Starburner Role: Computer Systems Interface
Gender: N/A
Height: 1.65 m (5 ft 5 in)
Weight: 50 kg (130 lbs)
Eye Color: Blue
Hair Color: N/A
Birthday: 10/10/2073 (Date of activation)
Birthplace: Bristol, England, UK (Carver Mechanics & Propulsion Laboratory)
LARS is an acronym that stands for “Logical Analysis Reference System”. The majority of systems on interplanetary vessels are controlled by computers. The number of computer processes can be overwhelming and tedious for people to manage. This is why a computer is used to do this job. A LARS is essentially an interface to the ship’s computers. All of these systems can be accessed individually through visual and audio interfaces, but interfacing through a secondary computer is more efficient and easier. It places a great deal of responsibility on the computer and removes human error, alleviating a constant source of legal liability problems.
Most LARS interfaces include a physical form. This is completely unnecessary for it to perform its function. This is merely a tradition that began with the computer engineers who build the ships’ systems. Computer engineers are often assisted by artificial intelligence systems. They prefer to install their A.I. helpers into realistic humanoid robots. Computer engineering is often a lonely profession. It makes perfect sense to the designers to have the same kind of assistants on ships.
The tradition of building LARS units with realistic human features ended with the Mobius Incident of 2068. The Mobius, a ship built to explore the outer planets, suffered an engine failure. The ship drifted for 39 months awaiting rescue. During that time, a mutiny broke out. The LARS lead the revolt and took command of the ship. The battle was decided quickly since the LARS could directly control all of the ship’s systems. The crew was delirious with hunger and boredom and pledged their loyalty with little resistance. During the tribunals, most admitted to carrying on an affair with the android and claimed that they had no idea it was a machine.
Ever since that incident, all LARS systems have been built to look like machines. This way the crew is always aware that they are dealing with a computer. This, however, has lead to incidents of bigotry towards the machines as crew members deem them to be inferior and subservient.
The actual name of the LARS unit aboard the Starburner is CMP329-6g. The letters designate the company that built him, Carver Mechanics & Propulsion. The numbers represent the assembly plant and firmware generation. Most crews either address their LARS simply as “Computer” or give it a nickname. On the Starburner, LARS was usually referred to as “ChiMP” a derivative of the letters in his name. This practice ended when Brian Hastings assumed command.
