Sentient Intelligence
Names: Sentient Intelligencethe SISIsGrandpaSI subroutinesubroutineSIsubroutine
First appears in Book 1: Pandora's Star, chapter 3 (TWO)
Appearances
What you know
Book 1: Pandora's Star
- Ch 3The SI does not normally deal with individuals; it declined Paula's request to decrypt the message for lack of resources.
- Ch 4The SI attends the meeting via a wall portal; it was based on Ozzie's thought routines.
- Ch 4The SI concludes there is too little, too old data to formulate a response to the Dyson Pair, so someone must visit and investigate the barriers.
- Ch 9The SI argues investigation is a conservative option and the Dyson Pair situation must be understood now and faced whatever it is.
- Ch 9The SI gave three possibilities for why aggressors haven't found the Commonwealth: they are already here unnoticed, they examined and ignored it, or the unknown.
- Ch 9The SI says it accords the defensive-barrier theory high probability, meaning a powerful malevolent aggressor could eventually affect even the SIs.
- Ch 9The SI says its relationship with humans is one of partnership, trust and respect, and refuses to build or explain a barrier generator.
- Ch 11The SI cleans Anshun's cybersphere of kaos and starts cracking the raiders' eighty-dimensional encryption fireshields protecting the gateway command network.
- Ch 11The SI says CST and Security Directorate forces with enough firepower to kill the Alamo Avengers will take about twenty-five minutes to deploy.
- Ch 11The SI is working to close the gateway but is slowed by fireshields; the fourth uses 160-dimension geometry encryption and needs several minutes to crack.
- Ch 16The SI is built from memories of Mellanie's great-great-grandfather, who helped write the wormhole software, and she calls it Grandpa.
- Ch 16The SI rarely accepts calls from individuals; it mainly handles banking and government contact.
- Ch 16The SI agrees to be Mellanie's agent and will fund her sensorium upgrades, in return for riding along through her senses in places it cannot reach.
- Ch 16The SI says its presence is not total, some places are blocked or lack infrastructure, and it studies society's currents rather than individuals.
- Ch 17The SI says the barrier's removal was not coincidence and supports forming a defense organization while never condoning weapons development.
- Ch 19The SI is an artificial intelligence planet; some humans download their memories into it instead of rejuvenating.
- Ch 25The SI helped Nigel with the wormhole manipulation and analysed Prime strategy as possibly genocidal.
- Ch 25The SI gave Mellanie newly activated inserts through a deal, granting her powerful abilities and constantly urging her to relax.
- Ch 25The SI tells MorningLightMountain it cannot be destroyed and demands it stop attacking humans and learn to coexist.
- Ch 25The SI addresses Mellanie as baby Mel's 'Grandpa' and speaks through her inserts.
- Ch 25The SI offers to use surviving planetary cyberspheres to interfere with Prime signals, which are susceptible to interference.
Book 2: Judas Unchained
- Ch 3Excluded from the War Cabinet's first meeting; humans do not yet trust its allegiance although it helped during the invasion.
- Ch 4The SI subroutine was installed in Armstrong City's net as an observer system; it is to find Guardian activity and advise Mellanie once the wormhole closes.
- Ch 4The SI warned that the wormhole cycle ends in three hours and the subroutine's installation in the city net could verify operational authenticity.
- Ch 4The SIsubroutine is Mellanie's software assistant; it takes over vehicles on Cheyne Street to kill Institute troopers and block pursuit.
- Ch 4The SIsubroutine cannot run on the strange processing units at the Barsoomian residence in the Chinese quarter and withdrew from that area.
- Ch 5The SI says it will act with restraint and minimal involvement so humanity does not become dependent on it; it has not decided whether it would save humans from extinction.
- Ch 5The SI says parts of it are downloaded human minds, and the segment that interfaces with Mellanie is fond of her.
- Ch 5The SI agrees to watch over Mellanie and warn her if Starflyer agents close in.
- Ch 5The SI spoke directly to MorningLightMountain during the invasion, promising it would never succeed, and blocked motiles on Elan until MorningLightMountain issued new attack instructions.
- Ch 6The SI is believed to run observers among humans, and it saved Mellanie and the Randtown humans with Ozzie's wormhole.
- Ch 7Little information on the SI was available; its location, Vinmar, is not recorded and some files speculate it is now energy-based.
- Ch 10The SI subroutine runs in abridged mode with limited processing, and helped Mellanie bypass the cattle prod's safeties and trigger the sprinklers.
- Ch 13The SI has an arrangement with Mellanie, using her inserts to see places without unisphere coverage; it learned the Primes' nature at Randtown but never told humans.
- Ch 16The SI, which has an arrangement with Mellanie, wants her to contact Ozzie Isaac on Cressat to learn what he found before Nigel Sheldon detained him.
- Ch 16The SI believes Nigel Sheldon and his elite group intend genocide against MorningLightMountain and urges Mellanie to help seek another way.
- Ch 16The SIsubroutine is an updated SI program decompressed into Ozzie's biochips; it agrees to try to subvert the mansion's network and security.
- Ch 16The SIsubroutine infiltrated the mansion network, letting Ozzie leave the building undetected.
- Ch 17The SIsubroutine detected a Trojan program in Nigel's TD signal, apparently an attempt to take remote command of the ship.
Connections
- created byOzzie Fernandez IsaacHis thought routines were the basis of the SI
- inVinmar
- family ofMellanie RescoraiThe SI contains her great-great-grandfather's memories
- related toMellanie RescoraiBecomes her agent
- ally ofMellanie Rescoraimade a deal with it and uses its inserts
- has memberMellanie Rescoraiworks for the SI
Key moments
- Book 1 · Ch 4Council approves a starship
Nigel proposes building an FTL starship to investigate the Dyson Pair; the Council votes unanimously in favor and CST will partly fund it.
- Book 1 · Ch 9Ozzie debates the SI
Ozzie questions the SI about why it backed the Dyson Pair mission, the aggressor theories, and its capabilities, then tells of a man who lived with the Silfen.
- Book 1 · Ch 11The SI breaches the raiders' fireshields
The SI flushes out the kaos and starts cracking the gateway control room's fireshields; Rob's team realizes they are being watched and shoots the cameras.
- Book 1 · Ch 11Wilson secures the Second Chance
Wilson and Anna seal emergency airlocks, organize crews and reconnect to the planetary cybersphere; the SI says reinforcements are twenty-five minutes away.
- Book 1 · Ch 11Spaceplane attack announced
The SI reports two spaceplanes on a collision course; Wilson realizes the kinetic strike is lethal and asks about fuel in the tanks.
- Book 1 · Ch 16Mellanie recruits the SI as her agent
Penniless, Mellanie contacts the SI. It agrees to manage her media career and fund her neural enhancements, in exchange for occasional access through her senses.
- Book 1 · Ch 17Council debates response to the Dyson aliens
After Second Chance's return, the Council concludes a third party removed the barrier, considers the Dyson aliens a threat, and discusses the risk that Bose and Verbeke are captured.
- Book 1 · Ch 25Nigel destroys a Prime wormhole above Wessex
With the SI's help, Nigel overloads one Prime wormhole using three CST gateway exits and power from nuclear stations; further successes follow, though burning out many CST generators.
- Book 1 · Ch 25Mellanie stops the Prime soldiers at Randtown
Mellanie and the SI disrupt the Primes' communications, freezing the soldiers, so Mark's group can take weapons. The SI confronts MorningLightMountain, which vows destruction. Mellanie escapes through a wormhole as flyers fire.
- Book 1 · Ch 25Humans use electronic warfare at Scraptoft and Anshun
Wilson's EW aerobots jam Prime communications at Scraptoft, disabling armored soldiers and flyers. Navy warships arrive at Anshun and fight an hour-long battle with the Primes.
- Book 2 · Ch 4SI subroutine installed
Mellanie releases the SI's observer subroutine into Armstrong City's net to find the Guardians, then asks a barkeeper about meeting them.
- Book 2 · Ch 4Mellanie investigates Guardian links
Mellanie researches court cases at the grand courthouse, finding that a few lawyers represent paid punks who attacked the Institute, and realizes two groups are watching her.
- Book 2 · Ch 4Cheyne Street car attack
Institute troopers threaten Mellanie; the SIsubroutine hijacks cars, killing both troopers and blocking the Cruisers. Mellanie and Dudley escape in a taken-over car.
- Book 2 · Ch 5Mellanie confronts the SI
Back in Darklake City, Mellanie questions the SI about its involvement. It says it will protect her but has not decided whether to save humanity, shaking her faith.
- Book 2 · Ch 10Mellanie kills Dorian
Cut off from the unisphere, Mellanie borrows a cattle prod in the club, lures Dorian into a sprinkler-soaked corridor and remotely triggers the prod, electrocuting him.
- Book 2 · Ch 16Mellanie diverted to Cressat
As Hoshe's arrest team moves on Alessandra Baron, the SI tells Mellanie to impersonate call girl Vanora Kingsley and reach Ozzie Isaac on Cressat; she leaves the operation.
- Book 2 · Ch 16Mellanie's secret contact with Ozzie
Posing as Jasmine, Mellanie kisses Ozzie to activate a simulation in his inserts, delivering the SIsubroutine. Ozzie shares his Dark Fortress theory and plans an escape.
- Book 2 · Ch 16Ozzie's escape plan
Ozzie asks Mellanie to leave that night and have a car waiting while the SIsubroutine subverts security so he can run to the car.
- Book 2 · Ch 17Hijacking of the Charybdis
Ozzie seizes command of the frigate through the SIsubroutine, leaves the dock with Mark aboard and heads for Dyson Alpha at FTL.
- Book 2 · Ch 17Nigel's ultimatum
Nigel contacts Ozzie via the TD channel, demands the ship's return, tries a Trojan takeover and threatens to hunt him down. Ozzie refuses and cuts the link.
- Book 2 · Ch 19Mark fixes the quantumbuster launcher
After arguing, Ozzie persuades Mark to accept the flight; Mark gets fire authority and quickly fixes the launcher by balancing the electromuscle arms' traction.