If you’re a Murderbot fan, here’s some good news.
Reactor has just published a Murderbot novelette by series author Martha Wells. And it’s free to read.
Titled “Rapport: Friendship, Solidarity, Communion, Empathy,” Wells’ new novelette can be read as a stand-alone but related story for those who have read Artificial Condition, the second book in The Murderbot Diaries.
Many Libertarian Futurist Society members have read Wells’ Prometheus-nominated series about a rogue security robot who secretly gains free will – especially her first four books including Artificial Condition.
So the new story should be of great interest, and also easy to read in context.
Wells’ acclaimed Murderbot series has received major recognition and awards, including a 2021 Hugo Award for Best series and the 2021 Nebula and Hugo awards for Best Novel for Network Effect, the first self-contained Murderbot novel and Book 5 in her series.
Wells was first recognized within the Prometheus Awards when The Murderbot Diaries were combined into one nomination from the four novellas All Systems Red, Artificial Condition, Rogue Protocol and Exit Strategy and became a 2019 Best Novel finalist. (That was allowed and approved under Prometheus Awards eligibility rules; Wells noted in 2017 that the four novellas have “an overarching story,” with the fourth one bringing the arc to a conclusion.)
Reactor posted “Rapport” yesterday (July 10), timed in conjunction with the finale of the first season of Apple TV’s series adaptation of Wells’ stories about a rogue security robot who secretly gains free will.
Reactor (formerly called TOR.com) is an online magazine that publishes original short speculative fiction along with daily essays, book reviews, media news, and more.
According to Mike Glyer’s File 770, Well’s “Rapport” story catches up with Peri (short for Perihelion) as readers “learn a bit more about what this galaxy does to people and the machine intelligences that have to deal with them….”
Perihelion, also known as ART (a nickname given by Murderbot), is a bot-piloted research and teaching vessel that often acts as a motherly caretaker and source of support for the crew.
In the story, Perihelion and its crew embark on a dangerous new mission at a corporate-controlled station in the throes of a hostile takeover…
Here’s a brief excerpt, focusing on a conversation between Peri and Iris, that communicates Well’s distinctive style blending a high degree of self-awareness and dark humor in Murderbot stories that focus mostly on interior stream of consciousness:
“Iris absently started to pace. She was too tired and jumpy to play this game right now. Is it something you can tell me at some point? It’s just that I’m worried about you. And I think I’m not the only one. Our dads have noticed, too. She hesitated, then tried to lighten the mood. You aren’t evolving into a new being, or something, are you?
It was an in-joke for their department, that there were always popular press articles about advanced MIs transcending their programming and becoming gods. Peri usually liked the joke, because it gave it a chance to be mean about stupid people. This time, it said, Iris, did you sustain damage to your neural tissue?
She let out her breath. Come on, that’s your favorite joke. You’re really scaring me now. What’s wrong? Did something happen?
Peri was silent for six whole seconds. Then it said, Explaining would in effect be violating a confidence.”
By the way, Reactor magazine has enlisted Wells’ cooperation before to post a fresh Murderbot story.
“Home: Habitat, Range, Niche, Territory,” originally published in April 2021, is a Murderbot short story set after the events of Exit Strategy.
Murderbot fans, check it out.
* For further reading about Martha Wells’ Murderbot series and its libertarian themes of free will, anti-slavery and bodily autonomy, check out several previous Prometheus blogs – including a review of the Apple TV series, an essay explaining in detail why the series appeals to libertarian sf fans, and a news update about the publication of a three-volume set of Wells’ Prometheus-nominated Murderbot novellas.
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