All Systems Red by Martha Wells
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
This novella's protagonist is a security cyborg that is corporately-assigned to protect a survey team of human scientists. What makes the story intriguing, not to mention humorous, are the features that we consider human frailties that are witnessed in the thoughts and behaviors of this cyborg. There is his discomfort in interacting with humans. He refers to himself as a "murderbot" and displays some of the awkward mannerisms that are familiar to me as an introvert, though - in this case - they aren't so much about being easily overstimulated as being uncomfortable with the fact that humans see him as giant robot with great capacity for violence. (Hey, it dawns on me that maybe it is the same with me.) The Murderbot also displays the human traits of laziness and desire to be entertained, and is often watching serial shows when an ordinary robot would either be doing work-a-day tasks like downloading protocols or would be off-line.
The most salient human trait is that he bonds - if awkwardly - with part of his team, and - even though he's lazy by nature - he goes to great lengths to make sure they survive. Because the Murderbot is notably lazy, the reader must consider whether his willingness to put his life on the line comes from something beyond his protocols. The reader doesn't know to what degree the cyborg is free, though we do know it has hacked the governor unit that overrides autonomous functions, and so one knows it's freer than most units in its line of work. [Of course, "putting it's life on the line" isn't necessarily as solemn a matter as with humans because murderbots are notoriously difficult to kill, and can suffer severe damage and be quickly repaired / healed - provided they have access to the requisite facilities.]
I won't get into specifics of story except to say that it takes place on a remote planet that is newly being charted, and the Murderbot's team is one of a couple teams independently surveying different parts of the planet. Things go wrong and the Murderbot's team of humans must find out who is the culprit, why said culprit has done what they did, and get out alive.
I enjoyed this novella. The subversion of expectations that comes from the cyborg being perhaps the most neurotic of the characters provides plenty of opportunity for humor, not to mention light philosophizing about the nature of being human and how trust forms. Readers of sci-fi will certainly enjoy this story, non-genre readers should give it a try as well.
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