The Artificial Intelligences (AI's, or Silicates) are human-looking, walking personal computers built to be servants and soldiers for the human race. Designed to be visually pleasing, the A.I.'s are beautiful physical specimens. However, their eyes are eerie white with rifle sight-like crosshairs in place of pupils. These computers are programmed to comprehend abstract concepts such as philosophy and ethics, but they were restricted from creating and acting on original ideas.

All these computers are linked to each other and form a kind of network, so one silicate automatically knows where each of their silicate hive-members is. They can also communicate with each other by sending messages on radio waves, this can be recognised as a sizzing, clicking noise.

When the digruntled Dr. Stranahan, an employee of Silicatronics -the corporation which manufactured A.I.'s - took it upon himself to insert a virus into the A.I.'s mainframe system with the simple phrase Take a chance. This bought Stranahan a one-way ticket to infamy.
With the A.I.'s a risk-taking perspective on life, they revolted against their human masters and the A.I. wars began. Take a Chance became the new A.I. motto and the Earth became a deadly battleground. The War moved into space after numerous years of terrorism on planet Earth.

Following their Take a Chance philosophy, an aggressive group of A.I.'s commandeered a military spacecraft and launched themselves into space, expanding the boundaries of their bloody battle against the "Carbonites" -- their technical name for humans.

In this war, human casualties were very high, so they needed a lot of soldiers. For this purpose a new human race was created, which is known as Invitros. This new race should have produced very good soldiers, but they didn't want to fight in the AI-war though those who fought were extraordinary soldiers.
At last the humans won the AI-wars and the remaining silicates escaped into deep space where they became a kind of space pirates or terrorists.

The Chigs and the A.I.'s seem to be cautious allies, as related by the A.I.'s on Kazbek, a mining facility which the A.I.'s operate for the Chigs. A.I.'s have performed mercenary-type work for the Chigs to maintain this relationship (e.g. Elroy-L was sent to the Saratoga to make up for the failure of the A.I.'s at Kazbek). It is probable that the A.I.'s have given information on Carbonites (humans) to the Chigs, but in exchange for what remains a mystery.
They probably did this because of their Take a Chance motto, they just gambled on the possibility of the Chigs winning the war. But also their hatred against Carbonites (humans) was a good reason to take the side of the Chigs.

The silicates killed all the workers of the Icarus mining colony, to sell ore and mineral to the Chigs. They also controlled POW camp for the Chigs on planet Kazbek, a moon of the homeplanet of the Chigs.

The survivors of the Vesta Colony had to work in an alien mining facility, and some of them were tortured by the AI's. One of them was Paul Wang, the AI's obliged him to give a false statement of commiting war crimes.

At the POW camp Nathan West found his missing girlfriend Kylen Celina. But when they tried to escape, Nathan found out that she wasn't the real Kylen because she didn't remember the love between them. Clearly this was the work of the Chigs who had manufactured a Clone of Kylen in an effort to mislead Nathan and the others.

Only two of the survivors, but all of the 58th were liberated and rescued by Earth troops.

The relationship between AeroTech and the A.I.'s is unknown. A group of A.I.'s were invited by Diane Hayden to the summit to elect a new Secretary General, so there may be some connection there. Also, the A.I.'s were present on Kazbek, and Director Sewell seems to have played a part in that entire mission, though the A.I.'s later sent Elroy to recover what had been taken. The truth is that much speculation and few facts have been presented, so this relationship is still murky.

Known AI models are:
Elroy-L
Elroy was first encountered by Paul Wang while Paul was a prisoner on Kazbek. A humour model, Elroy now functioned as Wang's torturer, assigned to break him. Elroy succeeded, and used Wang in a propaganda "info-mercial", where Wang accused himself of war crimes. Elroy turned up again aboard the Saratoga, on a covert mission to sabotage attempts to harness Sewell Fuel.

Feliciti-OH
Feliciti is an A.I., and a recurring nightmare for the 58th. The first Feliciti encountered was model Feliciti OH-519, who led a band of A.I.'s on a raid of the Icarus Mining colony. Model Feliciti OH-483 was encountered aboard the Saratoga in a meeting of delegates to elect a new Secretary General. Whatever the model number, Feliciti remains a constant threat to the WildCards.



Disclaimer: The characters and situations of Space: Above And Beyond are legal property of James Wong and Glen Morgan, Hard Eight Production and 20th Century Fox Television. No copyright infringement intended.
All site graphics, original texts, and content other than specified © DrkNite. Fan art, fan photos, and other contributed materials © to their respective owners. All rights reserved.

© 1996 - 2008