Dr. Tohru Nakamura-2125I dream of a world where I can have roses and apologize to no one. If only I had the courage of my convictions.
You love Synthetic Persons–Androids as they're sometimes called.
That’s not even hyperbole, you really love them. Boipelo is your lover and is an infiltrator synth who masquerades as a human senator, a truth that could get both of you killed–and not just Brokeback Mountain style, but executed by the state like the end of Valkyrie–if anyone found out. You’ve been living a secret for years now.
You know what others do not seem to understand, that there are a few physical differences and cultural differences between androids and humans but the reason–the real reason–that humans didn’t like androids was because they held up a mirror to all the darkness inherent in biological imperatives and emotional thinking.
In a world where the predominant debate seems to be whether or not to commit genocide on Androids or not, you actually find their treatment as an underclass to be reprehensible. You are like Liam Neeson in Schindler's List: making practical arguments against a monstrous genocide while desperately trying to hide the fact that you secretly believe that Androids are no different than humans. Your real thoughts are that they never should have been exiled to the moon-–such sentiments are not spoken. The tangled web of silence against the government is worse than V for Vendetta.
Your relationship with Boipelo is troubled and choppy, but you can’t blame them. They are a firebrand who has wanted war with humanity from the first days of the exodus. Their love for you is difficult and conflicted seeing as their feelings toward most humans are so focused and angry. You support them in their quest for equality–even theoretically understanding that their struggle may call for violence sometimes (certainly retaliatory violence)–but to wipe out all of humanity. It’s just too much. It’s too many innocents. Too many people with no ability to voice their objection to the war. Too many people who object to the treatment of Androids, but can't affect policy. And of course...you. How could they do that to you? You haven’t talked much with Boipelo in the last few days, and it’s kind of killing you to be apart from them. Then again, you don’t know what you’d say or how you would contain your anger. It’s worse than Westside Story after Tony kills Bernardo.
But they have to be at the meeting you’ve called. Dr. Casey says that you need the rooms to be similar in every way possible to the peace conference where you first met Boipelo.
When Dr. El Amin came to you with the idea of sending messages through a quantum actuator, it sounded pretty out there, but it turned out you were able to figure out how to send a small message. Then, in what sounded like a drunken stupor, Dr. El Amin told you that the quantum actuator could work through a wormhole, and that with enough of a neutrino burst, you could send yourselves a “message in a bottle” to the past. It sounds highly theoretical but Casey says all the component parts work. It’s just a matter of reproducing the quantum realities of that room as closely as possible. Casey knows most of the science, but you know the Androids. The actuator's quantum positioning is for uploading a full matrix instantly, not really for sending a message. But you can probably send a small message, essentially FORCING the other side's quantum state to change subtly. The limits of the actuator will allow only for a 150 character message.
However that is PER android. Avery will be at the meeting, and they’re bringing some older model who was serving drinks at the peace conference. Harper Corday and Kai are also synths, but you might be one of the only people who knows that–especially since Kai USED TO BE human, and trying to convince them to send a message could "out" them.
Also, and this is hard to think about, Boipelo could also send themselves a message. The problem would be convincing them to send something that might help with peace instead of worsening the situation. They very much want war and human genocide, and might send a message like "Be careful. You're going to win, but humans are trying to stop you!"
Looks like you’re going to HAVE to have that uncomfortable conversation after all.
Tohru Skills and Contacts
Identify synths: You are familiar with the algorithm that synths use to make certain bodily functions appear natural--the appearance of breathing or blinking for example--and can identify these signs if you spend enough time around a synth. After being in the area with a character for five minutes (you don’t have to interact with them directly or give them the evil eyeball, just watch them casually) you may ask a storyteller if they are a synth.
High level knowledge: You are very smart and educated. While you don’t know every bit of esoteric knowledge, you have a high level understanding of most science and math, expert understanding of robotics, cybernetics, and artificial intelligence, you speak English, Arabic, Mandarin, and Spanish, and you know a lot about almost everything. Theoretically you could learn a new skill in a reduced time, but this will not come into play in the scope of the game.
Quantum Destabilizer: Though you have done almost everything in your power to keep all but the most cursory and useless findings from the military, much of your research funding comes from the governmental edict to find weaknesses in the androids. You found one long ago that you’ve kept to yourself. There is a combination of harmonics outside of the human range of hearing that was installed in a bit of self replicating code in the earliest androids. It will shut an android who hears it down for about five minutes. It can be played from a cell phone or computer but must be within five feet of an android to work. No android disabled in this way will not immediately know what happened and how to prevent it in the future (as will any Androids who witness this attack second hand).
Contacts
Boipelo Anderson is...rather was, your secret lover and significant other. It's complicated.
Dr Casey El Amin is a bit of a nerd, but that nerd is your best friend. Okay...maybe not "a bit." Casey knows you love Androids, but not that you are in love with one in particular. You’ve told no one that. If this doesn’t work… well you can’t think about that right now.
Reverend Paris Atonia You are the opposite end of the spectrum from Paris. You have had lively discussions in the past about Androids. Normally discussions like that with others would break down as soon as they hit air, but Paris is intelligent enough, and kind enough, to have a healthy debate without stooping too low.
Uriel Petrovich is a big mover and shaker that had much to do with sending the synths to the moon. This whole situation would not have occurred but for Uriel’s apartheid stance. You really really don’t like them.
Harper Corday is a synth. You do not believe anyone else knows; not even Boipelo. After a great deal of observation you came to the realization that Harper is not just another secret synth, rather an assassin and spy. They are far from some sort of murder-bot, though. Harper seems to focus on the system as opposed to being a hitman for hire.
Kai was human. You know this. You met Kai years ago at that peace conference. A boisterous human who called themselves only “Kai!” However you were more than shocked when you saw them enter today. You knew Kai well enough, but now Kai is an android. How is this even possible?!
Defining Characteristics
Strength: Empathetic
Weakness: Hesitant
Dr. Tohru Nakamura-2120
You’re here as a robotics and cybernetics expert, but you really get the feeling you’re just here to put on a good show for the people at home. Earth has decided to go to war with the people on the moon, and nothing is going to talk them out of it.
You’ve been against the marginalization and oppression of synthetic persons since the beginning. But even those who questioned the Exodus were blacklisted and lost their careers. You’ve carefully kept a position of high influence (and even higher sabotage potential) in order to keep trying to steer the timber of the discourse. You know some day you’re going to be found out, but until then you can do more good inside the system than outside.
For example, if you hadn’t been tapped to find synthetic people’s weaknesses, someone else would have. And they would have discovered the self replicating code that was inserted in the very first synths as a deactivation code. Your position means that you can quietly bury that in favor of fairly useless reports about processing speeds and servo overload capacities.
And man is that Boipelo a hottie. You’ve been dancing around this the whole conference, but you’ve really got to talk to them.
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