All systems red

All systems red

Martha Wells

Book - 2017

A murderous android discovers itself in "All Systems Red", a tense science fiction adventure by Martha Wells that interrogates the roots of consciousness through Artificial intelligence. In a corporate-dominated spacefaring future, planetary missions must be approved and supplied by the Company. Exploratory teams are accompanied by Company-supplied security androids, for their own safety. But in a society where contracts are awarded to the lowest bidder, safety isn't a primary concern. On a distant planet, a team of scientists are conducting surface tests, shadowed by their Company-supplied 'droid -- a self-aware SecUnit that has hacked its own governor module, and refers to itself (though never out loud) as "Murder...bot." Scornful of humans, all it really wants is to be left alone long enough to figure out who it is. But when a neighboring mission goes dark, it's up to the scientists and their Murderbot to get to the truth.

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Subjects
Life on other planets > Fiction.
Interplanetary voyages > Fiction.
Artificial intelligence > Fiction.
Androids > Fiction.
Robots > Fiction.
Human-computer interaction > Fiction.
Science fiction.
Genres
Science fiction
Published
New York : Tom Doherty Associates 2017.
Language
English
Main Author
Martha Wells (author)
Edition
First edition
Physical Description
152 pages ; 21 cm
ISBN
9780765397539
Contents unavailable.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review

SecUnit, aka Murderbot, is a semiorganic corporate profit center, genderless and constructed of cheap parts to perform contract bodyguard services for clients who mostly don't want them. SecUnit can choose its attitude because it has hacked its governor (a hat-tip to Susan R. Matthews), blocking the functions that would punish it for anything but robotic obedience. Disgusted by humans and secretly addicted to a video serial called Sanctuary Moon, SecUnit is simply enduring another assignment until something completely outside of its data parameters tries to kill its humans. Nebula finalist Wells (Edge of Worlds) gives depth to a rousing but basically familiar action plot by turning it into the vehicle by which SecUnit engages with its own rigorously denied humanity. The creepy panopticon of SecUnit's multiple interfaces allows a hybrid first-person/omniscient perspective that contextualizes its experience without ever giving center stage to the humans. Agent: Jennifer Jackson, Donald Maass Literary. (May) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

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