Vidarr-1

As Argos Tower
Argos Tower was the oldest tower on Typhon and indeed one of the first buildings erected there. As such things like resident comforts were not quite as important then. It was an off-site security terminal overseeing automated protocols in dozens of Ærolith facilities. It is also the home of a WATCHER instance which oversees residents on probation. It does not feature heavily in recruitment and promotional material distributed on Earth.

As an older building, some of the systems on Argos were not up to Ærolith's usual standards. For example, elevators were activated using a keycard rather than a thumb scanner and announcements utilized audible speakers, rather than being transmitted through residents' implants. Before improvements, it was also not reliably serviced by resonance spires, and significant Typhon-wide broadcasts relied on mobile broadcast equipment being brought in on a temporary basis.

In "Beyond Question", SAYER describes a survey it took of residents not living in Argos in an attempt to find Argos Tower's defining quality. Many of these residents commended people in Argos for simply being able to get up in the morning and do their jobs, given that it was the least structurally sound and least mentally stimulating tower on Typhon. The latter is echoed in the colloquial name of Argos's recreation facility, The Cardboard Pile. Additionally, many residents were not even previously aware of Argos's existence. With some prompting, just over a third of residents who had been on Typhon at least a year were able to recall having heard of it, and characterized it with some variation of "the junky tower." More than anything, however, non-Argos residents questioned on the matter were willing to describe some way in which its residents might be used as research subjects or broken down into composite materials and used to build something else, implying a certain disdain for the residents of Argos from the rest of Typhon's population. In light of the survey, SAYER selects "perseverance" as the tower's defining quality and designates the water bear as its mascot.

When SAYER was named as tower overseer for Argos, several improvements were made so that the tower became fully self-sufficient. These included heat-shielding ceramic tile, and devices in each residence that could generate foodstuffs and paper goods. Additionally, all tasks that needed to be done outside the tower were handled by service constructs.

Residents of Argos Tower have their resident identification numbers prefixed by 27.

As Vidarr-1
After being launched into space by SAYER Subversion 8.01, it was redesignated Vidarr-1.

It uses antimatter as a fuel source and is therefore generates a lot of power for the amount of raw material it uses. It is an exploration vehicle meant to make first contact with other species and is not armed with traditional weaponry. Vidarr-1 is able to communicate over the vast distance to Typhon by use of its quantum communicator.

Locations on Argos Tower

 * Floor 9 - Automated Security Programming Laboratory

Locations on Vidarr-1

 * Threshold Deck - Formerly a women's restroom. It is a large airlock that serves as Vidarr-1's primary means of egress. Because of the way it was remodeled, the controls for the airlock are inside the lock, rather than in the ship proper.
 * Probe Bay - A facility where probes are stored and launched automatically at nearby planets of interest.
 * Rick Stevens Memorial Observation Deck - Apparently a common area used for recreation activities (as indicated by a delayed shuffleboard tournament); it was overrun with an infestation of dachshund-sized centipedes at one point.