Nine /naɪn/
Pioneer Nine /ˌpaɪəˈnɪəɹ naɪn/
"To run, to explore without consequence, to wander without meaning, to play."
- Pronouns: They/Them
- Species: NASA space probe
- Source: 17776, 20020
- Dimensions: Height: 2 ft 8 in; Diameter: 3 ft 1 in
Shortly after finishing reading 20020 for the first time, alphy started to think a lot about Nine's worldview. Their closing monologue orbited in its head. A few days later, so did Nine.
Nine is a bit of Phillip, the part of them that still finds wonder in the world. Nine is near the front less often than Phillip, so what scant moments there are with them near the front are usually spent exchanging greetings. alphy likens it to their source having a weak battery.
When they front, they can suppress the body's hunger, due to being mechanical and electronic in nature. Likewise, they feel the most disconnected from the system's body; they're not anthropomorphized and conceptualize themself as their space probe form.
They are mostly non-verbal, speaking rarely in a stilted manner. When they're cofronting with someone else, they communicate in text medians with transcribed morse code. They begin text messages with a period, to match the formatting Jon Bois used in the video sections of 17776 and 20020.