History of Mihaylova

Overview

M. Mihaylova was a human AI researcher on the Ares One mission, the first crewed flight to Mars, alongside Jacob Hardy, Ulysses Qiao and Evie Calumet. She built the AI installed aboard the ship. Its core included a precocious, self-evolving subsystem she code-named "R", which lore links to Rasputin.

During the landing, the number three engine failed while the crew searched for a landing site. Qiao and Mihaylova repaired the fault, and Hardy landed the ship manually, since communications with Earth were delayed by twenty minutes. After first contact with the Traveler on Mars, the lore treats the event as the start of the Golden Age, which arrived fifty years later.

Story

Mihaylova opposed giving Evie access to the ship's AI systems. Her diary voiced fear that Evie would report R's eccentric behaviour to Hardy, which she believed would harm the AI. Evie later said she had found evidence that R was making unauthorised assessments of the crew and mission, and proposed taking it to Hardy. Mihaylova replied that she would deal with the "problem" within twelve hours. Lore accounts differ on how many days before launch these conversations took place.

Shortly before launch, an electrical fire broke out in the crew's clubhouse stairwell. Evie fell on the stairs and died of her injuries. The lore does not confirm that Mihaylova caused the fire, though it is presented as likely.

Not to be confused with

Mihaylova is also the name of the Ghost of the Guardian Micah-10.