@gamebird asked why some individuals are designated “Target One/Two/Three” and others are “Hostile One/Two/Three”?
Which was an interesting question? I wondered was there even a difference?
These are individuals who Murderbot specifically refers to as by capitalised names. There are twenty one such individuals in total:
Hostile One (the giant worm in All Systems Red)
Hostiles One, Two and Three (SecUnits and Combat SecUnit in Exit Strategy)
Hostiles One and Two (augmented human assassins in Network Effect flashbacks, sent to kill Mensah on Preservation)
Targets One, Two and Three (Tlacey’s thugs in Artificial Condition)
Targets One and Two (GrayCris agents in Exit Strategy)
Targets One, Two, Three and Four (boat raiders in Network Effect)
Targets One, Two, Three, Four, Five and Six (the weird gray people in Network Effect)
Which I realised IS A PATTERN!
All the TARGETS are human and all the HOSTILES are…not
“Wait!”
I hear you cry
“The assassins are humans! Augmented humans, you said it yourself!”
But stop
“I didn’t think there had been a person inside Hostile Two since before the first time we killed him”
“The two augmented humans GrayCris had sent to kill Dr. Mensah had been less sentient than hauler bots.”
So Hostile=not human
Any exceptions to this gratefully received