Crusher is designed to carry up to four additional tons of payload. This could be spy gear, communications equipment, or supplies to support ground troops. But much more likely, it will consist mostly of some high grade armor, and a Really Big Gun. Crusher's autonomous AI is designed for "aggressive mobility", which I'm pretty sure is DARPA speak for "driving around and blowing things up".There is a lot that can go wrong with an autonomous vehicle on the battlefield of course.
“What is it?” the kid blurted.
All four of the spider’s eyes came jerking around to focus on us.
“Shit.” I touched the phonebox on my belt and punched CONTROL. “This is JIMBO. I’ve got a spider. I think it’s rogue.”
The phone spoke instantly into my ear. “We copy. Stand by.”
The spider unslung a torch from beneath its belly and brought the nozzle around to bear on us. Its red lights came on with an angry glare and it spoke with a hard metal voice. “FREEZE WHERE YOU ARE!”
The phone spoke into my ear again. “What model?”
I replied as softly as I could manage. “I can’t see the serial number. But it’s one of the big ones. A Robinson. Vigilante, I think. Industrial chassis. Looks like a riot-control model; it’s armored and it’s got police fixtures. And…yes, military ordnance.”
“PUT YOUR HANDS ON YOUR HEADS!” the spider ordered. “TAKE THREE STEPS FORWARD!”
“We copy that too,” said the phone emotionlessly.
“And it looks like it’s been wounded. It’s got scorch marks, scratches, and a couple bad dents. And it’s moving slower than it should.” I wondered who—or what—had put those dents in it.
The phone didn’t respond.
“PUT YOUR HANDS ON YOUR HEADS! TAKE THREE STEPS FORWARD!”
“Sir—?” the kid quavered. “Shouldn’t we do as it says?”
I nodded. “Very…slowly.” I took a step forward. Then another. And a third. I brought my hands up slowly. I glanced sideways to see what the kid was doing. “Don’t. Try. Anything.”
“Uh huh,” the kid gulped. He looked like he was about to faint. I hoped he wouldn’t. It might be fatal.
The spider was studying us with a full sensory scan. There must have been something wrong with its brain. It was taking too long and it kept repeating its movements.
My phone reported, “Be very careful! You were right. It is a Vigilante—it’s one of the hypered ones. It fell out of the net three weeks ago, we don’t know why. And it won’t respond to recall. What’s it doing now?”
“Looking us over. But it’s taking too long.”
All-in-all the known benefits of a weapon system able to shoot, scoot and communicate without a human in the loop outweigh the drawbacks. Technology is our edge, we're fools if we don't exploit it.
