#gamila (murderbot)

[iviarellereads]

Fugitive Telemetry, Chapter 8

(Curious what I'm doing here? Read this post! For the link index and a primer on The Murderbot Diaries, read this one! Like what you see? Send me a Ko-Fi.)

In which Murderbot's request is exactly what I'd say, too.

Murderbot and Indah board the responder, with the refugees and hostiles, and leave. MB checks its messages on the way: Mensah asking for a check-in, Ratthi asking if it's okay, Gurathin asking if the life-tender worked, Tural with an updated cause of death for Lutran: a "needle-like device" stabbed into his head, and Pin-Lee with a report on the refugee-rescuer operation, at least Lutran's cargo records on the station over the last several years. It acknowledges all of them, but watches episode 132 of Sanctuary Moon instead of replying.(1)

MB follows Indah as it does all this, and watches her lie blatantly about what the ship and the responder are doing to Port Authority, then follows her down to disembark. She stops them at a junction, and MB realizes it's because the refugees are leaving, and might freak out to see it.

While standing and waiting, MB suggests an idea to Indah, to lure out the traitor. They settle on using Human Three, Mish, one of the refugees. At first he refuses, saying they have a SecUnit and it's probably reporting to BWH. MB is surprised when one of Indah's team defends it, and Indah backs them up. Mish comes around, still grumbling about how out of place a SecUnit is if their laws are so great.

As the station reaches the end of the standard day cycle, MB finally gets approval for the systems access and resources it needs to start the audit. Indah tells it that Aylen wants to see them at the Security Office, and the responder team will be taking Mish there, so Indah will meet MB there shortly. MB notes a threat assessment spike.

When MB presses, Indah says she has to stand-down the search teams personally so not to alert the traitor. MB snarks about Indah setting herself up with a murderer on the loose, and Indah asks if MB talks to Mensah like that. MB says yes, and it's part of why she's still alive. Indah agrees to take some responder crew with her.

Examining the threat assessment spike, MB almost misses when a threat sneaks up on it, except that its drones are keeping a perimeter wide enough to give it a half second's response time to a noise. It encounters nothing, so MB calls for Aylen, but Farid answers. MB asks him if Aylen asked for it and Indah to meet her at the office, and Farid doesn't know, but Aylen just took off for a quick break. MB tells him to find her and make sure she's all right, hoping she's just in a restroom and not dead.

Signing off, MB realizes its last query got results. Reviewing them,(2) it realizes Pin-Lee was right and it overcomplicates things all the dang time. It contacts Indah, and tells her someone spoofed Aylen's ID for the last message. It asks Indah if she told Gamila in PortAuth about the trap. Indah says no, but she did ask for the PortAuth data dump for the audit. She tries to defend Gamila, saying they grew up together, it can't be her. MB says she's not the traitor, but it knows who is.

MB enters the PortAuth offices, another first for it, sending its drones to scout ahead. It walks right into Gamila's office, and tells her to run as it points its projectile weapon… at Balin.(3) They show down, and MB shoots Balin several times.

On the way over, it ran a search of Balin's record, and found that it was the only bot to ever get off a corporate transport and request refuge, which should have told the humans something.

Unfortunately, all those shots were not enough to properly damage Balin. It never once requested maintenance, because it would have revealed its internal structure: military-grade armour. Balin is a combat bot.

A short action sequence follows, and MB reviews all the assumptions and mistakes it made. Just as it thinks it's lost, JollyBaby and many other cargo bots have showed up to help. When MB queries it, JollyBaby says Balin has been destroyed by an invader, its interpretation of events when Balin disappeared from the network and a CombatBot appeared in its place.

I wasn’t sure they were wrong. [...] None of these bots knew how to fight, but they were high functioning and would move to protect humans and each other from a violent intruder. Balin could try to fight; a CombatBot could destroy a cargo bot, no problem. But it couldn’t destroy this many cargo bots plus one slightly banged up SecUnit, not all at once. Balin’s mission had depended on stealth. Now its mission was over. Its presence in the feed faded as it dropped into a resting configuration and shut itself down.

MB tells Mensah it's fine, which is a half truth. It's thinking hard about how Mensah and Bharadwaj want to make SecUnits less scary, but CombatBots like Balin are running around murdering humans. It thinks about Lutran's refugee escape network, now cut off. Still, Mensah suggests they go see a new musical theater production with Ratthi after, and MB gives in.

Later, MB is getting its ankle treated in StatSec's MedUnit, and Indah comes to see it. MB asks if she read its report, and she says yes. It's a good reminder that they did good work, except for the assumption of a human perpetrator who entered the transport from the station side, and not a CombatBot that could enter through an outside hatch. MB isn't so happy with their performance, especially its own.

Indah tells MB she didn't send the photo to the newsstreams. MB is startled at the topic swerve, and she continues that she wouldn't do it that way. If she has a disagreement, she'll take it up directly, but she won't undermine MB because she knows they're on the same side.

As its treatment finishes, MB, not sure what to say, defaults to saying it has to meet with Mensah now. Indah doesn't try to pester, as if she knows how uncomfortable MB is with the conversation, which makes it worse.

She said, “I’ll authorize the hard currency card payment for you. And I assume you’re open to another contract the next time something weird happens.”(4) I paused in the doorway. The expected wave of depression at the idea of ever doing this again had somehow not happened. Huh. I said, “Only if it’s really weird.” She said, “Understood.”

=====

(1) First, mood. Second, I wonder if the episode numbers for the show hold any significance over the course of the series. Anyone been tracking them? (Do… do I need to do it?) (2) I'm leaving my phrasing like this because I don't even really follow Murderbot's logic on this one. A consistent theme in this book, unfortunately. (3) Well, so much for being a narrative parallel to Bilbo's friend. (4) MB, I think you've made at least one more human friend this book.

[ineedlelittlespace]

"Now, she couldn’t be sure if she had even known Balin…or if she’d just been taken in by the thing wearing Balin’s carapace like a second skin." Port Authority Officer Gamila weathers the aftermath of Fugitive Telemetry.

[broken-risk-assessment-module]

my module feedsonas deserve some FT content so i thought I’d make a lil something for AUpril

(spoiler alert there will be more i just dont wanna post em on the same day)

[ID: A four-panel comic drawn digitally in blue, featuring humanoid feedsonas for Murderbot and its Threat Assessment module (TA). Murderbot is visible from the waist up, and wears a oversized hoodie. TA is a lot smaller, hovering just next to Murderbot’s left shoulder, and is holding a clipboard. In the first panel, they are both looking over to the left, concerned. Above them reads “Watching Aylen and Gamila enter the Lalow alone”. In the second panel, TA looks down at its clipboard and says “Threat assessment is up to 89%.” Murderbot glances over at it and asks “Is it Mensah?”. In the third panel, TA is checking a holoscreen next to it and replies “Negative. No change in Dr. Mensah’s status.” In the fourth panel, it gestures to the left and says “Those two, however-”. Murderbot is rolling up its sleeve to show its gunport, and says “Fuck’s sake.” /end ID]

[esevik]

Chapter 8

I was almost right. It wasn't Gamila but someone else who faked her ID, among other things. The real criminal was the all-purpose station bot Balin who had been overridden by a combat bot. Murderbot got into a fight with it and was in the end rescued by all the stations other bots who banded together. It's really nice to see this, all the different bots actually having friendship and care about one another. It's also sad to see how Murderbot fails to take part in it. Maybe one day it can laugh together with the other bots about JollyBaby's nickname.

So far in the series combat bots have been portayed as "the worst" or "evil" bots since they're specifically made for killing. I hope in a future installment we get to see some other sides to these "killing machines".

With the case closed Indah has offically accepted Murderbot (though only knows it by the name of "SecUnit") and is willing to work together with it again in the future. A proposition it doesn't hate.

[iviarellereads]

Fugitive Telemetry, Chapter 6

(Curious what I'm doing here? Read this post! For the link index and a primer on The Murderbot Diaries, read this one! Like what you see? Send me a Ko-Fi.)

In which these bot names are getting out of hand.

For all that, it takes Murderbot six minutes to establish that there is no hack. It's sure it's missing something, and it's not ready to give up yet. It relays its lack of findings to Indah, who looks briefly disappointed(1), surprising MB, before she revokes its admin access.

Aylen returns saying she's about to head out with a couple of others, and Indah suggests she take MB as well. The Lalow search has already confirmed the refugees were aboard long enough to make it from BWH, which makes the chance the crew killed them very low. Indah has told the special investigation team that if the Lalow are telling the truth, they'll be released without charges, to help more BWH refugees, so they only have a day or so to wrap things up.(2)

MB isn't doing the ship-to-ship search, because SecUnits cause panic. Instead, it's searching utility areas with hazmat techs and cargo bots. One of the techs asks MB to move a cabinet, and MB suggests they find a cargo bot to do that, but they say that JollyBaby can't fit to do it, gesturing to the nearest cargo bot.

“Its name is not JollyBaby.” Tell me its name is not JollyBaby. It was five meters tall sitting in a crouch and looked like the mobile version of something you used to dig mining shafts. JollyBaby broadcast to the feed: ID=JollyBaby. The other cargo bots and everything in the bay with a processing capability larger than a drone all immediately pinged it back, and added amusement sigils, like it was a stupid private joke. I said, “You have to be shitting me.” I already wanted to walk out an airlock and this didn’t help. (The only thing worse than humans infantilizing bots was bots infantilizing themselves.)(3)

MB asks where the PortAuth bot is, but the human just says it doesn't work in this part of the docks, and JollyBaby says Balin is for cargo management, not hauling. MB grumbles and asks where the cabinet is.

In the feed, Matif is asking Indah about the theoretical camera-jamming device, and Tural and Aylen discuss why the refugee smugglers wouldn't have made Preservation their destination. MB is thinking harder about why it couldn't find a hack, and how it feels like a massive fuck-up. It even considers asking Mensah's advice, but it can't even prove that it fucked up in not finding anything.

One of the techs, tells Aylen that an empty module is missing. The whole StatSec team leaps into action, Matif confirming with PortAuth whether it was signed out legally, and Aylen confirming that they can be pressurized. MB runs back to the "mobile command center", as they confirm that the the module wasn't signed out, it's just plain missing. They find this faster than they have other things because this is their usual sort of job.

Tural confirms for Aylen that the modules are only designed for short-term pressurization, setting them up for long-term occupation would take much longer than it's taken. MB also considers that there was no disturbance on the docks, so the refugees didn't know they were in danger while they were there.

MB theorizes they met Lutran, who loaded them into the module, but BWH agents redirected the module before it attached to Lutran's transport. The module must be somewhere and look legitimate, or an alert would have pinged or the responder would have found them by now. So, it must be attached to a ship, still out there somewhere. A BWH ship that hasn't run or tried to fight the responder, to keep its mission quiet until they get all the information they can from following the Lalow.

Which leads MB to the conclusion that it has to stop the search.

It could ask Mensah's help with this, but that would be like when Mensah's youngest called her to make an older sibling stop being an older sibling. Instead, MB tries Indah directly, privately, and explains that if the BWH agents know they've found the module, they'll kill the refugees and run, and all the systems have to be treated as compromised. Indah protests MB didn't find a hack, but MB pushes past its pride and says whoever hacked the systems must be better than it.(4) Indah finally asks how MB can be sure BWH haven't tapped this conversation, but MB says it can secure its own internals, it just can't secure PortAuth or StatSec.

Something about MB's fervor convinces her, and she redirects the search teams and calls for a reorganizing meeting with Aylen, comms-off. Indah asks MB if it can get a secure connection to the responder. MB says absolutely, and taps Mensah to ask for use of her private office, which is on a separate system that MB can better control.

Indah tells the responder to scan ships holding position outside the station, and only communicate through this secure channel. MB bounces a call from PortAuth for Indah, which can probably wait five minutes.(5) It does tell Indah she was wrong to think it wasn't a local actor. They banter about it a bit, with Aylen watching them like a tennis match until she realizes they feel secure enough to talk about it.

Only, the question is, who would have gone over to help a corporate? MB says they thought it was the culprit, but Indah says they disproved that hours ago, and Aylen adds that if it were, it wouldn't have showed them the original crime scene or helped find the Lalow. Indah adds that MB is the most paranoid person she's ever met in twenty-six years of criminal reform.(6)

The responder finally chimes in that it's found the module, attached to a ship hiding in the colony ship's shadow. Indah says the priority is to retrieve them alive. Aylen says it won't be easy, at that distance, and any operation is going to let BWH listen in and know what they're doing.

Yeah, not we, me. I said, “This is the part that’s my job.”

=====

(1) There's a vagueness here as well that I'm just rolling around like sniffing wine before you drink it. Because, there's the element that Indah is disappointed that the answer wasn't so easy, and then there's the bit where Murderbot might interpret it as disappointment in itself. (2) Nothing like a time crunch to motivate. (3) Like Miki embracing its inner kawaii? (4) Which we see in a couple pages tracks with what Indah's been suspecting, hence the earlier disappointment in not finding a hack. (5) You know, it's lines like this that really stand out when you slow down and think about each chapter. (6) I do love that it's not law enforcement, per se. That's a part of it, but the focus is here stated explicitly to be to help rehabilitate and reform those people for whom the social supports being, well, superior to your and my real world, is still insufficient to prevent crime. (7) Let's GOOOOO!

[iviarellereads]

Fugitive Telemetry, Chapter 5

(Curious what I'm doing here? Read this post! For the link index and a primer on The Murderbot Diaries, read this one! Like what you see? Send me a Ko-Fi.)

In which the plot thickens.

Aylen makes it clear that Ratthi and Gurathin are not invited on the trip, but Gurathin already wanted out, and Ratthi is relieved at his understanding that Murderbot has been cleared of suspicion.(1) She does not, however, indicate whether she welcomes MB's assistance, which makes it hard for MB to know if it should be an asshole or not.(2)

So, MB, Aylen, two more StatSec officers (Farid and Tifany), the PortAuth supervisor (Gamila) and the PortAuth bot all head over to the other ship in question. On the way MB looks up Aylen's official title, and finds that she's brought in to investigations regular security can't figure out, and otherwise serves as an arbitrator for family and workplace issues, which is much less cool than "Special Investigator" sounds.

Gamila says the cargo transfer's been on hold for two days, waiting for authorization. She doesn't know why, and there's no record of cargo being offloaded. Aylen doesn't react, but Farid and Tifany share a look, and MB agrees with their suspicion. MB tries pinging the transport, but gets only a standard registry name, meaning it has no bot pilot. MB isn't sure what else it can contribute to the group without that.(3)

Aylen hails the ship's comm, and introduces herself. MB steps out of the hatch cam's view range, as a good SecUnit does. A voice says only Aylen and Gamila can enter, the "port heels" have to stay outside. MB wonders what the feed's translation algorithm was given to work with, to come up with "heels". It notes Faris and Tifany wondering the same silently.(4)

So, Gamila and Aylen go inside, and as the hatch closes, MB realizes it's made a mistake.(5) Farid asks if it's really a SecUnit. MB ignores him, and asks if either of them has a feed connection to Aylen. They don't, but Farid asks Balin(6) if it's connected with Gamila. MB is confused until it realizes Balin is the PortAuth bot's name. Balin says it's not. MB notes that StatSec officers are only armed with batons, not energy weapons, which means Aylen is now in there essentially unarmed.

MB tries to ping in the feed, but receives no response from Aylen or Gamila. Something is jamming it, ever since the hatch closed. Tired of being stonewalled, MB hacks PortAuth's SafetyMonitor system, and breaks the ship's secure feed connection. Eventually it finds Aylen's feed inside, broadcasting an urgent assistance code. It tells the others it needs to get entry. Farid sends another urgent assistance code, but Tifany orders Balin to get them inside. Balin stretches to its full height, twice MB's, and uses a decoder interface to open the hatch. MB remarks that the bot does sometimes do something besides stand around, and isn't that neat.

Sending drones first, MB enters the ship, and finds a first Target with an energy weapon. Aylen and Gamila are backed into a corner beyond them, with four additional Targets, two armed. A short action sequence later, the Targets are disarmed and knocked down. MB reports all listed crew accounted for in this lot, and no additional occupants located on its drones' recon.

Aylen and Gamila report no injuries to themselves, but Gamila doesn't quite know what happened or why they were attacked. Target Two accuses them of being corporates, come to take the ship with a SecUnit. MB says they didn't know there was a SecUnit until it broke in, and to try again. Target Five tells Two to shut up.

Finally, a StatSec Response Team roll in, and Balin comes to escort Gamila off the ship before Aylen orders all the Targets arrested. As they get to the StatSec office, MB remarks on how odd it is to walk into one, as a SecUnit, particularly a "rogue" one, and spends a page talking about the layout.(7)

There's a moment of hilarity as the weapons scanners, not programmed to allow MB's particular quirks, go off and the security officers assume they failed to search the prisoners correctly. MB waits two minutes and twelve seconds wondering if they'll figure it out, before it pulls up its sleeve. Target Four mouths off about how stupid StatSec are, but MB says they're the one that got taken into detention.

Aylen yells to get them inside, then quietly tells MB she's just received a report from PortAuth's inspectors that there was no cargo on the ship. MB, trying to process the sudden spike to threat and risk assessments, wonders aloud what the transport was waiting for, then, since it didn't even have a cargo module attached. Aylen says it's a good question.

In the interests of potential professional goodwill, MB offers that the crew know an awful lot about SecUnits, for being on a non-corporate ship. SecUnits aren't usually contracted except to isolated installations. Aylen suggests they ask them why.(8)

There's a delay, of course, because the paperwork needs to be done to process them in, and they need medical checks, and so on. Also, a team is searching the ship for the cleaning field generator, anything that might jam camera systems, or the missing body transporting cart. MB has messages from Ratthi and Gurathin, asking for friendly updates, and Pin-Lee saying she needs to talk to it immediately. It goes into a corner of the main second-level office to tap Pin-Lee.

Pin-Lee's first question is, as everyone else has asked, whether this is GrayCris's work. MB still doesn't know, but it still can't rule it out. (Farid sees MB and asks if it wants any tea, but MB says it doesn't eat, and Farid leaves again.)(9) Pin-Lee also offers that StatSec seem to be looking into a smuggling or fraud investigation related to the murder, and asks if MB wants a copy of whatever report she sends them. It says it would, but then Farid is back and waving at it to follow him, so it lets Pin-Lee go and follows to a conference room with Indah and Tural. Three displays have been set up, showing different officers in separate questioning rooms with Targets Five, Two, and Four. One and Three, MB judges, are probably still in Medical.

MB taps into all three feeds, to save a copy of goings-on for its own review later. Their stories are essentially the same, once rights have been read: they're traders originating from a station they call WayBrogatan, which MB confirms exists, and they ship modest cargo on a route that never, ever intersects the CorpRim, and never, ever take on passengers. Tural snarks about them being sticklers for licensing limits, and Indah agrees, saying they're obviously afraid of revealing something about passengers and cargo.

Officer Soire, with Target Two, and Officer Matif, with Four, ask questions about the cargo and route. Aylen tries that with Five, then asks why they took Aylen and Gamila hostage. Farid asks Indah if it's too soon, but Indah says it might not be. Five says it was a misunderstanding, and MB gets a vibe that this much is true, they did think the officials were someone else. It says so aloud, that the crew thought Aylen and Gamila were lying about being station officials. Tifany nods, and Indah agrees.

MB notes that Four has screwed up the route explanation, and is winging it, badly. It wonders if they just have a memory issue, but Indah's focused on Aylen and Five, who's suggesting some other transport rings have raiders who pull a con pretending to be officials to board. All three are shown an image of Lutran and asked if they recognize him, but none do, and MB says its estimated chance that they're all lying is under 20%.

Everybody looked at me again, then at Indah, who nodded, her gaze not leaving the display of Target Five’s face. It looked like she knew what she was doing. It would be interesting to compare her data to mine. Then I remembered the main reason I was doing this was to make sure there was no connection to GrayCris and I wasn’t going to refine my methods, such as they were. (What they were being mostly: crap I made up on the spot as I needed it that sort of worked, and leftover company code analysis.)

The Targets are then shown an image of Lutran, dead. Still no recognition, until they're informed the victim's name was Lutran. That gets a reaction out of all three. When pressed, Five shuts down, Two says they can throw her in detention, she's not saying any more, and Four worries about the others. Matif asks what others, their names and descriptions, and Four describes ten humans, including three adolescents. Neither MB nor the scanner think he's making it up.

According to Four, Lutran was supposed to be bringing them somewhere, and the Target crew never met him, because they compartmentalize to make it hard for "them" to catch everybody. Matif asks who "they" are, and Four can only offer a partial name, Brehar-something. MB finds a mining corporate, BreharWallHan (henceforth BWH in these notes) operating in a system one wormhole jump from WayBrogatan. Tural whispers the conclusion: the Lalow was smuggling people.

Matif continues to press, gently, and Four confirms that they were slaves where they came from, and they were being smuggled to freedom. A ship can slide up to the edge of the asteroid belt and pick up a few at a time, taking them through a sort of underground railroad setup. Four and crew are descended from the original miners, who have been there so long they have grandkids. The smugglers are taking the next generations out of the system.

Aylen is reassuring Five that Four is telling them everything, and that it's not illegal to be a refugee of contract labour here. Five suggests Four has a head injury.

Matif asks what Lutran had to do with things, and Four says he was "the plan person", handling what happened next, but can't clarify any further. Five, however, says Lutran was always their contact, no matter which station they went to, and if someone killed him, they know about the smuggling ring.

MB observes the killer must be a BWH agent. Indah says not necessarily, and they need to know what happened on the transport to know more for sure. MB asks a trick question about what the review of dock surveillance showed. Indah says if it's asking for permission to review it, it has it. MB thinks it could have handled that better.(10)

As MB is downloading and reviewing footage, Five gives in, and confirms Four's story. They both insist they have no idea what happens after the refugees disembark, only that Lutran would get them off the station safely from there. MB finds the footage of the refugees leaving the Lalow, which gives them more to work with than Four's descriptions. They didn't catch any particular attention in the busy docks, probably intentionally waiting for that effect.

After sending the relevant footage to Indah and Tural, MB checks the video at the Merchant Dock exits, but that's where things get weird. As the interrogators rejoin the others, MB says they never left the merchant docks. Indah exclaims, and MB displays the video on one of the display surfaces in the room. No sign of any of the refugees leaving, they just disappear between the dock-side and the exit-side cameras' views.

Soire suggests they changed their appearances, but MB says not even body types match. Aylen says they need to get to the Merchant Docks and find them. MB completes the thought, because they must still be there somewhere.

Privately, MB acknowledges that the chances of GrayCris involvement are slim to none now. It could leave, and let StatSec do their thing, catch up on media. Pin-Lee even wrote its contract so it could leave when it wanted. Only, it doesn't want to.(11)

When Indah is done ordering the search teams in, MB asks if anyone's run diagnostics of StatSec and PortAuth systems. Indah says no, not since MB first asked and the analysts found no alerts tripped. MB asks if they ran diagnostics or relied on alerts. Tural listens with their expression one of knowing someone else is getting in trouble for once. Indah says she doesn't know, but the analysts said their opinion was there was no hack.

MB asks if Indah is sure she doesn't want a second opinion, with this much at stake. Indah accuses it of just wanting access to the systems it's been denied. MB considers going into all its gathered evidence and risk assessments, and considers suggesting that Indah is afraid to make use of MB as the best asset she could have for this. Instead, it just says it only wants to check for hacks. Tural, bless their heart, agrees with MB that they should make sure. Interference could mean they're looking in the wrong places.

Indah says nothing for a bit. MB realizes if she turns it down, it's going to have an emotion, probably humiliation and shame with a side of feeling like an idiot. Instead, Indah asks how much access, and how long. MB gamely says admin access, but under five minutes, thinking how five minutes is much longer than necessary, but it wants time for a good look around.(12) Indah, however, is surprised at how fast five minutes sounds for such an in depth check, and says they do have data protection on the systems. MB scoffs internally, and says TRH had data protection too, and it had no problem taking Mensah out under their noses.

Murderbot still sees Indah's skepticism, and asks if the security offices are monitored for breaches. Indah's brow furrows as she says yes. MB stages a demonstration, suspecting the security office is less likely to twig their perp to its abilities, and takes control of all the audio and visual interfaces in the main workspace to play Sanctuary Moon episode 256, then puts a camera feed of it on a nearby display surface. Everyone outside is causing a fuss asking what's going on, but Indah asks where the camera feed is from. MB says, Farid's vest camera. Indah takes the point, and asks MB to fix the screen, and check the systems.

=====

(1) Ratthi has such massive golden retriever energy, doesn't he? Every team needs a precious himbo cinnamon roll. (2) Tempting as it is, I'd suggest trying to err on the "not" side until someone proves they're not worth the effort. (3) Oh, sweetie, you bring SO MUCH to this ballgame. (4) They seem like good investigators. (5) Do you think it JUST means leaving itself open to conversation with the other two, and it doesn't notice the jamming until after, or that it should've gone with them for security's sake in the first place? (6) Almost certainly a throwback to The Hobbit, or perhaps LOTR's brief use of the name again later. Balin was one of the dwarves who went to the Lonely Mountain (he was also on the expedition that scouted it for a return in the first place!) and became one of Bilbo's dear friends. Later he led the expedition to Moria, to reclaim the ancient dwarven stronghold of Khazad-dum. The Fellowship found his entire expedition killed and long since rotted to dust. I wonder if there's a deeper intention to using the name for the PA bot, or if it's just a fun thing. (7) Part of me gives a big ol' shrug at all this description (it's basically meaningless to my brain processing, see: all my grumbling about aphantasia in other posts) but it's useful for most people to have a description of the visual, and it makes sense for MB to have schematics plus it makes sense for it to be extra curious about Station Security. (8) Admittedly, the professional goodwill is my interpretation, but it did just earlier say it wasn't sure whether to be an asshole or not, so I think my interpretation is solid. And hey look, Aylen's stopped being hostile to it. Maybe it's partly the competence it showed in rescuing her and Gamila, but maybe it's also that she recognizes that it's good at what it does, and it has good ideas. (9) It's so sweet how nearly everyone tries to be so hospitable to MB except the authority figures who feel threatened by it, and Amena until she understood what its motivations were. (10) Maybe, but it had little reason to trust that a more diplomatic question would get a better response. They're only just starting to open up to its help. I think it's perfectly fair. (11) Of course it doesn't want to leave. More humans are in danger, even if they're not its humans, they're still people who deserve to be found safe if at all possible. MB values human life right up to the point where one human decides another's life is worth less. (12) So cheeky, this one! Indah has no way of knowing MB's faster than that. Its own team might, though.

[esevik]

Chapter 7

The rescue is successful! Until one of the refugees shoots Murderbot in the back. It survives without too much damage (compaired to what it's been through before this is not "that bad" but I wouldn't call it good either). Apparently they shot it because they realised it was a SecUnit and thought they were in danger?

Anyway, the refugees are safe and the case seems almost closed. They still don't know who the murderer is so Murderbot is tasked with going over all the security feed data on the entire station to find out who the traitor is. I say traitor since all the evidence point to someone having been manipulating the system from within.

My wild guess is that it's Gamila. This is based on nothing but one of the few background names I've remember.