All Systems Red By Martha Wells
One thing about sci-fi, I’m really impressed with the creativity and ingenuity of authors with the worlds and technology they create to make you believe – well, read along, this is normal. This sci-fi series fits the bill. The Murderbot Diaries is a series of books, with All Systems Red, a novella of 160 pages, being book one.
The Murderbot Diaries is set in the distant future, in a seriously corporate controlled system that spans many galaxies in space. The main corporation, Corporate Rim, owns many systems of planets and they control all traffic on these planets – colonization, surveying and mining. Traveling to these planets must be done under contract from the Corporation and you may encounter hazards from alien life forms and rival corporate entities, which is why it is mandatory to include Security Units or SecUnits in your contract to accompany your team.
These SecUnits are part robot and organic, have extensive memory capabilities and are armored and equipped with serious weaponry. They also have control of drones that they can deploy for surveillance, and gathering information of the surroundings. SecUnits also have the capability to interface with other robots and computer systems. These SecUnits are controlled by the Company and its clients by a governor module that is embedded in the SecUnit. The governor module links the SecUnit to the Corporation’s computer communication and data system. If instructions are not followed a SecUnit may be punished or shutdown and destroyed.
As for humans, all have implants that allow them to transfer data and communicate with each other and systems within their ships and most other units contracted to them, including SecUnits (no cell phones or other mobile communicators needed). Some are augmented humans and have larger memory capability to link to computer systems, but not as much as SecUnits.
All Systems Red begins with a Sec Unit that has hacked and disabled its own governor module and downloaded the entire content of the Company’s entertainment channels (TV series, movies, music, plays, everything) and named itself Murderbot – it watches this media whenever it has downtime. It is on a scientific planet survey with a crew of 8 people and continues to fulfill its duties as a SecUnit without letting anyone know it is now an independent unit; if the Company knew, it would be dismantled, destroyed. So, this SecUnit would rather go off somewhere by itself because its not comfortable interacting with humans but it can’t because the Company would know it is a rogue unit – it stays with its crew, which leads to many entries by Murderbot in his log about his feelings. Its entries is one of the things that makes these books so entertaining and interesting.