"Fugitive Telemetry (The Murderbot Diaries, 6) by Martha Wells
https://www.amazon.com/Fugitive-Telemetry-Murderbot-Diaries-6/dp/1250765374/
Book number six of a seven book series of science fiction novellas,
short stories, and full length novels. I read the well printed and well
bound hardcover published by Tor in 2020 that I bought new from Amazon.
The first novella in the series won the 2018 Hugo, Nebula, Alex, and
Locus awards. The series won the 2021 Hugo for the best series also.
Book number seven will be released in September 2023 and is a full
length novel.
Murderbot is a SecUnit, similar to a T-800 Terminator with a cloned and
severely modified human head. There is a human brain in there but it is
run by the AIs embedded in its genderless torso. There are lungs, there
is a blood mixture with a synthetic, there is human skin over the entire
body, there is a face. Everything else is machine. Somehow, the blood
is enriched with electricity as there is no stomach or intestines. But,
there are arteries and veins to keep the skin and brain alive. All of
the major arteries and veins have clamps to stop bleeding in case of
damage. There is a MedSystem computer with an AI, a HubUnit computer
with an AI, and a governor module that can force the SecUnit to follow
orders using pain sensors in the brain. It has a energy gun in each arm
and several cameras, all directly wired to the brain. The SecUnit can
sustain severe damage to everything but the head and still survive.
Murderbot is a self named SecUnit due to an unfortunate circumstance
with 57 miners on a remote moon. It has hacked its governor and no
longer allows the governor to give it orders or inflict pain. It
prefers to internally watch its 35,000 hours of downloaded media such as
episodes of "The Rise and Fall of Sanctuary Moon" and "Lineages of the
Sun". Even though it has a face, it does not like to interface with
humans, yes, very introverted. However, it is getting more comfortable
with humans. It will follow human orders if it see fit to do so.
Murderbot is back to the normal security duty for its friend, Dr.
Mensah, the head of the Preservation planet. Murderbot finds a dead
body on Preservation Station in the mall area, the space station in
orbit around the Preservation planet. Complications and
misunderstandings ensue as Dr. Mensah insists that Murderbot be a part
of the investigation with station security.
Warning: The violence is graphic and extreme. Murderbot also has a
potty mouth. Books one through four are a series of novellas, not
regular length books. There is a short story "Home: Habitat, Range,
Niche, Territory" between books four and five. Book five is a regular
length novel, book six is back to the novella, and book seven is a full
length novel due out in November 2023. You can buy collections of the
first four hardbacks or all six currently available hardbacks.
https://www.tor.com/2021/04/19/home-habitat-range-niche-territory-martha-wells/
The author has a website at:
https://www.marthawells.com/
There is a wiki for Murderbot including various episodes of "The Rise
and Fall of Sanctuary Moon":
https://murderbot.fandom.com/wiki/Murderbot_Wiki
and
https://murderbot.fandom.com/wiki/The_Rise_and_Fall_of_Sanctuary_Moon
My rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
Amazon rating: 4.6 out of 5 stars (15,543 reviews)
Lynn