[Story][Season 0] Uncanny Valley

[Ace Dreamer]

Uncanny Valley - 11/Jul/2012
Arthur thought they might leave him alone.  They'd taken the Hollywood Machine. They'd hired a HR professional, now they'd got good employee criteria.  He ran Lagrange Recruitment.  Rod was in college.  Arthur was on a retainer.
Maybe they were afraid he'd work for Stellvia?  Fat chance!  They'd much better people than him.  He'd been shown the dossiers.  It'd be fun to work alongside some of them...  But, retainer.  Then, the latest demand.
They'd found the logistics limits of the Hollywood Machine.  Which was partly about how hard it was sensible to ask Mrs O'Hare to work.  Arthur wasn't happy about the addictive side of the machine.  He hadn't planned it.  In fact, he hadn't planned any of it.
Actually, they wanted AIs.  The brief was for more attractive women who could run the infrastructure, 24/7.  But the skill requirements were quite unreasonable.  No, he refused to try and make more 'Angels'.  They were a disaster waiting to happen.
Hmm.  The trick would be to make them heterogeneous, three different processor architectures running compatible software.  That'd give some protection from crude instruction-set specific attacks.  He'd need to read some more security stuff.
If the AIs had remote control of humanoid bodies, that'd satisfy the need for 'attractive women'.  But, he didn't trust his ability to navigate the Uncanny Valley, never mind manage 'attractive'.  Also, with their own bodies they could unplug their processors and leave the station, if they really wanted to.  He'd been reading about AI slavery - nasty.
Ms Jones wasn't currently watching him, but he expected she'd want to see all the receipts.  He knew some computer recyclers, and he was sure they'd have something good.  And, those ex-school RISC PCs he'd tucked away.  Then, there was that Mac fanatic, he knew, who'd kept those Power PC boxes, his design firm got rid of.  Old x86 boxes would be trivial.  Then, he just needed something really weird for emergencies.
Just for fun, he'd put them in colour-coded boxes.  Red, white and blue - should be good for even colour-blind technicians.  Though, seeing as he expected female staff, much less risk of that.  Black for the tenth one.  When he'd been poking around in the occult, to get the bits for the Angels, he'd made a few interesting contacts.  'Dave Mathers' he called himself.  Mad as a hatter, but a genius at making sane AIs.
Mathers came through, with ten install discs, one per AI, four processor architectures.  He'd had the boxes soaking in some special handwavium, left over from the Hollywood Machine project; 'paisley'.  He was pretty sure that'd got things going, and his discipline in saving samples of all handwavium strains he'd made paid off.  Pity he didn't have the paint mixer any more.
His science fiction friends had filled him in on real world robotics.  Air muscles were apparently the thing.  Fibre optic fibres for touch and temperature sensors.  Medical latex skins for realism.  Human hair if you could afford it.  But, there was no way he could construct ten humanoid bodies, all with 640+ muscles, on any realistic time-scale.
Hence, the Body Builder.  Constructed in his own time, with his own paid-for materials, seeing what happened with the Hollywood Machine.  He didn't like it, it scared him.  But, he'd built it, and they'd taken it off him.
He fed-in all the raw materials and parts.  This was a wonderful example of a waved device doing a complex task that could in theory be done by hand, and not contaminating the result with handwavium.  The link from AI cores to remote robot bodies was paired hacked cell/mobile phones, which if he'd got it right were doing all the anti-jamming and hacking tricks possible.  Waved Li-on batteries for AI and robot power supplies.
So, he had ten robot bodies, all slightly different, untouched by handwavium. Credible appearance, but still well in the Uncanny Valley.  He ran test routines, using a jury-rigged VR system, and fixed the few glitches.  But, he was reluctant to boot the AIs.
Brain wave. (No pun.)  No handwavium, no mods, so, maybe...  Would the Hollywood Machine glamorise them?  Worth trying.  Ten days later, he had them all ready. Perfect.  Maybe not movie-star quality, but better than average.
Apparently didn't even need Mrs O'Hare in the seat, took five minutes each.  The rest of the time was shipping and admin.  And, reading between the lines, a reluctance to ship them 'back down' to him.  Pity he'd kept the AI end of the remote links.
They were now in neat uniforms, presumably morphed versions of the sports wear he'd shipped them in (with underwear, of course!).  While he was curious what the underwear might have morphed into, it seemed unwise to check.  Their latex flesh looked human, even down to fine hairs on the arms.
Final checks.  The VR rig ran even smoother than before, and he couldn't hear even a faint hiss from the compressors.  He could see breathing, and when he looked closely, a pulse in the throat.  Wait a minute.  He hadn't fitted the waved Li-on batteries.
Ah well.
Simultaneous AI Boot!
AI Crew
These are ten humanoid robot bodies capable of running 24/7 with very high quality secure radio links to ten AIs designed to plumb-in to the systems of O'Neill Station.  The AIs are in three linked groups of three, with a heterogeneous processor architecture (ARM, PPC, x86) within each group.  The tenth AI is a weird non-standard architecture (SEAforth, if you're interested) and in a total emergency, where everything else fails, might keep a minimal system working.
Under normal circumstances any one AI processor from a group of three is capable of running about a third of O'Neill Station's facilities, and which third this is is hard-wired for each group.  Normally each triple of processors votes as to what is done, and if voting isn't unanimous then warning alarms start.  If one processor crashes and there is a tie, the tenth AI is given control; otherwise the tenth AI only gets control if an entire triple of processors has crashed.
The humanoid robot bodies all resemble attractive young women, and are fully functional in almost all ways: eating, drinking, excreting, bleeding; except they cannot get pregnant and bear (or nurse) children.  At core they are hardware, and their bones for example need repair rather than being capable of healing. You'd need an x-ray (or an RF monitor, to spot the link to their AI) to tell they're not human.
The AI link is good for up to 50 miles range, less if there is some shielding which it can't work around (wide band, frequency switching, etc.).  Upgrading to a better comms tech, say FTL, would most sensibly involve the AI and robot designer (Arthur).  And surgery.
Most of them go about their duties normally, as well-integrated numbers of the crew.  All have different appearances and personalities; all have hobbies.  The tenth is a roving troubleshooter, and is always poking around looking for problems.  She's also a dedicated amateur astronomer.
--
"It is the business of the future to be dangerous" - Hawkwind

[Ace Dreamer]

META "Uncanny Valley"

I'm happier with this...

I'm looking at 30 'non-addicted' women, 30 'addicted to glamour' women, 10 AI remotes, and 3 Angels.

That leaves only one young woman unaccounted for - Mr O'Neill's personal assistant, or maybe his partner?

For a total crew of 74 young women. Plus a few 'consultants', like Mrs O'Hare, and visits from Ms Jones.

This follows "Hollywood Machine", and is followed by "Master Of All".
--
"It is the business of the future to be dangerous" - Hawkwind

[Rakhasa]

Hence, the Body Builder.  Constructed in his own time, with his own paid-for materials, seeing what happened with the Hollywood Machine.  He didn't like it, it scared him.  But, he'd built it, and they'd taken it off him.

Arthur seems rather isolated from the fen comunity -a lamb among wolves, almost. This probably will not last if even a few of his thirteen "daughters" has any fondeness for her father.
Like the quoted part: It may be legal, but doing that is quite nasty from a fen perspective -once (because those things always get out, the Plot requires it) it is commnly known, Mr O'Neill will get a truly nasty reputation than not even his (alleged) dirty economic deals did not grant him.

[Ace Dreamer]

Hence, the Body Builder.  Constructed in his own time, with his own paid-for materials, seeing what happened with the Hollywood Machine.  He didn't like it, it scared him.  But, he'd built it, and they'd taken it off him.

Arthur seems rather isolated from the fen comunity -a lamb among wolves, almost. This probably will not last if even a few of his thirteen "daughters" has any fondeness for her father.
Like the quoted part: It may be legal, but doing that is quite nasty from a fen perspective -once (because those things always get out, the Plot requires it) it is commnly known, Mr O'Neill will get a truly nasty reputation than not even his (alleged) dirty economic deals did not grant him.

Arthur isn't Fen.  He might be becoming Fen, but he isn't there yet.
As for the daughters...
The Angels don't know who he is, except for the mysterious 'Charlie'.  But, they are all far from stupid, though quite a bit 'bent' in their perceptions of the world.  I'd bet on Jane to figure it out, in particular if she gets to do a lot of the admin work for O'Neill Station.  Unless people are incredibly careful what goes in files (of correspondence, and e-mail) she will see reference to the 'Angels Project'.  It would do her major cognitive dissonance, but she would work it out.  If Sarah then turns her legal mind to the problem things could get quite messy.
The AIs probably understand most clearly their relationship to Arthur.  He may not have designed their minds (the rather mysterious Dave Mathers did that) but he is responsible for their existing.  There is a good chance most of them like him, he certainly has treated them with more respect than management is likely to.  Watching them negotiate their pay and conditions with O'Neill Station might be interesting - at the moment I doubt they are getting more than a pittance, with little time off for their own purposes, and that only because they've got bodies that appear almost human, and need feeding and support.
Mrs O'Hare probably owes a debt of gratitude to Arthur.  But, she's in a difficult position, if she plans to go on working with the Hollywood Machine.  Ms Jones probably pities Arthur.  Rod looks up to Arthur and admires him as who he'd really like to become.  The glamored staff of O'Neill Station owe him at least their jobs in Fenspace, but most of them haven't met him, and few know him.
Arthur has got the Body Builder, it is firmly his, but to get the best out of it he'd need access to the Hollywood Machine.  And, that doesn't look likely, any time soon.  Still, do you think people would pay him good money for even the unprocessed robot bodies?
--
"It is the business of the future to be dangerous" - Hawkwind

[Ace Dreamer]

There are ten AI, in three groups of three, plus one.  The groups are 'red', 'white', 'blue', and the singleton is 'black'.  Each group has a similar appearance, though they vary enough to be sisters, not triplets.
Red:
skin: pale Celtic
hair: red
eyes: blue, green, hazel
Al(pha)
hobby: team sports
Bee (Beta)
hobby: gymnastics
Amma (Gamma)
hobby: martial arts

White:
skin: normal Caucasian
hair: blonde
eyes: blue, green, hazel
Del(ta)
hobby: gambling
Epsi(lon)
hobby: gardening
Eta
hobby: cooking

Blue:

skin: normal Eurasian

hair: brown

eyes: blue, green, hazel
Theta
hobby: medical science
Iota
hobby: micro-technology
Kappa
hobby: oceanography

Black:
skin: dark brown
hair: black
eyes: brown
Zee (Zeta)
hobby: amateur astronomy

If they wanted a surname they could always use "Arthursdottir", but that isn't likely in their files.
--
"It is the business of the future to be dangerous" - Hawkwind

[robkelk]

... When he'd been poking around in the occult, to get the bits for the Angels, he'd made a few interesting contacts.  'Dave Mathers' he called himself.  Mad as a hatter, but a genius at making sane AIs. ...

Nice touch there with the contact's name. Would you mind if we put him in residence on Ravenmoon station?

(And if there's a Mathers in Fenspace, there should be an Ambler as well or we'll never get a second Golden Dawn... Maybe I should reconsider that restriction I placed on which Infinities Honami shows up in...?)

Arthur seems rather isolated from the fen comunity -a lamb among wolves, almost. This probably will not last if even a few of his thirteen "daughters" has any fondeness for her father.
Like the quoted part: It may be legal, but doing that is quite nasty from a fen perspective -once (because those things always get out, the Plot requires it) it is commnly known, Mr O'Neill will get a truly nasty reputation than not even his (alleged) dirty economic deals did not grant him.

If the girls are enslaved, there's a plotbunny for someone - who finds out first, and what do they do?

One way to run with this: By the time this is discovered, O'Neill is too well-integrated into the Fen economy to attack directly, unless somebody wants to cause an economic recession. Thus, a stealth liberation operation is mounted, with "assets" drawn from multiple factions and the Generalist population so that no one group has to shoulder the blame if things go wrong... with Arthur in the background, helping with logistics and intelligence.

... If they wanted a surname they could always use "Arthursdottir", but that isn't likely in their files.

Have you been reading my notes about the chapter of Legend of Galactic Girls that I'm currently writing?
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

[Ace Dreamer]

... When he'd been poking around in the occult, to get the bits for the Angels, he'd made a few interesting contacts.  'Dave Mathers' he called himself.  Mad as a hatter, but a genius at making sane AIs. ...

Nice touch there with the contact's name. Would you mind if we put him in residence on Ravenmoon station?

When Arthur contacted him he was somewhere in the British Isles, or Eire, probably involved with something occult.  I see him as someone who can move around, in particular if he's annoyed the locals.  He's not a Wiccan, more (I think) a Hermatic Magician, however, a live-and-let-live attitude would work.  Do you think he goes off on 'occult retreats'?

Arthur
seems rather isolated from the fen comunity -a lamb among wolves,
almost. This probably will not last if even a few of his thirteen
"daughters" has any fondeness for her father.
Like the quoted part: It may be legal, but doing that is quite nasty from a fen perspective -once (because those things always get
out, the Plot requires it) it is commnly known, Mr O'Neill will get a
truly nasty reputation than not even his (alleged) dirty economic deals
did not grant him.

If the girls are enslaved, there's a plotbunny for someone - who finds out first, and what do they do?

One way to run with this: By the time this is discovered, O'Neill is too
well-integrated into the Fen economy to attack directly, unless
somebody wants to cause an economic recession. Thus, a stealth
liberation operation is mounted, with "assets" drawn from multiple
factions and the Generalist population so that no one group has to
shoulder the blame if things go wrong... with Arthur in the background,
helping with logistics and intelligence.

Sounds workable...  But, Arthur would have to carefully check his contractual agreements. [grin]
You could argue about whether they are enslaved.  In theory they could unplug their AI cores and walk out at any time.  Has O'Neill Station got contracts with them, or, are they regarded as non-persons?  Arthur didn't think about it, but, do you think O'Neill Station takes regular backups of them?  Until the first one is prevented from leaving...

... If they wanted a surname they could always use "Arthursdottir", but that isn't likely in their files.

Have you been reading my notes about the chapter of Legend of Galactic Girls that I'm currently writing?

No... [innocent expression]
Why, should I? [grin]
--
"It is the business of the future to be dangerous" - Hawkwind

[Rakhasa]

[b]robkelk wrote:[/b]

---

If the girls are enslaved, there's a plotbunny for someone - who finds out first, and what do they do?
One way to run with this: By the time this is discovered, O'Neill is too well-integrated into the Fen economy to attack directly, unless somebody wants to cause an economic recession. Thus, a stealth liberation operation is mounted, with "assets" drawn from multiple factions and the Generalist population so that no one group has to shoulder the blame if things go wrong... with Arthur in the background, helping with logistics and intelligence.

Who finds out first? The Three Angels themselves, of course. They are world-class, Hollywood-competent spies and detectives. Worse, form Padiarg's point of view, handwaved AIs with a plot.
No matter the originals cover, in a matter of days -probably hours- they will discover the truth about fenspace, AIs, Charlie's Angels, and so on. They will also discover the truth about their sisters soon; there is no way there is anyone better that then at hiding (and discovering) secrets. Actually, it is likely that they are the ones in charge of security and intelligence. They will know everything there is worth knowing about O'Neill and Arthur.
 Their reaction, both against Peter O'Neill and their creator, I don't know -it depends on their personalities, which have not been too detailed so far. But, given their fictional origins, they should be on the side of Good and Justice (tm.); if their less mobile sisters are mistreated, they will want to do something about then. If their investigation has turned up than their creator would be willing to help (and, from what we have been told about Arthur, he would), then they would contact him.
Plus, they just aren't complete without a Charley and a Bosley. Well, if they are going to become the Thirteen Angels, maybe two or three Bosleys. The Bosleys can be located after, probably during the Operation: Rescue Hot Slave Chicks, a name that will guarantee the entusiatic help of untold thousands of male (and about 10% of female) Fen.
And they already have a perfectly good Charlie available. Poor Arthur may find himself leading an interplanetary detective agency before he even realizes it.
(really, it is for the best. The sooner Arthur realizes than someone of his talent has no business pretending to be "just a normal guy", and starts practising his Insane Laughter while joining the Mad ranks, the better for everyone. Well, everyone in a safe distance)

[robkelk]

... Well, if they are going to become the Thirteen Angels, ...

Am I the only one who saw that phrase and immediately thought of http://drunkardswalkforums.yuku.com/top ... ng-Project]this thread?
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

[Ace Dreamer]

... Well, if they are going to become the Thirteen Angels, ...

Am I the only one who saw that phrase and immediately thought of this thread?

Isn't it a good job, then, that with Nurse Blake he has Fourteen. [grin]
--
"It is the business of the future to be dangerous" - Hawkwind

[robkelk]

... If they wanted a surname they could always use "Arthursdottir", but that isn't likely in their files.

Have you been reading my notes about the chapter of Legend of Galactic Girls that I'm currently writing?

No... [innocent expression]
Why, should I? [grin]

No, no... no need for that...

(It's just a chance congruence of ideas, is all.)
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

[Ace Dreamer]

[b]robkelk wrote:[/b]

---

If the girls are enslaved, there's a plotbunny for someone - who finds out first, and what do they do?
One way to run with this: By the time this is discovered, O'Neill is too well-integrated into the Fen economy to attack directly, unless somebody wants to cause an economic recession. Thus, a stealth liberation operation is mounted, with "assets" drawn from multiple factions and the Generalist population so that no one group has to shoulder the blame if things go wrong... with Arthur in the background, helping with logistics and intelligence.

Who finds out first? The Three Angels themselves, of course. They are world-class, Hollywood-competent spies and detectives. Worse, form Padiarg's point of view, handwaved AIs with a plot.
No matter the originals cover, in a matter of days -probably hours- they will discover
the truth about fenspace, AIs, Charlie's Angels, and so on. They will
also discover the truth about their sisters soon; there is no way there
is anyone better that then at hiding (and discovering) secrets.
Actually, it is likely that they are the ones in charge of security and intelligence. They will know everything there is worth knowing about O'Neill and Arthur.

Your big problem here is that the Angels view of the world isn't just bent, it's a corkscrew that requires higher dimensions to describe.  There are things they cannot believe without doubting who they are.
Yes, they have a plot, but that plot is: "Deep Cover on a Mysterious Space Station".  Charlie told them that.  They can't doubt it.  Deep cover means that they must establish themselves as loyal and reliable.  And, they must wait for Charlie's call.
Anything that they learn will be twisted to fit that plot.  They will learn about AIs and Fenspace, but that will only be background information, part of their investigation; none of it can apply to them.  They can compare this with their previous investigations, and know they've "fallen down the rabbit hole".  This is all far weirder than anything that they've done before, which didn't go any further than a few gadgets.  They've got invisible space suits, they've got rings that let them fly (in space), and no one they speak to thinks that they're anything except something to envy.
Once they start talking between themselves, other cracks will appear.  Their shared history works up to a point, then things get sticky.  Jane is the easy one, both the others know her with the skills she has.  Sarah was always known as being a legal genius, and Kelly a scientific genius, and unlicensed medic; that's all simple retcon.  In neither case do you want to argue with them if they lose their tempers.
Where the wheels start to fall off is the question of where Sarah got all the Terminator stuff, and Kelly got the Steam Punk.  These amount to large chunks of Secret Background that even the best script writer would have to scrabble to maintain plausible deniability.  Remember, the Angels are writing their script as they're going along.
There are no files maintained about Arthur, on O'Neill Station, or various other low level resources, which is what Arthur started as.  O'Neill probably doesn't even know his name, he just knows they've got someone who can solve problems.  Ms Jones isn't near the top of the ladder, she is a middle level resource, herself, and her higher management is in Earth-based offices, probably in Australia.
You shouldn't forget O'Neill Station seems to run as a private home, an estate.  This is different from Stellvia, which has major elements of service industry and commercial enterprise.  O'Neill will have offices in his home but will likely be careful as to which of his staff have access to them.  It is likely Jane will have access, Sarah will have her own office, and limited access, and Kelly will have no access at all.  A number of the general crew will have access in line with their duties, which include cleaning and maintenance, as well as clerical and administrative work.  I'm assuming there are no administrative AIs, and that the AIs on O'Neill Station run infrastructure.

 Their
reaction, both against Peter O'Neill and their creator, I don't know
-it depends on their personalities, which have not been too detailed so
far. But, given their fictional origins, they should be on the side of
Good and Justice (tm.); if their less mobile sisters are mistreated,
they will want to do something about then. If their investigation has
turned up than their creator would be willing to help (and, from what we
have been told about Arthur, he would), then they would contact him.

The Angels are the 'Good Guys' - they have to be.  OK, they have problems, but so does everyone else.
The relationship between the Angels and the O'Neill Station AIs - that is more difficult.  It's not clear that the Angels would regard them as 'sisters', they are certainly biologically different.  The Angels also are unlikely to regard themselves as AIs, more as humans with a bit extra.  They don't have the sort of thinking speeds AIs in Fenspace have, for example, though they are certainly at the top of human mental reaction speeds.  Almost like they have human minds condensed from an AI template.
The AIs are not immobile, Arthur made sure of that.  Their humanoid remotes are quite capable of going and unplugging their AI cores, which will cheerfully run on batteries for tens of hours, and travelling off the station.  That's the way they arrived, and they could leave the same way.  Leaving chaos in their wake.
Unless they completely break their roles, which would put massive strain on their minds, the Angels will not call Charlie.  Jane wouldn't even call Arthur if she was pretty sure he was Charlie.  This doesn't mean she might not call him for some other reason, though.

Plus,
they just aren't complete without a Charley and a Bosley. Well, if they
are going to become the Thirteen Angels, maybe two or three Bosleys.
The Bosleys can be located after, probably during the Operation: Rescue
Hot Slave Chicks, a name that will guarantee the entusiatic help of
untold thousands of male (and about 10% of female) Fen.
And they
already have a perfectly good Charlie available. Poor Arthur may find
himself leading an interplanetary detective agency before he even
realizes it.

Actually, there is a Bosley.  She is a heavily-built, though glamorous, woman in her early 30s, who lied about her age being 25; she did have the looks, and forged paperwork, to get away with this.  Her name is Alison 'Lee' Kay, a divorced engineer (and not a spy or investigator), and she works in maintenance, doing the awkward heavy lifting.  Kelly befriended her first, and introduced her to Jane, then Sarah.  They affectionately call her 'Boz', and she tries to mother the Angels, and anyone else she can get her hands on.
Lee actually died in the Hollywood Machine.  She was the first one they put through the process after Kelly had gone through, on an experimental basis.  The Machine took the usual half-an-hour with Kelly, but she came out apparently unchanged, though she complained about strange dreams, and flashbacks.  The Machine decided there needed to be a Bosley.  Unfortunately it isn't designed to do casting.
Kelly worked for half a day to save Lee, and waved up some extraordinary Steam Punk medical tech in the process.  After two days in bed, Lee was ready to return to duty, and the only change was she'd acquired a 'Mother' aura.  And now has some investigator skills, and an interest in, and skill with, firearms (copied from Kelly).  Kelly wrote a report on the incident, which pointed out they hadn't got as much as an operators manual for The Machine, and one day, it might go rogue.  She strongly recommended that the original designer and builder, an 'Arthur', be asked to provide any available documentation, and if it didn't exist, create it.  This report was apparently completely ignored.

(really, it is for the best. The sooner Arthur
realizes than someone of his talent has no business pretending to be
"just a normal guy", and starts practising his Insane Laughter while
joining the Mad ranks, the better for everyone. Well, everyone in a safe
distance)

You might choose to believe this, but, I really couldn't comment. [grin]
--
"It is the business of the future to be dangerous" - Hawkwind

[Bob Schroeck]

Kappa
hobby: oceanography

... and walking around with a saucer of water balanced on top of her head.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

[robkelk]

Kappa
hobby: oceanography

... and walking around with a saucer of water balanced on top of her head.

So, she likes cucumbers, does she?
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

[Ace Dreamer]

Kappa

hobby: oceanography

... and walking around with a saucer of water balanced on top of her head.

So, she likes cucumbers, does she?

I'd expect she could use one as a deadly weapon. [grin]
"So, tell me, what is this 'easter egg' thing you speak of?" [innocent expression]
--
"It is the business of the future to be dangerous" - Hawkwind

[Ace Dreamer]

Uncanny Valley - 14/Jul/2012
Arthur thought they might leave him alone.  They'd taken the Hollywood Machine. They'd hired a HR professional, now they'd got good employee criteria.  He ran Lagrange Recruitment.  Rod was in college.  Arthur was on a retainer.
Maybe they were afraid he'd work for Stellvia?  Fat chance!  They'd much better people than him.  He'd been shown the dossiers.  It'd be fun to work alongside some of them...  But, retainer.  Then, the latest demand.
They'd found the logistics limits of the Hollywood Machine.  Which was partly about how hard it was sensible to ask Mrs O'Hare to work.  Arthur wasn't happy about the addictive side of the machine.  He hadn't planned it.  In fact, he hadn't planned any of it.
Actually, they wanted AIs.  The brief was for more attractive women who could run the infrastructure, 24/7.  But the skill requirements were quite unreasonable.  No, he refused to try and make more 'Angels'.  They were a disaster waiting to happen.
Hmm.  The trick would be to make them heterogeneous, three different processor architectures running compatible software.  That'd give some protection from crude instruction-set specific attacks.  He'd need to read some more security stuff.
If the AIs had remote control of humanoid bodies, that'd satisfy the need for 'attractive women'.  But, he didn't trust his ability to navigate the Uncanny Valley, never mind manage 'attractive'.  Also, with their own bodies they could unplug their processors and leave the station, if they really wanted to.  He'd been reading about AI slavery - nasty.
Ms Jones wasn't currently watching him, but he expected she'd want to see all the receipts.  He knew some computer recyclers, and he was sure they'd have something good.  And, those ex-school RISC PCs he'd tucked away.  Then, there was that Mac fanatic, he knew, who'd kept those Power PC boxes, his design firm got rid of.  Old x86 boxes would be trivial.  Then, he just needed something really weird for emergencies.
Just for fun, he'd put them in colour-coded boxes.  Red, white and blue - should be good for even colour-blind technicians.  Though, seeing as he expected female staff, much less risk of that.  Black for the tenth one.  When he'd been poking around in the occult, to get the bits for the Angels, he'd made a few interesting contacts.  'Dave Mathers' he called himself.  Mad as a hatter, but a genius at making sane AIs.
Mathers came through, with ten install discs, one per AI, four processor architectures.  He'd had the boxes soaking in some special handwavium, left over from the Hollywood Machine project; 'paisley'.  He was pretty sure that'd got things going, and his discipline in saving samples of all handwavium strains he'd made paid off.  Pity he didn't have the paint mixer any more.
His science fiction friends had filled him in on real world robotics.  Air muscles were apparently the thing.  Fibre optic fibre meshes for touch and temperature sensors.  Medical latex skins for realism.  Human hair if you could afford it.  But, there was no way he could construct ten humanoid bodies, all with 640+ muscles, on any realistic time-scale.
Hence, the Body Builder.  Constructed in his own time, with his own paid-for materials, seeing what happened with the Hollywood Machine.  He didn't like it, it scared him.  But, he'd built it, and they'd taken it off him.
He fed-in all the raw materials and parts.  This was a wonderful example of a waved device doing a complex task that could in theory be done by hand, and not contaminating the result with handwavium.  The link from AI cores to remote robot bodies was paired hacked cell/mobile phones, which if he'd got it right were doing all the anti-jamming and hacking tricks possible.  Waved Li-on batteries for AI and robot power supplies.
So, he had ten robot bodies, all slightly different, untouched by handwavium. Credible appearance, but still well in the Uncanny Valley.  He ran test routines, using a jury-rigged VR system, and fixed the few glitches.  But, he was reluctant to boot the AIs.
Brain wave. (No pun.)  No handwavium, no mods, so, maybe...  Would the Hollywood Machine glamorise them?  Worth trying.  Ten days later, he had them all ready. Perfect.  Maybe not movie-star quality, but better than average.
Apparently didn't even need Mrs O'Hare in the seat, took five minutes each.  The rest of the time was shipping and admin.  And, reading between the lines, a reluctance to ship them 'back down' to him.  Pity he'd kept the AI end of the remote links.
They were now in neat uniforms, presumably morphed versions of the sports wear he'd shipped them in (with underwear, of course!).  While he was curious what the underwear might have morphed into, it seemed unwise to check.  Their latex flesh looked human, even down to fine hairs on the arms.
Final checks.  The VR rig ran even smoother than before, and he couldn't hear even a faint hiss from the compressors.  He could see breathing, and when he looked closely, a pulse in the throat.  Wait a minute.  He hadn't fitted the waved Li-on batteries.
Ah well.
Simultaneous AI Boot!

AI Crew
These are ten humanoid robot bodies capable of running 24/7 with very high quality secure radio links to ten AIs designed to plumb-in to the systems of O'Neill Station.  The AIs are in three linked groups of three, with a heterogeneous processor architecture (ARM, PPC, x86) within each group.  The tenth AI is a weird non-standard architecture (SEAforth, if you're interested) and in a total emergency, where everything else fails, might keep a minimal system working.
Under normal circumstances any one AI processor from a group of three is capable of running about a third of O'Neill Station's facilities, and which third this is is hard-wired for each group.  Normally each triple of processors votes as to what is done, and if voting isn't unanimous then warning alarms start.  If one processor crashes and there is a tie, the tenth AI is given control; otherwise the tenth AI only gets control if an entire triple of processors has crashed.
The humanoid robot bodies all resemble attractive young women, and are fully functional in almost all ways: eating, drinking, excreting, bleeding; except they cannot get pregnant and bear (or nurse) children.  At core they are hardware, and their bones for example need repair rather than being capable of healing. You'd need an x-ray (or an RF monitor, to spot the link to their AI) to tell they're not human.
The AI link is good for up to 50 miles range, less if there is some shielding which it can't work around (wide band, frequency switching, etc.).  Upgrading to a better comms tech, say FTL, would most sensibly involve the AI and robot designer (Arthur).  And surgery.
Most of them go about their duties normally, as well-integrated numbers of the crew.  All have different appearances and personalities; all have hobbies.  The tenth is a roving troubleshooter, and is always poking around looking for problems.  She's also a dedicated amateur astronomer.

AI Names
There are ten AI, in three groups of three, plus one.  The groups are 'red', 'white', 'blue', and the singleton is 'black'.  Each group has a similar appearance, though they vary enough to be sisters, not triplets.
Red:
skin: pale Celtic
hair: red
eyes: blue, green, hazel
Al(pha)
hobby: team sports
Bee (Beta)
hobby: gymnastics
Amma (Gamma)
hobby: martial arts

White:
skin: normal Caucasian
hair: blonde
eyes: blue, green, hazel
Del(ta)
hobby: gambling
Epsi(lon)
hobby: gardening
Eta
hobby: cooking

Blue:
skin: normal Eurasian
hair: brown
eyes: blue, green, hazel
Theta
hobby: medical science
Iota
hobby: micro-technology
Kappa
hobby: oceanography

Black:
skin: dark brown
hair: black
eyes: brown
Zee (Zeta)
hobby: amateur astronomy

If they wanted a surname they could always use "Arthursdottir", but that isn't likely in their files.
--
"It is the business of the future to be dangerous" - Hawkwind

[Ace Dreamer]

META "Uncanny Valley" (re-post)

Re-posted due to typo correction in the text and to consolidate the AI Names on to the end.
--
"It is the business of the future to be dangerous" - Hawkwind