GSV Sleeper Service
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The Plate-class General Systems Vehicle Sleeper Service was introduced in the Culture novel Excession by Iain M. Banks. The Sleeper Service features as a reclusive Eccentric which had separated from the Culture proper over 4 decades previously, wandering in Eccentricity.
As is the case with all GSVs, the Sleeper Service started out with a standard 3-Mind grouping, and was known as the Quietly Confident - in this form, it was a part of the earlier lives of Byr Genar-Hofoen, and Dajeil Gelian, before they went to the water-planet of Telaturier. However, by the time the GSV was seen in Excession, it was ruled by a lone Mind - it was noted that whilst the common understanding was that after a dissent, the two Minds had unusually agreed to abandon control of the GSV to the lone Mind, and take smaller crafts for themselves, a popular story was that after said dissent, the lone Mind defeated the other two, and wresting control from them, declaring Eccentricity.
The Sleeper Service was somewhat renowned for its odd penchant for using its Stored passengers in tableaux and set-pieces to match artworks, scenes from history, etc. This became something of a cult phemenon, with many wanting to be Stored aboard the Sleeper simply to have been part of its work.
As a host to living beings, the Sleeper Service was home to a variety of flora and fauna from different parts of the galaxy, hosting all within an approximation of their natural habitats; the only two sentient beings aboard were Dajeil Gelian, ex-Contact officer and recluse, and Gravious, a sentient bird planted as a spy within the Sleeper 2 decades before the story starts, coding its messages on bacteria left on Stored bodies that were due to be offloaded. However, its use as a spy was laughable - the Sleeper was always aware of the messages, allowing only those that would not pose any threat to itself to pass.
Whilst it appeared that the Sleeper Service had been Eccentric for 4 decades, it had in fact been a dedicated, if secret, agent of a sub-set of Special Circumstances Minds known as the Interesting Times Gang, readying itself for the time that they required it. This preparation included preparing its internal workings so that when it needed to, it could re-fit all General Bays, a large part of its internal space, into additional engine capacity, making it able to outrun any ship in the Culture, and creating a fleet of approximately 112,000 semi-slaved OUs of varying types based on standard Culture models.
