The Shepherd’s Path, Part 20: Virtues
“I’m telling you, I felt a slight delay in the left elbow servos. I thought I noticed something after the last refit, but once we got in combat I was sure of it,” came the exasperated voice of Lance Corporal Leon “Steak” Ashkhari. His arms and most of his head were in the disassembled upper arm of his angel. The angel itself was fully upright, and he had removed the armor panels from the upper arm and shoulder to look for something that might have caused the delay he felt. He kept checking connections and readings with his meter, trying to find where the delay was coming from.
“I acknowledge you felt something but all systems were operating within normal parameters, at least until we got shot,” came the retort from a masculine, stilted voice. Ashkhari looked down at the lower arm–or at least where the lower arm should have been–and suppressed the urge to snap back. “This is a waste of your time, and your efforts are delaying the technicians from replacing the missing arm section,” came the voice again.
Ashkhari looked down from his work and glared at the source of the voice. “Whisper, either shut up or help.” His eyes caught a slight flash from a wire running toward the motor starter. He turned to the wire and began to trace his fingers along it.
“There isn’t much I can do from down here, do be careful that line is sti--” Ashkhari yelped as a jolt of electricity coursed through him. “... as I was saying, that line is still live,” finished Whisper while Ashkhari was cursing at his misfortune. The cursing continued for a second, until Ashkhari stopped in the middle of a particularly blasphemous phrase. “What is it?” Whisper asked.
“Check this out.” responded Ashkhari as he reached down and reached out his hand for Whisper. His fingers wrapped around the small box with a camera that Whisper had been using to see what was going on. Ashkhari aimed the camera at the joint and pointed to a small bit of wire insulation that was slightly damaged. “This might have something to do with it. Looks like used wire, why would the tech crews put it in? This has to be a joke or something”. Ashkhari looked at the box as a small hologram of a human male appeared on it.
The hologram that Whisper used to represent itself gave a shrug. “I don’t know. I’m just as shocked as you are.” Ashkhari groaned at the virtue’s pun and began to climb down from the angel to search for a tech.
All angels (the Shepherd's term for their combat walkers) have a support system called a virtue, which as with everything else involving them is a reference to an order of angels. Virtues are not true independent artificial intelligences, although they are closer than the ONNs of Terra Nova and even some Utopian NAIs. Though pilots input commands to an angel via a series of joysticks, pedals, buttons, switches, and even verbal commands, it is the virtues that take these inputs and convert them into motion of the machine. Virtues are fully interactive, capable of replying to queries and even carrying on a conversation. It’s not abnormal for them to develop personalities, and as long as they perform their tasks to spec those personalities are allowed to stay. An angel pilot is generally assigned a virtue upon graduation, and that virtue follows them through their career. Many pilots consider their virtue as something more than a pet but less than a person. Pilots will often give them names such as Athena, Tenor, and Echo. Black Talon operatives have noted that it seems virtues are far more interactive than expected given their function. Reports of pilots carrying on conversations about things unrelated to combat in an angel have been reported, and even cases of pilots and virtues disagreeing on topics. Ultimately, though, the virtue is subordinate to the pilot. It will always comply with the pilot’s commands, although if reports are to be believed it will sometimes offer a sarcastic remark about them.
Virtues take the form of a small rectangular box that is slotted into a port in the pilot’s suit, which is then connected to the angel via a cord integrated into the safety harness. This ensures the virtue will survive so long as the pilot does, and provides a direct hardline connection to the machine. The virtue can communicate with the pilot via an interface in the helmet, and can even assist the pilot in tasks outside the angel. When the helmet is not being worn, communication is done via an earpiece that is connected to the suit by wire. Some heavier equipment even offers the virtue the ability to appear as a small hologram. The form can vary quite a bit from virtue to virtue, with the “default” being a simple ball of light.
When manufactured, a virtue is initially a blank slate, but it is designed to learn and adapt to better serve the role its pilot needs. A virtue that has become accustomed to a certain pilot is said to be “developed”. Aspects such as voice and apparent gender are generated by the virtue, although they can be set by the pilot. Should a virtue be destroyed, the pilot is assigned a new one. It is rare for a developed virtue to be assigned a new pilot if the original pilot is killed. More often the virtue will simply be reset and assigned to a new pilot who must develop it.
Civilian grade virtues also exist, but are generally only issued to those with an active need for one such as facility managers, engineers, doctors, scientists, and administrators. Civilian virtues share most of the programming of military ones, but lack the software needed to interface with military equipment and have a lower level of processing power. Former angel pilots are allowed to retain their virtues after their tour of service. Such a virtue is considered “retired”. These virtues can no longer interface with military hardware, but retain the higher processing power and can be reactivated to full military status if need be. These more advanced virtues offer a significant advantage to former angel pilots in society after they leave the service. Virtues that are retired typically are deactivated upon the death of their companion pilot. It is rare, but not unheard of, for subsequent generations of angel pilots to reactivate their ancestors virtues for their own use.
