A Sci. Fi. Story.

In a profoundly bizarre event on the morning of March 30^th, 2024, an F-16 pilot on his way to drop 2000 pound bombs on a terrorist target in Jabalia refugee camp violated orders and returned with bombs still on board. An investigation later that day by the pilot’s incensed and bewildered superiors revealed that a hacker calling himself ‘Mr. Empatik’ had tapped into the sophisticated helmet of the pilot and played a highly realistic visual of the target on their visor. The pilot said he first saw a dark room crammed with ‘terrorist’ families, with many children scurrying about like ‘little filthy rats’. Then a very strange thing began to happen. A yamaka appeared on a child’s head, then another, then another, and what was a cacophony of painful Arabic gibberish to his ears began to sound like the sweet sounds of Hebrew. A burning lantern in the middle of the table morphed into a menorah. On a closer look, he saw the faces of two children suddenly turn into his two beautiful boys David and Joshua. Apparently the scene was so realistic it activated all his mirror neurons, stirring empathetic feelings so strong a revulsion set in at the thought of his objectives, followed by a paralysis of the right thumb poised over the red button. A minute later the nose of the plane turned 180 degrees and headed back north.

Information on the hacker remains limited, and the government has officially denied any reference to this event.  However, leaked reports say fear has spread rapidly through military and political ranks in Israel, the USA and Europe, and a coordinated effort to identify and neutralize the hacker has begun. In the words of one anonymous senior US official, ‘Empatik’ poses a serious threat to all future military operations.