Chapter 54

A high valley in the Talish Mountains, Azerbaijan
April 14, 2006, 0800 Local Time

On his way up the trail in the warm spring sunshine, Jackson worked systematically through possible avenues of attack on MAADS. His objective was to disable the weapon on one of the tactical robots, or the control unit, without damaging the cameras or the robot's communications capability.

The obvious vulnerability was the infrared camera. Knock it out, and the targeting system no longer functioned. It sounded simple, but he had to be certain which camera was infrared. Jackson had watched Sammy attach the cameras to several of the rotating platforms, and he had put the infrared camera on the right each time, but did Sammy always put the infrared camera on the right?

He also needed to be certain, only infrared was used for targeting. He knew the targeting software was based on earlier software that used visual images to target. If any of that programming was still in the system, then just knocking out the infrared camera would get him killed.

Destroying both cameras solved these difficulties, but he needed the visual image camera intact. He would have to find another avenue of attack.

Whether an unarmed man could safely approach one of the tactical robots, depended on the threat level setting. When Richard had first asked him to define when a man could be categorized as threatening or nonthreatening, he had to explain to them it depended on the context. In most circumstances, an unarmed man would be considered non-threatening and not targeted, but in some circumstances he would. A man clearly advancing on his position in a combat zone would be a legitimate target. Even an apparently unarmed man could pose a threat, as a yesterday's suicide bomber had shown.

If the MAADS threat level was set to medium then an unarmed man could approach some way toward a tactical robot, and if he was sure of the setting, then this would be a way to get the MAADS team's attention.

If the threat level was set to high then any person was a target and being unarmed wouldn't protect you. The high threat level was intended for special circumstances such as when weapons, MAADS didn't recognize were being used. The loss of the aerial vehicle may well have resulted in the threat level being set to high. Jackson couldn't think of a way of finding out that didn't risk getting him killed.

Jackson thought back over the design meetings he attended so reluctantly, and wished he had paid more attention to the engineering and software design details.

He recalled an exchange with Richard, who wanted to know the Army's criteria for a legitimate target. Jackson explained that while there were rules of engagement that delineated the circumstances under which a force could initiate combat, it always came down to, did the individual soldier on the ground believe someone was a clear or imminent threat. It was called the individual self-defense principle. It allowed a soldier to use all available means, and take all appropriate action, to defend themselves and other personnel. The rules couldn't be defined ahead of time. It was a split-second assessment by an individual soldier.

Richard had turned to him, and said, 'Not only, can we establish rules ahead of time determining who is a target and who is not, we must establish the rules. Robots are capable of independent action only to the extent we program very precise rules into them defining the actions to be taken, and the circumstances in which to take them.'

It had been a lightbulb moment for Jackson. He saw clearly, for the first time, that robots had no freedom of action. They would do precisely what someone, months or years earlier, had decided they should do.

He had spent a lot of time after that day, trying to figure out what the rules should be. It was a much harder problem than he anticipated. Grenades posed particular difficulties. They were hard to recognize, and easy to hide. He had concluded there was no defense against an otherwise unarmed man intent on throwing grenades, unless you allowed killing of unarmed men, and this was a factor in the decision to armor vulnerable points on the robots. Although once someone did throw anything grenade-like, they wouldn't last long, as MAADS would immediately promote them to the target category. Using grenades would be unlikely to disable a tactical robot, and highly likely to get him killed.

Jackson continued working through possible avenues of attack. One design meeting he had attended came to mind where they discussed how the wireless network could be integrated into the MAADS units. He recalled the discussion was about whether the wireless network adapter should be attached to the unit’s main computer or not.

Most people in the meeting seemed to be in favor of attaching it to the computer because that was the way most computers worked. Richard was strongly against the proposal, and he recalled him saying, ‘Don’t couple things, you don’t have to couple.’ Jackson didn’t follow the technicalities of the argument, but he did remember Richard maintained that keeping the network adapter separate made the system more robust. Computer failure would not result in losing the network, and consequently the visual and infrared images.

Jackson thought Richard had won the argument, he usually did, but at the time it didn’t matter. Now it did. If the network went through the computer, then damaging the computer to disable the weapon, would also cut the tactical robot's ability to communicate, and his image wouldn't be transmitted.

The computer would be a bigger and easier target than the only other ways he could think of disabling the weapon. One was to hit one of the two small electric motors that moved the weapon, but he couldn’t recall if they were even visible. Never mind, where they were located. The other was to damage the weapon itself. Inherently risky because he could not be certain he had disabled the weapon, and he would find out he was wrong, the instant it shot him.

Damaging the computer or the motor would produce a visual confirmation, the weapon had been disabled because it would no longer move. If there was any doubt in his mind, then all he had to do was to avoid standing directly in front of the weapon.

He was fortunate, the MAADS system no longer had an aerial vehicle because it would have made everything much harder. The aerial vehicle was not a direct threat because it was unarmed, but it was how MAADS knew where to position its infantry, the tactical robots. MAADS could spot him from the air, and then send the tactical robots against him in a coordinate operation.

He switched on the comms set.

“Pasco can you hear me?”

“Loud and clear.”

“I’ve been reviewing my tactics, and this may take longer than I originally thought, perhaps until tomorrow.”

“Roger.”

“Any action down there?

“It's quiet here.”

“Over and out.”

“Good luck, man.”

As he made his way up the valley in the warm spring sunshine, Jackson continued to think through the possible ways he could attack MAADS.

40 mm grenades were a possible way of taking out the control unit, but he had used all his rifle grenades dealing with the RPG shooter. Even if he had the grenades, it risked destroying the data network hub or the satellite communications equipment, which would stop his picture being transmitted. And without an aerial vehicle, the control unit didn't represent the same threat. He mentally crossed the control unit off as a target.

He checked in twice more with Pasco, but the third time he tried, there was no response, and he must have gone out of range. He was on his own now.

An hour and a half later, his GPS told him he was just over a kilometer from the pass. Jackson didn’t trust the accuracy of the map to go any further without preparing. He stopped at a place with good visibility in both directions, took a long drink of the chemical tasting water, and started to take the things he needed from the pack.

The first thing was the survival blanket. He laid it flat on the ground, took out his knife, and cut it into two pieces. He took the smaller piece, and cut two small holes about a third of the way above the line where he had cut the blanket in two. He lifted the piece up to his face to determine if he could see through the holes he had cut. He decided the holes needed to be larger and further apart. He cut around the outer edge of both holes, and again raised it to his face. The view was much better, but he decided to cut the holes larger still. He needed maximum visibility.

Jackson considered whether he should cut a hole for his nose and another for his mouth. The mouth hole he didn’t need. He wouldn’t be doing any eating or drinking. However, a hole for his nose would make breathing easier. He decided to cut a small one. He cut a slit on each side of the piece of cloth, and tried it on for size.

He positioned the material over his head, for a final check of visibility through the eyeholes, before laying the material on the ground. He took out the roll of gaff tape, and cut eight strips. Jackson used four to tape the back and the front flaps together producing something like a hood. He tried it on for size, and decided it was close enough for this stage of the process. He took the material off his head, and commenced the second stage of his homemade thermal poncho.

Jackson took the larger piece of the survival blanket, and cut a hand-sized hole in the center. He then pulled it over his head. He had to pull hard to get his head through the hole, and once it was on, there was no reason to remove it. He checked the material for length. It came down to his knees. On the sides, it reached below his elbows. If anything, it was too long, but further adjustments would just delay him.

Jackson took off his jacket, combat vest, and body armor, and then put the body armor back on with the survival blanket underneath. He pulled the front and back parts of the blanket, such that they overlapped on both sides of his body, and then closed his body armor to keep the improvised thermal poncho in place. He checked it didn’t restrict his arm movements.

He took another long drink of water, put a large piece of dried beef in his mouth, and began to chew on it. It tasted good. He tried not to think about it being his last meal, as he pulled the smaller piece of the survival blanket over his head, and adjusted its position to get maximum visibility through the eyeholes. Jackson wrapped the remaining strips of gaff tape around his neck to hold it in place.

He put his combat vest back on. The jacket he put in Pasco’s pack, before lifting the pack onto his back. Finally, he put Pasco's poncho over the top. He thought the outfit would do enough to hide his infrared image. The pack would help the air circulate between the survival blanket and the poncho. He was already feeling uncomfortably warm. It was time to get this done.
Jackson started back up the trail, and wondered what anyone who saw him would think. He must be a very strange sight.

Again he thought, he was fortunate there was no aerial vehicle, because his outfit would be unlikely to fool it. That was not its purpose. It was intended to fool the tactical robot and control unit’s infrared targeting system.

Ten minutes later, he was sweating copiously under the high insulation survival blanket. His forward visibility was good, but trying to look to the side or overhead just resulted in his head moving, while the hood stayed in place. In order to see to the side, he had to move his whole body, and he had no way of seeing what was overhead, short of lying on his back. He resisted the temptation to confirm there were no strange birds in the sky.

Jackson checked his GPS. If the map was right, the summit of the pass, and the international border, was five hundred meters ahead. The valley was broadening out, and the trail’s incline lessening. He could see well over a hundred meters ahead of him.

It was hot under the hood. He used his left hand to rub some sweat out of his eyes. It helped a little. When he looked up, he saw a momentary reflection from something ahead and to his right. If that was a tactical robot, then the fact he was still alive was conclusive proof his thermal masking outfit worked, at least at this distance.

Jackson took out the small monocular scope he used to perform visual surveys, and slowly raised it to his eye. It didn’t take him long to find the source of the reflection. He could clearly see the top third of a tactical robot eighty meters away. Its cameras and weapon pointed directly at him.

MAADS should have positioned three of its tactical robots on the Iranian side of the pass, and only a single robot would be on this side of the pass. He should be able to maneuver around it. The robot would only move from its current position if the aerial vehicle spotted him. As there was no aerial vehicle, all the robots should stay in their current positions.

Jackson tried to put aside the nagging feeling he was missing some crucial element. The MAADS team could direct the behavior of the MAADS system, and to an extent the individual units, but would only do so in response to an identifiable problem. His thermal suit should make the robots ignore him because he didn't fit their preprogrammed definition of a person. He would be distant and indistinct on the transmitted images, and in all likelihood, the people monitoring MAADS wouldn't even notice him until he got close to a robot.

Jackson started to move to his left, while keeping the robot in view through his scope, but there was too much risk of him stumbling and falling, and he reluctantly turned away from the robot in order to see where he was going. He felt the sweat running down his neck and back.

He kept turning his body around to see if the robot had moved, but each time he looked it was in the same place. As he got further away, the cameras started to perform their normal 360 degree scan, and didn't even pause to look in his direction. He was almost at the maximum range of the search software, and began to feel he had successfully cleared his first hurdle.

The slope got steeper as he got closer to the mountainside. Jackson began to climb up the rock face, and it didn’t take him long to get high enough for the next stage of his plan. He found a place where he could stand without needing to use his hands to keep from falling, and began to search the pass trying to locate the control unit and the other tactical robots. He couldn’t see them, so he started a methodical survey with his monocular.

Fifteen minutes later, he concluded the control unit and the other tactical robots were not in view of his current position. He inspected the robot he had located through his rifle's telescopic sight. It was still in the same position, with its cameras performing their normal 360-degree scan. The bottom half of the robot, where the computer was located, was hidden from view. He could see the part of the rotating assembly where he thought the small electric motors were, but the robot was close to maximum range for the short-barreled M4, and he wasn't confident he was right about the motor's location.

He decided to observe the pass for thirty minutes to see if anything changed. The sun was now well over the mountains on the opposite southern side of the pass and beat down on the rocks around him. Ten minutes later, the sweat running down inside of his thermal suit had soaked the lower half of his body.

Jackson was thirsty and needed a drink. Risking dehydration was not a good idea. It meant he would have to cut a hole in his hood to drink through. He did it reluctantly because it would make his head’s infrared image more like a face. He took out his knife, and cut a small slit. He tilted his head back, and poured water into the slit. Most of the water made it into his mouth.

As Jackson climbed back down the mountainside, He debated whether finding the control unit and the other robots was worth the risk. His training had taught him, time spent in reconnaissance was rarely wasted, and he didn’t want to risk another MAADS unit seeing him, as he maneuvered into position against the robot he planned to attack. He decided to have another attempt at finding them.

When he reached the point where the slope leveled out, he made his way along the base of the mountains, occasionally negotiating rocky outcrops. On the way, he kept a lookout for the other tactical robots, but was sure, if one were on his route, he would have seen it in his earlier survey.
After two hundred and fifty meters, he judged he was at the high point of the pass. Ahead, a waterfall cascaded down the mountainside. Jackson again climbed the rock face. When he was high enough, he found a place to stand, and turned to view the pass.

He saw the control unit immediately, almost directly opposite him, on the far side of the pass. He began to inspect it with his monocular, as the control unit’s cameras stopped to inspect him. While he was probably in range of the infrared targeting software, he knew it would only be activated, after the search software positively identified him as a target.

He commenced a survey of the area he could see. Finding one of the robots forty meters from the control unit surprised him. It was where he would position a tactical robot to protect the control unit. Up until that point, everything had fit what he knew of how MAADS worked, and he was confident he could predict how it would behave. The position of the robot implied some new factor at work.

Twenty minutes later he was sure the other two tactical robots were not in view, which meant they were sufficiently far away to pose no risk to what he planned.

Chapter 55