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A private security cyborg, annoyed by humans, hacks the governor module that forces it to obey their commands. Hiding its new autonomy to avoid being destroyed, the SecUnit renames itself Murderbot on a whim. A team of researchers is compelled to accept Murderbot on their mission to meet their insurance requirements, but are hesitant to do so as it seems akin to slavery. On the planet, Murderbot enjoys watching reruns of television, especially a soap opera The Rise and Fall of Sanctuary Moon. Two researchers come under attack from a massive centipede-like creature, but are saved by Murderbot. Bharadwaj is seriously injured, and Arada goes into shock. While bringing them back to the habitat, Murderbot lowers its mask to reveal a human face, and comforts Arada. After returning to the habitat, the augmented human Gurathin is suspicious of this behavior, as well as other clues that Murderbot is not acting as a SecUnit should. The team realizes there are unexplained gaps in the planetary maps and data provided to them, and Murderbot reassures the crew it has no knowledge of why.
18 total · 2 choice · 5 major · 11 minor
| Theme | Level | Motivation |
|---|---|---|
| AI point of view | choice | A point of the series is to speculate on how an android might view humans. The series is mostly narrated by the titular Murderbot's inner thoughts. In this installment, Murderbot expressed his bafflement and disdain with of a group of expeditionary scientists that he joined to investigate a remote planet. |
| android | choice | The story follows the titular Murderbot, a humanoid robot with organic parts that functioned as a security unit. There is no indication that Murderbot ever existed as a biological organism that became enhanced with technological parts. Therefore, Murderbot is not a cyborg according to our definition. |
| figuring out what to do with one's life | major | Upon disabling its "governor module" and thus achieving freedom to do as it pleased, Murderbot found itself at something of a loss as to what to do with its life. |
| human vs. monster | major | Murderbot and the researchers encountered a giant centipede-like creature with maws on either end of it. Murderbot defeated the creature, but not before it had mauled Bharadwaj. |
| invasion of privacy | major | A recurring point was that Murderbot could hear practically any conversation and could access all the security feeds around him. |
| monster | major | The planet was home to a species of giant centipede-like creature with maws on either end of them. These creatures were a threat to anyone that left the artificial habitat. |
| trust | major | Dr. Gurathin, in particular, did not trust Murderbot. The scientists discussed at length to what extent they could trust the android at length. |
| belonging | minor | Some of the expeditionary research scientists felt some compulsion to treat Murderbot as a member of their close-knit team, rather than as the piece of equipment that he insisted that he was. |
| brain-computer interface | minor | Dr. Gurathin had a port in his neck that allowed him to interface directly with computer systems. |
| human AI relationship | minor | The captain in the space opera Murderbot liked to watch was passionately in love with the Navigation Unit android. |