Risk Assessment story
Looking for answers about the missing maps and the ancient, alien technology the crew attempt to call the other research crew on the opposite side of the planet, but get no response. Out of concern for them they decide to go investigate. Gurathin and Bharadwaj remain behind while the rest of the crew travels. At the other habitat, Murderbot distributes weapons and takes the lead into the investigation. Murderbot walks in alone, and finds its inhabitants dead and other SecUnits destroyed. It lies to its crew and says that everything is fine. Murderbot is attacked by another SecUnit and defeats it, before another SecUnit comes up behind it.
11 total · 2 choice · 2 major · 7 minor
| Theme | Level | Motivation |
|---|---|---|
| AI point of view | choice | A point of the story is to speculate on how an android might view humans. The story is mostly narrated by the titular Murderbot's inner thoughts. |
| 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. |
| human vs. sentient machine | major | The scientists (and Murderbot) found themselves in a life-and-death struggle with a couple of SecUnits hellbent on killing them. |
| human worrying about self | major | On recurring occasions, Murderbot made it clear that he was discomforted by the others' attempts to become more familiar with him. |
| brain-computer interface | minor | Dr. Gurathin had a port in his neck that allowed him to interface directly with computer systems. |
| having a skeleton in the closet | minor | Murderbot was hiding from the scientists that he'd overrode his governor module. |
| invasion of privacy | minor | A recurring point was that Murderbot could hear practically any conversation and could access all the security feeds around him. One of the scientists complained that Murderbot reading their logs was an invasion of privacy. |
| polyamorous relationship | minor | Dr. Mensah made a casual remark about "two of her husbands", implying that polygamy was the norm in the Preservation Alliance. |
| soap opera | minor | Murderbot was a fan of the space opera "Sanctuary Moon", all the episodes of which he had downloaded and watched inside his mind. |
| social awkwardness | minor | The scientists' reactions underscored that Murderbot, and to a lesser extent Dr. Gurathin, were anxious and awkward. |