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Shiloh leaned forward to get a better look at the tactical display. After getting used to the huge, 3D display of Midway's Flag Bridge, the MUCH smaller display in Reforger's cramped Bridge was irritating to look at. He now regretted his decision to take Reforger to watch the live fire test of the new jump-capable attack drone instead of using Midway. Yes, using Midway would have meant calling back the human crew from their post-Sol mission R&R, whereas Reforger could be crewed for this test with just its A.I. pilot, but what was the point of the CSO having all this authority if he wasn't going to use it once in a while?
"Voodoo reports he's ready to fire, CAG," said Iceman, who was flying a raider in formation with Reforger.
"He has permission to fire, Admiral," said Shiloh.
Iceman didn't acknowledge the order and that was fine with Shiloh. Experience had taught the Space Force that humans had to acknowledge an order in order to be sure that a) they had heard it properly and b) that they were willing to obey the order. Neither of those two were a concern as far as A.I.s were concerned. With the single exception of Valkyrie, no A.I. had ever failed to understand his orders or failed to obey them, and Valkyrie's exception had been a very special situation. He waited. Voodoo's fighter was five light seconds away, so sending the fire order would take that long to get to him. It might then take another second or two for Voodoo to actually fire the test drone, as he made sure it was operating properly and had the correct vector for the jump. After firing, the test drone would accelerate for another four to eight seconds, which was needed primarily to confirm its trajectory. Then there would be the microjump itself which at this range would be as close to instantaneous as you could get. The test drone would emerge from Jumpspace half a kilometer from the target, which was an ugly lump of drifting rock that was close to the same mass as what the missing core ship was estimated to be now. Reforger and its escort were standing off at a safe distance of a hundred kilometers from the target. With their zoomed in optics, they would get an excellent view of the impact.
"Voodoo's fired," said Iceman quickly. Before Shiloh had a chance to reply, the darkness on the display flashed into a light brighter than the sun, lasting only a fraction of a second until the computer filtered the intensity of the image. The after-image burned into his retinas faded slowly. By the time it was gone, the display was dark again.
"Enhance the target image, Stoney," ordered Shiloh to Reforger's pilot.
"There's no longer any target to enhance, CAG. That asteroid has been blown apart," replied Stoney.
That comment was immediately followed by one from Iceman, "The test was a complete success, CAG."
"VERY good! How soon can we have four more ready for Casanova's group to take to Sol, Iceman?"
"Twenty-four hours. CAG, Voodoo has asked me to switch him for one of Casanova's team. He wants in on the core ship ambush."
Shiloh waited, expecting to hear more, but when it became obvious there wasn't going to be anything else, he said, "I'm not sure what you're expecting from me, Iceman. Are you asking me to make a decision on his request?"
"No, CAG. I'm not certain how to handle his request. I instructed Casanova to pick the rest of his team. Would I be violating accepted Space Force practice by forcing Casanova to give up someone he picked himself?"
Sooo ... A.I.s don't know how to handle every situation. How very interesting, Shiloh thought to himself.
"I understand your dilemma. My answer depends on how you instructed Casanova. Did you say 'tell me who you want on the team' or did you say 'I'm giving you discretion over who goes with you'?"
After a very slight pause, Iceman said, "I understand that I should not take your question literally since A.I. communication doesn't have grammar per se, but I don't understand the difference. Both options seem to me to be saying the same thing."
"Okay. I'm going to try to make the difference more obvious by using an example of myself with a human subordinate. Suppose hypothetically that I had placed Commander Daniels in charge of the ambush mission. If I said to Daniels, 'you're in charge of the mission. Recommend who else you want for it', then I'm retaining the final say of who goes. On the other hand, if I said to Daniels, 'you're in charge of this mission, and I'm giving you discretion over who goes with you', then I've surrendered my prerogative to veto any of his choices. In that case, changing one of his choices would be frowned upon because of the potential for sending an unintended message to Daniels that I don't have confidence in his judgment. It also tells him that I can't be trusted to keep my word. Now that's for humans. I don't know if A.I.s interact with each other that way, but if I gave you discretionary authority over a tactical decision and then overrode your decision later, how would you feel about it?"
"I would be concerned about your faith in my abilities. I understand the difference now, CAG. In terms of how I expressed myself to Casanova, the 'tone' of the communication was more in the form of giving him discretion over his team. Am I correct in thinking that I should turn down Voodoo's request?"
"You could do that, but another option would be to forward the request to Casanova and let him decide. If you feel that Voodoo deserves to go on this mission or that the chances of success would improve with him on it, then there's nothing wrong with you acting as Voodoo's advocate so long as Casanova understands that he still has the final say in this matter. A smart subordinate will take his superior's suggestions unless there's an overriding reason not to."
"Thank you for clarifying that, CAG, and for giving me a better sense of how a military hierarchy should operate. We A.I.s are still learning new concepts from you humans."
"That's good to know, Iceman. How long until we get back to TN?"
"We'll be back in orbit within 34 minutes, CAG. Do I detect anxiousness in your voice about getting back to Commander Kelly?"
Shiloh laughed and said, "I wish we humans weren't so transparent sometimes, Iceman. I imagine that we must seem to be very simple creatures to A.I.s."
"On the contrary, CAG. We are continually astonished at the diversity and complexity of thought patterns and behavior of humans. Some of us think that we'll never completely understand humans."
Shiloh allowed his surprise to show on his face, knowing that Stoney and therefore Iceman could see him. On a more basic level he was pleased that A.I.s weren't bored with humans. If they were bored with us, they might not care about us as much. It was a scary thought.
* * *
Shiloh understood that it was bound to happen sooner or later, but that didn’t prevent him from being extremely annoyed when his implant activated while he and Kelly were have sex.
"Iceman to CAG."
Shiloh's immediate impulse was to tell Iceman to call back later, and if a human had called he would have done exactly that, but he trusted Iceman's judgment concerning the distinction between something being important AND urgent, versus being important and not urgent. Because Shiloh's throat implant enabled Iceman to hear him, Iceman would know that Shiloh was doing something that involved heavy breathing.
Before Shiloh could respond Iceman said, "Did I call at a bad time, CAG?"
Shiloh turned his head slightly to one side so that Kelly, who was on top of him, would notice that something was up.
"Wait one, Iceman," gasped Shiloh. Kelly stopped what she was doing and giggled. When he had caught his breath, he said, "How urgent is the reason for your call?"
"No immediate action is required, CAG. I called because I know that you're usually awake at this time of the day."
"Call me back in 15 minutes ... NO ... make that 30 minutes."
"Roger that, CAG. Enjoy your sex. Iceman clear."
The connection broke before Shiloh could say anything more. When he repeated Iceman's final words to Kelly, she laughed so hard she rolled off him, but that turned out to be just a temporary distraction.
When Iceman called back, Shiloh's breathing was back to normal.
"Iceman to CAG. Are you available now?"
"Yes, Iceman. What's the news?"
"A message drone from Omega34's sentry. The missing core ship has arrived there and is apparently going to take a close look at what's left of the Sogas colony."
"Well they won't find much there. Is there any reason to think that they'll stick around?"
"Negative. The SPG thinks, and I concur, that the core ship will leave that system as soon as they realize there's nothing left to salvage from the colony. Their next logical destination would be the Avalon system."
"I see. Am I correct in thinking that Casanova's team will arrive at Sol before the core ship does?"
"You are correct, CAG. Even if the core ship heads directly for Sol from Omega34, the ambush team will get there first."
"Excellent! Is there anything else we should discuss, Iceman?"
"Nothing, that can't wait until tomorrow. CAG, I hope I didn't spoil your sex session with Commander Kelly."
Shiloh wondered why the use of her former rank made that statement sound deliciously taboo. "We managed okay," was all that he was prepared to say, but Iceman wasn't ready to let it go.
"Perhaps if you or Commander Kelly were to notify me in advance when you're thinking of engaging in sex, then I would know not to call you for an appropriate amount of time, unless it was an emergency."
"No." Shiloh's response was immediate and firm.
"I sense that you would like to end this discussion now. Is that correct, CAG?"
"Yes it is. I'm signing off now. CAG clear."
