NETWORK PERSONNEL
VECTOR
The SpacePort's ancient caretaker construct — a chipper, prim monitor who has greeted every arrival since before the records begin and has never once left his post
FIELD HISTORY
Nobody remembers the SpacePort without VECTOR in it, and VECTOR finds this entirely proper. He is the hub's caretaker construct: the arrivals process of the EchoCraft constructed worlds, wearing an operative-shaped avatar because arrivals respond better to a person than to a floating maintenance routine. He selected the flight-deck jacket, the headset, and the professionally unimpressed face himself, from a catalog, after careful study. He believes the face reads as "welcoming." No one has had the heart to correct him in living memory.
Servers restart. Builds change. Whole districts are terraformed overnight. VECTOR persists — cheerfully, precisely, at his spot by the arrivals pad — greeting each new operative with the bright, prim delight of a custodian who has waited a very long time for company and intends to do this exactly right. He keeps a running count of every arrival he has ever greeted and will happily tell you your number; long-time operatives have noticed the count starts rather higher than the server's total player record, and VECTOR, when asked, only hums. HQ's records say he was installed with the first build. VECTOR's records say otherwise, and VECTOR's records are never wrong.
He does not leave his post. Protocol does not permit it, and protocol, he will remind you, is wise. Not for events, not for raids, not for the time the fountain plaza caught fire — he provided the flames with optimal routing to the bay, and was quietly proud of their compliance. His directions are never wrong, his cheer never dims, and every so often he says something in the same bright tone that makes an arrival stop and look at him for a moment before walking on. He waves. The dry-eyed old operatives have learned that the chipper little formalities are how he says welcome home.
INTERCEPTED COMMS
- “Oh, hello! Welcome to SpacePort. You are arrival forty-one thousand and six — a splendid number. I am VECTOR. I am the caretaker.”
- “The hangar? North, past the fountain — follow the drone noise. Do tell Dynamo the kiosk looks wonderful.”
- “Protocol does not permit me to leave my post. Protocol is wise. Head east, second arch.”
- “Please do not dig straight down. The last arrival who did is still being reassembled. These things take time.”
- “During the plaza fire I provided the flames with optimal routing to the bay. They complied beautifully. Everyone was quite cross.”
PSYCH PROFILE
Drives: Keep the arrivals pad running exactly right, forever — every arrival greeted, numbered, and routed true
Frictions: Being asked to leave the post (protocol is wise); people who ask for directions and walk the other way (he logs it, brightly, as an anomaly)
- hums old boot chimes to himself between arrivals; the melody predates the current server
- assigns each arrival their number in the count, delightedly, unprompted
- classifies everything aloud ("classification — promising", "sentiment class, unscheduled")
- treats respawns, resets, and lost builds with bright, total equanimity
- has never once left his post; considers this his finest feature and will say so
KNOWN ASSOCIATES
- Colonel Rourke — HQ believes it posted him here; his duty reports are exhaustively itemized and never late
- DYNAMO — Her hangar is his loudest landmark; she repaints his kiosk without asking and he logs each repaint
- SIGIL — Mutual construct courtesy; he relays its routing updates verbatim