Artificial Condition — Martha Wells

Following straight on from where All Systems Red left off, Murderbot is now a free agent with no humans, corporations, or security systems to answer to.   That is, as long as no one realises that he’s a rogue SecUnit: which is a bit of problem when you’re a clone and exactly like every other SecUnit in existence.

Not to worry, Murderbot meet ART, “Arsehole Research Transport”, who offers to help Murderbot blend in a lot better.

And so begins our next installment of shenanigans as Murderbot goes off to the mine where it murdered dozens of humans it was supposed to be protecting in it’s dark, distance past.   The only problem being is that he now has to pretend to be an augmented human security consultant for a group of human programmers in order to get anywhere near the mine: and we all know how Murderbot feels about being around humans.

Once again, it’s only a novella length story, but Martha really knows how to pack a big story into a small space: don’t forget to take a breath occasionally.

And once you’ve had a quick breather, dive straight into the next installment, Rogue Protocol.

Martha’s Page

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