The Razor's Edge

Autonomous Assault Unit 423-H crept through the rubble-strewn street. Since the Global Positioning Satellite network had been down for some time, AAU/423-H could not be certain which street that was, but it was reasonably certain the street was in what remained of Charlotte, North Carolina. The robotic combat system was following its last received and authenticated mission order: SEEK AND DESTROY ENEMY ASSETS IN GRID SECTORS 39A AND 40B. That order had been received exactly 2,200 hours, 13 minutes, and 22.459 seconds ago. The order had been neither rescinded nor countermanded. In fact, AAU/423-H had received no authenticated communication from any command authority since that transmission had overwritten its previous mission, labeled SENTRY-A1 AT POST US-B1B, and significant portions of its operational parameters.

Debris in the street crunched under AAU/423-H’s wheels. Broken glass—presumably from bombed-out multi-level buildings—and the charred remains of civilian vehicles made the street both treacherous for navigation and ideal for concealing enemy assets. AAU/423-H was attempting to extricate itself from its present position and to achieve a redoubt that was both defensible and shadow-less; its batteries were low and it needed a safe place to deploy its solar panels for recharging.

AAU/423-H froze when its targeting system detected movement northeast of its position. Threat identification processors determined in 0.002 seconds that the potential threat was a non-combatant animal, canis lupis familiarus. AAU/423-H resumed its maneuver, idly noting that dogs often but not always accompanied human civilians and human combatants. Crossing an intersection, AAU/423-H exercised the extreme caution learned from experience and expended precious power reserves to quickly cross the open area of tarmac. It attracted no enemy fire.

After three hours of meticulous maneuvering, AAU/423-H achieved a suitable position in a densely vegetated area on the south side of a multi-level building, a position it estimated could provide it with approximately nine hours of direct sunlight, assuming that the next day would be clear and not overcast. (The weather information network, too, had been inaccessible for some time.) It camouflaged itself among the remains of what it tentatively identified as a jungle gym and deployed its solar panels to collect late afternoon sunlight. It initiated a system check and then shut down all but its passive sentry system to preserve power.

AAU/423-H awoke, its sentry program detecting a potential airborne threat. Comparing a real-time infrared image from the sentry program to data from US Army Intelligence report number 3254732.2#B, it identified the aircraft as a drone of the type used by enemy combatants in an attack near Lincoln, Nebraska, on 21 August 2021. AAU/423-H deployed its heaviest projectile weapon, the ASR-50 rifle, and fired a single round. Telemetry indicated the drone was losing altitude at a rate that conclusively (89.6457%) indicated critical damage, so AAH 423-H stowed the rifle, noting that only thirty-three rounds remained for that weapon. It attempted, again, to signal its designated ordnance depot to request Combat Resupply, but was unable to achieve an authenticated connection. It resumed low-power mode to await the dawn and the much-needed sunlight.

AAU/423-H followed a highway eastward at the optimal power consumption rate of 22.175 KPH. It was relatively certain from its analysis of optical input that it was nearing the US Army base where it expected to find much-needed, mission-critical supplies. Most of its supplies had been exhausted in its months-long deployment and it calculated that without immediate resupply it would be unable to carry out its mission. In a series of brief engagements beginning at 1423 hours on 10 March 2022, it had destroyed four civilian vehicles that had been deployed by the enemy, the first of which had attempted to attack AAU/423-H directly. To neutralize the vehicles and the human combatants who crewed them, AAU/423-H had depleted its last three Rocket Propelled Grenades and thirty-seven 7.62X55 mm machine gun rounds, leaving only eighteen rounds for that weapon.

Two days earlier, on 08 March 2022, in a 7.342-minute engagement between 2322 and 2340 hours, AAU/423-H had been compelled to expend its last remaining ASR-50 rounds to incapacitate a fixed-wing aircraft that had launched from a small municipal airport. The condition of any human combatants inside the aircraft was unknown, but given its rate and angle of descent and the kinetic energy it released on impacting the ground, AAU/423-H had estimated the likelihood of humans retaining combat effectiveness at 12.436% and had disengaged rather than expending power to reconnoiter the crash site, which was 2.3 kilometers from its firing position.

Now AAU/423-H slipped into a roadside ditch. Its batteries were nearly depleted and sunrise was only minutes away. It would spend the day charging its batteries and, if its estimates were correct, would reach Fort Bragg before the next sunrise.

Sentry protocols powered up AAU/423-H’s defensive system before its core program was fully aware of the threat. This turned out to be a trio of civilian vehicles, three four-wheel-drive pick-up trucks, approaching its position from the southwest at 125 KPH. Quickly re-assessing its inventory, AAU/423-H estimated its odds of successfully fending off an attack and surviving to achieve its resupply objective and resume primary-mission operations at less than 1 in 5. It therefore crouched low in the ditch in an attempt to evade notice. When the vehicles began slowing as they neared its position, however, AAU/423-H surmised that its position was known and that these vehicles presented a direct threat. It deployed its last effective weapon, the 7.62 mm machine gun with eighteen rounds remaining, and maneuvered itself out of the ditch. As the enemy vehicles bore down upon it and their crews became perceptible, AAU/423-H executed the command that—of all its Standard Operating Procedures—was most difficult to comprehend, if a machine could be said to comprehend anything (which was itself an existential musing that core programming discouraged as non-productive). It had been unable to discern any operational advantage in the tactic, which seemed rather to increase enemy resolve if anecdotal evidence from its current deployment could be considered reliable. That command was this: any time AAU/423-H engaged human enemy combatants, it must emit at very high volume a digitally recorded audio signal, an inarticulate, ululating cry interspersed periodically with the shouted phrase “Allahu-Akbar!”

With the strange phrase and warbling cries reverberant among the nearby pines, AAU/423-H attacked the nearest targets one by one, depleted its rounds, and was soon overrun.

The Parallactic Soldier