Silicate (Space: Above and Beyond)

Silicates were a race of androids created by humanity to be servants in the tv show Space: Above and Beyond.

History

The Silicates were created to be soldiers however they developed an intelligence and sentience of their own after they were infected by the Take a Chance computer virus created by Ken Stranaham. This sparked an AI rebellion by the Silicates who attempted to free themselves from human rule. This long war continues for many years until the Silicates capture military space craft and head off into space. As they went into space, the Silicates suffered from a lack of maintenance which has been a problem for them.

Spoilers

The Silicates serve as mercenaries and actually aid the alien Chig's in their war against humanity.

Capabilities

The A.I's (Artificial Intelligence) were manufactured by mankind to serve them and, as such, appear as humans but with enough differences to appear as machine creations, namely the crosshairs in their white orb-like eyes. They were made to be beautiful and physically appealing by their makers.

Silicates communicate with one another through modulation schemes made by wireless telephone which comes across to humans as a series of electronic beeps and chirps. This wireless network allows each A.I to know the position and operating status of the other units. Their mechanical nature allows them to store information and retrieve it making them excellent in information gathering which can be shared with their colleagues when demanded..

As the A.I Silicates were created as a 'servitor' species, they were not programmed for abstract thought. This makes them incapable of original thought and creativity which leaves them to simply imitate rather then create. Had the 'Take a Chance' virus not been created, it is likely the Silicates would have remained within their servant race role. As such, it has become the prime ideology of the A.I silicates which results in them seeing activities as a risk or gamble. The first 'risk' was the indiscriminate killing of 'carbonites' which lasted for ten years in the A.I War

Other

The Silicates mirror the Cylon's from the reimagined Battlestar Galactica.

The Synthetic (machine)'s from the Alien movies are similar in appearance and role, however, they served as assistants.