Rogue Protocol

Rogue Protocol (2018) is the third novella in The Murderbot Diaries, a science fiction series by American author Martha Wells. Rogue Protocol was nominated for a Hugo Award for best novella, but Wells declined the nomination, though she won the same award for other installments in the series.

This guide references the 2018 Tor Publishing Group electronic edition.

Content Warning: The source material and guide feature depictions of enslavement and cursing.

Plot Summary

Rogue Protocol begins in the immediate aftermath of the events in Artificial Condition, as Murderbot (the narrator Security Unit, or “SecUnit,” AI) travels to Milu, seeking evidence against the mega-corporation GrayCris. GrayCris allegedly intended to terraform Milu and abandoned its project after the terraforming efforts failed. Murderbot believes that GrayCris was secretly and illegally collecting alien remains at Milu and now intends its facility to be destroyed to hide these crimes. Murderbot intends to collect incriminating data before the facility is destroyed and give it to its mentor, Dr. Mensah, who helped it free itself from GrayCris’s control in All Systems Red.

To this end, Murderbot poses as a human security consultant, Consultant Rin, a persona it adopted during Artificial Condition. It seeks transport toward Milu with a group of humans who have signed on for 20 years of indentured servitude to GrayCris. After parting from the humans, Murderbot hacks a bot transport it calls Ship to take it the rest of the way to Milu. On Ship, it hides from human security consultants Wilken and Gerth, who work for GoodNightLander Independent (GI), a research group planning to take over GrayCris’s abandoned project. (Murderbot later learns that Wilken and Gerth actually work for GrayCris and have been hired to kill GI’s assessment team.)

On Milu, Murderbot convinces a “human-form bot” named Miki to let Murderbot access its video and audio feeds, something that requires careful maneuvering, as Miki considers its human companions “friends.” Murderbot claims it is interested in keeping Don Abene and Hirune, the two human assessors, safe. Murderbot moves through the abandoned terraforming facility and accesses incriminating data that will show GrayCris’s true intentions. Before it can process the data, something attacks the human group. Murderbot hurries to aid them against a series of combat bots, formidable and hard-to-defeat robots. None of the humans are killed in the initial attack, though Hirune is abducted.

Murderbot pretends to be a SecUnit that was hired by the fictional Consultant Rin. It offers aid, which Wilken and Gerth distrust but do not outright refuse. The group splits: Gerth accompanies support staff back to the group’s shuttle while Don Abene, Miki, Murderbot, and Wilken seek Hirune. When the group encounters more combat bots, Wilken encourages Murderbot to sacrifice itself, something that annoys Murderbot, though it is not an uncommon attitude when humans work with AI. Murderbot hatches its own plan to circumvent the bots, which it does by hacking combat drones and setting them to battle the bots. In the chaos, it rescues Hirune and returns to Don Abene and Miki just as Wilken attacks them, as she’s been paid by GrayCris to do. Murderbot hacks Wilken’s mechanized armor, leaving her stuck in place. Miki loses a hand in the altercation.

Murderbot schemes how to get the other humans away from Gerth without alerting her to the fact that her murderous scheme was uncovered. It hacks several “digger” bots to falsify an attack against the shuttle, which lures the humans out. Then, it freezes Gerth’s armor to incapacitate her. The crew quickly boards the shuttle and leaves the facility. The humans redirect the combat bot that was scheduled to destroy the facility. This leaves the shuttle vulnerable to attack from the remaining combat bot, which boards the shuttle. Despite its humans’ pleas, Miki insists on helping Murderbot fight. Miki’s processor is crushed in the battle, effectively killing it. Murderbot pretends that it, too, has been killed and escapes to Ship to take the data it secured to Dr. Mensah.