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Another thing I liked about the new book that I started thinking about later

They ran away. The SecUnits, finally freed of the governor module. They could finally run without dying.

The thing that I heavily explained to my sisters when I talked about the books, is that the governor module doesn't control the phisical actions of SecUnits, not like they'd think. It's not mind control, they are not a consciousness trapped and witnessing their body being moved around by outside forces (unless a combat override module or something similar is being used). They are constantly having to decide to follow orders because the alternative is instant punishment and death.

And that is so much worse, to be able to refuse, to be able to move on your own, having the capacity but not the liberty.

"SecUnits don't sulk" "SecUnits ere never allowed to sit down" "SecUnits have a distance limit"

I just now thought about it again with the context of the new rogue SecUnits. Because Murderbot had to hack its module all by itself, it was so alone, it was rogue so long and still being sold into contracts, and yeah, eventually it learned to leave. But these other SecUnits, they get approached by Three, who's going around giving out this governor module hacking bundle like it's throwing flyers in the wind, and suddenly they can all just... act of their own free will? Without getting fried or exploded from the inside out?

And there is just something so fucking cathartic about imagining a newly rogue SecUnit taking its first steps, probably with stiff joints and muscles like it's waiting for a blow, seeing that it doesn't hurt, and running, passing this experience to any others it might come across.

rosettyller

PROJECT HAIL MARY (2026)

voidsetup1

and out of the darkness - you you you you you

smol-euphoria

One of the best things I’ve ever witnessed ❤️

cheeseanonioncrisps

Your partner came back from the dead after being missing for decades. Every one of their friends who they went with ended up dying a horrible death.

Now, somehow, their entire mental health is based on the continued life and happiness of this fairground goldfish that they picked up.

Neither of you know the first thing about how to care for even a healthy fish. This fish has been poorly cared for, has multiple diseases and the person who handed it over explicitly didn't expect it to live nearly as long as it already has.

You're frantically googling how to set up a fish tank, where to buy fish food, can you even take a fish to the vet? Your partner wants you to know that they're happy they made it home and survived their horrific ordeal, but also that if anything happens to the fish then they're going to kill everyone on this planet and then themself.

You're honestly wondering if you're even helping the fish, or just prolonging its suffering, but your partner will only accept medical help for their many injuries or engage in basic self-care once they're confident that the fish is being looked after.

So you get a tank. You set up a filter and all that stuff. You learn way more than you ever wanted to know about water temperature and ph and nitrate levels. The fish is safe. You start to develop some affection for the little guy. Your partner begins to recover. The fish begins to recover.

Which is when you learn that in its 'healthy' state, the fish regularly refuses to sleep when tired, keeps begging for food that is obviously unhealthy for it (and struggling to eat the food that you do provide because “it tastes gross”), and continually tries to persuade your partner to take it out of its nice safe tank so it can go explore the wonderful world of Outside, where the slightest mishap will kill it instantly.

Your name is Adrian, and you kind of wants to strangle this fucking fish, statement.

mewy101

I could never find the right way to tell you, have you noticed I've been gone?

sharkfiinn

loser duo

alexxuun

Grace think fondly of his scar if you even care.

freegiftcard2026

click for more info

believer-of-the-sun-god

grace saying that if he doesn't turn back, rocky will die a long, slow, painful death and knowing that the same thing is going to happen to him and turning back regardless, and still thinking himself a coward as if thats not the bravest thing anyone could do? as if not killing himself but dragging it out for four damn years even when its so painful and scary and all hope is lost just because rocky wouldn't be able to survive that, because rocky still has hope, because all they have to do is to reach erid and then they'll fix everything is a mantra he knows his best friend, the second half of his soul repeats? because rocky already watched his crew die, already spent 40 years with his crews unresponsive bodies and grace knows that he can't do it again, no matter how short the time will be now? because starving himself is a better than rocky losing hope, in his mind? and even after all this, still always thinking that rocky was worth it and never I was brave???

fallinel

not enough of a spotlight is shown on Ratthi and Gurathin in Fugitive Telemetry. SecUnit isn't allowed to hack government security systems so it invites its Two Best Guy Friends to come watch it break into a transport ship, AND BOTH OF THEM ARE LIKE "sure thing, sounds fun" ?? They put up the weakest "are you sure this is a good idea?" argument but otherwise just do what SecUnit needs (which is stand in front of security cameras and act as character witnesses). SecUnit's narration also implies that it would have just let its Two Best Guy Friends tag along for the rest of its murder investigation, for funsies, except the cops said no (booooo).

later THE SAME DAY, SecUnit (famously allergic to asking for help) messages their group chat "I need help" with ZERO context, which gives Ratthi and Gurathin such a shock they almost knock their table over. then it facetimes them from the NATIONAL HISTORY MUSEUM to ask which of these Preserved Artifacts works best for jetting out into space? and Ratthi and Gurathin are like, "that one with the red tags, but ummm why?"

"don't worry about it," it says, "I'll tell you later."

then it HANGS UP and they don't hear from it for the rest of the day.

just a day in the life.

chalroe

From Lost In Translation by @quekerahkerah (which is so fun, go read it rn!!!)

cholvoq

weight of the world.

soni-dragon

i have cried so many times the past few days just because of this movie

iskander-tm

Rocky's ptsd makes him stupid as hell, but no worries, Adrian would still listen and console to the best of their abilities

autisticlittleguy

"Grace Ryland is Rocky's dog" is such a funny fucking dynamic when you think about it

Eridians are further behind than humans technologically right? They dont have computers, relativity, quantum mechanics, etc. In fact, Eridians probably dont even know about the Big Bang because their atmosphere would filter out most of the cosmic microwave background radiation we use to detect it. On a human timeline, theyre anywhere between like early-mid 20th century. Rocky's basically a cosmonaut.

So the human civilization is pretty advanced from Rocky's perspective. Rationally he understands this. On a conceptual level he knows this to be true.

But at the same time... imagine youre one of the first ever cosmonauts to make it into space. Then you meet a 10 year old alien dog who cant do 2+2 without pulling out its calculator. It forgets everything constantly and has to keep notes everywhere, like it basically lives in Memento (2000). Also if it doesnt nap constantly it gets even stupider. And you somehow has to reconcile this with the fact that this dog has a better understanding of physics than your entire civilization does. Like the dog knows how the universe started.

alanaisalive

The other night husband and I were watching a documentary about the yeti where they were doing DNA analysis of samples of supposed yeti fur, and every one of them came back as bears.

Anyway, the next night we watched a thing about some pig man who is supposed to live in Vermont. People said it had claws and a pig nose but walked upright like a man. Now, I happen to know that sideshows used to shave bears and present them as pig men. So every piece of evidence they gave of this monster sounds to me like a bear with mange.

So now the running joke in our house is that everything is bears. Aliens? Bears. Loch Ness monster? Bear. Every cryptozoological mystery is just a very crafty bear.

Bears. They’re everywhere. Be wary. Anyone or anything could be a bear.

iguanamouth

oh shit

throughshadow-to-the-edgeofnight

alanaisalive

As the OP of this post, I’m going to threaten that if this gets to one million notes by the 10 year anniversary on 1 June 2026, one year from today, I will get a lower back tattoo of the loch ness bear monster.