#turi (murderbot)

[chelshiart]

Part 2 of 2: Team Perihelion (and Three!)

(Click here for Team Preservation!)

At first I was going to draw them all in crewniform, but then got tired of that quickly enough 😂

#murderbot #the murderbot diaries #asshole research transport #perihelion #network effect spoilers #secunit three #seth tmbd #iris tmbd #martyn tmbd #kaede tmbd #tarik tmbd #turi tmbd #matteo tmbd #karime tmbd #these people all need last names fhdjsha #martha wells #fanart #character design #story artist

[iviarellereads]

Network Effect, Chapter 17

(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 this is all a little too much, isn't it?

Designation: SecUnit 003 Barish-Estranza Explorer Task Group-Colony Reclamation Project 520972 Status:Retrieval in progress. Baseship Explorer is destroyed. Piloting shuttle to unidentified transport.

3, bless its heart, taps Perihelion requesting contact. Art asks who the fuck it is. 3 is deeply unaccustomed to AIs that think for themselves, and is afraid that non-standard contact will put its clients at risk, and it promised 2 that it would deliver them intact. It tells Art it has five of its own clients, and three of Art's, and that Murderbot 2.0 sent it. Art seizes control of the shuttle. 3 can accept that.

Ratthi and Amena meet the shuttle in the bay. 3 recognizes them from the HelpMe file, and is relieved, right up until Ratthi says Art told them 3 disabled its governor module, at which point its soul slightly leaves its body as it is WAY out of its depth.(1) At its lack of response, Art tells it in a private channel that if 3 thinks about hurting them, it will dismantle 3 to component parts before it erases its consciousness.

3 tells them that the humans need medical attention, and quarantine is recommended for the implant influence. Amena is excited and asks Art if this is its crew. Art says, only three, but it's relieved to recognize them as they come off the shuttle.

Arada arrives during the unloading. One of Art's people, Karime, says not to scan them, because they think that's how the infection spreads. Arada wonders what kind of scans that could apply to.

Amena tells Arada that 3 helped the crew escape, and now they (the Preservation crew) have to help 3. 3 is surprised that anyone would want to help a SecUnit, but Ratthi promises, they'll hide it and tell B-E it died if it wants.

3 is lost and confused and very overwhelmed with emotions it was never equipped to process.(2)

Things are moving very fast. And I have been confused, and have delayed delivering the important message. Reply: “I’m sorry, I will comply as soon as possible, but I have an important communication for someone onboard called ART.” The humans stop talking. Transport, public channel: Tell me. Reply: “The message is from Murderbot 2.0 and begins: ART, I’m going to download to the surface. Me version 1.0 is there with Overse and Thiago. They’ve found Iris, Matteo, Seth, Tarik, and Kaede—” I have to stop because the other humans become loud, then shush each other. I finish, “but 1.0 has been captured by hostiles, repeat, 1.0 is captured by hostiles.”

The humans and Art all get a little worked up over this, and nothing follows any protocol 3 can recognize or follow. While Ratthi tries to get Art to admit what the scanning-infection entails, Amena asks 3 if it has a name, or something they can call it. Feeling compelled to answer, 3 says to call it "Three." Then it remembers its governor module is defunct now, and it doesn't have to do anything.

When Art approaches the dock, communication with its remaining people is restored, and everyone's caught up on the status. Art orders all its humans to get on the maintenance capsule, but Iris wants to help her friend's friend. Art says it has it under control, but Overse says she and Thiago are in good shape, they can stay and help. Iris insists she and Matteo will help as well.

Art tells them they cannot remain on the surface, because it's armed its pathfinder drones and is holding the colony hostage until MB is returned. Everyone explodes except Ratthi, who noticed the drones in the cargo module.

3 gets overwhelmed at the speed and fervor of the conversation. But, 2 asked it what it wanted, and now it wants to help with the retrieval.(3) It tells Art it knows what to do, and can help. Art asks why. 3 says 2 showed it the HelpMe file, and… it asked what it wanted, and it wants to help. Art pauses, then says "Good."(4)

The humans are still talking, but business needs doing now.

Perihelion: Please calm yourselves and stop talking. Plan A01: Rain Destruction has been superseded by Plan B01: Distract and Extract.(5)

=====

(1) I wonder how 2, or indeed how Murderbot Classic, would feel watching it now. (2) Because that doesn't remind us of anyone. It's even less prepared than our MB, since it didn't figure out how to hack its governor module on its own, it didn't plan this. (3) 3 is a proof of concept. 3 is everything this series has been about. Because 3 had no reason to defy its programming, no inciting incident like MB had. But, when given a chance, it wants to help, it wants to be a good person, and use what it knows to help save life. I'm lightly emotionally compromised from fatigue right now but ahhhh my heart. (4) And then, Art's response! "Good." It wouldn't have tolerated any danger to anyone it cares about, but it would have accepted a SecUnit, a 3, who remained somewhat passive and less complex than its MB. But I can't help but feel that its gratitude for competent help, and its pride in what 2 managed to accomplish, and a bunch of other things are all adding up here. (5) Time to go watch a harrowing chapter or three and then PUNCH THE AIR because this is a RESCUE BAYBEE!

#the murderbot diaries #murderbot diaries #network effect #murderbot #secunit #amena #ratthi #arada #overse #thiago #three (murderbot) #art (murderbot) #iris (murderbot) #seth (murderbot) #kaede (murderbot) #tarik (murderbot) #matteo (murderbot) #karime (murderbot) #turi (murderbot) #martyn (murderbot)

[waffles-xd]

Inspired by @rrainbowmagnet ‘s height and voice headcanon list, I shall be providing some of my own headcanons.

PresAux (plus Amena and Thiago)

Volescu: 5’10, mid/late sixties, a very sweet old man

Mensah: 5’8, late fifties, trans woman, soccer mom vibes, would probably own a minivan

Thiago: 5’9, early fifties, Izzy Hands OFMD season 1 vibes

Gurathin: 5’7, late forties/early fifties, trans masc, the energy of an overworked and underpaid IT guy, glasses, sounds kinda like Jon Hamm

Arada: 5’5, mid forties, very good at fixing things, basically the unofficial official PresAux handywoman, owns a ‘women love me, fish fear me’ hat

Overse: 6’2, mid forties, the introvert to Arada’s extrovert, looks kinda like Abby Mueller

Bharadwaj: 5’ll, late thirties/early forties, wears a lot of oversized sweaters and turtlenecks, loves books

Pin-Lee: 5’3, mid thirties, chihuahua vibes, just a feral little ball of energy, looks kinda like Andrea Macasaet (specifically from Six)

Ratthi- 6’4, early/mid thirties, wears glasses, sexy biologist moment, Phichit Chulanont vibes

Murderbot: 6’5, mid twenties, looks a lot like Vico Ortiz (specifically as Jim in OFMD season 2)

Amena: 5’6, sixteen, idk why but I feel like she’d be really into tennis

Perihelion + Crew:

Seth: 6’0, mid forties, looks kinda like Miles Morales’s dad in ITSV/ATSV, the fun dad

Martyn: 5’10, mid forties, the reasonable dad, the “you better have my daughter back at 9 sharp, young man” dad

Three: 6’6, late teens,

Kaede: 5’8, mid thirties, Mari Katsuki from YOI vibes, wine aunt (gn)

Matteo: 5’9, mid thirties, idk why but Ivan from OFMD vibes, would really like watching opera

Tarik: 5’4, early thirties, good friends with Matteo, a little bit of a know it all, also likes watching opera

Karime: 5’6, early twenties, has terrible taste in men, only rivaled by Ratthi

Turi: 5’5, eighteen, good friends with Iris

Iris: 5’9, seventeen, very good at karaoke, she and Peri were absolute MENACES as children, Anathema Device vibes

Perihelion: ~ 800x1250 ft, seventeen, its voice is not distinguishable as being masculine or feminine, it simply just IS, yellow PJs kid from Polar Express vibes

This took way too long to write lol

#the murderbot diaries #murderbot #perihelion #gurathin #ayda mensah #headcanons

[blessphemy]

Names in The Murderbot Diaries (character spoilers)

All Systems Red:

Ayda Mensah — "Ayda" is of Arabic origin, meaning “returning, to come back." Mensah is a Ghanian surname (most common surname in current-day Ghana), apparently meaning “third-born”

Pin-Lee — Chinese. Could mean a several things, depending on how it is written.

Ratthi — Possibly a derivative of Hindu goddess of love “Rati.” The surname “Rathi” originates from/is often found in Northern India.

Bharadwaj — A Sanskrit name common to northern India. “Bharadwaja,” was a Vedic saint of ancient India, a renowned scholar.

Arada — In Spanish, "arada" means "plowing." In Turkish, “arada” means “between.”

Overse — “överse” in Swedish translates to “overlook, disregard (the faults of others), ignore, tolerate, forgive” or “to oversee, to review, inspect, monitor, survey.”

Volescu — Possibly Romanian

Gurathin — A mystery. Possibly a variation of the Sanskrit "Krithin"

Artificial Condition:

Eden — Biblical: garden of Eden

Rami — of Arabic origin meaning “archer” or “thrower.” (Etymology honorary mention: the word “tercera” describing Rami’s gender identity, is a spanish word meaning “third”)

Tapan — Hindi name meaning “summer,” “fiery”

Maro — Multiple cultures use the name “Maro,” (Japanese, Greek, Armenian, Hindi)

Tlacey — My bet is this is a space future evolution of the name “Tracey,” which has historically been a masculine name that later became feminine. It means “warlike,” “fierce”

Art — Yes, I know it’s an anagram acronym, but as a human given name, it’s English in origin.

Rogue Protocol:

Rin — Japanese name “dignified, severe, cold,” but may just be a short moniker that Murderbot chose for nondescriptness.

Don Abene — “Don” is a Spanish honorific, masculine. Google search turned up sparse results for “Abene,” with a suggestion that it may be Basque (an Iberian ethnic group), in which it is derived from the word “pillar.” “Abene” could also be a spelling variation of “Abena,” which is a given name meaning “born on Tuesday” (‘day names’ such as these used by Akan people of Ghana). “Abena” is also a Gujarati surname.

Hirune - Thin results again, and once again Basque. Meaning: “trinity, three,” and variation on “Irune”

Miki - A Japanese name, with misc spellings that can mean different things, though typically the first kanji used is “beautiful.” But this may just be intended to be a cutesy short name.

Kader - Arabic, meaning “powerful, capable”

Vibol - Khmer (Cambodian), meaning “abundant, vast”

Brais - Form of Blaise (Gaelic, Latin) English/French

Ejiro - Urhobo / Nigerian, meaning "praise God"

Wilken & Gerth - Both English names, both vaguely military-adjacent

Exit Strategy:

Jian - Chinese (“build” or “strong”), or Hebrew (“God is gracious.”)

Serrat - French surname

Network Effect:

Consuela Makeba - Consuela is a Spanish name meaning “comfort, consolation.” Makeba is an Ethiopian name, after the Queen Makeba.

Mensah’s Marital Partners, Farai and Tano:

Farai - A southern African name of the Shona ethnicity, meaning “joy, happy”

Tano - Possibly Italian, short for Gaetano. Or just a nice 2-syllable name of its own.

Preservation Survey:

Amena - An Arabic name, “honest, faithful.”

Roa - Arabic, or possibly Spanish surname.

Mihail - Romanian, Bulgarian, Macedonian, Greek. Variation on “Michael.”

Rajpreet - A Sikh name.

Hanifa - Arabic name meaning “true believer”

Kanti - Indian and Bengali name. Means “beauty.”


Thiago - A Portuguese name, derivative of “Santiago” i.e. “Saint James."

Barish-Estranza:

Barish - Hindi for “rain”

Estranza - Spanish for “strangeness”

Eletra - Similar to “Electra” of Greek myth

Ras - Greek name, meaning “to love”

Leonide - Old Greek

ART’s Crew:

Iris - A flower. Also a Greek name meaning “rainbow.”

Seth - Hebrew. “Set, appointed”

Martyn - Variant of Martin. “Dedicated to Mars” (Mars = God)

Tarik - Arabic. “Evening caller”

Turi - Celtic. “Bear”

Kareem - Arabic. “Generous"

Kaede - In the audiobook this is pronounced much like "Katie," meaning "pure." "Kaede" is also a Japanese name meaning "maple."

Fugitive Telemetry:

Lutran - Possibly a variation on “Lutron,” apparently a transliteration from Greek. Which I would think is a stretch, except it means: “the purchasing money for manumitting slaves, a ransom, the price of ransoming; especially the sacrifice by which expiation is effected, an offering of expiation.”

Indah - Indonesian name, “beautiful one”

Tural - Azerbaijani, “to be alive”

Tifany - Variant of Tiffany, English name “manifestation of God”

Farid - Arabic, Persian, Urdu. “Unique, precious”

Aylen - Mapuche (Native American) name. Possibly, “joy”

Balin - Hindi name meaning “soldier, sword”

Tellus - Possibly a Latin name, meaning “earth”

Kiran (mentioned as a name MB used at TranRollinHyfa) - Used in a variety of places and languages: Indian, Hindi, Marathi, Kannada, Telugu, Malayalam, Tamil, Gujarati, Nepali, Urdu. From the Sanskrit word “kirana,” meaning “sunbeam.”

Home, Habitat, Range, Niche, Territory:

Councilor Sonje - Variation of Sonia, an English name. Sonia itself may be a variation of the Greek Sophia, meaning “wisdom.”

Councilor Ephraim - In the Book of Genesis, Ephraim was the second son of Joseph, becoming the tribe of Ephraim.

Compulsory:

Sekai - A Shona name. “humorous, joy”

Asa - Hebrew, possibly “healer.”

Elane - Old Greek

Bonus: RaviHyral

Ravi = “Sun” in Hindi

(I’m guessing that other place/company names in the books could also be transliterations.)

#murderbot #the murderbot diaries

[okayto]

Murderbot Reference: Character Descriptions Part 2

Fandom reference! I tried to note every time a person/thing got a physical description, as well as additional info like how augments work, etc. Please note that there may be spoilers for all five books, but especially Network Effect.

This post contains:

ART’s Senses

ART’s Crew

Three

Rami, Tapan and Maro

Tlacey

Tlacey’s ComfortUnit

Targets (Network Effect)

Barish-Estranza: Eletra, Ras, and Supervisor Leonide

Augments (what they are/how they work)

Other Human Personal Tech (Non-Augments)

Other Bots/Machines: Agricultural Bot, Pathfinders, NE Target Drones, MB’s Drones

Other posts: Part 1; Part 3

ART’s Senses

·         Besides cameras, sees ship through internal sensors, “which provided data (heat, density, angles of motions, etc.) that didn’t translate into images, at least not visual images useful to humans.”

·         MB guesses that gaps in ART’s memory archives might look like “a giant interruption in the constant incoming reports from subsystems like life support, navigation, etc. It was tricky, because for ART these are not like discrete reports from connected systems, but more like the sensory input I would get from the pads on the tips of my fingers.”

·         Does have cameras in many areas, cameras hidden enough that MB didn’t know they existed until ART turned them on and provided access via the feed in NE.

·         Likes Amena and talks to her more gently than MB or other humans—it’s more careful of Amena’s feelings. Has talked about human adolescents in a positive way. ART is, on a regular basis, a teaching vessel.

 ART’s Crew

·         Iris: augmented human. Dark brown skin, wearing a decorative woven bracelet when rescued in NE and a light blue longsleeved T-shirt. Small, shorter and slimmer than Ratthi, but not much bigger than Amena. Dark hair is the curly kind that puffs out a lot, but in NE pulled back and tied up in a band. Hair is long enough that she lifted it up so MB could see her back/neck when checking for an implant. Longsleeved T-shirt and pants and soft shoes are the casual version of ART’s blue crew uniform. Some bruises and scrapes at rescue. Seth���s child.

·         Seth: tall, very dark brown skin, “with less hair than most SecUnits,” a mostly-hairless head; earlier description from photograph (later context makes this likely to be Seth) says “no hair on the front half of his head.” Iris’s parent, she calls him “Dad.” Captain of Perihelion.

·         Martyn is Iris’s other parent (called “Dad); Seth’s marital partner; earlier description from photograph (later context makes this likely to be Martyn posing next to Seth) says lighter skin than Seth, with short white hair; he/him

·         Kaede is about the same size as Iris, but skin is lighter and her hair is yellow

·         Matteo is small like Iris and Kaede, and has a lot of dark hair that at rescue had come loose from braids. They/Them.

·         Turi is young like Amena. They/Them

·         Karime uses she/her

·         Tarik uses he/him

·         On variation of crew uniform (made for MB): dark blue, pants and jacket of deflective fabric, good quality (better than Station Security), with lots of sealable pockets for weapons and drones. Stability fabric boots, probably tough enough to jam a hatchway. Looks like what human security would wear. ART’s crew logo on the jacket, which also has a collar that folds down.

 Three

·         SecUnit, with projectile weapon built into arm

·         Armor flexes if it shifts its shoulders

 Rami, Tapan, and Maro

·         All wearing variations on work clothes, no uniform logos. Either Rami or Maro has an implant, but none are augmented. Part of a group marriage of 7 people, with 5 children of various sizes. MB thinks all are young—not far from adolescence.

·         Rami: tercera, “which was a gender signifier used in the group of non-corporate political entities known as the Divarti Cluster,” te/ter. Purple hair, red eyebrows, light brown skin. Wearing a jacket.

·         Tapan: female. Multicolored braids wrapped up around her head, blue jewel-toned feed interface clipped to ear, slightly darker skin than Rami. Wearing a flower-patterned t-shirt.

·         Maro: female. Very dark skin, silver-colored little puffs of hair, “almost beautiful enough to be in the entertainment media.”

 Tlacey

·         Augmented human female

 Tlacey’s ComfortUnit

·         Physical configuration doesn’t match SecUnit standard.

·         Lots of hair, silver with blue and purple on the ends, pulled back and braided like Tapan’s but in a much more complicated pattern.

·         Bare arms show no metal, and no gun ports

 Targets (Network Effect)

·         When fully affected: look like tall, thin augmented humans. Dull gray skin. Narrow human features, dark brows standing out against smooth gray skin. Colorless lips.

·         Not completely identical: one Target on ship is slightly taller and has broader shoulders than the other.

·         Targets on ships: wearing formfitting protective suits and partial helmets that initially left a lot of their faces bare. One on the B-E explorer wore “more casual human clothing:” dark green-black pants and jacket, black shirt with a collar. Shoes had heavy treads, designed for rough planetary terrain. Hair looked more normal, with reddish brown tight curls cut close to the head.

·         Targets and colonists: gray skin is a progressive condition, not natural or cosmetic effect, some still look like humans who were altered rather than aliens. Not all who still looked somewhat human were fighting on the same side. Most of fighting group wore “the kind of rough work clothing normal for colonies or mining, a cheaper, more battered version of ART’s environment suits with hoods but no breathing gear, or a mix of clean work clothes, plus a random collection of what looked like old uniforms and protective gear.”

 Barish-Estranza, Eletra, Ras, and Supervisor Leonide

·         B-E uniforms are red and brown with corporate logos

·         Eletra and Ras both wear B-E uniforms that are disheveled and torn.

·         Eletra has brown skin and dark hair that reaches at least to her shoulder blades.

·         Supervisor Leonide has “mid brown” skin “that was common to a large percentage of humans,” with an artificially smooth, even tone that indicated cosmetic enhancement. Dark hair wrapped around the top of her head and she has small metallic and gemstones set in the rim of one exposed ear.

 Augments

·         According to MB, are “supposed to help humans do things they couldn’t do otherwise, like interface with the feed more completely or store memory archives.”

·         Augments that aren’t feed interfaces are meant to correct physical injuries or illnesses.

·         Augments are meant to be helpful. Implants are different (MB compares implants to governor modules, something the person has little to no control over)

·         Normal augment would have filaments extending directly into the human nervous system. Some augmented humans may have dataports/plug-in interfaces in the back of their necks, since MB is able to pass off its dataport as one of these often.

·         Normal augmented human (augmented with feed) has interface built into brain; non-augmented humans have removable interfaces (excluding implants, which seem to be regular interfaces just not removable without surgery).

·         Augments and constructs work with “machine-readable code written into human DNA”

·         Augmented humans can work more fully in the feed; MB thinks that the drugged-up GrayCris assassins wouldn’t be possible to control with a removable interface, so the controller must be augmented (and this proves correct).

 Other Human Personal Tech

·         Un-augmented humans can’t access the feed unless their interface is working and attached properly. Tapan’s in-ear interface was taken out while ART’s MedSystem worked, and she had to put it back in before she contacted her partners.

·         “Normal external interfaces for humans were designed to look like all kinds of things, from carved natural wood to skin tones to jewels or stones or enamel art pieces to actual plain metal with a brand logo.”

·         Human voices on the feed sound like their physical voices, and can show emotions. Humans (and augmented humans) usually subvocalize when talking on the feed.

·         During killware attack in ES, Pin-Lee, Mensah and two crewmembers each has portable manual feed interfaces they used to shore up SecSystem; allowing them feed access without using their personal on-body interfaces.

·         MB says in AC that killware and malware can’t do anything to humans or augmented humans; the killware attack in ES hurts augmented humans enough that one needs rescue breathing. This could be MB’s lack of knowledge, or it could be because the ES killware is rare, essentially a disembodied bot and an extremely uncommon/unheard of tactic.

Other Bots/Machines

·         Agricultural bot: almost 10 meters (~32 feet) tall, covered with spikes. Lower body has 10 long spider limbs for moving around without crushing anything, upper part is a long curving “neck” with a long head also covered in spikes

·         Pathfinders: like drone for space. Active scanners that can zip around a planet collecting environmental information and terrain imaging, plus looking for comm signals, possible energy sources, and hostiles. Can relay audio as ART uses it to threaten Targets. Very expensive.

·         Drones used by NE Targets: model MB is unfamiliar with. Round and as big around as MB’s head, any holes for cameras or weapons hidden despite size. Made of stealth material (or pattern) that can’t be spotted by camera, but regular vision OK.

·         Drones used in ASR, pulled from the hopper: “They were the small kind, barely a centimeter across; no weapons, just cameras.”

·         Also in ASR, MB mentions that there also exist drones that aren’t much bigger than the hopper drones but include a small pulse weapon (but as far as availability through the company, you have to get an upper tier package)

·         MB’s regular drones: small enough that it can have a flock (at least a couple dozen?) land on it and not impede movement in an EVAC suit. MB mentions technique where it can have drone accelerate a drone straight at a target’s face, and if hit an eye or an ear it goes straight to the brain, so probably fairly small. They are also easy to visually overlook when perched in a room recording people, or sneaking through a doorway. They’re also easy to store in MB’s many pockets.

#Murderbot #Murderbot Diaries #Network Effect #Martha Wells #Reference

[theres-no-protocol-for-this]

There's Red in my Ledger

Murderbot has an interview. It does about as well as I would under the circumstances.

Somehow, knowing that ART wanted me to go on missions with its crew didn’t make this meeting any easier. Neither did Mensah’s quiet reassurances that I had options about the future and would always be welcome on Preservation. If I was being honest, the “talks” had only worsened.

I walked into the crew lounge, sat down in an empty chair between Turi and Iris, and stared at some indeterminate point on the table’s smooth surface. It would’ve been easier if I could stand in a corner, but ART had explained that there were protocols to follow. Through my deployed drones, I could see the rest of the crew. They were either watching me, focusing on their interfaces, or else scrolling on their display surfaces. I’d agreed to this interview so Seth could make hiring me official in anticipation of the university’s complaints.

ART promised it wouldn’t record any of the details, but these people were the transport’s crew and family. I wanted them to like me, and I wanted this job.

From across the table, Seth — captain, ART’s parent — looked up from his display and asked, “Would you like to talk about any of this?” while gesturing at his display.

Iris added reassuringly, “You saved our lives, we trust you. More importantly, ART trusts you. We just need to get through these formalities. You have nothing to worry about.”

Relax, the transport added unhelpfully. Be honest.

ART had been stressing the honesty bit, so I went for it. “OK, uh, I’m a mass murderer. Not of my own free will, but... I’m also still legally Dr. Mensah’s property in the Corporation Rim. I got a human-form bot killed, and then nearly died fighting a CombatUnit. And I have guns in my arms, which come in handy when my clients are attacked by hostiles.”

“And you want this job because?” Martyn prompted.

I tried for a smile. “More opportunity to commit murder?” (The brochure on these proceedings suggested liberal use of humor.)

“Seriously?” ART grumbled through the room’s speakers while the humans around the table chuckled.

I shrugged and answered truthfully, “I was created to provide security, OK? It’s the part of my function that I actually like. And I’m good at it.”

Seth put down his display surface, and I could see him grinning through a couple of drones. “You’re of course more than welcome to join us. We absolutely appreciate your assistance, and we’re happy to have you here. But may I make a suggestion?”

“Sure?”

“Next time, when someone asks for your qualifications, maybe skip the mass-murdering part?”

#whumptober2021 #whumptober #no.5 #interviews #murderbot #fanfiction #my writing

[lectorel]

ART watched with me for some of the episodes but the idea of Dr. Mensah coming aboard made it weirdly excited and it had its drones clean its whole interior again and was doing things like yelling at Turi to put their laundry in the recycler.

ART doing its best impression of a nervous datemate about to meet the parents, and Murderbot is clueless, I love these two assholes so much.

#the murderbot diaries #ART #perihelion #murderbot

[iviarellereads]

Network Effect, Chapter 20

(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 needs to have emotions a few more times than it's used to.

Murderbot wishes it could stay unconscious, but it restarts in time to limp out of the shuttle and onto Art, before passing out again. When it wakes this time, at first it thinks it's surrounded by unfamiliar humans, until Amena warns Art's people that MB doesn't like to be touched. It sees 3 to the side, out of its armour and in Art's crew clothing, looking like it has no idea what it should be doing.(1)

The humans figure out how Art can delete the contaminated code from MB without scanning it, but want to do some first aid to ensure MB makes it through the process. They confirm nobody's shooting at them or in pursuit, they just have to pop the B-E stragglers back over to their own transport once they can be sure they won't carry the contamination.

Arada tells Iris that Art told them what its real purpose was in the system. Iris seems nervous and defensive, but Arada says they'll gladly sign a contract saying they won't betray that confidence, if it helps, though Ratthi points out they'll need an explanation of some sort. Amena agrees, saying her second mom isn't easy to lie to. Kaede asks about this.

“She’s the head of the— She was the head of the Preservation Alliance Council,” Amena explained. “Dr. Mensah. She was in the newsfeeds a lot in the CR—she was kidnapped by a corporate called GrayCris and rescued by a SecUnit on TranRollinHyfa, and there was a company armed ship that was attacked and another ship from a security corporate that got blown up.” “Rescued by a…” Matteo trailed off and they all stared at me.(2)

MB complains to Art that MB was under the impression that Art had told its humans about it. Art says it told them it met a rogue SecUnit, not that that SecUnit was the same one that every mention of a SecUnit in the news in the last year was referring to.

Art's humans are still a little shocked at the scope of this, and Ratthi confirms the TranRollinHyfa part of the story, at least, since he was there. He offers that this gives Art's crew some leverage about the Pres lot. Iris asks if they can just agree, for now, that they're allies and keep each other's secrets? Matteo adds, and that neither party likes B-E. Arada agrees readily.

Thiago and Overse arrive with the emergency medkit, and MB shuts down again for a while. The patching-up process is messy and biological. At some point, 3 figures out it can go wherever it wants, and leaves. They set up an isolation box so Art can still feed-connect with MB without contamination, and they watch Timestream Defenders Orion together.

Martyn, still undergoing decontamination himself, is video-conferenced in to consult. He asks how many SecUnit friends Art has, but Iris says this is the one they were threatening to bomb the colony to rescue. MB says that sounds fake. Ratthi confirms it, though, and Art clarifies that that was plan A01, and he went with plan B01 which was more complicated but more effective. Ratthi suggests Art play back the video record, and MB wants to see it.

So, Art pauses TDO and plays the security archive. MB gets more than a little overwhelmed at how everyone endangered themselves to save it.(3)

When the med patching is done, they move MB's consciousness into the isolation box for Art to clean up its code. Art leaves a part of its consciousness in the box for company. After finishing some TDO, MB says Art and Amena were right, and 2 was a person, even if it wasn't like a baby. Art asks if MB regrets deploying it, and MB says, no, because without that, they might all have been contaminated by now.

MB brings up how Art told its humans about MB. Art says it just told them it helped a rogue SecUnit get to RaviHyral, it left out the Tlacey bits. MB accuses Art of making it sound safe. Art says its humans understand how dangerous the corporates are.(4)

Art says it's finished removing the damaged code, but while MB's consciousness is returned to its body, Art has a proposal: it thinks MB's help would be "invaluable" on an upcoming mission of Art's. MB worries Art's crew won't like MB being involved, but Art says it will discuss the matter with them. MB doesn't even make a joke about Art's idea of what a discussion with humans looks like.

MB, for its part, is still having trouble with the bit where so many humans were figuring out how to rescue it, when the whole point of constructs like MB is that they can be abandoned in an emergency.

ART said, I know you have difficulty making decisions so you don’t need to give your answer right away.(5) I do not have difficulty making decisions, ART, you’re full of— I said, but it had already dropped me back in my body. And of course, my performance reliability crashed immediately and I had a forced shutdown.

MB wakes up in Medical, and with access to camera feeds all over the ship. It checks in on each group. Amena is nearby, browsing the catalog for Pansystem University.(6) MB tells her it's conscious, and she smiles and says she'll warn the others.

Before it can think too hard, MB tells Amena that Art asked it to come on a mission. She asks how long, and it says, for the duration of the mission. Though, to itself, it thinks Art intends for a longer partnership.(7) Amena asks if that's like asking someone to stay with your family over the holidays to see if everyone gets along "before you get serious". MB says it doesn't really understand what she means by that, but since Art doesn't jump in to say she's wrong, maybe.

Amena thought it over. “I guess I’m not surprised. How do you feel about it?” My expression must have changed because she rolled her eyes. “Oh sorry, I used the f word there.” Again, I have no idea why ART likes adolescent humans. “I don’t know,” I told her.

Amena asks what MB thinks Mensah will say. MB doesn't know, so asks what Amena thinks. She snorts, and says she was just getting used to MB, but it might be a good idea… except for the part where Art's work takes it into the CorpRim a lot. MB admits that's a factor, though it thinks privately that Art's cargo missions are probably a form of spy recon that no corporate would ever suspect.

After some thought, Amena says Art definitely cares about MB, a lot. The only reason it sent the killware was because it thought that was the best way to keep MB from having to do anything dangerous. She doesn't think Art would invite MB to come with it, if it didn't think the trip would be good for MB.

Three cycles later, the humans leave their quarantine. The B-E crew are returned to their transport with their own shuttle. The transport tails Art a little, as if making sure they don't still try to steal the system out from under B-E. Which, of course, they still plan to do if they can.

The other problem is that they still have 3. Amena and Ratthi suggest MB help it to adjust, but MB thinks it would want to be left alone, under those circumstances, and 3 hasn't even voluntarily sat in a chair yet, it's probably not ready to talk.(8) Still, after those three cycles, MB notices 3 shadowing it, and asks what's up. 3 brings up how MB continued doing its job, even after disabling its governor module. MB asks if 3 wants to go back. No, it says it won't, but it doesn't know what it will do.

MB explains that it kept doing its job because having choices, making changes, is terrifying. 3 says the Preservation crew said it could go with them. MB says 3 can trust their word, though it thinks 3 might think it's delusional.

Still, 3 asks for the rest of the story, for documentation of what happened besides what the HelpMe file outlined. MB thinks about how its memories are a how-to file for fugitive SecUnits, and says it'll copy out the relevant pieces and send them to 3. 3 looks "almost pleased", and thanks it.(9)

A whole twenty cycles after arrival in the system, it's a Preservation ship that arrives first. Arada says they couldn't have gotten here so fast unless they left mere hours after Art did, but Art says they might have: it made a message buoy detailing what happened, and set it to eject when the wormhole drive turned on, hiding it from TCS.

Amena is surprised and asks why Art didn't tell them. MB thinks how Amena still doesn't understand what an asshole Art is.(10) Art admits it didn't tell them because it would have made it harder to convince them to do what it wanted.

MB asks if they can call the Pres ship on comms, suspecting who's aboard. Art does so, and MB first asks if Mensah is aboard, then when she confirms, it gives her a code response. Mensah's relief is audible, as she asks what the hell happened. Amena is annoyed MB has a secret code with her second mom, but MB is just annoyed it has to change it now.

The humans talk, and by the time the responder reaches Art, its crew agrees to tell Mensah their true mission. Pin-Lee is along as well, and an alliance with Preservation would open another experienced corporate contract negotiator to their arsenal. The humans talk and negotiate while MB watches Sanctuary Moon and Art cleans with its drones again in excitement about meeting Mensah.

Introductions in person go swimmingly. Later, Mensah comes to sit with MB in a lounge. Of all the things MB wants to say, the first thing it blurts is to ask if Mensah started the trauma treatment. Drily, she says yes, she had her first appointment, before her daughter and brother-in-law and her friends were kidnapped. But, when MB seems hesitant over asking more, she says it was, or will be, fine, and she was fine until this kicked off.

MB asks if Amena told Mensah about its "emotional collapse". She says no, so MB regrets saying anything, and explains that it thought Art was dead. Mensah says Ratthi's told her how close MB and Art are. MB says Ratthi exaggerates,(11) but it feels bad about not telling Mensah about meeting Art.

Mensah says she doesn't tell MB everything, either. MB says that's because she knows it doesn't want to know everything, and in the same breath, says Art invited it to go on a mission. Mensah asks if it would be temporary or permanent. MB says it doesn't know, but it doesn't want to never see Mensah again. Mensah says she feels the same way, but it can always come visit Preservation between its time with Art. MB says Preservation is the first place it was really a part of on its own terms, and it wants to stay a part of it, but it likes being with Art too.

Mensah asks about the rest of Art's crew, and MB says it doesn't know them yet.

“Working for them temporarily could take care of that problem. If you decide to do that.” She smiled a little. “The good thing is, you do know what you want.” I sort of did know.(12) It was a weird feeling. “That’s new.” She smiled all the way. “I wasn’t going to put it quite that way, but yes.”

Art's crew are resting, except those working on the legal case. Mensah took Amena and Thiago back to the Pres ship, with Amena promising to tell MB how it goes when Thiago makes his apologies to Mensah for misinterpreting her relationship with MB. MB is just glad it doesn't have to be involved.

MB goes up to Art's control deck, where they can have a private conversation, and says if they're going on a mission together, they'll need more media. Art says it's made a collection from its university's archive. MB starts skimming the index, and suggests they pass some along to 3, since it's probably leaving soon.

That’s not why 3 wanted your files, or not the only reason. I asked it why it wanted to help retrieve you, and it said, “stories in the HelpMe.file.” I think your memories are providing it with the sort of context you obtained from human media. I didn’t know what I thought about that. I would never have thought to just hand my files over to 3 the way 2.0 had. And if 2.0 hadn’t done that, targetControlSystem would have won.(13)

MB thinks how it was also a little surprised that 3 almost had a friendship with its fellow SecUnits. It wonders if it was always the exception to SecUnit personality, and if 3 will have better luck communicating with other SecUnits than it obviously does. It thinks it should get 3 a copy of the full documentary Bharadwaj made.

Whatever. For now, keyword searching ART’s index, I think I’d found something even less realistic than Timestream Defenders Orion. I showed the description to ART, and it started the first episode.

=====

(1) Murderbot thinks it's pretty sure on this read, and why shouldn't it be? It's been almost exactly where 3 was. For all its plans on independence, it never really thought about breaking out of the company's control for real. Those first days of freedom, before it left to explore its history? Yeah I bet it knows all too well what 3 is feeling. (2) Yep, their sweet asshole Perihelion really caught a keeper of a rogue SecUnit for a bestie. (3) They love you, pal. Like, your humans love you, and your bestie Art loves you, and even its humans appreciate it so much they wanted to help you purely on Art's very vague word that it met a good rogue SecUnit. You are GOOD, Murderbot, you are worthy and you are loved and you are so good. ;~; (4) I'm realy not sure what the implication here is. I lean toward "Art's humans know the risks of this universe, and a rogue SecUnit just looking to answer whether it's still a danger or not is not, in fact, probably much of a danger" I think? But I don't know. I welcome alternate suggestions in the replies! (5) You snarky asshole! <3 (6) Anyone else feel like this will come back in a later book? (7) Art is a little bit selfish, it likes to keep an eye on those it cares about. Look at how it lost its mind when it lost its crew! And how it threatened to bomb a planet full of people to get MB back. It would never countenance that sort of behaviour under normal circumstances, and the only way to avoid it is to make sure it can keep an eye on everybody forever. Art has its own share of trauma to overcome from this book's events. (You can't accuse me of anything for this one, I'm writing this well ahead of System Collapse's release and I haven't got an ARC.) (8) 3 is an individual, though. It's also a SecUnit, but not from MB's former company, and not one that chose this over a longer period of time. (9) Hey, MB, you ever stop to think that this is included under what the humans suggested in helping 3 adjust? (10) But it's such a lovable one! (11) Do you read these sorts of protests with an aggrieved fondness? I sure do. MB loves its humans the same way Art loves its crew, only its love language is grumping. (12) It only took… how many books? But MB finally has a Want. They grow up so fast. (13) I cannot fathom someone coming up to me and saying "will you be my role model for How To Exist As A Person?" Like, this is the most real reaction.

#the murderbot diaries #murderbot diaries #network effect #murderbot #secunit #amena #ratthi #arada #overse #thiago #three (murderbot) #iris (murderbot) #seth (murderbot) #kaede (murderbot) #tarik (murderbot) #matteo (murderbot) #karime (murderbot) #turi (murderbot) #martyn (murderbot) #ayda mensah #pin lee

[iviarellereads]

Network Effect, Chapter 16

(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 I half wish this wasn't the POV we got.

Murderbot 2.0(1) Deployed aboard Barish-Estranza Explorer Mission Status: Delayed

TCS recognizes 2, so 2 taunts it. Something makes contact, 2 assumes it must be a Target, because it uses their language. TCS wants to know what it is, so that they can use or delete it as the situation calls for. Something about TCS's interactions with targetContact make 2 think that TCS isn't an alien intelligence.(2)

2 finally interjects in their conversation to answer the question of what it is: a SecUnit, and killware. TargetContact shows 2 some video footage from the planet, of 1.0 being captured.

Me Version 1.0 is on the planet and has been captured and we are seriously screwed now. I’m sorry, ART. I’m sorry, humans and Me 1.0. That was when I caught a tentative secure contact from SecUnit 3. It had just disabled its governor module.(3)

2 watches 3 testing its new freedom, knowing what its thought process must be in this moment. The first thought, it can do whatever it wants. The second, what the heck does it want? Murderbot 1.0 is still stuck on that question, but that's alright. 2 asks 3 what it wants, and 3 says, to retrieve their clients.

TCS tries to neutralize 2 in the system, but it activates some of the stray code bundles 2 left hanging around. TargetContact is linked somehow to TCS, and reacting physically to the data pain. 2's code bundles lock all hatches except those between 3 and the shuttle, fry all the targetDrones, and cuts the connections to the humans' implants, as well as life support to the bridge, for fun distraction times.

3 breaks into the room and tells the humans it's here to help them, adding that Perihelion sent it, for Art's crew's benefit.

2 fights to stay alive long enough to let 3 get the humans out. As time grows near, 2 transfers itself out of SecSystem, letting TCS revel in a pointless victory, and into the dock module, locking the Targets outside so 3 can finish the escape, with no life lost.

TCS tells 2 it will never have the ship. 2 says, alrighty then, and hops across TCS's contact link toward the planet. It hears targetContact order TCS to fire on the shuttle, which amuses 2 greatly. TCS confirms target lock, which triggers 2's last code bundle in the weapons systems. Everything aboard the explorer explodes as 2 falls through the connection.(4)

=====

(1) Excuse me, I'd like to go back to 1.0 please, pretty please, with sugar on top. No? Okay, here we are then. (2) Do you think the hivemind theory has merit? Is TCS, or targetContact, that hivemind, or is it something other? 2 certainly seems convinced it's human-driven, not alien-minded. (3) HELLO 3 HOW ARE YOU?! (4) WHEE! Oh this is going to be fun, isn't it?

#the murderbot diaries #murderbot diaries #network effect #murderbot #secunit #murderbot 2.0 #three (murderbot) #karime (murderbot) #turi (murderbot) #martyn (murderbot)

[thepringlesofblood]

murderbot uses it/its pronouns, and here’s why

im just sick of seeing people try to be all ‘but its up for interpretation’ ‘it’s ambiguous’ ‘we don’t know’ ‘who can never be sure’ and I saw one of those posts like ‘but an agender/gender-neutral protagonist means I can project whatever i want onto them’ and i have simply had it. essay under the cut. *spoilers* obviously for p much all the books, mostly network effect. there’s 1 quote from FT but it’s not plot-relevant

tl;dr mb refers to itself with it/its pronouns, on top of the quadrillion times it actively rejects human ideas of gender (which is an important theme in the series), on top of its Crew and ART using it/its, on top of Pin-Lee writing it detailed legal contracts using it/its pronouns, on top of that AMA where ART says it and mb use it/its, on top of the blurb on the inside cover of Artificial Condition using it/its.

disclaimer: i 100% get people who haven’t gone as deep in the paint on analysis/close reading as I have using they/them for mb as a ‘i’m not sure what to do’ thing or a ‘given no direction i use they/them until a person expresses a preference’ thing. that’s valid, and I understand where they’re coming from. most of what I’m talking about it is actively gendering mb (e.g. he or she gross). although using they/them for murderbot is still misgendering, since mb does demonstrate preference for it/its as early as pg 40 of the first book (see below),  it’s still incorrect.

while the series is in first person POV, mb sometimes refers to itself in third person and always uses it/its.

e.g. in Network Effect, when mb is captured by targets near the end and hung upside down and it has to detach its hand to free itself, it remarks, “If this went wrong I was going to feel really stupid. The Targets would finally show up and be all “What the hell was it trying to do to itself?”“ (page 4 of ch 18, my electronic copy doesn’t have individual page #)

update: @chimaerakitten​ reblogged this with a citation I can’t believe I didn’t include! page 40 of All Systems Red, murderbot drops the iconic line, “Yes, talk to Murderbot about its feelings. The idea was so painful I dropped to 97 percent efficiency.” so there’s not even a “well until network effect-” justification, it’s right there in the beginning baby!

murderbot 2.0 refers to both itself and 1.0 using it/its pronouns.

2.0 is literally a copy of 1.0. it has no reason to misgender itself. there is no room for argument here.

e.g. in Network Effect it remarks “That’s one of the reasons Me 1.0 misses its armor.” (pg 5 of ch 16)

also, it works vice-versa, 1.0 uses it/its for 2.0

e.g. Network Effect “You and Amena were right. 2.0 was a person. It wasn’t like a baby, but it was a person.” (pg 9 of ch 20)

@worldsentwined made a lovely post a while back compiling all of the times mb actively rejects/comments on human gender and sex in relation to itself.

while obvs gender =/= pronouns, it’s important to acknowledge mb’s rejection of human gender, because in the series bot/construct gender is a separate thing - p much all bots use it/its that I noticed.

another thing I realized - obviously, mb not identifying with human gender includes non-binary human genders, of which there are plenty of examples in the series, many of which use they/them (Matteo, Turi, Mihail).

this isn’t to say that using they/them = having a gender, see above re: gender =/= pronouns, but it does help reinforce the point that using they/them for mb is still misgendering.

ART refers to mb with either just “SecUnit” or it/its pronouns.

ART can literally read minds, kind of. you really think they went through all of Artificial Condition and Network Effect together without it picking up on what pronouns mb uses?

e.g. Network Effect, it reassures Amena that mb is going to be just fine - “The damage to its organic tissue and support structure is easily repaired.” (pg 13 of ch 8)

also, you think ART would let any humans onboard it misgender mb? no fuckin way.

e.g. Network Effect

Amena talking to ART in private “- because it thought you were dead. It was so upset I thought-Oh, hey, you’re here” (pg 21 of ch 12)

when mb 1.0 finally gets back aboard ART and collapses on the deck - “Amena’s voice said “No, it doesn’t like to be touched!”“ (pg 1 of ch 20)

the PresAux gang use it/its

You could probably try to be like ‘well maybe the presaux gang is just using the secunit standard pronoun’ but consider: by exit strategy, mb has few to no reservations about correcting people, especially people it knows, when they’re wrong.

also Pin-Lee negotiated a contract for it hammering out every detail of interaction, including the “no hugging” clause - she would ABSOLUTELY include whatever pronoun use mb wanted.

e.g. Network Effect, ““No, it says it’s fine,” I heard her [Overse] relaying to the others on our comm. “Well, yes, it’s furious,””(pg 6 (of ch 1))

e.g. Fugitive Telemetry, ““It’s joking.” Ratthi managed to sound like he completely believed that. “That’s how it looks when it’s joking.”“ (pg 15 of ch 4)

Martha Wells did an instagram AMA as mb and ART and upon being asked what pronouns mb and ART use, ART responded w “it/its”

now obvs there’s a bajillion ways that you could tear this apart and argue death of the author, or that bc ART answered not mb it was different, but frankly my dear i don’t give a damn. it’s supporting evidence, not the lynchpin of the whole argument.

update: I finally got Artificial Condition in hardcover, and noticed the little summary blurb on the inside jacket flap thing makes liberal use of the it/its pronoun

“It has a dark past…a past that caused it to christen itself Murderbot. But it has only vague memories of the massacre that spawned that title, and it wants to know more.”

“Murderbot heads to the mining facility where it went rogue. What it discovers will forever change the way it thinks…”

in rogue protocol when mb pretends to be a human security consultant  the (fictional) off-base supervisor it makes up is called by she/her once or twice, but note that that’s when mb is pretending to be human, and not even that really since the offsite ��security consultant Rin” is 100% fabricated. it/its is kind of the bot pronoun - mb uses it as a way to remind everyone that it’s not human and doesn’t want to be and that’s important and also another post in itself.

but basically: a main theme of the series is acceptance of bots and constructs and non-human entities as people worthy of respect, discrete from humans, and that mb doesn’t have to become human/make itself palatable for humans to be seen as a person, and the it/its pronoun use is an important part of that.

thats all i got for now but when I get physical copies of the rest of the series its over baby, citations all day every day. I have electronic copies of NE and FT and ASR and physical AC and ES copies, the rest I got from the library to read and thus do not have atm. feel free to add citations in reblogs!

update: i saw a post that brought up an interesting and valid point I want to address (when I find it again I’ll link it) - as a they/them person who isn’t out everywhere, oftentimes I am misgendered and I don’t correct them because its easier - the OP mentioned experiencing the same phenomenon, and I can totally see how this applies to murderbot. If it was just everyone around it using it/its pronouns and it not objecting, that’d be a different story, and I would totally agree with the ambiguity. however, mb does use it/its for itself, and even though it’s not turning to the camera and saying ‘I use it/its’, that still expresses a preference which should be respected.

maybe mb will go by different pronouns in the future as it reckons with and thinks about its own personhood, but honestly I kind of hope not. partly because there are ppl out there who do use it/its, and I can’t imagine the lack of representation they must face, but also because I think recognition of personhood outside of the human world is an important theme (allegorical to marginalized groups who want to be seen as people without conforming to every widely accepted societal ideal of personhood) (I may be projecting as an autistic person who wants acceptance).

this got too deep and too long. sorry, i just have a lot of feelings.

#murderbot #murderbot spoilers #network effect #network effect spoilers #fugitive telemetry #fugitive telemetry spoilers #meta #pronouns #my Opinions #original post