Theres one line in the books (i forget where, i gave my copies back to the library) where Murderbot says something along the lines of "ARTs reply doesnt translate to human words, but trust me that it was very rude"
And it has convinced me that they cuss each other out using archaic malware attacks
It's been so long since I did proper concept stuff but I have resurrected my old workflow especially for a tentative design for the Universe's Best SecUnit
(Pls click for non crunchy resolution 🙄)
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[ID: four drawings of SecUnit/murderbot from The Murderbot Diaries, labelled "full armour", "under armour (+ clear visor)", "no armour (😐)", and "definitely a legit human (V1.0)".
The first drawing shows a humanoid figure in a black underskin and grey underarmour with patches of chunkier white armour over the top in places like joints and the outside of the limbs. It's wearing a white helmet that's shaped roughly like a rounded rectangle, which has a visor section at the front that's blacked out and shiny. It's labelled "bulky but durable".
The second drawing is a stripped back version of the first, showing only the grey underarmour and the suit underneath. It's labelled "less protective, more flexible", and a patch of black material in between the first two drawings is labelled "carbon fibre-esque underskin". The visor is also cleared to show some of the face inside the helmet.
The third drawing shows a toned human figure with light brown skin and very short dark hair. It's wearing a dark t-shirt and slim cut cargo pants, and has exposed metal sections on its arms and on the side of its head, among other places. Its feet look like simple prosthetics, and it's looking forward with a slight frown. A smaller drawing next to it shows a vertical chip slot in the back of its neck.
The fourth drawing shows the bot in a blue hoodie, dark high-collared shirt and similar cargo pants, this time with more pockets, as well as black work boots. Its hair is longer by a few centimetres and is straight, black and messy, with a section missing above the right ear where a metal section is exposed, and its eyebrows are also thicker. A smaller drawing labelled "2.0" next to it shows its head with the hair a few more centimetres longer, and the eyebrows slightly thicker again. End ID.]
Let me in, ART said, as cool and calm as if we were discussing what show to watch next. I had never given ART full access to my brain. I had let it alter my body, but not this. We had three seconds and counting. My clients, the other humans on the shuttle. I let it in.
[ID: a digital drawing in orange and blue. Murderbot is shoving to its feet in an apparently empty shuttle, holding on to the back of some seats. Murderbot wears wide pants with pockets and a hooded jacket. Its head seems to be under water, its hair floats and its eyes glow bright blue, as if the upper part of the drawing was a wave of water. The part of the image outside the bubble is in orange hues. /end ID]
2.
Calm down, ART said, not helpfully. I was too frozen to respond. After three seconds, ART added, She’s frightened. You are a reassuring presence.
[ID: a drawing in deep purple and yellow, showing two people in a small room. From a top-down angle, Tapan can be seen curled up and asleep, facing Murderbot. She wears shorts with tights beneath and a hoodie, her hair is in a bun. Beside her are her shoes, a backpack and some other supplies. Murderbot is sitting up and looking down at her, and is dressed in pants with many pockets, a hoodie, and boots. Yellow light shines in from underneath the door. /end ]
Some of our favorite quotes from Artemis ii so far:
"Copy. Moon joy."
"I have two Microsoft Outlooks, and neither one of those are working."
"Houston, if you could give me about 20 new superlatives in the mission summary for tomorrow that will help out my vocabulary a little bit, that would be great. Thank you."
“If you’ve ever seen the top of the spotlight of the top of the Luxor at night in Vegas, this looks like what it wants to be when it grows up.”
"To all of you down there on Earth... we love you, from the moon. See you on the other side."
"We just went sci fi.
"It is so great to see Earth again. To Asia, Africa, and Oceania: we are looking back at you. We hear you can look up and see the moon right now. We see you too."
"We will always choose Earth. We will always choose each other."
“It’s a bright spot on the moon, and we would like to call it Carroll.” (The name of Commander Reid Wiseman's late wife)
"Amaze amaze amaze."
"I said that we do not leave Earth, but we choose it. And that is true."
"Christina has been sleeping head down in the middle of the vehicle, kind of like a bat"
"It's really fun to be floatin' around, it just makes me feel like a little kid."
"Trust us, you look amazing, you look beautiful."
"'Homo Sapiens' is all of us, no matter where you're from or what you look like. We're all one people."
"We're going to power cycle the toilet from the ground."
"I'm proud to call myself the Space Plumber."
"We were all eagerly awaiting the chorus." (After Mission Control cut off Pink Pony Club early when waking up the crew)
"Copy heart. Copy bracelet." (In response to Wiseman giving his daughters heart hands and showing them the bracelets they made him that he was wearing)
“Welcome back. We are still here. They are in space.”
"Copy. Bubble wrap nominal."
"We have rediscovered the chocolate snacks."
“The truth is, the moon really is its own body in the universe. It's not just a poster in the sky that goes by, it is a real place."
“We will build ships. We will visit again. We will construct science outposts. We will drive rovers, we will do radio astronomy.”
"I've seen a lot of new perspectives, but my perspective has not changed because I launched with the perspective that there is enough for all." (After being asked if they had a new view on humankind.)
"On behalf of all Canadians, we wanted some reassurances of your preferences for maple syrup over Nutella on your pancakes."
"And we have a great view of the moon out window 2. Looks a little smaller than yesterday." (Reid), "Guess we'll have to go back :)" (Mission Control).
A/N: No warnings. I haven't finished the series yet so apologies if I get something wrong. This is kinda inspired by my love of Star Trek. All fluff and a bit of confused yearning. Not proofread. Also this is my first ever fic so there's that...
If there was anyone among the team who Murderbot was especially glad it hadn't killed, it was you. Its reasons for this were simple, you didn't try to engage it in pointless conversation, you stopped trying to make eye contact with it when it didn't reciprocate, and you were almost as knowledgeable about 'The Rise and Fall of Sanctuary Moon' as it was. Truly, it was astonished that any human, with such an inherently limited memory capacity, could have seen almost more of the series than it.
"I've been watching it since I was six" you explained one time when he dared to be the first to initiate conversation.
"My parents used to watch it with me, they've been into it since before I was even born. It really helped me to understand more about the worlds, how important it is to try to understand and accept different types of people, even if they might seem very different to you at first. I guess that's why I don't mind the silly stuff, the message is what's important"
Even though you were wrong about Sanctuary Moon being 'silly' (how could Captain Hossein ever be considered 'silly') it had to admit it had never thought of it in that way before. It supposed you were right, it had always enjoyed when other androids were introduced if they weren't automatically the bad guys. Maybe that was why you had never seemed as uncomfortable around it as the others.
It was still surprised, however, when it found itself willingly watching sanctuary moon with you in your quarters. Your flickering projector offered a far inferior viewing experience, not to mention the fact that he had to tune out the rest of the crew noisily going about their business in the habitat. Despite this, it found itself enjoying your presence, curled up in a frankly bizarre position at the foot of your bed. It had chosen to stand and you hadn't questioned it.
Every few minutes you made some comment about the characters or the plot and sometimes it responded. Usually this would have irritated it but, in this moment, this made it feel included. Like it was a part of a secret club in the habitat, just for the two of you.
Confusingly, it found itself wondering what it would be like to lie on the bed with you, like it had observed Pin-Lee and Arada do when they relaxed in their quarters. It wondered if proximity would feel as repulsive if it was with you.
Murderbot shut these thoughts down quickly, they were uncomfortable and frightening. For now, it would content itself with standing by your door, enjoying something only the two of you really understood.
A/N part 2: Also wanted to apologise to the other two people in the Murderbot x reader tag. Sorry for making your x reader prophecy come true
Edit: Thanks so much @specialagentartemis for letting me know about Murderbot's pronouns :)
I threw together a little rec list for fans of Murderbot :)
This is aimed at fans of the novellas and the TV show and I tried to capture various different elements of the story and characters.
Text of slides below the cut
The Tea Master and the Detective by Aliette de Bodard
Adult science fiction novella
Imagine Sherlock and Watson if Watson was a sentient, traumatized spaceship and Sherlock was a human detective investigating a murder
Faster-than-light travel, deep space unreality, mind-altering herbal teas
Spaceship POV
The spaceship really enjoys reading/watching period dramas
Vietnamese-inspired sci fi setting
No romance
One Day All This Will Be Yours by Adrian Tchaikovsky
Adult science fiction novella
The grumpy last survivor of a catastrophic time war lives a solitary life…until other time travellers try to disrupt his carefully curated retirement
The main character has a pet dinosaur
Darkly funny, misanthropic narrator
If you liked Murderbot’s first-person POV in the books, you’ll probably enjoy the narrative voice of this novella
The Butterfly Assassin by Finn Longman
Young adult dystopian thriller set in a walled city ruled by assassin guilds
Isabel Ryans is a former child assassin and the daughter of a notorious scientist
Wanting nothing more than to live a normal life, she escapes and assumes a civilian identity…but finds her past and her assassin training harder to leave behind than she’d hoped
“Raised as weapon” character grappling with violence, morality, and friendship
Aromantic asexual main character with PTSD and severe hand scarring
No romance
The Wolf Among the Wild Hunt by Merc Fenn Wolfmooor
Adult dark fantasy novella
Scythulf, a wolf shapeshifter, was raised to be nothing more than a pit fighter until he’s rescued by Brennus, a knight who offers him a new life
When Scythulf accidentally kills a corrupted nun, his only chance at redemption is to run with the Wild Hunt, a trial of blood and courage
“Raised to be a weapon” protagonist; aspec rep; strong platonic bonds
Aroace protagonist; aroace nonbinary queerplatonic partner, queernorm fantasy world
No romance
The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers
Adult science fiction novel
A motley spaceship crew finds adventure and friendship on their voyages through the universe
Episodic storytelling and found family dynamics
Interesting alien characters and cultures
Queer characters + F/F relationship
Cursebreakers by Madeleine Nakamura
Adult fantasy novel
Adrien Desfourneax, a disgraced physician turned professor of magic, finds himself investigating a dangerous curse while grappling with his own mental health and a dangerous ally
Gay main character with bipolar disorder; autistic-coded side character
If you love rotating TV!Gurathin in your mind, you will probably find Adrien a very interesting character
Archivist Wasp by Nicole Kornher-Stace
Young adult fantasy/dystopia
A young ghost hunter joins forces with the ghost of a supersoldier to traverse the underworld in search of the lost ghost of his partner and answers about their post-apocalyptic world
Characters shaped by ruthless dystopian worlds learning to claim their autonomy and identity
Strong M/F friendships that don’t turn into romance
Aroace-coded main character + no romance
Hullmetal Girls by Emily Skrutskie
YA science fiction novel
Hundreds of years in the future, the last survivors of the human race travel through space in a fleet of ships, searching for a new habitable planet to settle
When two girls join the order of cyborg soldiers who keep order in the fleet, they find themselves questioning their loyalties as violence brews
Explores bodily autonomy and privacy through sci fi elements
Main characters of color + ace main character
No romance
The Outside by Ada Hoffman
Adult science fiction novel
Cosmic horror x space opera
In a galaxy ruled by AI gods and their ruthless cyborg-angels, young prodigy scientist Yasira develops new technology that could change the trajectory of humanity–until her work backfires and is declared heretical
Offered her life in exchange for hunting down her vanished heretical mentor, Yasira must decide who to trust as her world’s fate hangs in the balance
Autistic lesbian main character of color
Redshirts by John Scalzi
Adult satirical science fiction novel
Ensign Andrew Dahl is excited for his new position on board the the starship Intrepid…until he begins to realize there’s a mysterious pattern of low-level ensigns like himself dramatically dying on missions…and the reason why might reshape his very understanding of reality
For the enjoyers of the TV’s take on Sanctuary Moon being a Star Trek parody
The Stardust Grail by Yume Kitasei
Adult science fiction novel
Anti-colonial space heist
Maya Hoshimoto, an art thief turned grad student, finds herself pulled into one last job to retrieve an artifact that could save an alien species–and possibly doom humanity
Alien-human friendships, explorations of sentience and consciousness
Japanese diaspora main character with chronic migraines
Of Monsters and Mainframes by Barbara Truelove
Adult science fiction inspired by classic horror stories
Demeter is a spaceship that transports humans across galaxies–except her passengers keep dying in mysterious paranormal murders
To prevent herself from being decommissioned, Demeter must track down the ultimate evil behind her passengers’ deaths: Dracula
In a near-future dystopian America, salvager Valentine runs odd jobs in the wastelands of Utah in hopes of earning enough for the gender-affirming care he desperately needs
When he encounters Osric, an AI forced into an android body, he’s offered a job that could pay him everything he needs–but at the cost of his own morals
Explores sentience and autonomy through a science fiction lense
Android/human romance
Gay, trans man main character with ADHD; gay main character
Bluebird by Ciel Pierlot
Adult science fiction novel
In a galaxy ruled by three warring rival factions, gunslinging inventor-turned-thief Rig has abandoned her former faction and is happy as a rebel–until her former faction ransoms her twin sister for what she stole from them
Alongside her librarian girlfriend, a mysterious bounty hunter, and a network of resistance contacts, Rig embarks on a journey across the galaxy to save her sister–and maybe tear down the factions for good
Rip-roaring romp of a sci fi story full of action
Alien protagonists
Lesbian main character; amputee representation
Emergent Properties by Aimee Ogden
Adult science fiction novella
Scorn is a state-of-the-art AI investigator who becomes entangled in brewing corporate warfare
When Scorn wakes up one day day on the moon with no memory of zir past ten days, ze begins a hunt into zir own past that leads them to uncover far more explosive truths than ze could have expected
When Benito said this is America and started to recite every country of the continent showing all the flags because yes! we are here! that's America! This is our continent too! and not a particular country of the north hemisphere? Iconic in my opinion
Hi guys, I know my account is for asoiaf fanarts but I have something sad and revolting to share with you.
Recently in Brazil, teenagers beat a stray dog named "Orelha" to death. What revolts me the most is knowing that nothing will happen to the teenagers because they are the sons of billionaire entrepreneurs and one of them is the son of the owner of the Majestic Palace Hotel, and one is the son of a policeman.
The parents are trying to bury the case by threatening to sue everyone who comments on it, but I'm not afraid, if it's to try and do justice, I'm not afraid of evil billionaires.
Well, these five idiots, whose I wanted to punch their faces until their bones shattered on the ground, they're from a very rich family from one of the most nazi states in Brazil (I just wanted to bring up this information, 'cause, why not), and they're already trying to make this case be forgotten (including armed coercion of the man who reported the case). Now that the case has gained notoriety, only now, the judge has declared herself ineligible to preside over the case because she's a friend of the family of one of these four human trash. We can no longer allow cases like this to be forgotten; enough of these rich sons of bitches not paying for their crimes. I don't fucking care if they're teenagers if they commit heinous crimes. I'm sharing this link for anyone who wants to sign, so that this crime's not forgotten and receives the attention it deserves. If we don't get justice, I hope someone goes to them and makes them suffer even worse than they did to that poor dog. I'm not going to lie, if I lived nearby I wouldn't wait the justice system to punish them leniently like it does with any rich son of a bitch... We've seen this story repeat itself before, countless times.
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