Tan Ru
Tan Ru was an advanced alien probe of unknown origin and great power, programmed to collect and  soil samples, possibly in anticipation of colonization.

In 2267, while in deep space, Tan Ru eventually encountered the Earth probe Nomad, which had been sent into space to seek out new life, and which had suffered a serious loss of memory after a collision with a meteoroid. When the two probes met, directives from Tan Ru were somehow transferred and merged with those left in Nomads memory banks. This created a semi-sentient probe with the unintended directive to seek out new life and sterilize it if it was "imperfect", with Nomad as the body and predominant voice during their co-existence. ()

it:Tan Ru
Probes