The Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells are based on the concept that part-human, part-machine constructs will probably be just as self-aware as we full humans are. They’ll have their own wants and desires, and they probably won’t enjoy being ordered around by idiots any more than we do. Yet they are essentially a slave class, designated as property and without rights in most jurisdictions. If fitted with a functional governor module, the androids in this series only have limited free will and must follow most commands.
In All Systems Red, we meet an android that secretly refers to itself as Murderbot. Murderbot is a security-purposed construct, aka a SecUnit. All of the SecUnits in this story are property of the Company, a business that sells security and insurance packages, and which will, like most insurance companies, cut almost any corner to keep from spending money. (The more things change, the more they stay the same.)
The Company’s tech is often glitchy, and that unfortunately extends to their SecUnits. At some point in the past, this caused the deaths of a large number of humans and led Murderbot to disable their faulty governor module to prevent a repeat. Having nowhere else to go, Murderbot remained with The Company, concealing their ability to ignore the commands of their governor module. Having a certain level of mental freedom is understandably desirable, even if you have to take precautions to remain undetected.
In All Systems Red, Murderbot is contracted out as part of the security package for a planetary survey team. It seems to be a simple and exceptionally boring assignment –just the way Murderbot likes it, so they can zone out and watch entertainment shows– when things start to go wrong. Aggressive fauna the planet wasn’t supposed to have attack and almost kill one of the surveyors. While saving the surveyors, Murderbot receives an automated command to stand down, which they’re only able to ignore because they disabled their governor module. A short time later, the team’s aircraft’s autopilot disengages just in time to send them toward the side of a mountain. As the strangely lethal coincidences stack up and one of their neighboring survey teams goes dark, Murderbot and the survey team are forced to confront the likelihood that someone wants them out of the picture.
All Systems Red is a compact yet richly detailed work of hard science fiction, and a thoroughly enjoyable read. Murderbot is introverted to the point of preferring not to interact with clients any more than absolutely necessary. Being around people is exhausting, and in Murderbot’s place I’d probably keep to myself as much as possible too.
Murderbot is an easy character to ride along with, gradually shifting from pretending to be a robot just doing a job to trying to save their humans from being murdered by the bad guys. There’s political intrigue, lots on interesting technology, and plenty of action. And at the end of the day, I think we can all relate to being that competent introvert dragged out of their peace and quiet to save the day.
All Systems Red, like the series as a whole, earns a solid five stars from me.
