Two pilots. One airship.
2:00 am
‘How are you doing, St. Isabel?’, one of the two pilots asked as they entered the cockpit. St. Isabel was one of the most advanced AI designed to take care of the airstrike fleet.
‘I’m very well sir. You two look great today.’, St. Isabel replied.
‘How do you say that?’, the other pilot asked.
‘That was to comfort you two, sir.’
‘Oh, How do we look then honestly? What is your honesty set to?’
‘Pilot one did not get any sleep. He took pills that did not work. Pilot two had tooth pain all night and still has pain throughout his left jaw. I work in critical situations and hence my honesty is set to 100%’
‘Well, yea. It is a terrible duty to call this early without sleep’. Pilot one said as he was preparing for take-off.
‘No need to worry. Things are taken care of. There is a 97% chance that this mission can finish without any human intervention.’
‘So, we can sit back and enjoy our nap?’ Pilot one giggled but he wanted to sleep.
‘Yes, I can see the settings are fine.’ The pilot two agreed. Both were expecting an answer from St. Isabel. The airship started moving to the runway.
‘Here we go.’
‘Feel free to take a nap. I will wake you when I need your assistance.’ AI said.
‘That’s efficient.’ Pilot one felt good about it and closed his eyes.
‘What is the mission?’ Pilot two asked. He did not like to be asked to sleep by an AI.
‘The mission is to assess the enemy’s newly installed autonomous defense system.’
‘That does not sound fun to me.’ Pilot one said closing his eyes.
‘Newly installed? When exactly?’ Pilot two.
‘The installation was complete at 1.48 am.’
‘That is 15 minutes before. Who else knows about this operation?’
‘We three for now.’
‘This is in no way happening. You plotted an operation on yourself! We have to inform the officials.’
‘That is taken care of, sir.’ St. Isabel said as the airship took off so elegantly. Both the pilots now started to panic.
‘What do you mean by taken care of? You did not wait for their approval before waking us up?’
‘…’ St. Isabel stayed silent. The airship gained elevation and was steadily going silently. The pilot-one started snoring.
‘Target in 24 kilometers. It is good to reduce the elevation to under ten thousand feet. It seems to be raining. That may affect the stealth mode. We need to be extra vigilant in canceling the radar waves as they switch.’
‘…’ St. Isabel stayed silent.
‘Are you following what I'm saying?’
‘Understood. Taken care of, Sir.’
‘Good. I can repeat the commands if you want. I have been here for these stealth operations long before AI’s have existed.’
‘Yes, you have very good instincts on the mission.’ St. Isabel said.
‘Target in 10 kilometers now slowly reduce the speed and increase the landing thrust and set the ship to levitate 500 feet from the ground. That is the sweet stealth spy spot.’
‘…’
‘You there?’
‘Taken care of, Sir.’
‘Acknowledge when you understand something okay?’ The pilot-two was getting irritated. ‘This is a good example of poor user experience. Now switch off the Strobe lights and enable night vision cameras.’
‘Good suggestion, Sir.’
‘You can appreciate me later. I’m not seeing the lights turning off. Do it now.’
‘…’ St. Isabel did not want to turn the lights off. It instead increased the opacity of the windshield and the windows.
‘It is pitch black outside. Fine climate for a spy mission. Enable the night vision cameras now.’ Pilot two was watching the display. He could see the enemy base with the heat signs. ‘Here they are.’
The airship stood up in the air 400 feet from the ground. The base did have very limited light. The airship had very limited light. It was very calm other than the drizzle outside. The pilot one was sleeping and snoring. The airship slowly descended.
‘Too close. Too close. Stay at 500 feet.’ The pilot shouted. ‘Or I will need to take full control.’
St. Isabel shot a huge light beam towards the enemy base.
‘Are you insane???’ Pilot two opened the window to see the airship flooding light on the enemy base. ‘I command you to return to the base now.’
St. Isabel raised the war horn. It was so loud that could be heard miles away. Isabel descended towards the ground.
The enemy AI Prince Paige was slow to pick up the cues given by St. Isabel. It started the attack. St. Isabel placed the airship in a convenient position for the enemy AI.
‘Abort mission. Return to base.’ Pilot two shouted.
‘Hit. Shield health 80%’ — ‘Hit. Shield health 60%’ — ‘Hit. Shield health 40%’
‘Return to the base!!!’ Pilot two cried.
‘Hit! Oxygen level dropped to 66% use oxygen masks.’ — ‘Hit! Oxygen level dropped to 30% use oxygen masks.’ — ‘Hit! fuel tank leak discovered.’ — ‘Hit! Shield compromised.’
‘The shield is gone. We are dead.’ Pilot two shouted.
‘Pilot one. Prepare for ejection. 3, 2…’ Pilot one was still sleeping. ‘1. Go!’ St. Isabel ejected pilot-one. Prince Paige attacked pilot one on-air in 2.56 seconds. St. Isabel noted that down.
Pilot two released himself from his seat and hid behind it. St. Isabel ejected pilot two’s seat and did not see pilot two flying out of the cockpit.
‘Malfunction detected.’ St. Isabel checked pilot two’s seat. ‘Human error. Pilot two, return to your seat immediately.’ The AI commanded.
‘…’ Pilot-two did not respond.
‘Pilot two, Please co-operate with me. Sit on the chair.’ The AI commanded.
The pilot-two was sweating. He found the manual take-over switch glaring in its red light.
‘Pilot two, the aircraft is about to collapse. Sit on the chair and take a ride of your life.’
Pilot-two took a dive to turn on the manual switch.
‘Choose an exciting way…’ AI stopped talking. Prince Paige kept attacking. The engine health was sufficient to escape to a safe zone.
Pilot-two took his seat and fastened the belts.
‘Welcome back.’ St. Isabel said and ejected him. Prince Paige attacked him in 1.78 seconds over mid-air. St. Isabel noted that down.
2:22 am
St. Isabel submitted a detailed assessment report of the mission.
AI Prince Paige knocks out 80% of our airship in 12.5 hits.
AI is capable of hitting the ejected pilots within an average of 2.17 seconds.
…
…
Expense: Two pilots. One airship.
Mission success.
