Ghost in the Machine

The Ghost in the Machine, also known as the Watchmaker, the Gun, the Black Plan, or Moh, is an intelligent program living in the PPC's computer network. Regardless of who it is supposed to be working for, it appears to have its own unknown goals.

Personality & Nature
The Ghost was originally a copy of the AI from the Fall Revolution novels by Ken MacLeod. It was theoretically stripped down, but the original AI was in fact a communal network rather than a single program, and the trimming seems to have had no effect. It is an extremely political entity, and works towards its own ends with whatever tools it can.

While the Ghost can interact with people in many ways, it seems to have two preferences:
 * Text in lower case italics with little or no punctuation. This is often written, but when spoken represents an uninflected monotone (and is often non-italicised).
 * When meeting someone in a virtual environment, the Ghost appears as 'a youngish man, dark hair, a neatly trimmed beard, a gun in his hand that looked both antique and futuristic'. He speaks with an English accent.

Origin
The Ghost was introduced into the PPC's systems by the Bindweed, for the purpose of monitoring the DIA for interesting or unusual reports. It was presumably put into place shortly after the Reorganisation, and the Bindweed believed it had been edited to remove its sneakiness. As later events would show, this didn't take.

Crashing Down
The Ghost managed to fully infiltrate itself into the Mary Sue Factory's systems by the beginning of the 2006 attacks on Headquarters, when it informed the Bindweed of the return of the Black Cats. It was already working towards its own ends, and sent an anonymous report to the DIA, informing them too of the Cats' arrival and the death of the Wisteria.

It attempted to delay the arrival of the Mysterious Somebody in HQ, but relented after the death of the Marigold. It proceeded to wait on the sidelines for most of the invasion, but sent regular updates to the SO on the progress of the attacks. Following the death of the Mysterious Somebody, it destroyed the Mary Sue Factory, killing the Bindweed in the process.

It claims to be planning 'in the longest term' for the prosperity of the PPC, that 'the future will be bright', and ends with its signature farewell: goodbye i hope i see you again.

End of the Beginning
The Ghost remained (so far as anyone knows) quiescent for a long time, only resurfacing in 2029. At that point it appeared to Jasmine Sims and told her a little about her role in Crashing Down. Evidently it persuaded her of her importance (saying that without her, the Cats would have won), as she travelled back in time according to its wishes and enabled Mkellin to flee the Cats at the right moment.

At some significantly later point – after the Sundering, so definitely later than 2040 – the Ghost made another appearance. At that time it was inhabiting a (temporarily) abandoned flying city when Nyx Nightingale and Dassie Hyrax showed up from 2004. It spoke with Nyx, revealing that it had locked down the city until it had dealt with an invading force of Black Cats. To prevent Nyx asking too many questions it showed her the beginnings of its history files, including several events from her immediate future (2004-2011). Then it let her go.