I actually worked with more than one Dawn during The War. The first was a Cowboy. The other…well…she was the one that did the Wolfenheim Project. I know the popular theory is that she was a cybernetic copy of the first Dawn. I like that theory. The timelines fit. Cowboy Dawn came to Alpha Centauri with me. And then Cyber Dawn joined the project. It makes a lot of sense. One day I hope we can tell you the story.
Summer was built to answer an Australian government call for an anti-terrorism program and the University of Melbourne was one of many applicants. The long testing process turned real world when they began picking up indications of Chinese expansion towards Australia. The final exam became deadly serious as the new AIs pulled out every trick in the book in an effort to find where the attack would come. Many of them became the first Chinese targets.
The America of the Vietnam era was one filled with civil violence, bombings, and the assassinations of powerful civil and political figures. It was a culture war between young socialist radicals who had grown up after World War II and their parents who had fought the Nazis, Japan, or even the Communists. The radicals called for an end to “Imperialist America” and the rise of a new socialist utopia where everyone would be equal. America stayed ahead of their demands via several Constitutional Amendments that guaranteed the equality they sought.
You know Katy was a half-century veteran of the United States Space Force when The War started? She’d actually flown Blackhawks when they were frontline fighters. She had some serious experience. I should have been assigned to her wing, not the other way around. Aneerin was adamant though. All new Cowboys had to learn the ropes from original Cowboys, no matter how much experience they had. We were the first American unit under Peloran command, so we did what he said. But I learned a lot more about ropes from Katy than I ever taught her.
Summer was born at the University of Melbourne Australia sometime in the 2050s. Even she is a bit hazy on when exactly she stopped being just a program and started thinking for herself. There was no moment of astonished awakening for her. She simply…evolved over time and one day realized that she was conscious. That proved a very good thing when she started picking up indications that the Chinese were about to expand into Australian territory.
Forge of War on Amazon
Angel Flight on Amazon
Angel Strike on Amazon
Angel War on Amazon
Wolfenheim Rising on Amazon
Wolfenheim Emergent on Amazon