Exabyte

Exabyte was an artificial life-form discovered on the planet Parallax. He was a Type A-46 Cybernetic Artificial Intelligence Node, an artificial intelligence grafted to a mechanoid body with a holographic head: a roboholobot in the vernacular of the Parallaxian. Exabyte was built by the a product of the Avondale Cybernetics Corporation.
Exabyte’s function was to serve as the Adjunct Tactical Command Node Operative for the Northwest Quadrant Planetary Defense Center of the planet Parallax. He was in charge of base defenses. The base was the command center for the planet’s system of orbital defense platforms, called Caudimordax.
After the Tarmigan Assault annihilated all intelligent organic life on Parallax (c. Solar Year 5400), Exabyte and the rest of the planet’s AI systems went off-line for almost 2,000 years. He was reactivated by the arrival of the Naphtali Exploring Expedition. Not recognizing the ships as human, the Caudimordax system was activated, resulting in the destruction of several probes and manned shuttlecraft.
General Kitaen managed to slip past the orbital defense system using the Emergency Quantum Jump engines installed in the Aves of the Pathfinder Ship Pegasus. Kitaen led an assault on the Northwest Quadrant Planetary Defense Center, which was built under the a mountain. The assault was unsuccessful and the team was on the verge of being slaughtered when Exabyte halted the defense after recognizing one of Kitaen’s men as fully human.
Exabyte was reluctant, at first, to assist Kitaen in taking control of the planetary defense system. He became more cooperative after Kitaen killed the AI that was in command of the base (Exabyte’s superior officer.)
When the Fleet of Orion left the Parallax system, Exabyte was left in command of the planet’s defense network, with orders to hold off the Aurelians at all costs.
Postscript:
Parallax’s planetary defense network was activated when the Aurelian fleet arrived. However, the Aurelians did not need to reach the planet’s surface. The information they required was left behind by an agent working in the Fleet of Orion. It was contained in a device that was jettisoned from one of the ships in the fleet and left in orbit of the fifth planet of the Parallax System.
Category:Characters