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SPOILER ALERT! The entire crew are robots... but they don't know it!

(Of course a "spoiler alert" is a well known Confederation signal to indicate galley stores are nearing their expiration dates, not to be confused with an attempt to alert the reader that there are plot spoilers ahead, because this is information about a totally real starship. Sorry, I see how you might have been confused there, but the milk is about to go off and the crew does like to have cereal in the morning.)

Any civilized race that's gotten the need to climb and plant flags on things "because it's there" knows that dragging your meat bodies around in space involves a lot of pesky extra weight and plumbing and all that food and water and air and... you know. It's much cheaper and more efficient to send robots.

But robots are, well... robotic. They can't be expected to handle the unexpected. They can't know what it's like to have feelings, to wonder, to... LOVE!!! And that leads to the endemic problem of robotic space depression on long, lonely missions.

Instead, as an outgrowth of the virtual reality video game and automated call center industries, the Confederation has created AI so nearly human they respond to exploration scenarios as a human crew would 67% of the time. 32% of the time they do better. And 1% of the time they explode. (All Confederation technology explodes in a shower of sparks and fire when damaged or confused to avoid capture by the enemy. Don't get a flat in a Confed car.)

The trick is the AI thinks it's real, right down to emulating human fears, and psychological and physiological problems. They have "doctors" who wave glowing devices over their bodies, or prescribe pills and shots, that do nothing but transmit the signal for self-repair. All to keep the AI's construct of being a real human intact so they will behave like a real human.

This is why Confederation "crews" behave so eerily perfect. Emotions that would negatively impact a five year mission in close quarters are toned down, while ones that would help are turned up. Emotions such as feelings of jealousy, post-traumatic stress disorder, independent goals, and annoyance are reduced. Comradery, optimism, obedience, duty, and sharing are turned up. Everyone is happy to wear the same clothes and do the same things day after day after day after day after day...

Sometimes this is taken a bit too far. AI that have been away too long start speaking of an idealized society that doesn't need money with no fighting or poverty. These sad cases are nonetheless allowed to continue in their duties to spread positive Confederation propaganda.