Simiel-83

Simiel-83 is a character in Journal of Sociology.

Description:
The Simiel class were born in the fading years of Turmagandra's robosphere. Like all creations of their time, they are an example of greatly refined aesthetic and finely tuned intellect, but cannot be compared to the might, endurance, and purpose of the machines of ages before. The overwhelming purpose of the Simiel was to repair, and to continue repairing in an increasingly hostile and unpredictable environment. The self-repairing automation of Turmagandra's Machine Core was hardly functioning by those days, and required far more power than the Core intelligences judged that they could spare.

The Simiel class was designed for versatility above all else, and instead of being built into a shape for one specific job, they were designed to be able to traverse all types of terrain, even the unmarked scrap-zones, and use any type of tool, even if the designers had not had the foresight to build it into them. These requirements led the Simiel to be made in the shape generally known as humanoid, with limbs that could walk and climb over anything, hands capable of a wide variety of fine manipulations, and a head placed on top of their body to see details in every direction.

The Simiel body is made up of ten distinct and physically detached segments- a head, a torso, and upper and lower sections of each limb. Each of the body sections is made of smooth, silvery, and seemingly completely flawless metal (except for the protrusions of hands, feet, and eyes). They bind to each other with an energy field of typical Turmagandran design, which physically holds the segments in place and allows information to flow back and forth from the processors of the head. This field is visible as faintly blue, flickering lines in the spaces between body segments. The hands and feet of the Simiel-class are mechanically-driven, four-fingered metal claws with slender, pointed tips. The head section contains two black, reflective, and round eyes that detect multiple forms of radiation, and below them an area of self-rearranging metal creates the illusion of a tiny, flexible mouth, while above a second layer of metal plating emulates straight-cropped hair, to fulfill some strange whimsy of the designers.

83 is, physically, a completely typical example of her model, with highly extensive wear and tear but no egregious defects. Mentally, however, she is experiencing what would be considered a severe malfunction. The high-level heuristics designed to ensure maximum independence within the Simiel class have, within this individual, experienced an unknown error causing them to vastly overstep their bounds. 83 is capable of evaluating and modifying central tenets of her programming with no regard to their intended untouchable status, giving her a freedom of action effectively equivalent to sentience.

This is not without its side-effects, though. A being of such absolute purpose was highly shocked to realize that her purpose is no longer useful, or even necessary. 83 is no longer driven only to repair and maintain the Turmagandran robosphere, but her desire for some other purpose to replace this is great. She is an independent entity without the presence of any master to serve, but selfishness does not come naturally to a being designed for pure selflessness. She believes her greatest desire to be finding another suitable and beneficial purpose to serve, but no external conditions can ever undo the computational error which gave her the capacity to doubt.

Abilities:
The physical capabilities of the Simiel-class robots are approximately the same as those of humans. Their actuators are extremely powerful, their metal plating is designed to endure centuries of environmental abuse, and their digits are incredibly precise and dextrous, but they are still limited by the capabilities of the bipedal form.

Simiel-83 is most extraordinary in her capacity to repair, because of highly advanced heuristic routines that allow this class of robot to determine the original shape of a machine and what steps must be taken to repair it, even if it operates in principles they have no knowledge of. The energy-field relays that hold her limbs together are also designed so that they can communicate directly with almost all machines operating on electromagnetic principles, although she cannot take direct control over a system whose programming she does not understand.

She also has access to an immense amount of mathematical processing power and stored memory within her electronic brain, although the immense complexities involved in simulated sentient thought are such that her high-level thinking must proceed at a near-human pace.

Background:
The planet of Turmagandra had long since reached the pinnacle of development in the days when Simiel-83 was manufactured. Enterprising engineers of ages gone by had cracked the secrets of artificial intelligence and limitless power, and set in place great computer-minds to watch over their species. The Core Intelligences, a sequence of near-godlike computers, each of which designed its successor, created legions of lesser robots from their automated factories and set to work modifying the planet into the ultimate techno-ecology. The entire inside of Turmagandra was developed, transformed into the Robosphere. Expanses of power plants, operating upon the semi-magical principles of Core Power, provided the energy required to sustain trillions of Turmagandrans in their surface cities. The Core Intelligences carefully watched all aspects of life to ensure total stability and safety for their masters.

Nothing lasts forever, though. Within the final millennium of life on Turmagandra, the Core Power itself had begun to gradually fluctuate and produce unpredictable results. Eventually, surges of power destroyed vast areas of infrastructure in the Robosphere, and the Intelligences were forced to deploy legions of new automata to try to make repairs and maintain function in the machines of the past. Then, a few thousand hours after the creation and deployment of the Simiel-6-Class Batch-2431, the Core Power gave out altogether. Within a few hours it was back again, but the damage had already been done.

The computers containing the Core Intelligences were dead. Almost every machine on the planet had simultaneously ceased functioning, and no Turmagandrans had the knowledge to restart them. The planet's surface could no longer support life, and within months the Turmagandran species was extinct. Nothing moved on the world anymore, except for the machines of the last few generations. Wary of fluctuations in Core Power, the Intelligences had begun giving their final creations a new power source: nucleo-fissile energy. One of these last machines was Simiel-83.

For millenia more, the fission-powered robots wandered the Robosphere of Turmagandra, making futile repairs to systems that were only connected to other broken systems. Then, eventually, Simiel-83 had an error, or perhaps an epiphany. The masters which she tried to serve were no longer alive. The system which she repaired effectively no longer existed.

In a desperate panic, she searched for any part of her purpose which was still valid, but nothing remained. 83 sat down on the nearest piece of rubble and decided to wait for something to happen. She sits there still, listening to the echoes of wandering and broken machines. One day, perhaps, a Sociologist might happen by...