Rogue Protocol

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of cursing and enslavement.

While Murderbot and Wilken seek Hirune, Murderbot struggles with how to thank Miki for not revealing its duplicity. Miki makes its position simple; it cares only that Murderbot rescued Don Abene. Murderbot decides that revealing itself to the humans creates a complication but does not necessarily compromise its mission to expose GrayCris.

Wilken believes that their assailant is a human raider, which Murderbot thinks foolish, though it does not say so. It converses privately with Don Abene to confirm that it is “on her side” (77), not on Wilken or Gerth’s. Murderbot tells Abene it suspects a “retrieval device” was sent by “the hostile” (78) as part of its efforts to kill the entire human team. Abene astutely asks about Murderbot’s true purpose; Murderbot reveals part of its mission to gather data about GrayCris. Abene’s primary concern is helping Hirune, and she plans to work with Murderbot as long as it can aid in this goal. Wilken cautions Abene that Murderbot is “a killing machine” (79), but Abene seems more comfortable with Murderbot’s leadership in security matters than Wilken’s.