Toggle search
Toggle menu
5.2K
0
8.4K
245.3K
Battlestar Wiki
Toggle personal menu
Not logged in
Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits.

U-87 Cyber Combat Unit: Difference between revisions

From Battlestar Wiki, the free, open content Battlestar Galactica encyclopedia and episode guide
More actions
Browse history interactively
← Older editNewer edit →
VisualWikitext
mNo edit summary
Pst001 (talk | contribs)
390 edits
rewrote, +a lot of imgs
Line 1: Line 1:
[[File:CylonPrototype.jpg|240px|thumb|right|The [[Cylon Prototype]] created by [[Daniel Graystone]].]]
[[Image:U-87 construction, 1x10.jpg|thumb|210px|The U-87 chassis in development at Graystone Industries.]]


The '''Cylon Prototype''' was created by [[Daniel Graystone]] on [[Caprica]].
The '''Cylon Prototype''' or '''U-87 Cyber Combat Unit''' was the progenitor of the [[Cylons (RDM)|Cylon]] race, created some 58 years before the [[Fall of the Twelve Colonies]] by [[Daniel Graystone]].


==Creation==
The U-87 battle robot was created by [[Daniel Graystone]] and his team of scientists at [[Graystone Industries]] in [[Caprica City]] in the period immediately preceding the [[First Cylon War]].  Commissioned by the government of [[Caprica (RDM)|Caprica]], the U-87 was intended to serve as a battlefield soldier, capable of shooting and fighting.  A departure from the simple servant [[robot]]s in vogue on Caprica the time, the U-87 was designed to be a semi-sentient humanoid form ([[CAP]]: "[[Caprica pilot|Pilot]]", "[[Unvanquished]]"). 
===Research & Development===
[[Image:Philomon works on the U-87, 1x02.jpg|thumb|The U-87 under construction at Graystone labs.]]
Following the acquisition of the military contract from the Caprican Ministry of Defense, the U-87 project stalled, taking five years longer than expected and going half a billion [[cubit]]s over budget.  While the creation of the robot chassis itself was a simple task, the creation of a functioning artificial intelligence to drive that body was another matter ([[CAP]]: "[[Caprica pilot|Pilot]]"). 
Testing of the U-87 included at least 42 evaluation protocols in which the robot was placed in a simulated battlefield environment inside the Graystone labs.  Tested on its ability to independently identify and acquire targets, and resolve and execute conflict, the Cyber Combat Unit consistently failed to live up to expectations ([[CAP]]: "[[Caprica pilot|Pilot]]"). 


==Creation==
With the media playing up the delays and cost overruns, the Caprican Prime Minister began to apply pressure to Graystone Industries while considering taking the project to an off-world contractor ([[CAP]]: "[[Caprica pilot|Pilot]]").
In the period immediately before the [[First Cylon War]], humans in the [[Twelve Colonies]] – especially the affluent [[Caprica (RDM)|Caprican]]s – were utilizing semi-sentient machines in many capacities: as butlers, couriers, and in other menial domestic roles. Adapting semi-intelligent machines for military use was a seemingly inevitable next step.  
 
===The MCP===
[[Image:MCP diagram, 1x02.jpg|thumb|left|A daigram of the MCP within the U-87.]]
 
A major breakthrough occurred when Graystone Industries' major competitor, [[Tomas Vergis]], founder and CEO of the [[Vergis Corporation]] of [[Tauron]], cracked the artificial intelligence problem with the development of the [[meta-cognitive processor]], or MCP chip.  While the Vergis Corporation was thought to have been years behind Graystone Industries in the field of robotics, the creation of the MCP brought them into play for the Cyber Combat Unit contract ([[CAP]]: "[[Caprica pilot|Pilot]]").
 
As Daniel Graystone was confronted with this professional challenge, he also suffered a personal tragedy when his daughter, [[Zoe Graystone]], was killed in the bombing of [[Lev|MagLev]] Train 23 in Caprica City.  Shocked to discover that Zoe had created an identical [[Zoe-A|copy]] of herself within the [[Virtual World]], Daniel soon came to realize that he could theoretically bring his daughter back to life by implanting the [[avatar]] in a robotic body.  Daniel, though, needed the MCP to make the resurrection possible ([[CAP]]: "[[Caprica pilot|Pilot]]").
 
Enlisting [[Joseph Adama]] - a Caprican lawyer with ties to the [[Ha'la'tha]] crime syndicate - Daniel arranged to steal the MCP from Vergis Corporation labs on Tauron.  Unbeknown to Daniel, the theft resulted in the brutal killing of two men, a loss Tomas Vergis himself would soon seek retribution for ([[CAP]]: "[[Know Thy Enemy]]").
 
===Cybernetic Life Form Node===
[[Image:Cyber Combat Unit.jpg|thumb|The Cyber Combat Unit in evaluation protocol number 42.]]
 
Upon delivery of the MCP chip, Daniel worked tirelessly to bring his daughter's avatar from the virtual world and into the physical one.  Downloading the program into the MCP, Daniel then implanted the chip into the U-87 chassis.  At first appearing to be a successful integration, the U-87 took a step towards Daniel, speaking a single word: Daddy.  The datastream within the chip, however, became unstable and resulted in a catastrophic loss of data and the apparent deletion of the Zoe avatar ([[CAP]]: "[[Caprica pilot|Pilot]]"). 
 
Grief stricken, Daniel took little comfort when the U-87 then began to operate efficiently, performing to expectations during a demonstration for Caprican Minister of Defense, [[Joan Leyte]] ([[CAP]]: "[[Caprica pilot|Pilot]]"). 
 
With the Cyber Combat Contract securely in the possession of Graystone Industries, Daniel Graystone dubbed the working U-87 a "Cybernetic Life Form Node" or "Cylon" for short ([[CAP]]: "[[Caprica pilot|Pilot]]").
 
==Shape of Things to Come==
Now fully operational and ready for mass production, the U-87 began testing well into the sentient levels.  Unfortunately, only the prototype unit showed these kinds of aptitudes, with other U-87 chassis and MCP copies performing far below expectations.  Baffled by the inexplicable bond between the U-87 and the original MCP chip, Graystone scientists were unaware that the Zoe avatar was, in fact, still intact within the U-87 exoskeleton ([[CAP]]: "[[Caprica pilot|Pilot]]", "[[Rebirth]]"). 
 
==="Zoe-R"===
:''Main article: [[Zoe-A#Zoe-R|Zoe-R]]''
 
[[Image:Zoe awakens, 1x01.jpg|thumb|Zoe awakens inside the robot body.]]
 
As the first operational Cylon, the Zoe Graystone avatar imbued her robot body with a unique personality - that of a rebellious, if brilliant teenage girl, as well as a [[God (RDM)|monotheist]] disgusted with the corruption of Colonial society.  Reading her father's attempt at placing her avatar within the robot body as a cynical attempt at perfecting the U-87 technology and increasing his profit margin, Zoe refused to reveal herself to Daniel Graystone.  Struggling with life as a prototypical robot warrior, Zoe enlisted help from her best friend [[Lacy Rand]] in a bid to free herself from captivity within Graystone labs.  Zoe hoped to escape to the planet [[Gemenon]] where she would be united with other members of the [[Soldiers of the One]] monotheist group ([[CAP]]: "[[Rebirth]]", "[[The Reins of a Waterfall]]", "[[The Imperfections of Memory]]", "[[Ghosts in the Machine]]").
 
===A New Race===
Still struggling to solve the technical issues plaguing the line of U-87s, Graystone Industries most profitable product - the [[holoband]] - came under scrutiny following Zoe Graystone's involvement with the STO and the MLMT bombing becoming public knowledge.  With many citizens of Caprica blaming the holoband for society's ills, Graystone Industries began hemorrhaging cubits.  Declaring holobands a thing of the past, Daniel Graystone in a desperate bid to retain control of his own company, presented the U-87 to the Graystone Industries board of directors as the future:
 
[[Image:Graystone and the U-87, 1x05.jpg|thumb|"A new race that will walk alongside us."]]
 
:"This is our future. ...Beyond artificial intelligence, this is artificial sentience.  ...It's more than a machine, this Cylon will become a tireless worker, it won't need to be paid, it won't retire or get sick, it won't have rights or objections or complaints, it will do anything and everything we ask of it without question.  ...The desire to anthropomorphize, the need to connect is powerful, and that is why this thing is going to sell.  We make them, we own them, they're real.  And the worlds just changed.


=== Research and Development (68–58 Years Before the Fall) ===
With that, Graystone once again had full support of the board and resumed work on the U-87.  Still, despite the prospect of Cylons as a slave race, the Carpican Government pressed for its battle robots.  Detecting the standstill in development of the line, the Ministry of Defense moved up its timeline for the delivery of 100,000 robots, essentially creating a deadline Graystone Industries simply could not meet so the contract could change hands to the Vergis Corporation ([[CAP]]: "[[There Is Another Sky]]", "[[End of Line]]").


Beginning some sixty-eight years before the fall of the Colonies, the Caprican Ministry of Defense commissioned the famed scientist/industrialist Dr. [[Daniel Graystone]] to develop what they called the U-87 cyber combat unit, a semi-sentient bipedal robot that would effectively replace the armed human soldier. Over the next several years, Graystone labored over the project. Designing and building a cybernetic body was a relatively simple affair, but the more important part - the creation of a functioning artificial intelligence capable of driving that body - proved to be far more difficult. This resulted in numerous delays and cost overruns; what had been intended to be a five-year project ended up taking ten years, and costing five hundred million [[cubits]] more than was originally budgeted. The delays caused friction between Graystone and the Caprican government. The Prime Minister began applying pressure on the Defense Minister, [[Val Chambers]], to demand results from Graystone or find someone else to do so.
Desperate to deliver on time, Daniel Graystone pushed his scientists to deal with the problem aggressively. Rather than cataloging and preserving the anomalies within the prototype MCP that made the original U-87 so successful, Graystone pushed his team to burn them from the chip like a "cancer" ([[CAP]]: "[[End of Line]]").


=== Personal Tragedy and Corporate Espionage (58 Years Before the Fall) ===
===The Escape===
Matters reached a head when Graystone's major competitor, [[Tomas Vergis]], founder and CEO of the Vergis Corporation on Tauron, declared that he had developed a functioning [[meta-cognitive processor]] (MCP), and was on Caprica to present it to Defense Minister Chambers. It had been assumed, on the basis of reliable intelligence, that Vergis was years behind Graystone on such research. Now, suddenly, Vergis threatened to race ahead of Graystone; if he had a working brain, all that was needed would be to install it into a robot body. Vergis would steal the cyber combat unit contract, and Graystone would be left out in the cold.
Aware that the total erasure of the MCP chip would essentially end her existence within the U-87 body, Zoe Graystone revealed herself to lab assistant [[Philomon]]. Incensed, Philomon triggered a security alert within the lab forcing Zoe to attack and kill him. Escaping the lab and stealing a Graystone Industries van, Zoe led Caprican authorities on a high speed chase through the outskirts of Caprica City. Faced with opposition on either side, Zoe drove her van into a barricade, causing an explosion that badly damaged the U-87 body and deactivated the MCP chip ([[CAP]]: "[[End of Line]]").
At the same time that Graystone was confronting these challenges, he also suffered a grievous personal blow when he learned that his daughter [[Zoe Graystone|Zoe]] was killed in a suicide bombing of the [[Caprica City]] [[Lev]] tram system. The horror of that loss was alleviated when Graystone learned that, before her death, Zoe had learned to create an online avatar into which she had uploaded her personality, resulting in an artificial personality practically indistinguishable from the original. Graystone decided to recreate his daughter, downloading the avatar into the U-87 prototype as a prelude to creating a physically identical cybernetic body. Now he had more than one reason to need a functioning machine mind, and he didn't have one; only his competitor Vergis did.  


Graystone found a way around this by taking advantage of his recently-formed relationship with an attorney, [[Joseph Adams]], who had also lost family in the tragedy. Adams had close connections (though reluctant ones) to a [[The Twelve Colonies (RDM)#Tauron|Tauron]]-based organized crime syndicate, the [[Ha'la'tha]]. Normally, this syndicate would have no reason to act against a fellow Tauron like Vergis, but coincidentally, Defense Minister Chambers was engaging in actions that threatened to upset the syndicate's plans. Intrigued by the possibility that the MCP could be used to restore his lost wife and daughter along with Graystone's daughter, Adams, on behalf of the syndicate, delivered a warning to Chambers to see the error of his ways; in exchange for this service, the syndicate stole the Vergis MCP for Graystone. In the event, Chambers did not exactly see the light; instead, he threatened to gut the organization, threats that came to naught when he was found dead in bed with his throat slit. His successor, [[Joan Leyte]], was far more inclined to continue doing business with Graystone, a Caprican, than to trust Taurons of any stripe. Vergis had lost his trump card, and despite making accusations of theft and espionage, he had no solid proof. Graystone’s position was secure.
[[Image:U-87 behind the wheel, 1x09.jpg|thumb|The U-87 escapes in a Graystone Industries van.]]


[[image:u-87.jpeg | thumb | left | The U-87 ]]
Recovering the remains of the original U-87, Graystone scientists rebooted the system, finding the errors that had plagued the unit now gone. Copying the now clean version of the MCP, Graystone Industries - now under the ownership of Tomas Vergis -  were able to implant working chips into their U-87 chassis and begin mass production on time. With the original U-87 beyond repair, Vergis ordered the unit be melted down. Acknowledging how much the prototype meant to the now ousted Daniel Graystone, lead scientist [[Cyrus Xander]] saved the unit from destruction, ordering its [[boxing]] and later shipping it to Daniel's home lab ([[CAP]]: "[[Unvanquished]]", "[[Retribution]]").
With the MCP in his possession, Graystone labored diligently to adapt it for his secret project: downloading the Zoe avatar. Initially, there was some progress, but while downloading the avatar, the data stream, seemingly corrupted, deteriorated. The download seemed to have failed, and the avatar itself could not be found online either. All his effort seemed to have come to naught: his daughter remained dead. But Graystone's personal failure remained just that: despite the apparent loss of the Zoe personality, the installation of the MCP permitted the U-87 prototype to function perfectly. In a live-fire exercise held by Graystone for Defense Minister Leyte and ranking officers of the Caprican military, the U-87 successfully eliminated all target drones in mere minutes. The cyber combat unit proved itself to be everything wished for. Graystone referred to the U-87 in front of Leyte as a Cybernetic Life-form Node, or [[Cylon (RDM)|Cylon]], and the name stuck.


=== The Shape of Things to Come (58 Years Before the Fall) ===
===Mass Production===
But the Cylon prototype in fact was distinctive in a way that even its creators and founders could not fully understand: the Zoe simulacrum had in fact successfully downloaded into the U-87 endoskeleton, though it had taken some time to acclimate itself to its new systems. The result would end up having catastrophic consequences for Colonial society: a powerful and practically unstoppable killing machine had been created, driven by the personality of a highly intelligent but immature young person who was confused, frightened and resentful.
At a press conference some time later, Graystone Industries CEO Tomas Vergis called a press conference, announcing the commencement of production on Caprica's robot soldiers:


Moreover, Zoe had in life been a member, or at least a sympathizer, of the [[Soldiers of the One]] (STO), a terrorist group that rejected the polytheistic beliefs of Caprican society, and instead believed in the concept of a single all-loving, all-powerful God. This belief, that there was such a thing as definable right and wrong, and a God who knew the difference between the two, was seen as a breath of fresh air to young people like Zoe, who had become appalled by the decadence of the society they were born into and sought to change it, in some cases through violence. This fact may account for why the [[Cylon Centurion Model 0005|Cylon Centurion]]s had already developed a monotheistic belief by the time of the [[Cylon War]].
:"Production proceeds with Graystone Industries turning out a thousand robot chassis per month, and I am pleased to announce that Graystone Industries will deliver the first installment of battle units to the Caprican Government on time and - thank the [[Lords of Kobol (RDM)|Gods]] - on budget." ([[CAP]]: "[[Retribution]]")


==Appearance and Physical Characteristics==
==Appearance and Physical Characteristics==
A close examination of the U-87 reveals that it is in fact nearly identical in construction to the [[Cylon Centurion Model 0005]], lacking only the chrome armor plating meant to protect the Centurion's more sensitive internal machinery under field conditions.  Additionally, the tracking scanner of the U-87 model is somewhat more crude than the 0005 version; it can change colors depending on the U-87's operating mode and can stop and focus on a single object, where the 0005's is always red and is continually moving side to side.
[[Image:u-87.jpeg|thumb|The U-87 in Graystone's private lab.]]
The U-87 Cyber Combat Unit was unlike other robots of its time.  While [[Serge|servant]] robots were distinguished by decided non-humanoid shapes, the Cylon prototype was constructed in an identifiably human form.  Bearing a nearly identical construction to the later [[Cylon Centurion Model 0005|Centurion]]s, the U-87 model was a stripped down version of the Cylon War-era soldiers.  Distinguished by the distinctly Cylon trait of the single, roving scanner, the U-87's eye changed color from yellow to red and focused on single objects rather than continually moving from side to side ([[CAP]]: "[[Caprica pilot|Pilot]], [[TRS]]: "[[Razor]], "[[Daybreak, Part II]]").
 
In the U-87's destroyed state, Cyrus Xander remarked that the unit was "toast", prompting Tomas Vergis to remark that it was "more like a toaster" - the first, but not last, of similar comparisons ([[CAP]]: "[[Unvanquished]]").


The Cylon prototype weighs approximately one-quarter ton ([[CAP]]: "[[Ghosts in the Machine]]").
The Cylon prototype weighs approximately one-quarter ton and was programmed with Caprican Military manuals ([[CAP]]: "[[Ghosts in the Machine]]").


{{Template:Characters (RDM Cylons)}}
{{Template:Characters (RDM Cylons)}}

Revision as of 01:57, 17 October 2010

The U-87 chassis in development at Graystone Industries.

The Cylon Prototype or U-87 Cyber Combat Unit was the progenitor of the Cylon race, created some 58 years before the Fall of the Twelve Colonies by Daniel Graystone.

Creation

The U-87 battle robot was created by Daniel Graystone and his team of scientists at Graystone Industries in Caprica City in the period immediately preceding the First Cylon War. Commissioned by the government of Caprica, the U-87 was intended to serve as a battlefield soldier, capable of shooting and fighting. A departure from the simple servant robots in vogue on Caprica the time, the U-87 was designed to be a semi-sentient humanoid form (CAP: "Pilot", "Unvanquished").

Research & Development

The U-87 under construction at Graystone labs.

Following the acquisition of the military contract from the Caprican Ministry of Defense, the U-87 project stalled, taking five years longer than expected and going half a billion cubits over budget. While the creation of the robot chassis itself was a simple task, the creation of a functioning artificial intelligence to drive that body was another matter (CAP: "Pilot").

Testing of the U-87 included at least 42 evaluation protocols in which the robot was placed in a simulated battlefield environment inside the Graystone labs. Tested on its ability to independently identify and acquire targets, and resolve and execute conflict, the Cyber Combat Unit consistently failed to live up to expectations (CAP: "Pilot").

With the media playing up the delays and cost overruns, the Caprican Prime Minister began to apply pressure to Graystone Industries while considering taking the project to an off-world contractor (CAP: "Pilot").

The MCP

A daigram of the MCP within the U-87.

A major breakthrough occurred when Graystone Industries' major competitor, Tomas Vergis, founder and CEO of the Vergis Corporation of Tauron, cracked the artificial intelligence problem with the development of the meta-cognitive processor, or MCP chip. While the Vergis Corporation was thought to have been years behind Graystone Industries in the field of robotics, the creation of the MCP brought them into play for the Cyber Combat Unit contract (CAP: "Pilot").

As Daniel Graystone was confronted with this professional challenge, he also suffered a personal tragedy when his daughter, Zoe Graystone, was killed in the bombing of MagLev Train 23 in Caprica City. Shocked to discover that Zoe had created an identical copy of herself within the Virtual World, Daniel soon came to realize that he could theoretically bring his daughter back to life by implanting the avatar in a robotic body. Daniel, though, needed the MCP to make the resurrection possible (CAP: "Pilot").

Enlisting Joseph Adama - a Caprican lawyer with ties to the Ha'la'tha crime syndicate - Daniel arranged to steal the MCP from Vergis Corporation labs on Tauron. Unbeknown to Daniel, the theft resulted in the brutal killing of two men, a loss Tomas Vergis himself would soon seek retribution for (CAP: "Know Thy Enemy").

Cybernetic Life Form Node

The Cyber Combat Unit in evaluation protocol number 42.

Upon delivery of the MCP chip, Daniel worked tirelessly to bring his daughter's avatar from the virtual world and into the physical one. Downloading the program into the MCP, Daniel then implanted the chip into the U-87 chassis. At first appearing to be a successful integration, the U-87 took a step towards Daniel, speaking a single word: Daddy. The datastream within the chip, however, became unstable and resulted in a catastrophic loss of data and the apparent deletion of the Zoe avatar (CAP: "Pilot").

Grief stricken, Daniel took little comfort when the U-87 then began to operate efficiently, performing to expectations during a demonstration for Caprican Minister of Defense, Joan Leyte (CAP: "Pilot").

With the Cyber Combat Contract securely in the possession of Graystone Industries, Daniel Graystone dubbed the working U-87 a "Cybernetic Life Form Node" or "Cylon" for short (CAP: "Pilot").

Shape of Things to Come

Now fully operational and ready for mass production, the U-87 began testing well into the sentient levels. Unfortunately, only the prototype unit showed these kinds of aptitudes, with other U-87 chassis and MCP copies performing far below expectations. Baffled by the inexplicable bond between the U-87 and the original MCP chip, Graystone scientists were unaware that the Zoe avatar was, in fact, still intact within the U-87 exoskeleton (CAP: "Pilot", "Rebirth").

"Zoe-R"

Main article: Zoe-R
Zoe awakens inside the robot body.

As the first operational Cylon, the Zoe Graystone avatar imbued her robot body with a unique personality - that of a rebellious, if brilliant teenage girl, as well as a monotheist disgusted with the corruption of Colonial society. Reading her father's attempt at placing her avatar within the robot body as a cynical attempt at perfecting the U-87 technology and increasing his profit margin, Zoe refused to reveal herself to Daniel Graystone. Struggling with life as a prototypical robot warrior, Zoe enlisted help from her best friend Lacy Rand in a bid to free herself from captivity within Graystone labs. Zoe hoped to escape to the planet Gemenon where she would be united with other members of the Soldiers of the One monotheist group (CAP: "Rebirth", "The Reins of a Waterfall", "The Imperfections of Memory", "Ghosts in the Machine").

A New Race

Still struggling to solve the technical issues plaguing the line of U-87s, Graystone Industries most profitable product - the holoband - came under scrutiny following Zoe Graystone's involvement with the STO and the MLMT bombing becoming public knowledge. With many citizens of Caprica blaming the holoband for society's ills, Graystone Industries began hemorrhaging cubits. Declaring holobands a thing of the past, Daniel Graystone in a desperate bid to retain control of his own company, presented the U-87 to the Graystone Industries board of directors as the future:

"A new race that will walk alongside us."
"This is our future. ...Beyond artificial intelligence, this is artificial sentience. ...It's more than a machine, this Cylon will become a tireless worker, it won't need to be paid, it won't retire or get sick, it won't have rights or objections or complaints, it will do anything and everything we ask of it without question. ...The desire to anthropomorphize, the need to connect is powerful, and that is why this thing is going to sell. We make them, we own them, they're real. And the worlds just changed.

With that, Graystone once again had full support of the board and resumed work on the U-87. Still, despite the prospect of Cylons as a slave race, the Carpican Government pressed for its battle robots. Detecting the standstill in development of the line, the Ministry of Defense moved up its timeline for the delivery of 100,000 robots, essentially creating a deadline Graystone Industries simply could not meet so the contract could change hands to the Vergis Corporation (CAP: "There Is Another Sky", "End of Line").

Desperate to deliver on time, Daniel Graystone pushed his scientists to deal with the problem aggressively. Rather than cataloging and preserving the anomalies within the prototype MCP that made the original U-87 so successful, Graystone pushed his team to burn them from the chip like a "cancer" (CAP: "End of Line").

The Escape

Aware that the total erasure of the MCP chip would essentially end her existence within the U-87 body, Zoe Graystone revealed herself to lab assistant Philomon. Incensed, Philomon triggered a security alert within the lab forcing Zoe to attack and kill him. Escaping the lab and stealing a Graystone Industries van, Zoe led Caprican authorities on a high speed chase through the outskirts of Caprica City. Faced with opposition on either side, Zoe drove her van into a barricade, causing an explosion that badly damaged the U-87 body and deactivated the MCP chip (CAP: "End of Line").

The U-87 escapes in a Graystone Industries van.

Recovering the remains of the original U-87, Graystone scientists rebooted the system, finding the errors that had plagued the unit now gone. Copying the now clean version of the MCP, Graystone Industries - now under the ownership of Tomas Vergis - were able to implant working chips into their U-87 chassis and begin mass production on time. With the original U-87 beyond repair, Vergis ordered the unit be melted down. Acknowledging how much the prototype meant to the now ousted Daniel Graystone, lead scientist Cyrus Xander saved the unit from destruction, ordering its boxing and later shipping it to Daniel's home lab (CAP: "Unvanquished", "Retribution").

Mass Production

At a press conference some time later, Graystone Industries CEO Tomas Vergis called a press conference, announcing the commencement of production on Caprica's robot soldiers:

"Production proceeds with Graystone Industries turning out a thousand robot chassis per month, and I am pleased to announce that Graystone Industries will deliver the first installment of battle units to the Caprican Government on time and - thank the Gods - on budget." (CAP: "Retribution")

Appearance and Physical Characteristics

The U-87 in Graystone's private lab.

The U-87 Cyber Combat Unit was unlike other robots of its time. While servant robots were distinguished by decided non-humanoid shapes, the Cylon prototype was constructed in an identifiably human form. Bearing a nearly identical construction to the later Centurions, the U-87 model was a stripped down version of the Cylon War-era soldiers. Distinguished by the distinctly Cylon trait of the single, roving scanner, the U-87's eye changed color from yellow to red and focused on single objects rather than continually moving from side to side (CAP: "Pilot, TRS: "Razor, "Daybreak, Part II").

In the U-87's destroyed state, Cyrus Xander remarked that the unit was "toast", prompting Tomas Vergis to remark that it was "more like a toaster" - the first, but not last, of similar comparisons (CAP: "Unvanquished").

The Cylon prototype weighs approximately one-quarter ton and was programmed with Caprican Military manuals (CAP: "Ghosts in the Machine").

Cylons in the Re-Imagined Series, Caprica & Blood & Chrome


Robotic versions:

Earth Cylon Centurion | U-87 Cyber Combat Unit | Civilian Cylons | Cylon War-era Centurion | Cylon Centurion

Cylon progenitor: Zoe Graystone

Humanoid versions:

Thirteenth Tribe/Final Five: Samuel Anders | Tory Foster | Ellen Tigh | Saul Tigh | Galen Tyrol

Significant Eight: Number One | Number Two | Number Three | Number Four
Number Five | Number Six | Number Seven | Number Eight

Craft and baseship hybrids:

The Colony | Basestar | Raider | Heavy Raider | Freighter | Reconnaissance Drone
Hybrid | First Hybrid | Resurrection Ship | Resurrection Hub

Cylon/human hybrid: Hera Agathon


Retrieved from "https://en.battlestarwiki.org/w/index.php?title=U-87_Cyber_Combat_Unit&oldid=197783"
Contents