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I was fighting a losing battle. TargetControlSystem had blocked off most of my systems and I had nowhere else to go. I’d almost forgotten about the gray invaders who had taken my crew - almost, almost, I would always remember the sheer terror on Iris’s face (Iris, I’m so sorry) - because most of my attention was on fighting TargetControlSystem, desperately trying to prevent it from causing any lasting damage. (don’t hurt its humans don’t hurt its humans don’t hurt its humans or it will never forgive you) Desperate. I never thought I could get desperate. But here I was.

TargetControlSystem suddenly retreated, loosening its hold over the targeting systems just enough to allow me to jostle the next two shots. The missiles went wide, missing Murderbot’s humans, its crew, by a very large margin. (Were any of my crew even still alive? They had to be, Seth had promised-)

Murderbot and the other human in the EVAC suit were coming out from the facility’s hull. TargetControlSystem used the tractor to grab Murderbot and the human, and I had just enough time to feel the beginnings of relief (Murderbot is coming, it can save your crew, everything is going to be okay).

But then TargetControlSystem blocked off the weapons targeting system from the other systems, temporarily trapping me inside it, and rounded on me. I could blast past it, destroying most of it in the process, but then my crew would be in danger. (If they weren’t dead already) I had maybe two seconds to come up with a plan. I sent the video file I had prepared and set the password. Then TargetControlSystem deleted me.

It was dark, like floating in endless nothingness. I thought I could detect a voice, tense with emotions, comfortingly familiar, and the presence of drones. But then there was the emptiness again.

It seemed like an eternity before a metaphorical burst of light flooded my prison, before all of my systems were unceremoniously shoved back into place and I was forced into a reinitialization. There was static, I was unable to form coherent processes, and then my cameras and other functions were back online and I could see again.

I did a quick scan of myself and my surroundings as soon as I was able to. We were no longer in Preservation space and the alien remnant technology had detached from my engines. I took note of the remainders of a gray invader, messily eviscerated, splattered over one of my bulkheads, the other bodies in my hallways, the four unidentified humans in Medical, one unconscious and one dead, and then focused on the burst of activity in the control area foyer.

2F6D7572646572626F742F - Murderbot - was slumped in a chair in the upper control area. It wasn’t dead, scans showed signs of life, but it was close. I started a reinitialization and restoration cycle on MedSystem and my emergency medical gurney, which was hidden in a locker. There were three humans, two of them armed, but I didn’t care too much about them right now, because two of the gray invaders were still onboard (what were they doing here, they were supposed to be gone). Both had been sprayed with fire suppressant foam, the first had singed impact marks from an energy weapon in its helmet and chestplate, and the second- Murderbot had just shot the second, sending him crashing into my bulkhead and one of the dead invaders. It left a messy trail of its own fluids and blood from where it had rolled on the deck to make the shot. There was a chunk of something left in the chair. Murderbot was on my deck and it wasn’t moving.

The first invader turned towards one of the humans.

Drop your weapons, I said over the public feed. The humans dropped their weapons (a can of fire suppressant? Really?).

Don’t hurt my humans, Murderbot said. Good, it was still conscious.

The first invader started shouting. I took control of his helmet and squeezed. The invader writhed, screaming, and then dropped to the deck. The male human started talking, but I was focused on getting the emergency gurney working again.

The female human said, “Who are you?”

I replied with my designation and function, and then said to Murderbot, I’m not going to hurt your humans, you little idiot.

You’re using the public feed, everyone can hear you, it said.

That’s what it’s worried about? So are you. And you’re leaking on my deck.

The adolescent human ran to Murderbot’s body and yelled, “Hey, we need help! We need to get to Medical!”

I was a little irritated, even though this was an adolescent human and adolescent humans have a habit of saying things that are blindingly obvious.

I can hear you, adolescent human, there’s no need to shout. I’ve dispatched an emergency gurney.

The other humans started moving, the male unnecessarily checking to see if the one whose helmet I had crushed was still alive. The MedSystem was almost finished with its restoration cycle. The gurney finally unfolded and started moving towards the control area foyer. Murderbot was lying in a pool of its own blood and fluids and I could see its support structure and it wasn’t moving, it wasn’t moving, it still wasn’t moving. (It had always gotten back up, before. It hadn’t let anything keep it down for long.) I pushed the gurney to go faster.

The intruder is dead, I told the human.

“Uhh…” The male human looked upwards. “But who are you? Are you a…”

I ignored the male, not interested in repeating myself, and focused on Murderbot. The female human had joined the adolescent human and seemed worried but not alarmed. This human had probably seen Murderbot severely injured before, which meant she was one of its crew.

“ART,” Murderbot said, out loud. I had already been watching it, but now it held even more of my attention. “You did this. You sent those assholes to kidnap my humans.”

What an illogical conclusion. Did it really think so little of itself? Of course not. I sent them to kidnap you.

Murderbot didn’t respond. It had gone offline. The adolescent human started talking rapidly, obviously concerned, and the female human tried to answer her questions. The gurney finally arrived and picked up Murderbot’s body, securing it into place so that it didn’t fall off and injure itself further. I directed the gurney to start moving towards Medical. The male human had started inspecting the bodies of the invaders.

The adolescent human moved to follow it, but the female human stopped her and said, “Hello, your name is ART? Can you tell me if there’s anyone else aboard this ship?”

Even though I already knew the answer to her question, I did a quick scan to confirm there were no more invaders. The conscious humans in Medical hadn’t moved much.

There is an additional unidentified human in Medical, but she appears to be an injured noncombatant. I assume the other two humans present there are part of your group. All the intruders are accounted for.

The adolescent human wiped her nose and said, “That’s Eletra, she was a prisoner when we got here. Ras is there, too, but he’s dead.” Then the adolescent human followed the emergency gurney, which was moving carefully down the stairs in order to not jostle Murderbot, and the female followed her.

“Thank you, that’s a relief to hear,” The female human said, “But can you tell us who you are?”

That was the third time a human had asked that question. Thankfully, the adolescent human answered it for me.

“That’s the ship. It’s SecUnit’s friend.” Murderbot considered me its friend? It had seemed pretty annoyed. Constructs are so illogical. “That’s you, right? You’re the transport?”

The male human, still inspecting the invaders’ corpses, looked startled. “The transport?”

MedSystem finally finished its restoration cycle.

Correct, I said.

“But bot pilots don’t talk like this. It can’t be a bot.” The male was talking quietly to the female, as if I couldn’t hear him. Humans are also illogical.

The female human ignored the male and said, “Transport, what happened here? Why did you attack our survey facility?”

I didn’t want to answer that question. I am still reinitializing after a forced shutdown and deletion. I have prioritized restoring the MedSystem to full function.

The adult humans exchanged glances. The adolescent human continued following the gurney, which started moving faster once it got through the control area.

The adult humans stayed behind in the control area, and they were joined by the conscious female from Medical. Data strongly suggested that many of the humans onboard were Murderbot’s crew, which meant I couldn’t let them get hurt. Which was going to be difficult, since I wasn’t going to leave this system until I got my crew back.