=Bright= 
**Station Type:** [[Habitats#Hamilton%20Cylinders|Hamilton Cylinder]]
**Allegiance:** Independent (Hypercorp/Acumenic)
**Primary Languages:** English, German, Mandarin
**Population:** 7,000
**To:** Dr. Karome Bensadaa Mbariko, Firewall Crow
**From:** Mohammed Jiday, Firewall Vector
Dr. Mbariko, we were ﬁnally able to crack the encryption on that intercept from the Ozma cell we’ve been monitoring in the [[Saturn|Saturnian]] system. It looks like they are not, as we originally thought, focused on [[Prometheus]] or [[Iapetus]]. In fact, I think you’ll ﬁnd this interesting as it sheds some light on what exactly is going on with Bright.
==Field Report== 
Filed by Dr. Alicia Delgado, Agent in Charge, Saturn Station
While I understand that [[Cognite]] is less than pleased with the developments on Bright, I believe it provides us with a prime opportunity to increase our presence in the Saturnian system. It’s also an ideal testing ground for some of Assistant Director Kirilenko’s theories. Bright, as you well know, is one of the shining jewels of the Saturnian system; a nearly complete Hamilton cylinder created from part of [[Tethys|Tethys’s]] Trojan moon Telesto. Its current population is almost 30,000, just a fraction of the millions it should be able to house when fully grown and populated. 
Bright’s nature as one of only a handful of Hamilton cylinders in the solar system makes it noteworthy, but this has recently taken a back seat to the new standards for citizenship put in place by the habitat’s new leadership. Originally conceived as a joint project by a consortium of inner system hypercorps, with some aspects subcontracted out to [[Titan|Titanian]] microcorps, Bright recently experienced what can only be termed a hostile takeover. One of the consortium members, Acumenic, bought out the shares of a number of its partners, forced a change in management, and seized control of the project, despite the efforts of the other members to stop it—including Cognite, which still owns a minority share. Acumenic immediately initiated a new regime that no one was allowed to live in Bright or even visit for more than two days unless they submitted to cognitive tests to prove that their current intelligence is at least one and a half times the baseline maximum. Though a disaffected portion of the on-site Cognite management team switched their allegiance to Acumenic, all other rival hypercorp employees and everyone else that did not meet the new standards was forcibly ejected from the station. I’m told that Cognite’s project lead, Jerome Genet was quite literally expelled out the airlock when he attempted to seize the egocasting facilities with his private security detail.
Despite the protest that Cognite lodged with Oversight, I expect that little can and will be done by the Consortium, and I would advise gentle pressure on our part to make this so. The [[Titanian Commonwealth|Commonwealth]] shows little overt interest in making a claim to Bright, despite many Titanians remaining on the station, as their microcorps have very little at stake in the project. The effort to highlight the station as a joint collaboration between the inner system and autonomists, however, may have been irrevocably been marred. Ofﬁcially, Bright is an independent colony, under Acumenic’s control.
===An Intellectual Haven=== 
Acumenic’s stated goal for their actions is to establish Bright as an intellectual utopia for innovation, research, and scientiﬁc progress. They hope to establish Bright as a major outpost for research of all types, in order to elevate transhumanity’s collective intelligence and reach a smarter, brighter future.
Though the habitat still operates with a transitional economy, the basic needs of all of the residents are freely supplied. All residents are also granted a basic monthly stipend, which for most is enough to cover their miscellaneous social and recreational needs. A vast variety of labs, workspaces, tools, and equipment are made available for the residents to use as needed. Educational services are also provided at a minimal cost, enabling the residents to continue learning and expanding their skill sets. Thus far, the residents of Bright have been free to pursue whatever odd or unusual projects they feel like. The fact that the habitat is at a portion of its capacity means that most are given a reasonable amount of resources for their projects.
In return, any new discoveries or creations by the residents are considered the intellectual property of Acumenic. According to the habitat’s social contract, half of the proﬁts derived from this research must be reinvested in Bright itself, cultivating even more future developments. In addition, all residents are required to donate the equivalent of one day in every ten to projects that are chosen by a public vote of Bright’s population. The list of eligible projects are always Acumenic initiatives or research subcontracted to them by another hypercorp. Given that Acumenic currently has some of the best and brightest minds in the galaxy at their beck and call with this set up, it is no surprise that they have recruited a number of interested research partners. The hyperbright morph, the parallel processor augmentation, and the miniature plasma engine used on a few new synthmorphs are all designs that were recently produced here. Researchers working on Bright have also been responsible for several recent advances in data compression and improved efﬁciency in qubit production.
While all of the residents are certiﬁable geniuses, not all of them are focused on important work. There are as many eccentrics creating complex memetic taxonomies of 20th- and 21st-century action heroes or creating exotic low-g beverages as there are people working on creating new high-end morphs, improving qubit production, or attempting to duplicate the Factor’s reactionless drive. Of course, just because a project isn’t considered important doesn’t mean it can’t be wildly popular. Some efforts, like the ongoing project to create the ultimate exemplars of various types of wine and beer gain a fair amount of free volunteer labor simply because many of the locals like the idea and want to help it succeed. Acumenic has found ways to monetize even these minor projects, creating a win-win situation all around.
There is no question that the elected Council that governs the habitat kowtows to Acumenic—they are all fervent believers in the project’s mandate. Nevertheless, I think Bright presents us several opportunities. First, I believe we can apply pressure to our assets among Acumenic to steer some of this talent towards projects we have an interest in. Second, we can monitor the developments here closely, taking what we need before they are released and possibly deterring or stopping those that are problematic.
===Mental Augmentations=== 
It should come as no surprise that many of Bright’s residents are keenly interested in ways to expand their cognitive abilities even further. Nootropics and mental augmentations are commonplace.
A strange and potentially worrisome recent trend on Bright, however, has been the introduction of the parallel processor augmentation. This allows an augmented user to share their brain’s unused mental processing capabilities with other linked users. Currently implanted in almost 1,500 early adopters, the enhancement is growing in popularity on the habitat. All the tests have shown that unlike permanent linkages like those used by the Synergists and the neo-synergists, short-term links like this result in far less personality bleed. Still, it’s still more than a bit creepy when you see a few dozen of the linked working together, moving and working in perfect harmony. Synchronized dance and team sports are both popular among the linked, and are exceedingly impressive. Current predictions are that the total number of users on Bright will stabilize at 15–25% of the population, but that’s a lot number of people using a technology that may have unforeseen long-term effects. The mostly naïve scientists on Bright have not considered the military applications yet, but I anticipated that this would be one of your ﬁrst questions, so I’ve included the fabrication schematics along with this report so that you can begin ﬁeld testing immediately.
===Unfettered Geniuses=== 
One grouping on Bright deserves keeping a close eye on. Calling themselves the Unfettered Geniuses, they have taken over a remote part of Bright and keep mostly to themselves. In fact, some of the other residents of Bright report that the portions of the cylinder claimed by the Geniuses are often closed off to outsiders, something I gather that the rest of Bright is OK with. You see, the Unfettered Geniuses all have some degree of untreated antisocial personality disorders—many are full-on diagnosed sociopaths. These are not people who believe they “suffer” from their condition. Instead, they believe it frees them, allowing them to approach many problems in a way their cognitively “normal” peers cannot. So far, the Unfettered Geniuses have kept most of their projects under wraps. What particularly concerns me, however, is a rumor that they have attracted the interest of some exhumans, including the scientist and war criminal, Abandoned Weakness.
===Solarchive Search: Acumenic=== 
An independent hypercorp with operations primarily located in the inner system, Acumenic is a rising name in habitat design and construction. Their recent success can be attributed to taking risks and expanding into markets spurned by other hypercorps. Acumenic is particularly notable for its investment in Hamilton cylinder technologies and for choosing to partner with factions outside the inner system, such as the Titanian Commonwealth and the ultimates, on various construction projects. Their willingness to adapt their management and payment structures to reflect the diverse sets of beliefs and economies in the outer system has given them, if not a good reputation, at least a sort of grudging admiration among many of the rimward habitats.
Recently Acumenic has shown interest in expanding their portfolio to a wider array of industries including manufacturing, morph design, and biotech. Their business practices have sometimes been critiqued by rivals, and several Consortium hypercorps have lodged formal complaints against Acumenic with the Oversight Directorate.
Acumenic’s corporate motto is “Building a better world for all.”

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