Murderbot’s crew is from a non-Corporate entity called Preservation Aux. They don’t believe in contracting humans or owning part-human, part-machine units or owning whole planets outright. This leads to many uncomfortable moments for Murderbot, because the crew tries to interact with it to sort out their feelings about it being part-human and machine. It just wants to do its job and watch its media files.
While collecting samples, a hostile alien life-form attacked one of the crew and Murderbot blasted it and got her and her crew-mate back to their ship. The ship and crew return to base, which is a system of inter-connected domes called a habitat, with the Company’s communication/data computer link system called HubSystem, which is supposed to provide them with info that protects them. Problem – why hadn’t their initial Comapany Info-pack for the planet warned them about this hostile life-form?
Mensah, the crew’s leader, and Murderbot confirm that the Corporation hazard report’s section that would have included this hazard was deleted. The crew wondered if the other team on the planet, called DeltFall (at another location, in another habitat) had the same problem. Further investigation found that several mapping sections of the planet’s terrain was also missing.
When they loose contact with Deltfall, Mensah takes Murderbot and part of her team to DeltFall’s location to investigate. Upon arrival, Murderbot discovers that the DeltFall crew has been murdered and one of their three SecUnits destroyed. It disables the other two SecUnits, but is surprised when two others appear; it destroys one and Mensah takes down the other. Murderbot is seriously injured and realizes that one of the hostile SecUnits implanted an override module into its neck – this was how the DeltaFall crew was killed by their own SecUnits. Before data upload of the override module takes effect, Murderbot shoots himself rather than hurt his crew.
Mensah and her crew manage to remove the override module and make repairs to Murderbot but they also discover that it has hacked its governor module and once malfunctioned and murdered 57 people. Murderbot explains that it disabled its governor module so that type of malfunction would not happen again. The crew agrees that since Murderbot has been working to keep them alive and protect them, as a free agent, it means they can trust it. They also agree that due to the Company’s policy of being responsible for faulty equipment and paying damages for Company based incidents, it wouldn’t be in the Company’s best interest to sabotage any crew – there must be an unknown third crew on the planet trying to eliminate DeltFall and Preservation for some reason.
The Preservation crew confirm that their HubSystem has been hacked and their emergency beacon destroyed – they abandon their habitat before the hostile crew finds them. Murderbot returns to the habitat to gather surveillance data collected by his drones and discovers the third team is called GreyCris. GreyCris leaves a message for Murderbot’s crew to meet at a rendezvous to discuss terms of Preservation crew survival. Murderbot knows that GreyCris will never let them live – but it has a plan.
Murderbot meets with the GreyCris crew and negotiates for its own survival, but this is a distraction while the Preservation crew activates and launches GreyCris’ emergency beacon. The plan works but Murderbot is injured badly while protecting Mensah.
Murrderbot wakes up off planet, back at the Company station, repaired and still with its disabled governor module. Mensah has bought its contract and plans to bring it back to Preservation. It likes Mensah and is grateful but Murderbot doesn’t want decisions made for it, so it slips away, boards a bot-driven cargo ship and leaves Corporation Rim. This leads to the second Murderbot book, Artificial Condition, where he meets a bot-driven ship it calls A.R.T (Asshole Research Transport) that helps Murderbot pass for an augmented human and helps find out what happened when it murdered those 57 people.
There are five books in all, All Systems Red, Artificial Condition, Rogue Protocol, Exit Strategy and Network Effect. The first four are novellas and are sequels. Network Effect is a stand-alone Murderbot novel. A sixth book, Fugitive Telemetry, a prequel to Network Effect is due to come out April 2021. Once you read the first of these Martha Wells Murderbot Diaries you will be hooked and will want to read more. I was and can’t wait for April 2021.