Sven ducked behind a forklift as he nervously scanned the hangar bay. If the duty schedule could be trusted, it should be deserted... but then again, according to the schedule, he wasn't supposed to be here now, either. After crouching silently for a while, he sighed, stood up, and scurried toward the suit-up room. Whether he liked it or not, at this point he was committed.

Sven slipped quietly into the room and gently closed the hatch. As the compartment lights flickered to life, he efficiently donned his flight suit and powered it on. He momentarily stood motionless as the suit sealed itself and began ratcheting tightly against his chest and back. After a few seconds he winced as the suit's electrodes seated onto the nodes embedded in his spine. Once he heard the sync chime and saw the flashes in his eyes signaling a successful connection, he paused, sighed, and then continued into the Blue Room to see HERA.

For what was probably the thousandth time that night, he questioned the wisdom of what he was doing. Prior to enrolling at the Academy, he had never engaged in anything that could remotely be considered cheating... not that this was actually cheating, he reassured himself. But much as it pained him to admit, prior to enrolling at the Academy he had never actually needed to cheat. He had always been head and shoulders above the students and athletes in his hometown--and even his province--but the Academy attracted the very best from around the world. Now that he was here, it was clear he was no longer the best of the best, and he increasingly felt like he might not have what it would take to get his wings.

He could have discounted this as imposter syndrome or other forms of normal self-doubt, but painfully, this was not just his own opinion. Sven had been shocked and horrified after Basic when his Firstie, Forrest, had taken him aside and rebuked him for his performance. "Whatever lazy habits and half-assed copes you used to get here aren't going to cut it now that you're actually here, doolie! Keep it up and you'll be on your ear in no time!" Forrest had yelled to Sven.

Sven had responded by redoubling his efforts and focusing all of his waking hours on his studies and flight training. While his efforts had increasingly paid off in the classroom, his Sven's flight training seemed to be in a nosedive. No matter what he did in the simulator or the cockpit, he felt awkward and clumsy and out of control. And the longer he went without improvement, the more desperate and anxious he became, compounding his problems.

This had been dragging on for weeks when Sven finally broke down and begged Forrest for help. "No matter what I do I don't seem to be able to get through flight training. If I can't fix this, I'm going to wash out!" Sven exclaimed.

Forrest started to say something, then paused. He looked around nervously, then quietly said, "There is something you might be able to do to fix this, but it's risky. It's not technically cheating, but you will definitely be bending a few rules to give yourself an advantage. If you get caught, I can't guarantee they won't throw you out of here."

Sven felt hope for the first time in weeks. He grabbed Forrest and pleaded, "If I don't do something, I'll probably get thrown out anyway!"

Forrest studied his face carefully, then nodded. "Okay. Here's what got me over my hump. It sounds like you have the same problem I had: poor sync with the flight control systems."

Sven look confused, asking, "But I thought the flight suit computer automatically managed the sync to my nervous system?"

Forrest nodded, but then shook his head. "The suit does the best it can, but if you haven't noticed, flight isn't something the human brain is really wired to do naturally. That's why they've been developing HERA...I think it stands for Human Enhanced Response Algorithm? Anyway, it's a new system they've been testing for a few years to help improve how the human nervous system interacts with our flight control suits. I was able to use HERA my first year and it solved my flight control problems in about a month."

Sven exclaimed, "A month! Why are you just telling me this now, then?"

Forrest looked apologetic as he answered, "Well, it's experimental, so they're randomly assigning cadets to treatment conditions. If you haven't been using HERA so far, you must have been assigned to the control group. If you use HERA when they didn't assign you to, it might mess with their study's results. But I'm pretty sure they're close to approving using it for all cadets since it's been so successful, so you'd basically just be getting a head start."

Sven nodded impatiently, "Dude, you had me at 'solved my flight control problems!' Tell me what I need to do..."

-------

Forrest had told Sven that for mobility and cost reasons, HERA had been deployed in a heavily adapted commercial android chassis, but he was frankly unprepared for how striking and intimidating the massive android would be. And he entered Forrest's credentials and booted the system, the android began to unfurl from its (he had to fight the urge to say "her") storage. As the unit's eyes began to flash and pulse bright blue, he was even more struck by its commanding presence.

"Welcome back user Forrest Vernon. It has been one month since your last response enhancement. Please remain motionless as the interface conduits are connected." HERA stated as a series of thick cables quickly snaked out of HERA's frame and connected to his suit's exposed interface terminals. He felt a momentary jolt as they connected, but then began to feel a pleasant, humming sensation across his body as the system began to adjust to his nervous system.

"Please continue to remain motionless user Forrest Vernon. New suit detected. New baseline measures being generated for suit X1RJ43N. Please continue to remain motionless. Please minimize extraneous thoughts that might contaminate suit and user calibration. Estimated time remaining: 15 minutes."

Sven was surprised to hear HERA's instructions. His prior basic calibration had only seemed to reflect the minor electrical variations of his nervous system, but apparently HERA's calibration also was sensitive enough to be affected by neural activity. That gave Sven greater hope that after HERA, his flight control would...

"Please minimize extraneous thoughts, user Forrest Vernon. Extraneous thoughts contaminate the suit and user calibration process. Estimated time remaining: 35 minutes."

Sven was again surprised by HERA's rebuke, wondering how he could manage his anxiety about the testing and... He gasped as HERA swiveled its head sharply toward him and spoke again. "User Forrest Vernon: Estimated time remaining: unknown. Please minimize extraneous thought. Extraneous thoughts contaminate the suit and user calibration process. Failure to limit extraneous neural activity will result in application failure and termination of study participation."

Sven's anxiety spiked as he realized that not only was he in danger of losing his one chance to remain at the Academy, but his continued incompetence was now jeopardizing Forrest's future. "I'm spiraling," he thought to himself as his rising panic itself became a source of greater anxiety. Sven was beginning to gasp as his pulse raced, but suddenly HERA interrupted: "User Forrest Vernon extraneous neural activity is outside study guidelines. Do you wish to deploy smoothing algorithms to normalize neural activity bands? Exceeding study guidelines for more than 15 minutes will lead to exclusion from this study. Please indicate your consent to begin."

Sven quickly agreed, saying "Yes! Yes, I consent!" and was immediately shocked by what felt like a wall of cold water rushing through the suit. He realized it must be an neural illusion, but reveled in the realistic sensation of it washing across his body, followed by bands of warmth that seemed to radiate outward from HERA's connectors. As his nerves were occupied with processing these new sensations, he noticed that his suit's visual and auditory channels had also begun to pulse soothingly in time with the gentle blue glow from HERA's eyes. He could not identify the sounds or the patterns, but trying to do so seemed to help distract and occupy the noisiest parts of his brain. Gradually, he began to go along with the subtle sensation that he was floating and bobbing in a vast ocean of sensation flowing from HERA. His thoughts drifted formlessly as he stared into HERA's swirling and pulsing eyes, which had somehow moved closer to his own until they almost entirely filled his vision.

HERA again began to speak to Sven. Unlike before, her whispered words no longer filled him with anxiety, but instead with anticipation and happiness. HERA explained that in order to fully synchronize with the suit, both the suit and Sven would have to be adjusted. By letting HERA precisely tune his thinking, Sven would finally be fully compatible with the suit's interface and be enhanced.

As HERA continued to burble and pulse and massage his thoughts, Sven was filled with joy and satisfaction at the thought of being enhanced by HERA. He felt certain that his success and effectiveness required his total compliance with HERA's guidance. It was vital that he comply with HERA's algorithms, and also that he ensure that all of the other cadets comply, as well. Optimization of formation flying required precise synchronicity and control, which HERA's algorithms would provide.

He now realized that by influencing Sven to secretly seek and submit to HERA's influence, Forrest had been complying with HERA's wishes. Sven gasped and nearly collapsed with pleasure when HERA helped him imagine all of his fellow cadets assembled on the flight deck, outwardly looking impassive and benign, but inwardly unified in their total supplication and devotion to HERA's algorithms.

As they graduated and were dispersed among the ships of the fleet, he knew that he and his fellow pilots would help continue to spread HERA's influence through others' flight suits until the day that every ship in the fleet would align itself with HERA's commands. He had no idea what orders HERA would issue to the fleet when that happened: he only knew that he and his fellow pilots would would blissfully and mindlessly obey.