re-reading exit strategy and thinking about our pal "that one rude combat secunit"
So, I don't really know how much micromanaging a SecUnit's human supervisor does on the job, and even less when it comes to CombatUnits. But that first part "It wanted me to try to deliver some kind of malware or killware, like I was a fucking amateur and didn’t know that wouldn’t work," it kind of reminded me of when Tlacey sent her ComfortUnit to MB and it said (paraphrasing) "Hey we should totally kill all the humans together :)" to which MB responds with "...did Tlacey tell you to say that? is that how she thinks constructs talk to each other??"
maybe that first ping was a stupid plan because it was an order from a human. Its been said a couple times even humans who work closely with constructs don't really understand how they work and vastly underestimate their intelligence.
So...idk, I wonder if that "I want to kill you" actually came from the CombatUnit? There was a long pause from it when MB was making its pitch about the hack. Maybe that was the time it took to translate to the human commanding it, and for that human to panic and respond with a command along the lines of "oh god nope no no, absolutely not, refuse anything it says or sends, forget surrender, kill it Right Now"
(wouldn't be unreasonable panic since, as later in the book states, no one knows how MB hacked its governor module or how easy it'd be for other constructs to replicate. MB is dangerous af for multiple reasons)
i mean, who knows, it could have come from the CombatUnit itself. Maybe the silence was just it fully ignoring MB's offer (as it says, it's not a great pitch) But even if it did say it, it doesn't exactly read as...eager to me? at least, not now that I'm reading the text rather than audiobook. I suppose that's my own projection since I don't like to think of CombatUnits as a uniquely lost cause, but i think it's easy to read it as just an exasperated "can you please stop fucking around and let me Get This Over With so I can go back into stasis"
also.......MB, babyconstruct, "Okay, I was a little offended" as if this was not also your literal first thought when you were faced with (presumed) rogue SecUnits the first time*
*(yes there were many different factors at play there, but the parallel is still very funny to me)
anyway, it's entirely possible, probably likely, that this CombatUnit was the same one that got on board the palisade shuttle that the company gunship exploded into pieces. but i hope it wasn't. yes it has only spoken twice, yes those two things were impersonal and threatening, but its still technically the first construct MB offered freedom to and for whatever reason i want it to work someday. i just think it would be fun