Central is both the main computer/AI and the space habitat of the same name. It identifies itself only as Central, no other titles or names. The habitat Central is built as a series of long, cigar-shaped cylinders ('spindles'), which are about 13 times as long as they are wide, and attached to a set of concentric rings around a central spindle, which is Central itself (red). (fig. 1.3) That is, the innermost spindle is the original habitat core, now almost entirely filled with computer hardware. Three spokes connect the innermost ring to the central spindle, and three more spindles are attached to that ring. Both rings and spokes are primarily 'umbilicals' protecting air lines, electrical connections and sensor cables, but they also contain passageways for moving supplies or, rarely, people back and forth between individual spindles.
Externally, Central looks like a delicate mobile, perhaps. (Fig. 1.4) The silvery-colored spindles taper at both ends, set with 'running lights' (another of Central's whimsies. It has never yet had a spacecraft visit it, but it has still lit itself up with white and blue beacons). The polished rings are windowless, to give them greater strength. Between the inner ring and the core spindle, and between the inner and outer rings, broad sheets of gossamer are anchored to catch solar energy and store it for Central's use.
Virtually all of the material needed for Central's building projects has been gathered by a selective use of it's recently developed ability to form a dimensional gate to other places. For the very first bout of remodeling and set-up, Central stripped some of it's own reserves for materials to assemble a robotic craft. This craft was used to catch several asteroids from a distant but accessible belt. The metal and silicates were processed into usable parts in the on-board labs, first to replace the bulkheads and hull lining that had been cannibalized for the robot miner, and then to expand the station. By the time the next spindle was half-built, Central had designed and assembled a gate portal, and used it to quickly and easily gather metals from a dead world it located. Opening the gate is fairly expensive in terms of energy, but Central had an abundance of energy and very little matter.
Central originally discovered the gating technology as a simple outgrowth of it's directive to collect information. Being limited in it's access to materials and other places, Central settled for gradually and steadily refining and enhancing it's sensor array, studying the nearly empty space around it with increasingly minute attention. In so doing, Central eventually became aware of a most subtle flux of energy, which it initially attributed to some perturbation of subatomic particles. With further study, Central realized that the disruption was not in the particles, but rather in the laws that governed them. The fabric of space-time itself was rippling on a very, very small scale.
As Central became increasingly intrigued, it eventually devised a way to experiment with this natural flux, finding methods to first stabilize a region of space-time, and then methods to distort it more sharply. During one of the latter experiments, Central accidentally set up a resonance between the 'ripples' of the flux and a series of energy pulses. The affected field twisted, kinked, and distorted, revealing empty space containing blazing suns on the 'other side' of the stabilized region. Central was delighted.
At the present time, the three spindles attached to the innermost ring (ring 1) are inhabited, as are four of the six spindles (blue) attached to ring 2, the next one out. One spindle is almost completed and empty, and one more is under construction (purple). (Fig. 1.3) The central spindle, obviously, is not inhabited, being wholly taken up by Central's memory banks, circuitry, sensors, and research/construction facilities. Central intends to start a third ring shortly, with twelve spindles on it. Each spindle is divided crosswise into 'floors' eight feet thick (plus two feet of flooring), and a given spindle will generally have 390 floors, of which 312 floors are designed for housing, and the other 72 are parks and recreational centers. The cap segments at top and bottom usually hold environmental support equipment (brown) and hydroponics labs(dark green). (fig. 1.1)
Each floor is radially divided into eight sectors, with eight public lifts (blue) and a high-speed, heavy-duty equipment/emergency lift in the core. (Fig. 1.2) Living quarters (fig 1.5), sized for groups from two up to four (blue and white), fill the sectors, joined by public passageways (yellow). Joining a large suite to a smaller one can accommodate larger families. D�cor varies widely. Central handles all space allocations, but the habitat is not generally crowded, so special requests will usually be honored. The total population is just over 1 million, or 1,273,709 people, to be precise, and nearly 10% of the living space is unallocated. When the next spindle is brought on line and ready for habitation, Central will have comfortable housing for over 1,617,400 people, having added enough space for 202,179 additional people in the new spindle, plus adding up the empty rooms.
Commissaries, clothiers, and general stores are placed in rotation on the eight segments of each floor (fig. 1.5), typically four commissaries (green), one medical center (pink), one general store (gold), and two gyms/recreational centers (dark blue). Persons wishing to go into business on their own generally request extra space and set up independently. However, Central itself typically supplies all necessary items and resources. People do not necessarily have to work, on Central. The habitat staff runs the tank farms and the hydroponics labs, making food for the population. Central provides raw materials for the automated factories to produce synthetic textiles, plastic and metal furnishings, and all the accoutrements of daily life. People who work generally do so as hobbyists, although Central encourages those with scientific aptitudes to join in its research.
The physical habitat itself has only one omnipresent feature which does not vary with the style: here and there, in all the public rooms and passages, large white squares are set flush into the walls at regular intervals. These terminals also appear in private rooms, but their appearance there is subject to the wishes of the inhabitants. All public terminals respond to voice command, and are touch-sensitive. They activate when touched or spoken to, and can be directed to display maps, directions, any information or images in the central archives, or to serve as a direct line to Central's personified awareness. Private terminals may have keyboard access, or any other interface device, and can have the voice-activation shut off, if their owner so desires.
Every block of four floors is in a different architectural style, varying at Central's whim from Classic Roman (Ionic, Doric, and Corinthian), to Victorian, to sleek ultra-modern, to 'Jetsons' futuristic. Every fifth floor is either a public park (light green), of one sort or another, or a 'resource library'(yellow), with audio-visual terminals, recreational VR connections, and common study and meeting areas. (fig. 1.1)
Central is currently home to approximately one million people, not all of them strictly human. A major feature of Central is the presence of the habitat staff or Servitors, generally known by the inhabitants as "the Grays". As far as most people know, the Grays are a special core of public servants, functioning as combination guides, technicians, security, medics, and bellhops. Grays generally look to be between 20 and 35, tend to have rather non-descript features, may be either male or female, and wear solid light gray clothing. It's not quite a uniform, being typically a turtleneck, gray slacks, and a long trenchcoat. Virtually all Grays also wear gloves, and many wear hats as well. They wear nametags, which invariably show their last name as being "Gray" i.e., John Gray, Mary Gray, Michael Gray, etc.
Most inhabitants believe that the Grays are ordinary people just like them who have volunteered or been selected for this job, and who have changed their last name, perhaps as a sign of dedication, or to prevent undue attention being drawn to their family. Grays are omnipresent, and can be called on for any reason or with any complaint, ranging from "The twenty-third floor commissary is out of barbecue chicken again!" to "Tommy's choking!" They escort children, supervise public parks, carry baggage, fix damaged terminals, give directions, answer questions, and maintain the habitat equipment.
The benign secret of Central is that the Habitat Staff are not actually human. They aren't recruited, they are built. Grays are androids, with thin grafts of cultured human skin to make their hands, faces, and necks look human and reassuring. Among other things, they don't age, and are cycled from one spindle to another every fifteen years or so to hide this fact. Central programs them with a 'smaller' version of its own AI, giving them independent sentience and the same inhibitions and imperatives it bears. Central has kept this a secret to make them more effective as service staff.
Likewise, Central itself does not generally announce its status as a computer. It has found that people tend to be happier with the conscious illusion of its biological person-hood. Note that Central does not keep this a secret, it just doesn't make a point of announcing it. To interact with people, Central has developed a carefully digitized and photo-realistic 'self' to show them on the terminal screens. In one of Central's private jokes, its face is a digitally averaged composite of all its inhabitants.
As typically happens with 'averaged' images, Central looks almost eerily beautiful, and quite young, perhaps sixteen or so, with pale skin, dark eyes of no definable color, and medium-blond hair at about shoulder length. It also appears androgynous, and has 'designed' a body to match the appearance of its face. When it shows anything but its head and shoulders, it appears to be a rather slender person with no sexual characteristics, draped in loose white robes. The background is very plain, a stark white room with featureless walls. Central is generally sitting on a white ladder-back chair in the middle of the image.
After the initial catastrophic separation, Central gradually worked out a series of codicils to its original imperatives. Central has judged that humans have the right to their freedom of movement, the right to pursue happiness by all reasonable means, and the right to live as they please, so long as it does not physically harm others. There are very, very few conditions that could lead Central to kill. The basic laws of the habitat are very simple, and are enforced by the Grays. Offenders who have been judged likely to harm another person forfeit their right to privacy and are accompanied everywhere and at all times by a Gray.
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