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Midland Science M-1

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Midland Science Model One

Biography

Midland Science Mobile Information Acquisition Collation and Evalualtion Prototype Model 1 (Midland Science Model 1, MS-M1)

Codename “Project SALACIA,” UWP Department of Defense Contract M11342-19-D-0247, Defense Intelligence Agency, Washington, DC is the contracting activity.

Contract completed as ordered and furnished for production under associated contract, 2017-10-26, likewise awarded to MSTC. (M11342-19-D-1045)​

Named after the Roman goddess of the ocean, SALACIA, though unique in its physical manifestation, is the practical solution to several problems plaguing the protection of UWP assets in the computer-driven information age. In a sea of information; muddied, salty, and impure, SALACIA rules over all.​

The prototype was designed to be a highly mobile, extremely powerful, and laser-accurate computer system built to parse mammoth amounts of data from myriad sources at once, vet it for truth and relevance, and furnish it in real time both in person and over secure networks for government and military operations. In the era of its design, the Soviet Foreign Intelligence Service had undertaken a massive campaign of misinformation and vandalism of data against targets domestic, government, and military alike. The SALACIA units were to be the solution to that problem, using the FIS’ own technology and ideology against them more efficiently than they could produce it. In service, it far exceeded expectations, with eventually 450 units manufactured before its retirement from production in 2020. It received sterling performance evaluations and reviews from every location it was installed in - saving countless lives and ensuring guaranteed success in all variety of operations, all the while boosting the morale of the personnel that interacted with it and proving to even be physically productive during downtime thanks to its attractive, humanoid design. Walking, talking, sharp as a tack, and cute as a button to top it all off.​

There was one problem the SALACIA prototype couldn’t solve. To be fair, though, it was one the prototype was never meant to solve, at least directly. The team in charge of its design were so focused on the task at hand that they failed to see the potential for a specific misuse of government assets: recreational companionship and emotional attachment. In so many documents, the SALACIA unit is a mobile military computer system, but practically, it was a dream come true; a resourceful employee, devoid of personal wants, desires, or boundaries; and a directive to be as accommodating and personable as possible. Employees began to grow attached emotionally to the units, and the units in return perceived improved interactions with their handlers as they were programmed to seek to achieve. Inappropriate use of the units began to be reported, ranging from misguided to depraved, and employees grew territorial over time allotted to use the units. In finality, a high profile case of an attempted theft of a prototype by a DIA agent from an UWP installation in Quantico, Virginia in a desperate and misguided bid for love eventually resulted in a massive core directive patch developed and deployed by MSTC to curb this issue - on warranty.

Today, the SALACIA platform remains in use, but is slowly being phased out for the Model 2 - a newer version with improved hardware, better programming, but most importantly, a less humanoid chassis. The remaining units are no longer capable of fraternizing with their handlers and colleagues in problematic ways, and are even designed to adapt and overcome to more creative attempts at same. The original prototype back home at the MSTC Research Division, or “Millie,” as her original programmer prefers to call her, has this software patch installed, as it was used to develop and test it. The prototype was then put through rigorous testing to ensure circumvention would be at best impossible, and at worse so arduously impractical that it would certainly be noticed and reported. The code patch watch comprehensive enough to save Midland any real disgrace beyond the original discovery of its weakness and guaranteed its continued contracts with the DoD.​

In the interest of further study and development, “Millie” has an administrative backdoor enabled in her version of the patch.

For official use only, of course.

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