So I did get these a little out of order but that was the fault of the reprinted omnibus and my ignorance of this title that came between the last two novellas I reviewed.  I wish I’d read this before “System Collapse”, which would have made much more sense to me.

But here we are…lots more Murderbot. Since I now know that the Murderbot series will be starting soon on Apple+ and starring Alexander Skarsgård , that is the only face and voice I heard in my head while reading this book.  And he was just perfect; I cannot wait for the new series to see if I’m right.

The story starts with Murderbot and his new friends from Preservation on a mission.  As that mission ends, their research facility ship is attacked without warning.  Murderbot and an adolescent girl named Amena are separated from the rest of the crew and captured by the hostile ship.  A ship that bore an uncanny resemblance to ART.

Once aboard the ART-like ship (which wasn’t responding to any comms), Murderbot and Amena are taken captive by two humanoids who seem to think they have a desired weapon.  Murderbot is confused about just what they are and why they appear to be utilizing out-moded tech.  Murderbot is also greatly confused about why ART isn’t responding (it’s now positive that the ship is really ART).  But when one of the hostiles brags that they deleted the ship’s pilot bot (read: ART, which is so much more than a pilot bot); Murderbot has a full-blown emotional meltdown.  So, along with its primary responsibility for the safety of Amena, it now also has a purpose:  kill as many of these hostiles as it can manage.

As the story progresses, we learn the ship is now in orbit around a ‘forgotten’ planet.  A forgotten planet is one that was colonized by a corporation which was expected to protect and supply it until it became viable, but didn’t.  Reasons for abandonment ranged from bankruptcy to outright corporation takeover by a hostile corporation which either didn’t learn of the planet or just didn’t care.  So this particular planet had been left to its own devices for decades; and things had not gone well.  Apparently, the planet was contaminated with alien remnants (which we all know is a really bad thing) which was either overlooked by the initial survey assessment or deliberately ignored, probably because the corporation thought they could profit from it.

The alien infection had created two factions of colonists: those that were completely changed by the infection and had become murderous or insane or both; and a second faction which were less infected and tended to be a bit more sane.  Not that Murderbot really cares one way or the other; its primary focus is to save Amena and then tear down everyone or everything that killed its friend.  The only thing really standing in its way is a system controller that is impervious to Murderbot’s attempts to gain control.  But the system controller turns out to be something else entirely; not what Murderbot was expecting.

As plot devices go, this story had a doozy: Murderbot ‘clones’ itself as a killware program to be inserted into the system controller; but ends up realizing that it didn’t just create a program, it created another person; another Murderbot.  But this Murderbot has a slightly different take on certain things and it’s due to its interference that Murderbot (1.0) now has another SecUnit on its hands; a SecUnit who has just learned how to disable its governor.  A sort-of baby SecUnit who has no idea what to do next but is happy to contribute to the general mayhem in any way it can.

The plot, as loosely defined, hinges on two objectives:  figure out what happened to the colonists and decide if they need future assistance to stay out of the clutches of the next evil corporation which will take the abandoned planet as salvage; and two – understand how ART was killed and what its demise means to Murderbot.  Murderbot has a lot to deal with and media isn’t going to be the comfort it has been before. This was very entertaining; mostly because we got to watch Murderbot work through more emotion that it generally indulges in.  There was a bit of mystery while we waited to see just what effect that alien contamination has on the colonists and if it was going to affect Murderbot or its friends.  And, of course, our quite logical suspicion that ART might not be completely gone.

These stories are not about the plot, or the worldbuilding, or even the dialogue; it’s about Murderbot itself.  Its internal musings and sarcasm are the main attraction and I found myself snorting frequently, out-loud laughing at times.  I’d be okay if the series ended here; Murderbot has been a delight.  But if a successful show motivates the author to provide more stories; I will definitely be here for them.  ~~ Catherine Book

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