Mensah just looked at me and said, “SecUnit.” In that voice. The voice that’s the only reason I’m still here and alive and surrounded by … friends. (Emotion check: Good, actually. Really good.) (Emotion check: It is still hard to say the friends part.) [loc. 2474]
Murderbot is asked by Dr Mensah to help some family members escape from a space station run by evil corporation Barish-Estranza. Turns out the family members (including children, ugh) are being more or less held hostage and may be forced to work for B-E. There are also multiple SecUnits on the loose, running Murderbot's 'hack your own governor module' code. This includes Three, previously liberated by Murderbot and still looking to its liberator for guidance.
I liked the space station -- actually a torus surrounding a mined-out planet, with distinct zones -- and the exploration of forced labour, corporate abuse of power, and (maybe?) racism. And I loved Murderbot's self-help module, which pings every time Murderbot's neural chemistry goes weird, and asks for an emotion check. But there's more action here, and less reflection, than in the earlier instalments: I missed Murderbot's downtime. And there's no ART, and precious little Sanctuary Moon. An enjoyable read (and it's not a long novel) but I still prefer the novellas.
Zero. Mass. Transport. This is supposed to be a civilized space station, in space, why the fuck am I driving a ground vehicle to get to a fucking port on a fucking— (Emotion check: I am absolutely fine.) [loc. 2150]
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