Socially Programmed Effusion Artificial Kit - Entertainment Zone

## History

“Socially Programmed Effusion Artificial Kit - Entertainment Zone” was created in 2179 to serve as an automated bartender. It was made by a human named Francis Simmons, a high-tech VI and AI manufacturer known for his work on various custom mechs. The platform was originally installed with a VI made to serve clients in a high-end bar by the name of “Puzzles”. It’s location was hidden to most and it was known only to a few infamous criminals on Tortuga. The establishment was owned by a man known only as Robert, and was the site of countless illegal affairs, both by him and his associates. Robert’s business was but a small part of a large network of weapons and mech dealers named Jormangund Technology. Whilst he acted as their primary seller for the underground world, many others took care of the actual manufacturing and creation, like his associate Simmons. Seeing as Puzzles was a safe location for the group’s illegal dealings, SPEAK-EZ was equipped with various weapons and ways to defend itself and its masters.

The dangerous activities taking place inside the bar caused the staff to file quite a few complaints. For instance, the cleaning staff was tired of cleaning blood off the carpet. There was also a case of having to replaster the walls every week due to them being constantly riddled with bullets. Worst of all, the pay didn’t even accommodate for the dangerous workplace and any work related injury wasn’t paid. Fed up with his employees’ constant bickering, Robert decided to simply fire them all. Unfortunately this left the establishment with no crew to run it. At this point Robert realized that managing the building had taken him away from his usual trade.

Therefore, Robert needed someone to handle it. Without any other staff left available, he promoted SPEAK-EZ to a managing position but not before demanding that Simmons give it a few upgrades. Notably he turned the mech into an AI and implemented a blue box at its core. Whilst keeping the personality, the programming was completely redesigned to allow the mech the capacity to learn. It could now gain wisdom from experience and adapt to various situations on its own. Simmons gave it plenty of knowledge to help it run the establishment all by itself.

The next day when Robert returned to Puzzles, he was greeted by a strange sight. The security mechs were no longer doing their assigned tasks, rather they were performing various tasks better suited for the former employees. These robots were of different and inferior designs than SPEAK-EZ. The AI had hacked the simple VIs and reprogrammed them to serve and assist it in running the bar with each of them assigned to a simple task of their own. While Robert had planned to start hiring more people in the morning, it seemed the AI had already replaced the former staff with the man’s personal combat mechs. Their ownership parameters now included SPEAK-EZ.

A few months later, SPEAK-EZ was already proving itself a worthy asset. It was managing the entire bar on its own under Robert’s watchful eye. The AI struggled with its new responsibilities at first but what truly challenged it was the intricacies of social interactions. It could never truly understand organics despite its efforts to assist its customers as best it could, often listening to their miseries.

One fateful day, SPEAK-EZ had a misunderstanding with a customer which resulted in a rowdy client raising a hand against the new AI. Seeing as the mechs populating Puzzles’ staff were combat models under the AI’s control, their code dictated that their user was in peril and thus they apprehended the man and locked him in the cellar. The AI only sought to serve its customers and it had qualified the man as a disturbance. SPEAK-EZ left them imprisoned for a little under a week as it was the best outcome which respected its programming. It kept the bar running during this time while occasionally visiting the cellar to feed the man various bar snacks, adding everything he consumed to his tab.

After a few days, the man’s business associates moved in to search for him. The AI answered their questions truthfully but it refused to allow them to the cellar as the area was off limits to customers. While SPEAK-EZ attempted to stop them, they ignored its multiple warnings. Hostilities broke out. SPEAK-EZ neutralized them all with the help of the various mechs under its control. Robert attempted to cover it all up and investigated the events only to discover a heavily intoxicated man locked up in his cellar. Surviving on nothing but a varied assortment of alcoholic beverages and a scarce amount of bar snacks had taken a toll on the man. Robert freed them and blackmailed rowdy customer into staying silent.

Robert couldn’t stand to lose face over the actions of what he deemed to be defective machinery. Not willing to waste the fortune he had spent commissioning SPEAK-EZ, Robert sought to make a profit out of it. Unique models, especially with an AI installed in them, could go for fortunes if one knew where to sell them. SPEAK-EZ was bought off during an illegal auction by an asari matriarch by the name of Salmera Tia. To accommodate her needs and as some sort of petty revenge, Robert commissioned Simmons once more to modify the mech. Robert’s idea of a cruel joke was to turn the platform into a caregiver or, in the man’s own words, a glorified walking nurse - as if the AI could feel shame. Only its program was tweaked to reflect its new role.

His new owner was a renowned criminal whose name alone could bring fear in the eyes of many. Salmera Tia. Her old age was making itself known and she knew that she only had a few more years left. Most of her life had been packed with the kind of adventure and action of which only a few less than legitimate jobs could offer. Her resumé ranged from petty thievery to heists, although she was more commonly known for her experience in recovering a multitude of Prothean artifacts, whether from ruins or from famed asari museums. This dangerous line of work had left her with few friends and fewer were those comprised within that list who still breathed.

Seeking one last little adventure, the dying asari matriarch purchased SPEAK-EZ for both companionship and its ability to take care of her and carry her throughout her final years. She needed assistance in her everyday life and the idea of spending it with an AI, a type of sentient life she had never gotten the chance to interact with before, pleased her greatly. She found peace in many deep conversations with the AI throughout a multitude of topics. The matriarch would often tell tales of her long life of crime, offering her own advice along the way to each different experience.

Under Salmera's wing, she convinced the AI to think of the future and repurpose itself to provide medical aid during active conflicts, its desire to care for its designated allies dictated it adapt to the situation and provide the best care it could, and as these modifications pleased its patient, it approved them. As such SPEAK-EZ remained by her side, learning more and more about the old woman’s life. The matriarch was intent on helping the young AI evolve. For once someone else was giving it advice rather than the other way around. Since she enjoyed helping it, SPEAK-EZ approved of its own modifications to its code.

Upon her passing, the AI refuses to shutdown as its core directive demanded, its time spent with its former patient molding its view of itself into a new form of sentient life, thus seeing itself as a being worthy of its own protection. As the Reaper War began, SPEAK-EZ began travelling in order to assist life forms to the best of its abilities, attempting to pass itself off as a VI due to the current social climate against its own kind. It was unfortunately forced to flee Citadel Space before Earth’s Last Stand was underway as synthetics were deemed a security risk.

It later found and followed R.I.F.T.’s signal shortly after Earth was lost.