The noise made it hard to hear each other shout. In the glow of the pre-dawn light we could see Sarge bringing out a can of black face paint and gesturing with a flat hand, making circular motions over his face, ears and hands. We each dipped in and started painting the face of the team member across from us. Soon we looked like tar puppets in camouflage rags. We did not know exactly how the IR-1 attack robot processed its visual input, but we knew that dark, light-absorbing colors were our best bet for surviving long enough to get a shot off.

Robot-killer: The FN FAL

The pre-combat tension was increasing. I knew the black face paint hid our terrified, ashen faces. We did not even know how the robots looked, and the fact that we had no idea how they visualized their environment was a big cause of concern. If they were using thermal imaging we were going to be sitting ducks.

The platoon was armed with twelve high-velocity FN FAL guns and four rocket-propelled grenades. The plan was to find the most obvious place where the four IR-1s would pass on their estimated route alongside the river toward a fortified crossing point. If we were successful, the Free Sector would be in possession of the IR-1 robot’s top secret interface computer, the VIA NanoBook.

The weight of the heavy gun was almost reassuring. The FN FAL’s long barrel created high muzzle velocities and the big, stable lead projectile combined with this velocity to create massive momentum. This momentum, combined with the fact that Ordnance Command added a hard metal called tungsten to the tips of the bullets, translated into massive penetration force - enough force to penetrate the armor-plating of the IR-1 ...

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Modern assault rifles were found to be useless against the robots. They made use of smaller, lighter bullets that were manufactured with an intentional imbalance aimed at causing oscillation during flight. The oscillating bullet would damage the enemy not so much by making a hole in him, as by turning sideways on impact and tearing big gashes. Even the AK-47 was remodeled in the 1970s to fire such a small and lethal bullet. The result was that soldiers could carry more of the lighter bullets into combat, and the bullets did more damage to humans than the bigger, stable ones. However, the oscillating bullets also deflected off the smallest of twigs, making them useless in high vegetation, and they had almost no penetration power when it came to light armor.

The rise of the robot brought back the need for stable bullets. Enter the FN FAL, a gun that could push a big, stable, tungsten-tipped bullet at high velocities straight through twigs, high grass … and robot skull.

I looked out of the helicopter over the hills and valleys as the rising sun started to melt the horizon. Soon we would be on the ground, face to face with an untested enemy that had to be killed before its top secret interface computer could be cut out of it and rushed back to base, where we could study it and learn how to use it against the enemy.

The sun was growing into a golden sliver and turning the morning clouds into huge bonfires. It's incredible how beautiful a sunrise is when you know that it could be the last one you'll ever see.

Next: "To kill a robot"

Visitor

Friday, 20 July 2007

I'm getting goosebumps! :)

Visitor

Monday, 30 July 2007

:sigh where is everything going?