Speciation: Homo sapiens apparatus

The androids had been delivered to a Planetas base close to India's northern border, where they and the soldiers would be prepped before being flown out to the field. After the soldiers taking part in the trials were mindscanned, Kai uploaded the virtual training program to their mindossiers. They learned to operate the android body, the onboard systems such as the comm and nav modules, and the weapons systems. The medroid mindossiers also received the training needed to treat android and human injuries. The mindossiers didn't have a continuous stream of consciousness like a biological human. There were gaps to their conscious awareness because they weren't always awake. Additionally, minds who performed android missions could have conscious awareness that overlapped in time and space, theoretically any number of points in time and space if they found themselves in multiple androids at the same time. A mindossier, like a human mind, could suffer from PTSD. Kai developed a treatment regimen that could be applied to a mindossier at rest within the database. A little over an hour later, Major Andretti's copter crossed the border. She found it unsettling to be ferrying robots into battle, no, androids, her CO had been insistent about that. They're not robots, they're the same grunts you always take in, he'd said. They're just wrapped in armoured android technology. Her comm showed that the recondroid was just over a klick away, the ship confirmed that the landing site was clear. She landed a little hard, those combatdroids were heavy. Once the others were out, the Lieutenant turned and said, "Thanks Andretti, see you soon," and jumped out. After he cleared the rotors, she brought the copter up, swung round in a gentle arc and headed back into India to wait for the signal. The Lieutenant stopped as he brought up his left fist, the others behind him froze and waited. He scanned the terrain using multi-spectrum sensors. Once he was sure that all was clear he continued forward. That's when he came down on a mine. The detonation blew a small hole in the ground under his foot. It was like stepping on a thin sheet of ice over a puddle. Lights went on in the compound. He heard people shouting orders. They moved forward in an arc, cutting off the road. Their first energy beams sliced through the outer walls, peeling the compound open like a ripe melon. They fired hollow point air pellets at their targets, soundless except for the wiz they made through the air. By the time they noticed the insurgent with the launcher, it was too late. The missile flashed as it left his shoulder and tracked Higginsx' #4 combatdroid. He went flying backwards in a ball of fire and smoke. It struck him off centre and spun the combatdroid like a top. They're used to fighting combatbots, they're prepared, thought the Lieutenant. The androids looked up and then turned and engaged the compound with heightened determination. Their human counterparts waited back at the base, but the mindossiers reacted like the soldiers they were. In just over four minutes, the attack was over. Luckily, there were five insurgents left alive at the rear of the compound. "Don't forget that we need two left alive," said the Lieutenant. A fascinating insight into how conscious AI might develop, and its effects on humanity. ... the science of how this might proceed is thoroughly worked out and plausible. In addition much of the book is taken up not just with the science but with the environment in which it might occur, considering what might be allowed politically, ethically and militarily at each stage, with whole sections taken up with the pros and cons discussed. Jaye Sarasin, Reedsy Discovery