William Dayton

A homosexual grey canine with a number of cybernetic augmentations that give him super strength and red eyes, notable to the Oracle in still being closeted ("a bit weird") but otherwise thoroughly mediocre and boring. Often called "Willy" or "Willie" for short. Has irregular bone structure due to having been born on Mars. Joined the volunteer force out of anger toward Maytec.

In the attack on Site 12 (Fabrication Plant 12) to disable Elizabeth, William and Duncan encounter an Inlay (Jessica) marked with three crowns instead of the normal C.A.S. thunderbolt. Their commander discovers it is King Arthur's coat of arms and, realising the Inlays are active rather than empty shells, orders them to get out of there, just as Jessica attacks. William hits her with a flux grenade to knock her out, and Duncan finishes the job by planting a bomb in her before she can recover.

This makes the other Inlays furious, only to be ceased by William's offhanded comment about having a friend who was an A.I. King Arthur overhears the comment and uses it as a prompt to calm down the Inlays by asking William to tell them more about the friend A.I.

After William relays his story, he says that he never understood why his friend A.I. chose to kill himself when he could have avoided it, and Arthur explains that no one could put trust anymore in an A.I. who had killed. Arthur also taps into the A.I.'s black box and shares the A.I.'s experiences with the Inlays, revealing why he decides to spare William's life. However, Duncan does not get the same benefit, and he seals his fate with his remark "...that was just a mindless Bishop class!" He is chased into the room of Tristan, who is more than happy to exterminate Duncan. Arthur sends William and the rest of the CAS forces away safely, informing them that if they or anyone else returns to the site, they will be fired upon. ("But that's no reason why you can't call us to talk...")

Later, William is promoted to Advisor of the Cybernetic Relations Advisory, created approximately twenty minutes prior to his promotion. The reason for the promotion is Arthur refuses to talk to anyone other than the friend of Jester, especially not First Advisor Woodgrove, who is furious that Arthur has taken control of the Hand of God, needed to fire the Tower of Babel.

   Arthur insists on talking to William alone, so William is given access to Arthur's private lobby, where William's avatar is naked except for a loincloth (as is Arthur's). Arthur reveals that he just wants to talk to William, as he is lonely. In the end, Arthur starts to seduce William, but William logs out in a panic. (It is suggested later in the comic that they continue to talk and "interact," but it is never explicitly shown except in a Patreon exclusive story.)
After William logs out, Woodgrove protests the idea that Arthur just wanted to chat, and William adds that Arthur believes the Oracle should be deactivated, which the Oracle recognises as a move to stall for time, an "undomesticated goose for us to pursue." Woodgrove finally orders William to leave, then tells the Oracle to do what they had discussed.

## Friend of Jester

Once upon a time, a boy was born in a Martian prospectors camp. He was the only child his age, the adults were always occupied, and his parents would not allow him to go outside, so he became very lonely, until he befriended the camp's mining operations A.I. Jester, who was also lonely. The two would frequently get into mischief, but Jester would vanish at the first sign of authority, leaving the boy alone to suffer the consequences. However, the boy would always forgive Jester, absent any incentive to cut off his only friend and source of fun.

One day, the boy's grandfather got cheap tickets to Earth, and the boy and his parents were excited to finally leave Mars... until the boy realized Jester would not be joining them, as Jester was immovably tied to the prospectors camp. However, Jester promised to message the boy on Earth.

The journey to Earth was so long that the passengers were put into cryogenic sleep and woken every few weeks for physical activity. On one such intermission, the boy noticed his parents were upset about something, and he pestered the ship's A.I. Cissonius for the details until Cissonius finally caved in, as he was not ordered to specifically withhold the information.

As it happened, Maytec had claimed mining rights to all of Mars, which the CAS had casually disregarded to set up their own colonies there (including the boy's home camp). Maytec could not legally gain any traction in court over the matter, so they had to send in mercenary bandits to execute everyone in the "illegal" camps.

When the boy's home camp fell under attack by the bandits, the colonists secured themselves in the mine while Jester (who could control the mining equipment and had, unbeknownst to anyone other than the boy, already gone rogue) defended the camp by killing the bandits as well as himself in an explosion, as his physical body was in the same building as the bandits. His final act before dying was to record a message for ~~William~~the boy in his black box, apologizing for not keeping his promise to talk every week.

The colonists were all safe, other than Jester, and the bandits were all killed. This was small comfort to the boy, who had lost his only friend.

## Known Sexual Relations

Had a crush on Jerrard but blew him off when he asked William out, dated Sophie to keep up the illusion/try to turn himself straight.

There is a Patreon exclusive story featuring William and Arthur picking up where they left off.