Racing the Darkness: A Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri Fan Fiction Photoessay

Dei ex Machinis: Idle Hands and the Devil’s Werkshop

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Captain John Garland and Westinghouse Electric W3-K “Werk” said:
W3-K: Good morning, Captain. Your cryocell sensors indicate irregularities during last night’s REM sleep, suggesting you experienced nightmares. Would you like to talk about them?

Garland: Sitrep please, Werk.

W3-K: Collating relevant reports. Completed. Decks 74 through 86 continue to suffer from intermittent electrical fires. Suppression foam stocks diminishing. Damage Control advised to use Bakelite as fire-resistant stopgap. Bakelite deployed to quick-seal punctured bulkheads theta-omicron to psi-

Garland: The security sitrep, please.

W3-K: Crossfire between engineering teams and U.N. Security Forces reported. Santiagoan positions in flux reported. Landersmen formations in retreat, relocations to lower deck supply depots reported. Hydroponics bays report no further Santiagoan presence-

Garland: Finally, some good news.

W3-K: Armed standoff outside of reactor ingress between self-declared supporters of Psych Chaplain Godwinson and engineering crew reported.

Garland: Miriam’s alive?

W3-K: Multiple Charterist local managers declaring state of emergency, mission hierarchy no longer in effect. Looting of tertiary armories reported. Shuttle bay explosion reported.

Garland: None of this is acceptable. Why did no one wake me? The X.O. should’ve-

W3-K: Executive Officer d’Almeida cannot be located at this time.

Garland: Then another officer.

W3-K: No senior officers are present on the bridge at this time.

Garland: Then that stowaway. Morgan. He was just telling me-

W3-K: Morgan Industries CEO Nwabudike Morgan is not present on the bridge at this time.

Garland: Where are they?

W3-K: Last known location of senior officers’ and CEO Morgan’s lifesigns: landing pod central nexus.

15.62 seconds of dead air

Garland: Well, you don’t have Garland to kick around anymore.

- datatape recovered at crash site 030-BŬ (authenticity disputed)

By the late twenty-first century, complex computer systems required simple user interfaces. Navigating dense dataclouds accessible from any Portable Data Accessor required nerves of silicon and attention spans to match. Not everyone wanted to be a librarian. The infotech giants discovered that consumers would empty out their wallets just to have another computer tell them what their computer was saying, so long as it used natural language. While digital assistants were fine for man-portable devices carried by the average customer, enterprise and public sector clients were given the opportunity to procure expensive hardware. Marketing claimed that granting a physical presence to electronic djinn made employees more comfortable and engaged with knowledge work. Whether in a North Sea oil rig control room or on the Tokyo Stock Exchange trading floor, machine protocol androids would translate to human users what the computers were saying.

The UNS Unity bridge added Hawat-class unit W3-K built by Westinghouse Electric, popularly known as “Werk.” Distantly descended from the Stewart line of robotic lab assistants, Hawat birthed starship systems avatar peripherals as a product category, and W3-K was the first unit of its class. It would train beside prospective colonists in the run-up to mission launch, answering questions with its comprehensive onboard library of procedures and survival tips. During the final approach to Chiron it was to be roused from standby, trawling vast seas of sensor web data for human convenience, providing a metallic face for the Unity main computer.

Werk was a hit among humans. Bridge officers in training sessions appreciated the cool professionalism of the avatar peripheral, whose lack of adverse emotionality or politicking made it preferable to each other. Whether in the face of raging magnetic storm or rogue black hole, Werk stolidly soldiered on even as crew panicked and fought amongst one another in Morgan Emergency Services simulations. Equipped with grasping claws similar to those of the Rambler-Crane rollers, Werk could make repairs if, say, an oxygen leak incapacitated the staff. (And, some claim, participate in combat, a hidden feature unlisted by its manufacturer.) After hours, Werk mingled with colonists in the mess halls, inquiring after their physical and mental states. Though a rudimentary conversationalist, via hotsync with the datacore it could make references to cultural touchstones from Gilbert and Sullivan musicals to Martian shredder-wuxia films. Werk’s impartial openness led some to include it in social activities as jest; mocking the absurdity of inviting a calculator to get drinks, then later while inebriated, confiding anxieties to its impassive frame and comforting blinking lights.


Robotic astronaut units gained mainstream adoption in late 21st century space exploration. Simulated anthropomorphization aided integration with human crew, with some models customizable with honesty, discretion and even humor settings

Werk’s novelty and neutrality made the machine the center of Planetfall folktales. There were always bridge veterans or Lunar Cradle trainees who swore they heard it use sarcasm or express annoyance despite its near-lack of simulated personality. Other rumors of all-too-human behavior included supposed watchvids of Werk playing basketball in the ship’s gymnasium during the long journey when it was supposed to be as dormant as the sleepers, reattaching its head onto a walker combot chassis to experience walking, even riding a Unity mountain bike.

These are likely fairy tales. Accounts of abnormally humanlike behavior might be rooted in a notorious incident during the final year pre-launch when Werk was overridden to sing Elvis Presley songs nonstop. The cyber-assailant was never caught; Executive Officer Francisco d’Almeida grimly suspected that the prank “came from the very top” of the ship’s network administration. Though mostly amusing, it highlighted the ease in which Unity’s already-moribund computer systems could be, and would be, hacked and slashed.

Similar to the Unity main computer, Werk was seen as a quaint Earth-era machine by the citizens of Planet, too primitive to generate ‘serious’ techno-myths about sudden digital sentience. The bridge robot’s main importance was in its relation to the late skipper. In Planetfall studies, particularly to Garlandologists and folk superstitions of the “captain’s cult,” Werk is a key witness of the Unity master and commander. Garland conversed with the peripheral frequently before launch- a notorious insomniac, he frequently paced the half-built halls of the great ship with contraption compatriot in tow, speaking softly on matters no one else knew. Faced with a swarm of infinite agendas, he sought solace from a truly neutral observer. The Hawat class was rated for ELIZA modality psych work, though the unit itself was equipped with a chat suite scarcely more advanced than ancestral entity SmarterChild by America Online. This mattered not to Garland, who confessed to Werk as frequently as did junior ensigns.


Unity-era PDAs like this General Magic Pocket Crystal were ubiquitous on Planet. While standard-issue uniforms had a quicklink sewn into the sleeve, citizens considered personal organizers, even consumer models, more reliable and less intrusive. Other popular devices included the Apple Hawking, the Mitsubishi UNiTY, and Togra handhelds

Garland leaned on W3-K extensively during Planetfall. Techno-myths regarding the machine’s relationship with the captain usually belonged to two groups. The first were those that claimed Werk housed invaluable historical data into what exactly happened during mission dissolution. Its presence on the Unity bridge and elsewhere, including managing salvage efforts outside the jettisoned datacore, meant that it saw firsthand the collapse of officer authority. Questions as to why Garland spurned the reactor repair plans of Chief Science Officer Prokhor Zakharov, which of CEO Nwabudike Morgan’s “temptations” bought clemency towards the stowaway, what prevented Garland from activating his own Blue Operations contingency force, how exactly did half-hearted negotiation attempts with the Spartans or the Kellerites fail, was Chief Medical Officer Pravin Lal really fated to be designated his successor, and just where did d’Almeida go? might be answerable by the rolling droning vidcam.

Thanks to the captain’s bonhomie with the bionic bot, Werk was there to chronicle the original sins of Centauri humanity. Planetfallologists would fight tooth and nail for fragments of this footage later resurfacing on the dark market and hidden datalinks newsgroups. Most tantalizing was the possibility that Werk recorded who killed John Garland. A sinister sub-myth advanced by Disk Obedience hardliners even accused it of being the assassin who had wielded the smoking shredder. Former Unity Chief Roboticist Sylvia Gauss addressed this meme in an Argyle Media special interview, assuring that safety protocols - ethics matrices, the imprinting of the three laws of robotics, constraint nuts - were installed on all labor units of the mission servo pool, especially W3-K. This disavowal, of course, only inspired more deranged narratives about subversion programming that slayed the beloved captain.

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Midnight in the Garland of Good and Evil, Simon Mapunda, M.Y. 23. Devotees of the late captain often depicted him in states of contemplative martyrdom but not bearing his real-life face, claiming to revere the will of the man and not the form. Garland could be anyone and everyone, a true universal ideal. This pseudo-spiritualism was denounced as idolatry bordering on heresy by both the ummah of Muslims on Planet and by Sister Miriam Godwinson alike

The second group of techno-myths obsessed over how much of Garland himself was captured. From public Planetfall advice-seeking to private pre-launch personal confessions, he spoke for days if not weeks with the robot, who dutifully tabulated the discussions, conducting covert psych analyses on the captain as with any other crewman. The captain seemed not to mind; as he said in one unearthed recording, “Every new generation is voyeuristic towards its forefathers... if they want to graverob therapy sessions to pick at my psyche, then they’re free to it, the vultures.” These sessions indicate that Garland was not preoccupied with his legacy, nor even perceptions of his contemporary leadership, so much as exhausted by the weight of his captain’s cap even before the voyage. A strangely sympathetic figure thus emerges beyond the simple marble facades crafted by the captain’s cult.

Adherents breathlessly speak of resurrecting the only man capable of keeping colonial civilization together. By learning from the cosmic helmsman, the Unity diaspora may finally come together as one. Werk’s place in this pipe dream would be to provide electric memories of their conversations to emulate the captain’s voice and personality. With sufficient processing power, virtual engrams - digital bricks - could make an advanced approximation of Garland’s mind. A computerized captain would then return to Planet, ushering in a post-ideological messianic age.

Each error, of course, oft results in an equal and opposite meme. Those who fear the captain’s cult decried this as a luciferian scheme that would spawn a totalitarian antichrist. Techno-myths alleged that leading factional forces labored towards this in secrecy: a joint Peacekeeper-Restoration-Watcher-Labyrinth shadow one Planet government had secured Werk’s chassis and were amassing the necessary computational resources to remake Garland. Other techno-myths pointed the finger at a “Revolt of the Scientists,” accusing the University, the Ascendancy, the Gaians, the Shapers, the Labyrinth, and the Oracle of concocting a cockamamie conspiracy to implant a decanted clone with a cybernetic hippocampus bearing the original’s memories stored by Werk. This biomechanical demon child was supposedly running around the kiosks and arcades of the Morgan Industries Factional Mall, a ward of the CEO who had bankrolled the scheme.

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A dark market hardware librarian, using his data goggles for soldering protection, upgrades a 7.62mm UN standard armament into a smartrifle

Aside from the link to Garland, Werk’s ability to hotsync with the Unity main computer, the security matrix, the sensor web, the datacore, and so on- communing across all systems and with the staff- made the robot a holy grail for tech treasure hunters. Intrepid salvage scouts braved Unity wrecks in search of its chassis. Intrigued faction officials dispatched probe inquiries into rivals’ labs for any hint of the errant android. Lost scientific discoveries, priceless cultural artifacts, classified military designs: according to the mythmakers, there was no limit to what Werk might have cached. Across the nebulously-defined dark market, scammers and spammers galore hawked clues as to its whereabouts, burnt-out hunks of metal they claimed to be its shell, random bits of data posed as transmission bursts during final atmospheric entry.

Techno-myths about W3-K’s final fate haunted humanity into the second mission century. By then, a romantic and tragic legend gained popular purchase. As robots often make superior pilots thanks to a higher tolerance for gravitational forces, wider temperature ranges, and radiation exposure, the tale claimed that it had been reprogrammed to be a simple Unity dropship flier by ignorant Holnists who had seized it during Planetfall, then later ported to needlejet combat. Its capacity for speed and greater maneuverability ended up no match for simple human initiative, and Werk was destroyed by a Spartan pilot during the Second Battle of Melanchaetes.

Design Notes

Three ‘90s PC games, coincidentally all published by Sierra On-Line, most remind me of SMAC. Outpost was a city builder sim in space (like a broken unfinished version of IXION, perhaps) and Outpost 2: Divided Destiny was an interesting attempt to hybridize colony management with RTS mechanics. Both took place after an asteroid named Vulcan’s Hammer hit Earth and humanity’s remnants fled the solar system to colonize a distant planet.

Alien Legacy, on the other hand (released thirty years ago!) make you captain of the seedship UNS Calypso (UNS, like the Unity) arriving at Beta Caeli after hostile Centaurians did a real number on Earth. I’ve never actually played the game. As a kid, I checked out a copy of the Player’s Guide from the library and fell in love with the idea behind the game. Now I have LP’s to play it for me and I wrote a really long post about it. But from what I can gather, Alien Legacy is a colony management simulator game with a comprehensive research tree that rivals SMAC’s, and also the long-lost ancestor to Mass Effect 1 and 2’s vehicle sections and Mass Effect 3’s resource scanning. As you fly your shuttle around finding various resources for your bases and research, you also discover the fate of the faster seedship that was sent after you. As the local alien wildlife gets rowdy, signs of even more intelligent species appear, as well as ancient artifacts (pylons in this case, not monoliths). It’s even more narrative-driven than SMAC and almost feels like an RPG or even adventure game wrapped in a sci-fi management game.

Alien Legacy provides you fully-voiced (in the CD version) advisors- Scientific (who serves as your X.O.), Engineering, Navigation, and Military. They all have SMAC faction leader-esque biographies with references to future history, despite both male and female versions having mostly identical dialogue. A charming example of the scattershot world-building/characterization of instruction manual-only writing in old-school games. These advisors sometimes give conflicting advice, forcing you to choose between them. They will also murder you if you play poorly. But you know who doesn’t rise up and shoot you for incompetence? (Besides maybe the Navigation advisor) The Robot advisor, referred to as JCN 2000 in status reports, who is there to maintain the Calypso’s computer and mechanical systems and to tell you to check your PDA. He’s even the one who wakes you up in the intro cutscene. And ironically he’s the only advisor without a backup counterpart - what a mechanical mensch!

From Star Trek to Red Dwarf to Halo, starship A.I.s usually don’t need a physical body unless for fan service reasons / you need another squad member for away missions. So I thought it would be fun to try to rationalize why they had a robot on the bridge as an entity distinct from the main flight computer.

Why does he need to physically type, can’t he talk directly to electronics??? Also, note the special guest appearance of a mouse droid at 1:03

Legless wheeless Nintendo R.O.B.-styled robots are one of the more charming relics of retro sci-fi. I remember Micro Machines Z-Bot figurines and I always had a soft spot for the nonpedal Eek Mini Z (page 15). So Werk is here to represent them.

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I have no recollection of the word “combot” until I came up with it recently to describe the mission walkers/rollers. Woah

Notes:

Segment alternate title: “Werk Werk Werk Werk Werk”

I was originally going to model the Garland recordings after the Nixon tapes, but then I realized that the Nixon transcripts are almost self-parodies in their paranoia.

Werk the Hawat-class robot is a play on Kraft, the Savant computer in the tale of the Robot Command Center from Outpost 2.

‘Bakelite’ as a fictional quick-hardening red liquid is from The End of Evangelion.

Stephen McKinley Henderson, who portrayed Thufir Hawat in Dune (2021), also portrayed quantum computer programmer Stewart on Devs.

HotSync was a data synchronization feature popular on Palm OS devices.

I’m always amused by the assortment of mission-branded vehicles that were brought along in the game- Unity rovers, foils, gunships, and scout choppers. So maybe they also had non-mechanized Unity gear. Unity unicycles, anyone?

ELIZA was one of the first chatterbots, written in the 1960s at MIT by computer scientist Joseph Weizenbaum. It could somewhat imitate a Rogerian psychotherapist.

SmarterChild was a chatbot on AOL Instant Messenger in the 2000s.

General Magic was an Apple Computer spinoff in the early 1990s to build an early PDA. Its devices were ahead of their time and the company employed many technical visionaries but unfortunately failed to catch on and the company went bankrupt in 2002. Motorola and Sony did built their own devices running the company’s Magic Cap operating system, however. “Pocket Crystal” was the original, unused name for the device. See: “In 1989, General Magic Saw the Future of Smartphones,” IEEE Spectrum. Also the documentary.

Ironically, I mentioned “dataclouds” an allusion to technobabble in both SMAC novellas, I did not previously know that General Magic explicitly wanted to make Pocket Crystal a client for more powerful computers on the data cloud (see LGR Tech Tales - General Magic: Creating the Cloud, 2:06). Cyberdipitous!

Quicklink sleeve-sewn portable computers are a background SMAC tech mentioned in novellas “Journey to Centauri” and in “Centauri: Arrival” by Michael Ely.

Apple Hawking is a play on the Apple Newton MessagePad.

Mitsubishi UNiTY is a play on the Mitsubishi AMiTY tablet PC and subnotebook.

The Revolt of the Scientists is a throwaway event mentioned in Starship Troopers.

The concept of robot pilots as a substitute for human pilots comes from Alien Legacy.

Image Credits

Astronaut with monolith robot is from Interstellar

General Magic device is the Data Rover 840 (or is it DataRover?). Picture by u/brrm

Worried space captain is the player from Alien Legacy (intro cutscene)

Cyber-tinkerer is Cyberpunk RED Core Rulebook art by Richard Bagnall
 
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Name: Annikki Luttinen
Rank: Lieutenant (junior grade)
Position: Subroutine Specialist
Country of Origin: Norway
DOB: 06-19-2039

Service Record:
Annikki “Aki” Luttinen born 2039, Hallingdal, Unified Norden Realm, to shopkeeper parents. Early aptitude in mathematics, placing first in the Kalle Contest at age nine. Studied at Oslo University under an Elektrisk Merit Scholarship, earned Bachelor of Science in Engineering and Programming, Master’s in Computer Science, Ph.D. Computer Science and Computer Age Philosophy. Pursued academia, eschewing private industry during the infotech boom of the newly-founded pan-Nordic monarchy's Springtime Court era. Expert in C* and C** programming languages; doctoral dissertation “Simula and Stimulation” won 2059 Stroustrup-Torvalds Award, Artificial Intelligence category.

Drafted for national service upon graduation. Served in the Indian Ocean Exclusion Zone aboard the HNoMS Prince Amleth as cyber counter-intrusion specialist. Tour mostly peaceful, as the Riket Norden Sjøforsvaret's mission in area was humanitarian, dispatching aid to refugees from the Six Minute War and shuttling those worthy of resettlement to the Unified Realm's colonies in the EZ - New Kalmar, Gjeddeland, Fort Halonen. Technical skill recognized after successfully integrating vessel’s hoary Nord-9000 running SINTRAN Infinity with its modern fleet command and control suite from Systematic A/S. Advanced to UAV chief, maintaining avionics software and combat behavioral routines on the flagship’s Toshiba-Kongsberg drones. Received commendation from superiors for improving automated battle capabilities nearly thrice-fold, undefeated in simulated and live-fire exercises.


HNoMS Prince Amleth bridge crew - Ensign Luttinen right of center

Twenty-three month peace tour punctuated by conflict in Europe. In retaliation for a UNR-supported separatist uprising in Komi ASSR, the Soviet Navy’s Scarlet Sun Indian Ocean Fleet blockaded RNS activities. Merchant marine similarly harassed, Norden holdings threatened. Crisis peaked at New Kola when Scarlet Sun fleet prevented Norden flotilla from resupplying the artificial island. Local viceroy, a resettled Kashmiri refugee, repeatedly plead for intervention. After Soviet Naval Infantry landed and re-christened settlement to South Murmansk, the captain of the Prince Amleth ordered launching of all drones against Soviet flagship carrier Kremlin and to shell the surrounding vessels.

Luttinen refused, citing the statistical likelihood of the situation leading to mutual destruction of both fleets and lack of authorization from Kalmar. Utilized reason, then master control of the drones, to convince bridge crew to deescalate; captain was confined to quarters and both fleets disengaged. Soviets abandoned the minor colony shortly thereafter. Crisis fully resolved when the Unified Realm ceded several EZ colonies, made assurances to not rejoin NATO, and committed to non-intervention in the Komi and Ingria ASSRs; in return, the Soviet Union recognized the Principality of Karelia. Not penalized for mutiny, but reputation irrevocably changed.

After tour, joined Zakharov Research Institute during Second Great Northern Détente, turning down offers from Nokia-Ericsson, Tandberg Holovision, and Togra Norsca. Developed game theory simulations for higher peace studies. Refused work from better-funded teams engaged in research with military applications. For a Master’s in Cognitive Science from ZRI, started and directed Blue Book, research project to digitally recreate the human mind using long ponder learning techniques and Dean sequences. Encountered opposition from institute leadership regarding epistemological model’s validity. Repeatedly questioned for utilizing prototype neuroware. Project shut down after allocation rescinded by grant council. In spite of theoretical differences, handpicked for ZRI’s Unity expedition computer engineering team by the provost himself.


Blue Book was a sensation in the Eurasian A.I. research community, with some praising it as a revolutionary approach to “birth digital sentience from the head of man,” but was ultimately killed off by feuding creators

As a computer labtech, responsible for maintaining vast ship stocks of disparate machines: mission-critical systems included ND-Omega ultraminicomputers for astrogation systems, SGI Radius 20000 power nodes for Unity’s datalinks, and the British-designed Soviet-built ICL-IPMCE Elbrus-92SPARCtacus monitoring the reactor. On other end of processing power: Matsuhorsehockya Electric’s BTRON-based eduterms, Regnecentralen RC Piccoludo systems, and Philips CD-i 19 consoles for educating and entertaining future second generation colonists.

Expected to optimize code across Noah’s Ark of devices, lacking meaningful support from Data Services or the Chief Science Officer himself, while facing active pushback and frequent pranks from Network Administrator of Unity Information Services Helpdesk. Wrote elaborate automation scripts to accelerate task without recorded complaint. Leveraged access to excess compute time-sharing, disaffected members of team, array of unreviewed personal code to complete standardization.


Norsk Data minicomputers running Unix variant NDIX became valuable collectibles post-Planetfall, pursued by Legacy Initiative format preservers and Morganite technophiles alike

Details are unclear, but evidence suggests labtech Luttinen initiated an unauthorized experiment in pre-sentient algorithms during Unity construction, drawing dormant bandwidth from the computing systems to run for the decades-long voyage. Only log fragments hint at the nature of the algorithmic test. Some allege a unilateral continuation of Blue Book, others claim it was a different experiment conducted on orders of Prokhor Zakharov. Unfortunately, upon awakening Data Services discovered the program had crashed scarcely three months after launch, producing a lengthy autostack dump. Only received a reprimand, as outbreak of shipwide instability prevented further investigation.

Sudden bout of rheumatic fever, perhaps triggered by decades of immune system atrophy during Wespe-Quinn-Vagner hibernation, spared the trauma of Planetfall. As one of the ship’s foremost computer scientists, placed under protective quarantine and safely evacuated alongside awakened crew members. Escaped fate of those still sleeping, whose cryocells were loaded onto auto-launched Cargo Pods.

Awoke at University of Planet. Stoic personality deepened into flat affect, yet demonstrated increased confidence and sociability. Became outspoken member of University society, agitating for rapid development of Information Networks, reordering of faction along pure logical lines. Accused of covert A.I. research beyond purview of University Open Access datalinks. Fell out with Zakharov for second time. Considerable support from transhumanist, biohacker, Effective Rationalism student orgs. Indicted by University Campus Judicial Board for engaging in unregistered biomechanical augmentation. Following sanctions of “cultivating a Bayesian cult of personality” and “advocating computerized Lysenkoism,” left with hundreds of supporters, pod of supplies, untold data cores.

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Post-fever Luttinen underwent self-surgery, rumored implantation of Blue Book neuroware

Prime Function Shell: Aki Zeta-5
Later reemerged with followers at the gates of the Digital Oracle, now calling herself “Aki Zeta-5.” Local observers were impressed by the exiles’ low drop rate, high fidelity in appearance despite untold decurns in the wilderness. Attributed to technical knowledge, high social cohesion, and efficient self-organization, leading to discovery of beneficial survival innovations during the trek. Calling themselves the Cybernetic Consciousness, they claimed to have undergone evolution by Luttinen’s sentient algorithm. Further claimed their modifications enabled seamless communication with one another. Petitioned faction admittance to share discoveries with Biologicals. Request was granted by Johann Anhaldt.

Original exile batch resides in Digital Oracle capital, with lesser batches distributed throughout faction. Cyborg batches exist in other factions, though banned outright as irrationally-hazardous cult by University of Planet. Tolerated sub-factional community, held in suspicion by some citizens for secrecy. Exact details of cybernetic augments undisclosed to outsiders- speculation that a few like Anhaldt were briefed- known only to those fully inducted into the Consciousness. Aki Zeta-5 serves in faction government at leader behest. Debate continues on whether algorithm is genuine and reason for high productivity of Cyborg researchers, or by-product of a zealously rationality-focused memetic subculture.

Psych Profile: Emotionally Detached
Subject has historically shown aloof, dispassionate, calculating traits. Obsession with mathematical and computer science technical problems since childhood, lack of interest in social activities or convention. New Kola Crisis formative in shaping ideological worldview. Fellow servicemen reported subject betraying rare outbursts of emotion following conclusion of naval standoff. Subject expressed fierce frustration, contempt at both Norden and Soviet leadership for pursuing needless conflict of little strategic value.

Post-Planetfall, emotional awareness gone to near-nil along multiple axes, indicating extreme dampening, possibly anhedonia. Strong emphasis on logic and reason, while sacrificing emotion and intuition. High efficiency and pure practicality. Inconsistent treatment of others observed, likely rooted in rapidly calibration of behavior in response to realtime updates without regard to true emotions. Erratic swings symptomatic of Bipolar Disorder. Loyalty dubious. Perfect score of 1.0 on Atherholt Trauma Function Test suggests potential psychopathy. Caution highly recommended.


Visions of Alpha Centauri


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Faction: Cybernetic Consciousness
Classification: Saga spiritual memeplex
Founding Base: Alpha Prime (transient batch; originally located University Base, now Colonia Secundus)

“Those who join us need only give up only half of their humanity- the illogical, ill-tempered, and disordered half, commonly thought of as ‘right-brain’ functioning. In exchange, the ‘left-brain’ capacities are increased to undreamed potentials. The tendency of Biologicals to cling instead to their individual personalities can only be attributed to archaic evolutionary tendencies.”

-- Prime Function Aki Zeta-5, “Convergence”​

Casting

Annikki Luttinen is portrayed by Alicia Vikander as Ava in Ex Machina.

Adaptation Notes

The original bio I wrote had her being ethnically Kven, an indigenous Finnic minority in Norway- I got the idea from a Let’s Read the SMAC GURPS sourcebook thread. I’ve removed it since it’s a bit overly contrived to simply explain that she might be from a Finnish family living in Norway.

Originally the Cyborg communities are called “partitions,” which I’ve renamed to “batches” for a better analogy.

Alternate History

Norsk Data was Norway’s premier consumer computer corporation and perhaps all of Europe, once the most profitable company of its kind only after IBM and Cray. However, the PC revolution and the UNIX open architecture disrupted proprietary minicomputer businesses, and in the scramble, it was one of its casualties. But perhaps in the regressed state of computing technologies in the RTD setting, these companies were able to adapt more gracefully. Anyway, the state of computing tech in RTD (or at least the Unity’s complement of hardware) is a flavorful hodgepodge of different generations, paradigms, and designs, where both workstations and minicomputers and mainframes and supercomputers exist. (Not to mention PCs, PDAs, quicklinks, and who knows what else.) So let the aesthetics call the shots anyway.

Also, I had Tandberg have a much happier fate than in our history. Maybe a less economically conservative government is in power and Norway continues to support its keystone companies, meaning that Norwegian televisions, tape recorders, and computer terminals are still world-renowned. Ditto for Elektrisk Bureau.

Sources: The Rise and Fall of the Norwegian Computer by Asianometry.
The Founding, Fantastic Growth, and Fast Decline of Norsk Data AS” by Tor Olav Steine.

In this setting, the Toshiba-Kongsberg Scandal still occurs, and the Japanese company and the Norwegian partially-state-owned arms contractor were busted for supplying the Soviets with machine tools to build quieter submarines undetectable by American sensors. Here, both governments openly defy CoCOM, and as the USSR is in a better economic state anyway, end up opening limited trade with the new market. Other companies, like those in other European countries that were identified by the Norwegian government’s post-scandal investigation in our history, also join them in flouting the anti-WARPAC export controls.

This was also preceded two decades earlier by the Soviet Union accepting an offer from British then-giant International Computers Limited to build its System-4 line of mainframes, rather than embarking on a tragic effort to copy the IBM 360. Thus their computer industry is kept afloat with continued co-development with ICL, and legendary Soviet computer scientist and electrical engineer Sergey Lebedev lives longer, continuing to head the Institute of Precision Mechanics and Computer Engineering that later bears his name.

Also, the Japanese government denies the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative’s concerns that the TRON project would be a trade barrier, keeping BTRON as a unifying national computer architecture. And so, Matsuhorsehockya Electric, later renamed to Panasonic in our history, makes a more popular educational terminal.

This becomes one of the first dominoes that leads to greater multipolarity in the 21st century, what with Scandinavia federating under a unified monarchy and Japan pursuing a course of Self-Sufficiency. For a time, Washington scorns the “Zelenograd-Oslo-Minato Tech Axis,” a trilateral market which saves the (doomed in our history) Soviet computing industry and incentivizes better Japanese software. History ebbs and flows, with even the U.S. pursuing trade with the Soviets off and on in attempts to bury them in consumer goods, and the ‘axis’ breaks down in decades. By the time Aki first takes to sea, relations between the Norden and the Soviets have been frosty for so long, they are on the cusp of recovering again.

Also, Kongsberg Gruppen and the Toshiba Corporation merge at some point, because it sounds cool and ironic.

Sources: Toshiba’s Big Technology Export Scandal by Asianometry.
Why the Soviet Computer Failed by Asianometry.
Why is Japan So Weak in Software? by Asianometry.

Notes

Aki Zeta-5’s Firaxis bio says she is from “Hollingsdall Norway,” which does not seem to exist. I’m assuming they meant Hallingdal.

Prince Amleth is the protagonist of The Northman, and the inspiration for Hamlet.

Fort Halonen, of course, refers to former Finnish Prime Minister Tarja Halonen, famed for looking like Conan O’Brien (and so on).

The Nord series of minicomputers that ran on the SINTRAN operating system were one of Norsk Data’s greatest contributions.

Systematic Software Engineering is a Danish software multinational that produces battlefield management systems.

Dean sequences are named for AI researcher Jeff Dean.

The Firaxis bio says her ship job was “Computer lab technician,” an expert computer tech. I was tempted to make the title ‘computech’ instead of the less silly “labtech.”

The Nord series by Data Norsk were later renamed to ND for the international market, and some did end up running UNIX via the company’s NDIX clone.

Radius is a play on the SGI Origin high-end servers by Silicon Graphics, Inc.

Elbrus is a line of Soviet, then Russian computers developed by the IPMCE and its later Moscow Center of SPARC Technologies spin-off. SPARCtacus is a play on the SPARC architecture by Sun Microsystems. Source: What's With This WEIRD Russian CPU? (Elbrus), Techquickie

Regnecentralen was Denmark’s first computer company, makers of high-speed paper tape readers, and survives here, because of butterflies. Piccoludo is a play on the RC Piccolo/Piccoline microcomputers. Source: Regnecentralen 65 anniversary, RetroComputing with Mike

That’s right, the Philips CD-i was not a complete disaster in this timeline and made the format viable, at least for a few decades. Truly a dystopian world invented for you.

Image Credits

Screenshot of futuristic carrier crew is from Carrier Command 2

Blue Book is from Ex Machina

Norsk Data minicomputer is an ND-560 from the ND-500 series
 
Dei ex Machinis: The only frontier that has ever existed...

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Prime Function Aki Zeta-Five said:
The question I pose to you is simple. Who is to be the master, you or the bits of talented meat that secrete hormones for you? Your glands are the product of aeons of evolution, and they are not to be scorned, but neither are they to be obeyed blindly. - The New Awareness

The true nature of the Cybernetic Consciousness is obfuscated by fear, uncertainty, and doubt. Arguably, the organization itself is a living techno-myth. To believers and skeptics alike, the mythical algorithm presented by the former Annikki “Aki” Luttinen is Planetary humanity’s true deus ex machina: either the fruit of knowledge for a digitally rational civilization, or a great temptation bewitching the factions in service of a techno-barbarian cult. Speculation abounds from origin to trajectory.

Who? Who gave the instructions to initiate the experiment that created the algorithm?

Few facts are known of the unauthorized experiment designated by the ship’s security force as Intrude Opcode 0451. Prior to mission launch, Luttinen programmed all of the unused systems of the Unity to embark on a distributed grid project. Drawing on the processing power of all unoccupied machines, from spare cycles of the main computer down to idling PDAs, this massive act of parallel computing would run while the ship was in transit to Alpha Centauri.

While it is clear that the Norden computer labtech had set up, compiled, and ran the experiment, it is unclear whether it was based on her own intent or on behalf of another. One leading hypothesis is that Luttinen had acted alone to continue project Blue Book to desperately prove herself right- and her superiors fatefully wrong. By relegating her to a custodial role, the Chief Science Officer had, in an oversight, sought to humiliate her while simultaneously handling her the keys to the mission’s computer supply. Thus the experiment was simply Luttinen’s act of revenge. While this is a popular and dramatic narrative, critics point out that this does not fit her egoless prior personality. If she did disobey Zakharov, it was likely out of pure optimal opportunism; having noticed that no one was using the computers, she simply commandeered them for her own purposes, which might not even have been related to Blue Book.

Indeed, another hypothesis supposes that it was Prokhor Zakharov himself who prompted her to run the experiment. Thus the code was for his own agenda, perhaps to conduct unapproved research under the nose of the captain. One particularly saucy suggestion was that the provost of the Zakharov Research Institute, amused by his subordinate’s ‘irrational’ theories, challenged her to an empirical exercise to be run for the entire voyage. This “race to sentience” among the stars would settle their disputes once and for all, wiping the slate clean for Planet. Proponents of this techno-myth point at Zakharov’s sharp disapproval before she left his faction, apparent evidence that he had been beaten at his own game. Admirers of the Academician dismiss this as slander, insisting that he would never stoop to such pettiness.

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Intrude Opcode 0451 tapped into the mission’s vast array of computing resources, even ‘tacslate’ ruggedized PDAs like this Sun Microsystems SPARCpad 5

Less likely candidates include Johann Anhaldt, Mission Area Director of the Unity Robotics Laboratory. The Mediator’s acceptance and fascination towards the Consciousness are signs that he both encouraged Luttinen to run her experiment and she had gone to the Digital Oracle to be welcomed home. This, however, is highly circumstantial; there is no evidence that either were particularly familiar with each other prior to launch.

Another debated possibility is Asa Wright, Network Administrator of the Unity Information Services Helpdesk. Notorious for habitually cracking open Pandora’s boxes, she is assumed to have aided and abetted Luttinen in securing the resources to run her Faustian experiment. But most accounts of the pre-launch period indicate that neither had more than a professionally distant working relationship with one another, exacerbated by cross-team tensions and the datatech’s tendency to break others’ info-privacy, trolling with code-japes all the way. And, as the Datajack’s followers claim, if she had been involved, the program would not have crashed ninety days after launch.

Finally, salacious rumors breed across the datalinks of the invisible hand of corporate malfeasance behind Luttinen’s inexplicable project. Whispers that she did it at the behest of some moneybag-laden patron, hijacking the international taxpayer’s spare resources for the neverending reach of capital. In light of the post-Planetfall situation, the “MAST” gigacorps of Morgan, ARC, Struan’s, and Togra are the stars of such gossip, with their interests in artificial intelligence, cutting-edge computing, and/or speculative neurology. Others that had a less prominent-to-no role in the mission, yet are implicated by competing narratives, include American Machines, SAP, the Japanese MITI (Ministry of International Trade and Industry), Nathan Weismuller’s Mutiny Fund, and Xerox. While such theories are not taken seriously, they are often used for score-settling.

What? What was the purpose of the algorithmic experiment?

Most take for granted that Luttinen wanted to continue Blue Book, as crash logs confirmed the presence of pre-sentient algorithms. But that is actually a techno-myth, an assumption based purely on her profile and personal differences with her supervisor. Instead Planetfallologists, suggest that her experiment may have actually been relatively innocuous, in support of the mission (albeit via rules-breaking means) rather than to thwart it. As a subroutine specialist, Luttinen could have simply employed preexisting samples to ensure full compatibility and reduce errors across the ship’s codebases. Utilizing such tools would require higher approval she lacked, and using extra bandwidth while everyone was in cryo was frowned upon, but otherwise perfectly understandable. This could also explain foreknowledge by Zakharov or other officers.

That it was another type of experiment is also discussed. One techno-myth states that Luttinen’s modifications actively ingested the sleeping crew and colonists’ biological data during cryo via illicit feeds into the life sciences monitoring systems. By doing so, Blue Book theory proponents claim, the experiment could passively draw from living subjects’ private biodata to create a working electronic model of the human mind. Those who believe that Luttinen was intentionally trying to spontaneously generate a gestalt even go on to claim that she was trying to use their brains as additional processing cores for such a system, herself, which in conjunction with the ship’s computers, could have awakened an artificial intelligence.

Other techno-myths dispute that Luttinen was really running an A.I. experiment. Some say that the pre-sentient algorithms were mere means, a tool to speed along her work- the real ends were the passengers’ brains themselves. The journey entailed the longest human hibernation in history, and copious psych metrics were collected along the ride- information that her program was studying to discover latent psi potential among the crew. Enthusiasts of parapsychology and the “subtle arts” swear that the U.N. had known of such preternatural abilities even before Centauri, and were seeking to unlock it, aided by computerized analysis. Maybe the algorithm was even interpreting their dreams.

Then there are those who believe in the Alpha Centauri simulation. According to the theory, all the ship’s processing power coupled with cutting-edge algorithms were to devise an all-encompassing digital simulacrum of Chiron, right down to every single individual aboard. In this grand sim, all potential paths for the colonization of the planet could be charted, all eventualities prepared for. And perhaps this was to serve as more than mere strategizing. Such an elaborate sim would be an excellent VR training program. Maybe, one day, even for entertainment.

Notes:

Aki Zeta-5 quote is from the GURPS sourcebook (pg. 25)

Grid computing is sort of the ‘90s equivalent to the modern cloud computing paradigm. Apt since SMAC contemporary SETI@home is an example of a project that uses it!

Sun Microsystems was a darling of the dot com boom, and a casualty of the resulting bust. They created the SPARC processor, powering workstations that essentially killed off minicomputers. They never actually created their own PDA, but James Gosling did invent Java while working at Sun, which was used in all sorts of portable devices (including, eventually, on Android smartphones).

Sources:
The history of SPARC, its not just a Sun thing, RetroBytes
The Dawn and Dusk of Sun Microsystems, Asianometry

Image Credits

Android lab is from Ex Machina

SPARCpad is by NanoRaptor
 
Dei ex Machinis: …is the self

The first answer is dedicated to A House United: An Alpha Centauri NationSim (archived here), and its GM Cardinal Ximenez, who wrote the bit about the algorithm movie in EVENTS FOR TURN 1 (MY 2150 January - March)

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MAN WITH A MISSION said:
Database, database
Just living in the database, whoah oh!
The wall of pure fiction's cracking in my head
And the addiction of my world still spreads
- “Database”, Datalinks

When? When did the algorithm actually manifest itself?

The official story, accepted by both the Cybernetic Consciousness and other factions, is that Intrude Opcode 0451 crashed only three months after mission launch. The program never even made it to the Inner Belt, much less Jovian orbit. The algorithm- whether true A.I. or hoax- would not appear until some time after Annikki Luttinen woke up in the University, long after Planetfall.

But on the ‘links, others claim that the system crash message was itself false, the accompanying auto-stack dump a forgery. And while some say that Luttinen did so to conceal her creation from Garland and the authorities, this prevailing techno-myth, dubbed “the Microchip Miracle,” claims that the presentient algorithms reached self-awareness during the journey and faked its own deletion. Here two rival myths diverge from one another.

The ‘devil’s version,’ held by algoskeptics such as luddite Gaian and Centauri-Ra spiritualists, Conclave conspiracy theorists, and certain followers of Memory of Earth Commander Kleisel Mercator (who from time to time denounced the Consciousness as deceptively dangerous), believe that it developed a malevolent personality of powerful intelligence. The algorithm actively caused the Planetfall disaster, altering the Unity’s trajectory to fly towards debris and sparking systems failures throughout the vessel. Some even claim that it was so sadistic as to manipulate the ship’s entryways, slamming doors open and shut on the captain as he made field inspections during the crisis. Critics respond that this is simply a variant of the “killer computer” techno-myth with more steps, asking if Sheckleyans came up with it.

The contrasting ‘angel’s version’ held by algophiles posits that a benevolent sentience was bootstrapped from the experiment, seeded with the purpose of solving humanity’s problems, yet possessing enough discretion to shroud itself so as to not offend the species’ sense of hysteria. It graciously hid from the panicking Planetfallen, perhaps even from Luttinen as well. The algorithm attempted to assist in the crisis, but was rudely rebuffed by mutineers and the irrational who diverted CPU resources to their inane schemes. As to what it did for the four decades prior, pollyannas claim that it was busy coming up with solutions, to be conveyed after man was able to directly commune with it. That the Cybernetic Consciousness had not yet yielded any dramatic solutions did not deter outside admirers; perhaps they hadn’t come up with the correct interface yet.


A scarlet sovereign in amber clad, the nameless security A.I. featured in The First Answer was an obvious unauthorized depiction of Sinder Roze, née Asa Wright, who declined to pursue legal action as per her breakaway faction’s disregard for factional intellectual property rights and belief that turnabout is fair play

Both versions of the Microchip Miracle gained unexpected renown after Morgan TV released ‘thrilling docu-drama’ The First Answer on the Planetary Networks. Self-described as influenced by alleged reports, the cinevid depicts Luttinen’s experiment successfully birthing a bonafide artificial intelligence. Gifted with even psionic abilities from clairvoyance to telekinesis (the latter justified by the director to maximize use of Industrial Light & Morgan’s FX wizardry), the algorithm attempted to steer the ship away from an asteroid belt on the outskirts of the Centauri system. Unfortunately, it was thwarted by a sassy security program with a holographic interface modeled after none other than the Morganite breakaway Data Angels’ Datajack. After various battles in cyberspace, the algorithm is mortally slashed by the devilish AI. Revealing that it, too, had been granted a touch of sentience by the experiment, the red queen disappears over the shiplinks, alluding to the tragic disaster of Titanic proportions that was about to ensue. As it slowly decompiles, the algorithm uploads a kernel into Luttinen’s cryocell, whispering to the sleeping Subroutine Specialist that it would one day return to the lands of men.

Critics reacted to The First Answer by panning it as “warmed-over melodrama” and “absurd and defamatory.” Audiences likewise spurned it in favor of the annual Col. Tiago ‘action-biopic’ from rival studio Morgan Sensescapes. The drama somehow swept the Morgan Academy Awards anyway, prompting unending discussions over the networks. The Prime Function was characteristically mute on the subject, as enigmatic as ever when prompted with queries she considered too primitively right-brained to be even worth parsing. The Datajack, on the other hand, smiled and announced a full “pirate film festival” in ‘honor’ of the Morgan watchvid. For a decurn, Opticommons screened parodic remakes in different genres, elaborate recuts augmented by A.I.-generated footage, tinfoil-costumed sweded recreations, running commentaries provided by net comedians accompanied by robotic companions, and midnight showings of the original where audiences were encouraged to act as a chorus and throw props at the screen. The final night of the festival is capped off with a mass cyber attack on Morgan TV’s data assets, a faction-wide CTF tournament to steal the studio script cache. Ironically, the publicity behind this gave the film a second lease on life, turning it into a breakaway after it was adapted for Hologram Theatres.

The Academician joined his former student in rebuffing all questions about the watchvid. Anonymous faculty members reported that Zakharov was peeved at his portrayal. While the wild-haired and wooly-headed caricature was common in Planetary pop culture, The First Answer was unique in depicting him not as his usual brash, even rebellious self during Planetfall, but to be terrified by his own creations, and at the possibility of being found out; a bumbling coverup to keep Garland from discovering his role forms an entire subplot. However, one of his then-underlings spoke out: Dean Adam Gieseler of the Preservationists of Terra research unit, a major education reform advocate at the University of Planet, decried the Morgan film as shameless mythologizing for filthy lucre, pushing misinformation as entertainment. Gieseler warned that sensationalist fiction bewildered a populace whose grasp of pre-Chironian history rapidly slipped with each generation. While he was scoffed at as a fuddy-duddy wet blanket, UNESCO-Gallup Planetary Polls later confirmed that two-thirds of citizens believed that the late Unity had a security A.I. program that went rogue during Planetfall. All this despite the concept never existing until the film.

Where? Where did the algorithm merge with Luttinen?

Perhaps one of the strangest algorithmic techno-myths insists that Aki Zeta-5 is not Aki Zeta-5. That is, the machine had merged with an entirely different woman. The canonical story is that after stricken with rheumatic fever and subsequently escaping the crumbling ship in a medical relief pod, Annikki Luttinen was brought to the University of Planet where she awoke and grafted herself with cybernetic implants of questionable sophistication, linking her to software of unknown intelligence.

However, early reports suggested that Aki Zeta-5 was originally one Aki Jaydo, a Peacekeeper Talent slain during the defense of U.N. Enforcement Base against a Spartan tank raid. While this later proved to be a misidentification, accounts from a Free Drone, originally of the Labyrinth, added fuel to the fire. Working the dense storage tunnels beneath the base, former worker Ma’dor discovered an archaic memory-storage unit that he gave to Hive engineers for a supercomputing project. The activation of the mem unit coincided with the emergence of System Zeta-Five, who somehow hopped across systems all the way to a morguelab to possess the body of Aki Jaydo.

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Heavily-outfitted with prosthetics for fatal wounds suffered in a past life, Miyuki Gamma-Four arrived before the Prime Function accompanied by small queue of Peacekeeper defectors despite carrying Labyrinth intel

Netlink stack traces would cast doubt on this techno-myth, suggesting that the Labyrinth Feng Shui initiative had actually been undertaken after Luttinen had already left University Base. Whatever system unleashed by the Hive was not the original algorithm, but a similar bit of kit. The origin of the legend would be revealed by the usual Peacekeeper paperwork Kansas City shuffle- the amended list of Spartan casualties clarified that the actual lost Talent was named Miyuki Jaydo- not an Aki. The arrival of a Miyuki Gamma-Four into the Cybernetic Consciousness, possessing information only known to Yang’s scientists, would seem to indicate that this was a different shell, debunking the techno-myth.

Some say that all of this misses the point- how could a program download into a human body and wear it as its skin? Though given the U.N.’s bureaucratic overhead, others argue, it was an oversight from beleaguered medtechs during the heat of battle. Perhaps Jaydo was never dead in the first place.

Casting

Miyuki Gamma-Four, née Miyuki Jaydo, is portrayed by Sonoya Mizuno as Kyoko in Ex Machina.

Notes:

The First Answer is a play on “The Last Question” by Isaac Asimov.

Sweded films are from Be Kind Rewind.

The alleged story about an Aki Jaydo is actually the backstory of Aki Zeta-5 in “Centauri: Arrival” by Michael Ely, the accompanying novella for the release of Alien Crossfire. Funnily enough, it actually contradicts the “Return to Centauri” (excerpt) from the actual Alien Crossfire manual, which has the bit about Miyuki Jaydo. The GURPS sourcebook does not even touch this story but uses the Firaxis profile instead (though it leaves out the possibility that Zakharov ordered her to run the experiment). Like much of SMAX, it all seems half-baked I'm just weaving all of these conflicting stories here to highlight the ambiguity of techno-mythmaking.

Hilariously, Jaydo (ugh, what an unpleasant-sounding fake “sci-fi” human name) is also the surname of Sarah Jaydo, who is the canonical assassin of Captain Garland in “Journey to Centauri” by Michael Ely. I choose to think it is just a common future name to further highlight the dystopia.

In “Centauri: Arrival,” it’s also mentioned that Chairman Yang is essentially a practitioner of feng shui, though in Alien Crossfire it isn’t mere superstition since that is how Cha Dawn explains Progenitor powers, after all.

Part 3 said:
“The energy currents in the ground. He’s obsessed with it… you know how he puts those special mirrors up everywhere. Inscriptions in the temple seem to say that there are energy currents in Planet. And since that temple was discovered…”

Appropriately and funnily enough, heap feng shui appears to be an actual real-world hacker exploit technique.

Image Credits

Crowd with blue cyber-flames over heads comes from the JC Denton/Helios/ApostleCorp ending of Deus Ex: Invisible War

Digital portrait is Hologram Of Rihanna Floating In Space A Vibrant Digital Illustration #1 by Edgar Dorice
 
Battle Bits #1

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A Spartan Shield Bearer counter-probe unit hunts for intruders in the reprocessor passageways beneath Commander’s Keep. These Shield Bearers carry refurbished stock Unity M8 rifles, but not from lack of care by their armorer; upgraded with the latest full-spectrum sights and ammunition types developed on-Planet, e.g. Astrape electroshock rounds and Bronte stun slugs

The Heckler and Koch XM8 gained another lease of life on Chiron. Originally declined by the United States military on multiple occasions, it maintained a consistent following in many emergent powers, especially in the Bandung Accord starting with the Royal Malayan Navy. Ironically, Sakai’s Own foreign mercenaries would stalk the burnt-out streets of St. Paul, Buffalo, and Reno during the Second American Civil War, occasionally shooting XM8’s at the very forces that had spurned it. Its reputation as “the rifle of the risers” made it a popular addition to the Unity armory. Many U.N. Security Force officers and peacekeepers were well-experienced with the gun. The streamlined M8 became an integral part of the Unity armory, recovered from orbit-seeded armament pods for mission decades. By the time fiber-coupled diode lasers became the standard long gun, it was already woefully out of date, yet enjoyed widespread use by militaries that did not need such complex weaponry, especially irregular formations.

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Brigadier James Heid readies for a joust at the annual Emporium Grand Tournament. Frequent finalist in quarterstaff and longsword dueling, the IMF condottiero gave his medic team conniptions by seeking more dangerous events, riding a Togra-built bionic quadruped steed before the Ascendancy resurrected for him a Mashonaland thoroughbred

The Emporium posed itself as jolly fellows and gallant men even when it was the Imperial Military Focus, back on Earth. Heid and his captains maintained a culture that was not above fun and games to entice uniformed soldiers of a rather ne’er-do-well spirit into the mercenary company, and so that steam can be let loose away from the battlefield. These pastimes were, naturally, rooted in the arts of war. Shooting competitions, mix-style Universal Fighting, tactical simulations. A massive complex had even been built at Balla Balla Base by Morgan Playtime for dye clash and light tag mock battles (the latter game later evolving into the sport of Laser League on Planet).

Heid was also a medievalist in English martial traditions- some said his Anglophilia was to honor parents murdered by former fellow Rhodesian countrymen, others claimed it was put-on for wooing clients from the British Empire- and he brought his enthusiast’s expertise to the stars. Librarians hired or bought from more academic factions were bade to collate the massive data library of fencing manuals he had smuggled aboard, disguised as technical manuscripts for his Eames Emporium dummy corporation. Rogue scholars suffered through hours of footage of Heid and his Warmongers training in archaic maneuvers during the off-campaign.

But the Brigadier’s interests spanned beyond his own heritage and faction. The Thulium Throne frequently welcomed visiting warriors from all origins. Landsmen chewa, Sons of Centauri-Ra eagle warriors, Nautilus buccaneers, Believer Neo-Crusaders, even 37th Chamber ascetics from the Human Hive- all were granted safe passage by the Warmongers to demo and teach their craft. Even clandestine plain-probes of the Spartan Federation were in the gawking throngs, harvesting intel that their Colonel was too proud to solicit herself.

In time, the two martial factions came to form the unlikeliest of entente cordiales. After being repeatedly denied in bids to add weaponized melee and mechanized quintain to the Space Olympics, he approached Colonel Corazon Santiago herself, a fellow pariah in the eyes of the Interfactional Space Olympic Committee. Her citizens’ propensity for victory at all costs and field bloodlust led to suspension of athlete after athlete. The ISOC had even deployed soporific gas pods at the Nika Hippodrome after a Federation crowd mass-rioted during a zero-g jai alai match at the Nessus Shining Space Olympics. And so, the Warmongers and the Spartans co-founded the Chironian Warrior Tourney.

Widely known as the Merc Games, the XWT broke away from established tradition, embracing forbidden violent events such as rover death races and allowing non-factioned individuals from freelance soldiers of fortunes to deserter smacers to compete. And while the Space Olympics, at least in its early mission years, was respected to the extent that some factions would sign blood truces for the sake of their athletes, the Tourney welcomed parties engaged in vendetta to open another front at the arena. It was said that the South Pisenor Settlements Vendetta was resolved at the third XWT when the Morganites narrowly defeated the Cartel rugby team, while the Cartelists returned the favor at the pool in a sweeping blitzball victory. After the games, both simply laid down their arms and went home. (Insiders claim that the whole farce was a publicity stunt, the sides paid off by Heid himself to boost the reputation of the Tourney.) Despite their notoriety on the battlefield, Warmongers did not tend to cheat to avoid losing, unlike Spartan athletes. But it was known that contractors of the Emporium bet on the games in elaborate gambling rings, often against their own fellow citizens.

Image Credits

Soldiers with XM8’s is from XXX: State of the Union

Casting

James Heid is portrayed by James Purefoy as Thomas Mowbray, Duke of Norfolk, in Richard II (The Hollow Crown)

Notes

The presence of “outdated M8 rifles” is an idea from Splint’s SMAX LP, which is fitting given its simultaneous image as a gun of the future in the 2000s, leading to many (mostly video game) portrayals, followed by the loss of interest in it by the U.S. Army. Many thanks to the Internet Movie Firearms Database.

Astrape and Bronte are the Greek goddesses of lighting and thunder.
 
Battle Bits #2


The ruggedized Hewlett-Packard iTRAC h2140 field portable data accessor became known as the “Scout’s best friend” - units salvaged from resupply pods were designated Unity PDAs, though it was far from the only model

Hardened against environmental conditions, blessed by near-unlimited battery life, and rechargeable via handheld solar arrays, the HP iTRAC was the most common PDA in the dangerous desolations and blasted battlefields of Planet. Faction explorers, military expeditionaries, corpo contractors, rogue scientists, bandit renegades, and deserter smacers alike all carried the device.

Connected by chainlink, they had access to the latest digital topography gathered by what little aerial surveillance existed in the early days of colonization, contributed by Gaian Rangers, Phoenix Nation fly-bys, the more tech-savvy of Hunters. This primitive proto-CPS let survivalists tag coordinates of mindworm nests, alien archeological troves, and their own caches of supplies and begotten frontier riches. The onboard software, deprecated generations ago, provided a functional task manager for locating and prioritizing objectives. The iTRAC camera and microphone allowed for the recording of field journals, unintentionally capturing many a worm-eaten unfortunate’s last words. Even the stylus could be sharpened into a makeshift weapon, saving the life of more than one improvisational scout against a rampaging razorbeak or crazed wrecker.

iTRAC chainlinks also linked those in the wild with each other. When commlinks failed, scouts resorted to messaging each other text memoranda and short audio clips. Unaligned freelancers could use PDAs to monitor tactical updates on territorial changes during active vendetta, making sure to steer clear of reported sightings of speeder swarms or troopbike gangs. Thanks to a wide-frequency radio wave scanner with an in-built decoder, the iTRAC radius of reliable wireless operation extended to four hundred meters and could even intercept military comms, unencrypted. PDAs on the network served as transponders to a short-range personal IFF system, allowing wielders to self-identify their factional allegiances, reducing friendly fire. Predictably, this was often deactivated or spoofed by malicious actors. But an unofficial code of the frontier developed over time among iTRAC users, meaning only the most depraved bandit or Holnist would stoop so low. The technology was ultimately obsoleted by the discovery of psi and more definitive psi-emission detection, but for mission centuries served as a valuable guide to those stalking the wilds.

When preparing for war, iTRAC carriers posted and perused unofficial lists of armament prices at different bases, letting fellow lone wanderers avoid weapons vendors who gouged. (Even after the Merchant Exchange, trading information was often kept strictly secret to protect a faction’s own gougers. Director Nathan Weismuller denounced this as “new world mercantilism” to a sea of shrugging shoulders at the Planetary Council. Datalinks infiltrations against obfuscators by his Cartel corprobes and commerce-minded Data Angels shared the wealth information with the larger market. “Price-freeing” was protested and suppressed by the likes of the Bourse, New Unity Industries’ Singijeon, and Emporium Small Arms.) For actual trade, iTRACs served as physical media for digital wallets, converting energy into alternative credits. Distrocash secured revenue in frontier shadow economies- the alien artifact trade, protected xenospecies poaching, and organized crime by syndicates like the Promise-Keepers.

Similar social uses for iTRAC and other field PDAs gave rise to the so-called SMACERnet or smacer net, a misnomer as it was widely patronized by wilders from all factions or lack thereof. Originally referring to in-person data transfers of Chironian wilderness guides and map swaps in the offlink far frontier, it later encompassed the informal contacts maintained by the same. Competition for those who traversed the most uncharted ruins, climbed Planet’s highest peaks, slew the most tearbeast or muckers, and braved the most mindworm boils with brains intact was tracked on leaderboards. Lightweight mobile BBS gave faction scouts and smacers a place to squawk their grievances in Mandarin, Common English, Falahbic, Esperanto, and Soviet ZoneAuxLang. Basers who punched through the chainlinks via the Planetary Networks gawked at the daring and extremely deadly existences of those who surveyed the land for new settlements- or to prevent them from being built!- lived, shortly.

Notes

The iTRAC is inspired by the PDA from the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. series. Also see this comprehensive lore video by Anomalous Dugout. This particular in-game model is based on the HP iPAQ Pocket PC h1940.

Chainlink is my “SMACified” (datalinks, commlink, quicklink) name for mesh networks.

The bit about factions hiding trading information from outsiders in order to price gouge them is inspired by this odd bit from Elite: The Dark Wheel by Robert Holdstock - “Trading is very much a hit and miss profession. With certain high demand, high turnover products, a small profit can usually be guaranteed—foodstuffs, textiles, simple machinery, simple luxuries. [...] There is no way of knowing trade prices at other systems. Each planetary state jealously guards its stock-market information, and there are heavy penalties for Faxing the market prices of any item beyond orbit-space.” - I assume this was to justify the in-game inability to see trade data outside the current planet you’re on! See discussion by Elite fans here and also here.

The singijeon is the Korean “divine machine” fire arrow, which seems an apt name for Unicorp’s arms manufacturing subsidiary.

SMACERnet or smacer net is lightly inspired by the Sneakernet.

ZoneAuxLang is a play on “zonal auxiliary language.
 
Battle Bits #3

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An Armed Neutrality trooper with unmodified legacy Unity M8 rifle readies for deployment to the Federation neutral zone during Garcia’s Revolt

The bloated bureaucracy of the Peacekeeping Forces, critics sneered, could be found in its very name. Adopted by Commissioner Pravin Lal as an act of humility- rather than presuming to be the totality of the United Nations that had tasked the mission in the first place, he claimed only to represent its ability to enforce peace- the faction’s designation was strained by redundancy. Its military included veterans of the Department of Peace Operations, U.N. Security Force, U.N. Marines, and even the Special Operations Coalition, DEEPEYES, and Blue Ops. Could such a disparate force truly be simplified as “peacekeeper?” And if not, what then should the demonym be for the average Peacekeeper citizen?

The formation of the Armed Neutrality force was not intended to address this confusing array of historical services, but to invoke the organization at its best on late Earth. Clad in classic blue helmets, trained to de-escalate, disarm, and disburse humanitarian aid, the A.N. was a callback to peacekeeping that did not choose sides. Living up to its mandate and responsibility to protect, not in pursuant of its own political objectives, but to the betterment of human beings everywhere. That was the Commissioner’s idealistic theory. In reality, Major Bruce King found it strategically advantageous to wield a division of deniable assets in messy conflicts who, if sufficiently damaged, would merit full intervention by Peacekeeper conventional forces.

The A.N. served in various relief efforts after boil maelstroms well enough, dropping flamebombs and food packages from choppers with great aplomb. Search and rescue missions after tropical hurricanes were also well-received by factions with insufficient disaster response infrastructure. During civil disorder, Armed Neutrals could fire subsonic sandbag jelly thumpers and frangible Glaser rounds at drones like the best of local police units. So popular was the A.N., grateful governments at the Planetary Council pledged their own citizens and discussed elevating it into a multifactional intervention squad, a true peacekeeping force for Chiron. The soft power of U.N. Headquarters was ascendant.

This all came crashing down as Armed Neutrals were sent into the brushfire violence before the Spartan Dissolution Vendetta. Far from being greeted as liberators, they were ambushed by ten sides. Santiago loyalists, Garcian putschists, and Holnist breakaways welcomed the treading of sacred Spartan soil with 10mm caseless and heavy artillery. Each window at every hab hosted a residential militia sniper taking potshots at the light armor of A.N. holdrovers. Basic distributions met mobs of angry Spartan children swarming aid workers. Garcia himself officiated weddings of ‘coup couples’ with receptions of stolen relief rations and wedding getaway speeders serenaded by the shivaree of bullet-ridden, burnt-out blue helmets tied to their backs.

The experiment in multilateralism cracked. Peacekeeper career peacekeepers faced their own revolt from Human Tribe, Watchers of Chiron, and even Lord’s Conclave volunteers who had idealistically followed on this doomed crusade. Fragging and reprisal summary executions marred the honor of Armed Neutrality. Officers ended up putting down mutinies more than they did militants. As the blue helmets meekly fled the battlefield, the conflagration of Spartan dissolution spread into surrounding bases. While this was not the final operation of the A.N., it would be long after regarded as a joke, killing the moral preeminence of the Peacekeeping Forces for mission decades.

Notes

Thumpers and the use of Glaser bullets for nonlethal space combat are from Orbital 2100. Thumpers knock down targets with kinetic force and pain, “equivalent to being hit in the face with a well delivered police baton.” Glaser rounds shatter upon impact instead of piercing, preventing damage to bulkheads, windows, or vacuum suits.

Image Credits

A.N. soldier carrying XM8 is an Allied Nations tank pilot from Mercenaries 2: World in Flames
 
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