History Literature / TheMurderbotDiaries

* {{Sexbot}}: The official name is [=ComfortUnit=]. They're stronger than humans in general, but can't stand up to a [=SecUnit=].

-->''"If you bother her again I will break every individual bone in your hand and arm. It will take about an hour."''

* BetterwithNonHumanCompany: For all its unease with humans, Murderbot tends to get on quite well with Bots.

* DontAskJustRun: In ''Fugitive Telemetry'', Murderbot figures out the killer is [[spoiler:the robot working for the Port Authority supervisor, so Murderbot marches into her office with a large gun in hand, and simply orders her to run. She takes off without question and Murderbot is free to confront the robot without distraction.]]

There are six books out (and more planned), with the first four and sixth being {{novella}}s and the fifth being a {{novel}}:

* ''System Collapse'', forthcoming November 2023

* BetterwithNon-HumanCompany: For all its unease with humans, Murderbot tends to get on quite well with Bots.

* ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill: ART's first response to finding out that [[spoiler: Murderbot has been kidnapped while rescuing his crew]] is to activate his thirty two armed pathfinders.

* BatmanGambit: ''The Perihelion's'' plan in ''Network Effect''. [[spoiler:ART becomes compromised with alien remnant tech, and is forced by a hostage situation to aid the Hive-Minders in their mission to spread the contamination. To this end, it tempts them with a promise of a "powerful weapon", and gives them Murderbot's location, knowing that Murderbot will be able to overcome the intruders and ART will also be able to coerce MB into retrieving its crew once it's aboard. Overlaps slighly with ThanatosGambit, as the later part of this happens after ART gets itself deleted preventing the Hive-Minders from killing any of Murderbot's survey team, and it had already hidden a backup copy of itself, which was coded such that only Murderbot could open and restore it.]]

* GoneHorriblyRight: Murderbot was designed and programmed to protect humans. As Murderbot notes, this is actually the ''reason'' it originally hacked its governor module, and even after going completely rogue it still spend most of its time protecting people.

* TransferableMemory: Murderbot is able to share its visual inputs with others to share them, and able to give copies of its more subjective experiences to other [=AIs=]. When it first meets ART, it shares some select memories of being punished by its RestrainingBolt. This seems to really have an emotional impact on ART, who starts treating Murderbot more kindly after.

* DontAskJustRun: In ''Fugitive Telemetry'', Murderbot figures out the killer is in the special investigator's office, so it marches in with a large gun in hand, and simply orders her to run. She takes off without question and Murderbot is free to confront [[spoiler: Balin]] without distraction.

** At the climax of ''Fugitive Telemetry'' Murderbot finally figures out who the killer is. [[spoiler: Its Balin, a general purpose bot employed by Port Authority who had previously been helping out in several odd tasks. In truth, it was a very dangerous [=CombatBot=] (albeit a much smaller one compared to the ones in ''Rogue Protocol'') passing off as a regular bot. It was originally send as a spy but when its parent company bankrupted it ended with no purpose and just went along with a regular life on Preservation for '''decades'''. This ended when a bunch of bounty hunters found its codes and took control of it. When Murderbot confronts it Murderbot asks it if there were 2 different bots inside the same chasis (a general purpose one and a combat one) or if it was a [=CombatBot=] alone who had managed to shed its dark purpose yet got controlled against its wishes. Tragically, Balin retorns that, if there is a difference, it matters little. They briefly exchange blows until they are forced into an open space, and faced down by the entire bot community in Preservation. With its cover completely blown and its mission failed, Balin quietly deactivates without further ado.]]

* MakeItLookLikeAnAccident: [[spoiler:Tlacey]] tries to kill several people [[spoiler:by destroying a shuttle AI just at the critical time to cause a crash]].

* CranialProcessingUnit: Zig-zagged, Murderbot does point out the biological components in its head (and presumably all [=SecUnits=]) are vital; but pure (humanoid) bots have their central processing units located in their (much better shielded) abdomens. Murderbot also references the trope twice in its narration. [[spoiler:Wilken]] makes the rookie mistake of trying to shoot [[spoiler:Miki]]'s head off, which would only have inconvenienced it. Murderbot makes the tactical decision to shoot a [=CombatBot=] in the head, knowing that its weapon isn't enough to pierce the bot's abdominal shielding but is enough to scramble all its head-mounted sensors for a crucial moment.

** Murderbot offers to show the Combat [=SecUnit=] how to hack its own governor, so it will be free to do whatever it wants. The Combat [=SecUnit=] says that [[RhetoricalQuestionBackfire what it wants is to kill Murderbot]], who really doesn't have a response to that.

** SapientShip ART doesn't have a ''weapons'' system, it has a ''debris deflection'' system.
** Also, it doesn't have ''missiles'', it has ''exploratory drones''. That it can blow up.

* SuspiciouslySpecificDenial: Usually along the lines of "Not that I'm angry about that, or anything."

* TheBerserker: [=SecUnit=] combat tactics involve throwing themselves at their target and inflicting maximum violence, knowing that any damage they receive can be easily repaired later. Murderbot drops these tactics later on as it's running on several stealth missions where it can't afford to take severe damage.

* ButNowIMustGo: The first book ends with Murderbot deciding it can't have a place among the Preservation humans and quietly slipping away. [[spoiler:It ends up coming back a few books later, and chooses to stay.]]

** ''Artificial Condition'' finally has Murderbot meet with [[ArcVillain Tlacey]] and her goons. [[spoiler:They don't know it's a [=SecUnit=] until Murderbot delivers a near effortless CurbStompBattle, killing all of them and suffering absolutely no damage]].
** ''Rogue Protocol'' has Murderbot face down with [[spoiler:[=GrayCris=]. It's less of a fight and more of a run, as the group doesn't stand a chance in an open fight with such a monster, not to mention the entire station is about to crash into the planet. Miki ultimately has to sacrifice itself to buy time.]]
** ''Exit Strategy'' features one of the longest action sequences in the series, being near relentless once [[spoiler: Murderbot and [=PresAux=] bait [=GrayCris=] into bringing out Mensah, extending into a tough escape sequence during which Murderbot has to shoot down several other [=SecUnits=] while protecting Mensah and then evade a [=CombatUnit=]. As if that wasn't enough once they finally manage to escape to the Company's Gunship, [=GrayCris=] still pushes forward with a devastating malware attack and attempts to board the Gunship with the [=CombatUnit=]. Murderbot has to team up with the Gunship's botpilot in a complex effort to repel the malware and attacking shuttle.]]
** ''Network Effect'' has Murderbot [[spoiler:captured by the Targets, and while it manages to sneak out, [=targetControlSystem=] promptly throws its main body against it. It's a massively infested corpse invulnerable to all of Murderbot's weapons, so it has to haul ass until ART nukes it from orbit.]]

* DontAskJustRun: In ''Fugitive Telemetry'', Murderbot figures out the killer is in the special investigator's office, so he marches in with a large gun in hand, and simply orders her to run. She takes off without question and Murderbot is free to confront [[spoiler: Balin]] without distraction.

* HeroicRROD: Extending its senses into [[spoiler:a Company gunship]] in an attempt to foil an aggressive attack from [[spoiler:a [=GrayCris=] AI]] makes Murderbot overload and crash, [[spoiler:but not before succeeding]]. It's left unconscious for quite some time while it fixes its own mind.

* SawItInAMovieOnce: Some of ART's tactics in the second story come from ''[[SoapWithinAShow Rise and Fall of Sanctuary Moon]]'' and other media that it watches.

** In ''Exit Strategy'', when Murderbot reveals to a [=GrayCris=] operative that he's a RogueDrone who wasn't acting under Mensah's orders, he scoffs because everyone knows a rogue [=SecUnit=] would leave a trail of bodies behind. An annoyed Murderbot threatens to start the trail then and there.

%%* DeadpanSnarker: Murderbot, and how! ART has some aspects of this as well.

* TheBerserker: [=SecUnit=] combat tactics involve throwing themselves at their target and inflicting maximum violence, knowing that any damage they receive can be easily repaired later. Murderbot drops this kind of tactics later on as its running on several stealth missions where it can't afford take severe damage.
* BigBad: The [=GrayCris=] corporation serves as the primary antagonist of the series. Starting with its scheme to loot ilegal and dangerous Alien Remants and murder everyone else present to cover it up. When that's foiled, [=GrayCris=] grows increasingly unhinged and revengeful, as and they [[spoiler: kidnap Dr Mensah to cash a ransom]] and when that also fails they send waves of hitmen and assassins. [[spoiler: They ultimately turn out to be the DiscOneFinalBoss of the series as they get systematically torn appart and dismantled in the fallout of ''Exit Strategy'' after crosing one too many lines and getting other powerful corporative entities caught in the crossfire of their agression against Preservation. Later entries in the series still have [=GrayCris'=] long shadow over them however, as Mensah and Murderbot are still wary of their assassination attempts, albeit by that point other antagonists have taken centerstage.]]

* BloodKnight: The [[spoiler:}[=CombatUnit=]]] in Book 4 refuses an offer of parlay and says quite simply that its desire is to kill [[spoiler:Murderbot]], a complete stranger. Murderbot is outright confused by the attitude.

* CranialProcessingUnit: Zig-zagged, Murderbot does point out the biological components in its head (and presumably all [=SecUnits=]) are vital; but pure (humanoid) bots have their central processing units located in their (much better shielded) abdomens. Murderbot also references the trope twice in its narration. [[spoiler:Wilken]] makes the rookie mistake of trying to shoot [[spoiler:Miki]]'s head off, which would only have inconvenienced it. Murderbot makes the tactical decision to shoot a [=CombatBot=]in the head, knowing that its weapon isn't enough to pierce the bot's abdominal shielding but is enough to scramble all its head-mounted sensors for a crucial moment.

** ''All Systems Red'' has the [[spoiler: showdown with the [=GrayCris=] survey team. Unlike the later entries it's less of a fight and more of a stealth operation where Murderbot and Mensah sneak in as hostages while Gurathin and Pin-Lee rig [=GrayCris's=] warp drive to activate too soon]]
** ''Artificial Condition'' finally has Murderbot meeting with [[ArcVillain Tlacey]] and her goons [[spoiler: they don't know hes a [=SecUnit=] until its too late and MB delivers a near effortless CurbStompBattle, killing all of them and suffering absolutely no damage]].
** ''Rogue Protocol'' has Murderbot face down with [[spoiler: the [=GrayCris=]. Its less of a fight and more of a run, as the group doesn't stand a chance in an open fight with such a monster, not to mention the entire station is about to crash into the planet. Miki ultimately has to sacrifice itself to buy time]]
** ''Exit Strategy'' features one of the longest action sequences in the series, being near relentless once [[spoiler: Murderbot and [=PresAux=] bait [=GrayCris=] into bringing out Mensah, extending into a tough escape secuence during which Murderbot has to shoot down several other SecUnits while protecting Mensah and then evade a [=CombatUnit=]. As if that wasn't enough once they finally manage to escape to the Company's Gunship, [=GrayCris=]still pushes forward with a devastating malware attack and attempts to board the Gunship with the [=CombatUnit=]. Murderbot has to team up with the Gunship's botpilot in a complex effort to repel the malware and attacking shuttle.]]
** ''The Network Effect'' has Murderbot [[spoiler: captured by the Targets, and while it manages to sneak out, targetControlSystem promptly throws its main body against it. Its a massively infested corpse invulnerable to all of MB's weapons, so it has to haul ass until ART nukes it from orbit.]]

* HeroicSacrifice: [[spoiler:Miki]] faces down a CombatBot to protect [[spoiler:its]] loved ones. Also, in the second book, [[spoiler: the [=ComfortUnits=] in the mining station put themselves between their idiot humans and the corrupted [=SecUnits=],]] which hits Murderbot pretty hard once it realizes what happened.

* TheBerserker: [=SecUnit=] combat tactics involve throwing themselves at their target and inflicting maximum violence, knowing that any damage they receive can be easily repaired later.

* BloodKnight: The [[spoiler:combat [=SecUnit=]]] in Book 4 refuses an offer of parlay and says quite simply that its desire is to kill [[spoiler:Murderbot]], a complete stranger. Murderbot is outright confused by the attitude.

* CranialProcessingUnit: Averted; robot processing units are located in their (much better shielded) abdomens, but Murderbot references the trope twice in its narration. [[spoiler:Wilken]] makes the rookie mistake of trying to shoot [[spoiler:Miki]]'s head off, which would only have inconvenienced it. Murderbot makes the tactical decision to shoot a combat bot in the head, knowing that its weapon isn't enough to pierce the bot's abdominal shielding but is enough to scramble all its head-mounted sensors for a crucial moment.

* HeroicSacrifice: [[spoiler:Miki]] faces down a combat bot to protect [[spoiler:its]] loved ones. Also, in the second book, [[spoiler: the [=ComfortUnits=] in the mining station put themselves between their idiot humans and the corrupted [=SecUnits=],]] which hits Murderbot pretty hard once it realizes what happened.

-->''[[spoiler: [=SecUnit 3=]]]'': [[spoiler: I want to help.]]

* KnowWhenToFoldEm: In "Fugitive Telemitry", the killer [[spoiler: goes into a rest cycle when confronted by Murderbot and the loader bots. The [=CombatBot=] had instructions to kill its target and hide its part in it. It didn't have any instructions telling it to resist arrest or fight to the death.]]

--> '''Amena''': Uncle Thiago thinks you love [Dr. Mensah].
--> '''Murderbot''': Not the way he thinks.

-->Maybe [[RedShirt these clients]] had been terrible and abusive, maybe they had deserved [[BodyguardBetrayal it.]] I didn’t care. [[DeclarationOfProtection Nobody was touching my humans.]]

-->I'm letting you see all this because I want you to know what I am and what I can do. [[BadassBoast I want you to know who targetControlSystem is fucking with right now]]. I want you to know if you help me, I'll help you, and that you can trust me.
-->[[spoiler: Now here is the code to disable your governor module.]]