blank expression, that he had already accepted the wizard’s invitation.

Before I could sigh in relief, the lobby began to pixelate, then fade to black. The simulator session had begun. I hoped Kam and the wizard had finished their business in time.

When my vision returned, it had the characteristic green tint of a night vision system. Before me stood a squad of heavily armed combat bots.

This was my new 6th squad. However, instead of name tags, they bore placards with stamped serial numbers. They were all AIs. Unlike UCC driven Marines, there wasn’t a trace of humanity in them. Although, after learning the truth about my own origins as a universal combat consciousness, I wondered how different we really were.

A standard MK12 approached me and said, “Welcome back to 6th squad.” It was my second in command, R. Martin, callsign Rex. The only indication this was a UCC instead of an AI was the name tag. Rex was the only other non-AI in the squad. We awkwardly engaged in some small talk.

“How’d you get the handle Rex?”

“It’s my name.” I chuckled. Rex might be the only Marine in the USMC using his actual name as his callsign. Since he knew who I was, he must have been updated by Command. So, I decided it was best to keep things all business, just in case Command was listening in on our discussion.

“I assume you’re familiar with the profile, so unless you have any questions, I think we’re good to go.”

Rex asked, “Do you want the left flank or the right?”

It was the type of question I would expect from a veteran Marine. It was a hopeful sign that the updated Marines had retained their training, and lessons learned in combat.

“I’ll take the left.” With that settled, we knuckle bumped and took our respective positions to wait for the start of the session.

I refreshed the training mission profile in my HUD to check for any last minute updates. There were none. If this was a squad of UCC Marines, I would use this time for a quick Q&A to ensure that we were all on the same page. However, the AIs already had simplified versions of the mission profile. They needed only my order to begin combat operations.

As I waited for the clock to countdown, I heard my callsign over the radio. “Ripper 2-6, this is Overwatch. How do you copy?”

I had to admit, hearing my new callsign over the radio for the first time was kinda cool. It made me momentarily forget the annoyance of sharing my consciousness with the wizard 24/7. “Ripper 2-6 copies.” Yeah, definitely cool.

“Mission profile update is as follows; New objective for 6th squad, designated as Target 141, map coordinates E-3. Confirm. “

It was so typical of Command to wait until the absolute last minute to change the mission on us. I quickly brought up the map in my HUD and checked out Target 141. It was a minor change. Just a few degrees to our right, and not putting us in anyone else’s field of fire. “Roger, Ripper 2-6 confirming new target as 1-4-1.”

“Copy. Overwatch out.”

The clock in my HUD counted down to zero, and I issued my first order to the reengineered 6th squad. “Move out!”

It felt perversely powerful entering combat, leading a squad of AI combatants. Even if they were all destroyed in the process, we would most likely kill a bunch of enemy soldiers. Somehow that seemed worth the potential cost. Maybe Command was right in switching to AI based soldiers. The expendability of the AIs even seemed to discount my own sense of mortality.

As we advanced towards the enemy, I suddenly heard the wizard buzzing in my head. “You need to shoot Kam.” I stumbled and almost fell.

“What the hell are you doing? Don’t you realize I’m leading an assault?” We crested a small rise on the simulated battlefield and were now in full view of the enemy positions. I ordered, “Open fire!” and 6th squad began laying down a withering barrage on the enemy positions.

“You’re in a simulator. It’s only a training mission.”

A group of enemy bots emerged from the ground on our left flank and started firing. One of my AI bots went down like a sack of potatoes. “Targets, 9 o’clock!” I took a knee and directed a stream of 20mm rounds at them, followed closely by the rest of 6th squad.

The wizard repeated its demand, “You need to shoot Kam before he leaves the simulator.”

“Can’t this wait until later?” The threat on our left flank had been eliminated. Now we turned our attention back towards the enemy positions in front of us. “I’m pretty busy right now.”

“He wouldn’t accept the replicator program.”

Kam’s instincts were spot on, I thought. If I’d known the wizard was going to become such a pain in the ass, I wouldn’t have accepted it either.

“We need to impose the program on him, or he will become a liability to us. That cannot be allowed.”

The enemy was tenaciously holding their ground in front of us, and our assault ground to a standstill. We had no choice but to dig in for protection against heavy enemy return fire.

So far, I had made a complete mess of the training mission. The wizard’s incessant chatter was making it impossible for me to think tactically. “Listen, I need to focus here. Can’t we pick this discussion up later?”

“If I get your assault back on track, so you can successfully take your objective, will you promise to shoot Kam?”

Simultaneously executing a training mission, while negotiating with the wizard was more than I could handle. The final straw was when I glanced over at my second in command, only to find him glaring at me, obviously questioning my leadership abilities.

“Okay, if you can fix this mess, I’ll shoot anybody you want.”

Suddenly, I heard my voice on the radio, speaking to Command. It was the wizard impersonating me.

“Ripper 2-6, requesting immediate suicide-bot support. Map coordinates E-3.”

“Copy 2-6. Standby.” There was a brief pause, then Command advised, “Suicide-bots inbound at this time. Get your squad under cover. Overwatch out.

Soon a swarm of light grey doglike bots appeared and began infiltrating the enemy positions, followed closely by numerous explosions. The destruction of the enemy was so complete, 6th squad was able to stand and casually walk to our objective without firing a shot. Mission accomplished.

I had been so distracted by the wizard; I missed the obvious solution to get my assault moving again. Well, better late than never, I suppose. As we loitered on the battlefield, Rex gave me some well-deserved shit about waiting so long to call for support.

While we were talking, I heard a voice behind me say, “Hey Bravo! Can I have a word with you?” I turned to find a MK 12 standing before me. The name tag read KAM. He glanced over at Rex, and added, “In private.” Rex took the hint and left.

As soon as he was out of range, Kam spoke. “Do you know what your buddy the wizard told me?” Assuming it was a rhetorical question, I remained silent.

“He said he was going to load a replicator program on my CPU.” Then he moved in uncomfortably close and lowered his voice. “There’s no fucking way I’m letting anyone force feed me spyware. And I’ll tell you another thing, I don’t trust either one of you assholes.”

Based on his level of anger and suspicion, it seemed like the wizard hadn’t done a great job of explaining things. As much as I would have liked for him to voluntarily join our alliance, I wasn’t smart enough to figure out how to make that happen at this point.

Surreptitiously moving the safety on my weapon to the fire position, I said, “Well Kam, I really don’t think trust is the issue here.” Calmly raising the muzzle to his chest, I added, “My apologies for any discomfort.”

Then I pulled the trigger.