Evil Androids of the MU

[Tricky]

Ok, first of all, I don't have the Mirror Universe book...yet!
But, I love the MU (actually, I'm an alternate universe junkie; I love 'What IF?' and 'Elseworlds' comics), and I am a big fan of the Artilects Sourcebook.

So, as I read some of the stuff thats in MUsb, I churned this out. It's mostly my interpertation of what AI in the MU might be like. I figured they would be evil, opportunistic and maybe even techo-supremists!!

So, I'll start with a little history: It starts on Exo-III with Roger Corby. In the MU, Corby is more of a Tomb Raider than a great archeologist and doctor. He's on a planetary survey, where he discovers the last remaining 'old ones' (yeah, i know they were driven underground by their sun, but give me a chance here.), decendants of an extremely advanced civilization. After interviewing (aka tortureing) the remaing old ones, he learned of their advances in AI, and of their being driven out of their underground shelters by their former creations. After 'Disposing' of the last living 'old ones', Korby and his team went into the underground city.
The cities auto defences severly injured and killed many in his party. Korby was amazed to find himself alive and in the presense of the last funcional android, a gynoid named Luxx. Luxx planned on killing the explorers, but centuries of solitude had made her curious as to what lay offworld, and the discovery that Korby had killed her former masters made her extremly grateful.
Luxx rewarded Korby by giving him an android body, and creating replica androids of his team to serve him.

Over time, Korby became more megalomaniacle, creating androids that resembled persons from his past, mistreating them, and then having them destroyed. This same fate awaited the 2 teams that came for Korby. Eventually, Luxx decided that they should find a way to leave their prison. When the ISS Enterprise arrived, they thought they had thier chance.
However, the two synthetic beings underestimated the Captain of the Enterprise, a mistake that cost the Korby-droid it's existance. Kirk, deciding that the possibility of eternal youth as an android, or an army of automatons loyal only to him was not something he wanted to give to the Empire willingly, so he kept the incedent quiet.
Later, another run-in with AI intent on galactic domination re-enforced Kirk's belief that Androids might be a valuble ally. Keeping a few specimens for himself, he 'sanitized' the Andromedan outpost and made sure to point out that no androids survived.
Later, Kirk found a scientist who would help him in his quest to control the android technology; Dr. Daystrom, eger to keep his M-5 projects utter Failure a secret, agreed to study the technology of Exo-III and the andromedan androids, and apply that technology to his work on multi-tronics. Daystrom made many advances, both by studying the alien tech, and with the help of Luxx. Eventually, Daystrom returned to the Empire, with new computer advances that made him the premire scientist of his era.

And back on ExoIII, Luxx, now renamed Lillith, and the M-5 computer, continued their work. And, unkown to anyone, including Kirk and Daystrom, they planned on being left alone. Sending a lone android, they hid all evidence of Exo-III from the records, and replaced it with a astrometric report that showed that Exo's sun had gone nova. The story worked, and the machines had time to work.

Until a certain genius inventor showed up.

[black campbellq]

Thanks for the kudos on the Artilects book. You should see what I'm doing with the new campaign we're running; it's set inthe 25th C & machine intelligence is rife.

Interesting question about the MU...if everything in that reality is crass, power-hungry, and competitive, the last thing they'd stand for is the rise of machines/robots/androids that could be smarter/better/more vicious. I think the MU characters would want to destroy any example; unless they could reprogram them to serve loyally? (Pinky to mouth!)

[The Tatterdemalion King]

...Mirror-Moriarty...

[Tricky]

True, the knee jerk of most MU Starfleet personel would be to destroy the upstart machines, but stealling a page from the 'Corporation' from the Aliens movies, even though the xenomorphs have totally resisted all attempts to domesticate or dominate them, the company still expends massive amounts of capital to continue the efforts, and company personel still risk other peoples lives in vain attempts to be the guy to conquers them.

So, some visionary/twisted people might be convinced that they could control the machines. Look at Alt-Archer; even when he was agianst the Resistance, he still was convinced he could keep the aliens on his ship under control. And that he could control a back biter like Alt-Hoshi!

[The Tatterdemalion King]

...Mirror-Moriarty...

Actually, expanding on this...

In the regular universe, Moriarty was inadvertantly created to outwit Data.

In the MU, he was created to destroy Data. But in the process he betrayed his masters, and downloaded himself into Data's positronic net. The two cybernetic psyches battle for dominance in his mindscape!

[Tricky]

Interesting....it's so fun to take Trek Cannon stuff and TOTALLY TWIST it till it's almost unrecogniseable.

I'm at a loss with my Soong era androids; I can't recall exactly when he began his positron net experiments, or when the Empire fell.

My one idea to reconcile both was just to say that Soong and other talented individuals (Ira Graves, maybe some other 'pioneers' in other fields), were being kept as slaves/indentured workers by some patron, who planned on using their genius to help him rise to power.

Having access to certain materials, Soong, maybe some of the others, find mention of Exo-III, and find a way there, on the chance that it still exists. (Lore, Data and B-4 might all exist at this point, not sure.) Discovering the other androids, a colaboration would start (I figure that the Old One androids would be impressed by a human developing a working positronic brain.), and evetually Data would be some kind of leader/spokesdroid/figure head of the Android Collective.

[black campbellq]

I...Discovering the other androids, a colaboration would start (I figure that the Old One androids would be impressed by a human developing a working positronic brain.), and evetually Data would be some kind of leader/spokesdroid/figure head of the Android Collective...

I like the idea. Especially if you take current events into account; once machines are designing themselves, you are able to design faster and better. The androids would make incredible leaps in "evolution" in only a few short years; the law of accelerating returns woud allow new tech and computer abilities to better design the next iteration faster. The AC would probably wind up becoming the main power in local space. But that's my opinion...

[Tricky]

Of course, another way to look at it (I always tell you guys; I love alternate realities!) would be a twist on Data's origin/discovery.

Maybe Data becomes to much of a threat to the Android Collective (hmm gonna need a diff name.....theres at least on Collective out there, and they are WAY better known ) and so hes turned off and dumped somewhere, where his is found by .....this is where you have to decide what form your going with.
In the book, Dark Mirror (non cannon), the empire continues into the NG era.
However, if you want to follow both the Allience and Data ending up with Picard (kinda a stretch, but the did similar stuff with Sisko), then maybe Data ends up on a Freebooter named Picards ship.
Or, on some Allience ship, where Picard and whatever crew members of the NG:Enterprise are located.

Gee, I love tweaking continuity until it's bent!

Oh, as a joke, the Androids Collective could even explain why Vic Fontain was killed on that episode of DS-9; He was an Android infiltration unit, designed from images of a Lounge singer from 60' era Los Vegas!!

[First of Two]

Don't forget the Mudd Androids!

While it wouldn't fit the MU sourcebook's Future History, I picture Kirk and Mudd teaming up after the defeat of Norman to auction off the other "I, Mudd" android babes as geishabots.

A mark of prosperity in the Empire, owning your own harem of happily servile fembots...

Until 'someone' reactivates Norman, to 'co-ordinate,' and all of a sudden you've got ten thousand seductive assassins, each placed next to one of the Empire's most influential people...

[black campbellq]

oooo...i like that idea...

[First of Two]

There is really ever so much that one can do with programmable people... alternate personalities as hidden secondary programs being one of my favorites.

Kind of like "The Matrix"... all you need to plug in a lifetime of skills and behaviors is the right isolinear chip, and your 'bot goes from model SUE-69 to model ELEKTRA-007 in a heartbeat. And then you die.

I think reprogrammed servant droids were used to similar effect in a Star Wars novel.

[Tricky]

Well, first of all, the extra-galactic androids mentioned above ARE Mudd's Droids.

Wha...you thought HE made them himself.

I didn't know how to handle Mudd; heard he might be an Emperor or something.

I tossed around Androids becoming just another slave race to the empire/alliance, but i like the 'hidden danger' of a 'secret android nation'.

Oh, and maybe they worship/venrarate/aspire to be like V'ger/machine plant!

In a strange Star wars spin-off I did back when I played with my action figures, there was a bad guy named Kronos, who was an android that contained a flawed transfer of his creator's mind. Kronos was alot like Magneto of the X-men; he was a 'terrorist' trying to 'free his people' (robots, droids, etc.). He developed a chip that would turn any computer controlled machine into a killer. (yeah, it's the good parts of the movie 'Runaway', but hey, i was young!)

[First of Two]

Ah, I see you DID mention the Andromedan/Mudd androids... I must have skipped over that, nestled as it is within the Korby/Old Ones androids part. Meh.


How many Andromedan expeditions have there been, now? The Androids, the people who could turn you into cubes... Were Sylvia and Korob Andromedans, too?

Hey, it's a big galaxy. Bigger than ours, I think...

[Tricky]

I think only two Andromadan incrusions; the Androids and Kalinda and the other 'cube makers'.

Sylvia and Korob's origins are unkown; they were so alien that it's infered they might be from outside our galaxy. Andromeda? So it has android builders, giant supra-intellegent multi tenticled entities and tiny little entities that can create anything with a wand.

That must be SOME happenin place!

[Balok]

Although the androids were able to function for a period of time without Norman - when he was light years away - when he returned, he did little but operate the central junction. I suspect the androids cannot do without him indefinitely, and further posit that Norman was only able to leave after preparing the androids for his absence. On the other hand, it might just be that they can't work together effectively without Norman.

Sylvia and Korob were from outside our universe. Without the transmuter to sustain them, they couldn't even survive here. Spock talks around this in the episode, James Blish made it clearer in the (admittedly non-canon) episode novelizations (now long out of print but that I have a complete set of )