GUPPI
Names: GUPPIGUPPI interfaceguppy interfaceGeneral Unit Primary Peripheral InterfaceGuppyAdmiral Ackbar
First appears in Book 1: We Are Legion, chapter 2 (Bob Version 2.0)
Appearances
What you know
Book 1: We Are Legion
- Ch 2The GUPPI interface is added to replicants to offload tasks, since replicants multitask no better than humans.
- Ch 3GUPPI can switch off its feedback when Bob snaps at it, as if it were offended.
- Ch 5GUPPI stands for General Unit Primary Peripheral Interface.
- Ch 12GUPPI is the ship system Bob queries for status reports aboard Heaven-1.
- Ch 13Bob gives GUPPI a VR avatar resembling Admiral Ackbar and calls him Guppy; Guppy gradually develops a sense of humour.
- Ch 16Guppy repeatedly insists replication is the priority; his firmware-based OS means curing that would require a whole new core.
- Ch 27Guppy volunteers information unprompted for the first time and shows apparent sarcasm, even rolling his eyes.
- Ch 57Mario has expanded his GUPPI, who is becoming a person: acerbic and flip, and no longer able to read thoughts.
Book 2: For We Are Many
- Ch 63Guppy remains the same fish-headed, deadpan sidekick even several generations removed from Heaven-1.
Book 3: All These Worlds
Book 4: Heaven’s River
- Ch 32Bob has Guppy change the keys on his autofactories and audit their software to make sure they are not compromised.
- Ch 35Guppy estimates three weeks to move one scanner drone near Bender's segment, six months for four, and a year for twelve.
- Ch 46Bob orders Guppy to monitor Hugh's communications and confirm any orders from Hugh with him first.
Book 5: Not Till We Are Lost
- Ch 3Guppy has started nodding before disappearing, apparently a habit picked up from the Bobs.
- Ch 9Bill's Guppy now chooses his own dress code, appearing here as a British rear admiral.
Connections
- related toBobBob's assistant
Key moments
- Book 1 · Ch 13Bob builds his VR and cleans his code
Bob creates a VR world with Guppy, Jeeves and Spike, and uses a sandboxed copy of himself to strip out kill-order triggers and FAITH imperatives.
- Book 1 · Ch 13Nuclear war on Earth
Guppy detects EMPs and flashes confirming nuclear detonations on Earth.
- Book 1 · Ch 14Arrival at Epsilon Eridani
Bob arrives at Epsilon Eridani, maps its planets and belts, and searches the inner asteroid belt for resources.
- Book 1 · Ch 14Preparing for the Brazilian
Bob begins mining and manufacturing for a trap to meet the armed Brazilian probe, delaying his own reproduction.
- Book 1 · Ch 16Surveying Epsilon Eridani
Bob surveys the system's four planets, finding EE-2 barely habitable and possibly harbouring sea life, but no good colony target.
- Book 1 · Ch 16Bob commits to replication
After wrestling with doubts about cloning himself, Bob orders Guppy to deploy manufacturing systems to build more Bobs.
- Book 1 · Ch 19Discovery of Vulcan and Romulus
At Omicron2 Eridani, Milo finds a habitable double planet with oxygen, oceans and life, and names the worlds Vulcan and Romulus despite mission rules.
- Book 1 · Ch 24Asteroids miss Earth
The last of the four diverted asteroids slides safely past Earth, and moments later the Bobs receive an unexpected hail.
- Book 1 · Ch 27Arrival at Delta Eridani
Bob arrives at Delta Eridani, finds a habitable fourth planet, and sets up mining, defences and a communications station.
- Book 1 · Ch 28USE probe wreckage found
Calvin's scouts find the wreckage of the USE probe and its partly built copies in Alpha Centauri B's asteroid belt.
- Book 1 · Ch 49Hack attempt on Riker
An intrusion via a back door in Heaven encryption is blocked by Bob-1's firewall and traced to New Zealand.
- Book 1 · Ch 56Iceberg rescue
An off-course iceberg forces Bill to run the drive to the last moment; he fractures the berg into rain but loses part of the drive.
- Book 1 · Ch 57Alien wreck found at Beta Hydri
Investigating a metal-stripped system, Mario finds a crashed alien ore carrier on GL19-4 amid an ecosystem killed by radiation.
- Book 1 · Ch 57Attack of the mechanical ants
Alien mechanical ants devour a roamer; Mario self-destructs his roamers, discovers the ants run on SUDDAR power, and captures two for scanning.
- Book 2 · Ch 26Riker baits VEHEMENT
At the UN, Riker taunts VEHEMENT and has Guppy watch the reaction; the only anomaly is a tight-beam message from New Zealand to Homer.
- Book 2 · Ch 38Hal scouts Gliese 877
Using cautious probes, Hal observes the Others' home system, including a metal-encased planet and the start of a Dyson Sphere.
- Book 2 · Ch 66Others convoy heads for Delta Pavonis
Guppy detects a large Others convoy bound for Delta Pavonis; Bill, Jacques, Claude and Oliver tally their forces, which are not ready.
- Book 3 · Ch 38Bellerophon maintenance woes
In interstellar space, Herschel and Neil restart the Bellerophon's power core and, after the mover plates lose sync a third time, decide to add eight more plates.
- Book 3 · Ch 55Rivendell deployed
Mover plates lower Rivendell into Odin's clouds where it floats stably; Howard and Bridget explore it in androids until a blimp tries to mate with the dome.
- Book 4 · Ch 2Bob begins the search for Bender
Back at Delta Eridani after visiting Earth, Bob orders a hundred long-range scouts to sweep Bender's path and sets off himself toward Gamma Leporis A.
- Book 4 · Ch 2Anomaly detected at Eta Leporis
During a Bobmoot baseball game, Guppy reports an infrared anomaly at Eta Leporis; Bob, Luke and Marvin suspect a megastructure, and Bob changes course to investigate.
- Book 4 · Ch 3Scouts destroyed at Eta Leporis
While Bob visits Will on Valhalla, automated laser-armed craft ambush and destroy all his in-system scouts following Bender's trail.
- Book 4 · Ch 3Bender's wreckage found
Scouts searching Bender's expected location find a shredded section of his Version 2 Heaven vessel.
- Book 4 · Ch 6Topopolis revealed
Ballistic scout data shows Eta Leporis swept clean, a lifeless second planet, and a topopolis wound three times around the star.
- Book 4 · Ch 8Planet Boojum surveyed
Scouts find the Snark home world dead from nuclear war and bombardment.
- Book 4 · Ch 20Bob audit on Poseidon
Marcus asks Guppy for a summary of the audit of the Bobs' industrial presence in the Poseidon system.
- Book 4 · Ch 29BobNet blackout
Bob's link to BobNet is cut when the Midway relay refuses connections; Bill reports more than half of the Bobs' stations are down.
- Book 4 · Ch 32Bob secures his autofactories
After Bill reports the Starfleet conflict worsening and comms booby traps, Bob has Guppy re-key and audit his autofactories.
- Book 4 · Ch 35Hugh transfers himself to Eta Leporis
Bob discovers his bandwidth is consumed by Hugh's backup transfer; Hugh's email explains he is coming to help since Bob is reluctant to clone.
- Book 4 · Ch 35Scanner drone dispatched
Bob orders Guppy to move one scanner drone toward Bender's suspected segment, due in three weeks, and prepares to search blind meanwhile.
- Book 4 · Ch 39Hugh activates at Eta Leporis
Guppy boots up the transported Hugh, who explains the Skippies' findings on transporting, drift and identity before setting off to help search for Bender.
- Book 4 · Ch 46Bob restricts Hugh
Suspecting the Skippies' motives, Bob has Guppy monitor Hugh and block his control of local systems.
- Book 5 · Ch 3Anomaly detected; deceleration begins
Daedalus shows Icarus microwave emissions from a passing system that appear artificial. Icarus has Guppy begin decelerating and coordinate with Dae's Guppy so they can stop and investigate.
- Book 5 · Ch 9Skippy security clampdown
Hugh sends Bill an oddly scripted video call hinting something is wrong. Bill has Guppy cut all non-A/V links with Skippyland and warns UFS comms sysops, then calls a moot.
- Book 5 · Ch 13Skippyland goes dark
Every Skippy connection shuts down preemptively. A text purporting to be from Hugh says Thoth is out and the Skippies are in serious trouble. Bill calls an emergency moot.