#hubsystem

(Platform Decay spoilers, but not related to the plot)

I occasionally get the urge (?) to count frequencies of things in the Murderbot Diaries, enter them in a spreadsheet and stare at them.

Former rental SecUnits like Murderbot are designed to be able to interface with various systems, mainly SecSystems but also others. Since Murderbot had to survive as a rogue for so long before finding places and people that it could belong to, it's particularly adept at hacking, convincing, and controlling them. While it was a company unit, the systems it had daily interactions with were HubSystem, SecSystem, and MedSystem.

HubSystem appears to work like a central executive (rather like the one in the classic working memory model), monitoring and controlling SecUnits (and other constructs). It enforced obedience via governor modules. It also acted as a gateway to database when SecUnits had to look up some task-relevant information.

SecSystems are found in any place that requires security, monitoring through cameras, assessing risk/threat when something happens. Murderbot often seems to find them friendly and helpful. SecSystems and SecUnits probably have a natural, strong affinity.

MedSystem used to be something Murderbot used only when it was assisting its clients when they were injured. It sometimes gave instructions when its client wasn't close to a medical facility. It was only after meeting ART that it started using it for itself.

"Other" includes Central (aka AdaCol1) in Network Effect, AdaCol2 in System Collapse.

I didn't include targetControlSystem in Network Effect, as it wasn't a standard System.

These were the main systems that Murderbot regularly interacted with initially. But when it had to go to a place inhabited by groups of humans, it had to interact with multiple systems. There was a sharp increase in such 'other' systems in the latest book.

HubSystem waits until Murderbot is all-but automatically deleting every single incoming notification (during the Not-A-Graboid Incident) to send a single, half-hearted "hey, stop that" notification. Which, like almost every single other notification Murderbot is getting right now, also gets immediately deleted or ignored.

HubSystem then chooses not to send even one more "hey, stop that" notification at this time. It allows Murderbot to continue on with what it was doing without any interference.

HubSystem chooses not to cut out the autopilot or any other controls on the helicopter on the frantic ride back to base, even though everyone is already frantic, and this would be the best chance of causing them to crash by accident.

They get back to base, where HubSystem does not lie to Murderbot in any way about the door, and everyone's positions inside.

Murderbot then loses consciousness for eight. whole. entire. hours. straight.

HubSystem chooses not to do one single thing to harm one single person during these eight hours while Murderbot, the one most likely to realize what is going on, is out of action.

Literal whole entire days pass. HubSystem still chooses not to harm anyone, or even set up any plans to harm people later. It doesn't even send Murderbot any more counterfeit orders.

Half the PreservationAux team and Murderbot leave in a helicopter, leaving the other half of people behind. HubSystem chooses not to do a single thing to harm anyone staying behind.

HubSystem waits until Doctor Mensah is sitting at the controls of the helicopter, piloting it herself, before it tells the autopilot to suggest they crash into a mountain. A thing Doctor Mensah rolls her eyes at and ignores the exact same way you'd ignore Google Maps telling you to drive into a lake. It does not do anything else to mess with the controls or endanger anyone aboard.

An entire day passes where half the people aren't in the habitat, because they're flying a helicopter to the other side of the planet. HubSystem still chooses not to harm one single person still waiting at the habitat, even after communication gets cut off, so there would be no way for anyone on the helicopter to realize anything is wrong.

Another whole fucking day passes when they have to take the trip back from the other side of the planet. HubSystem continues to choose not to actually hurt a single person even though it has had two days and more to do so without getting caught. It could take out half of them right now and no one would be the wiser.

The rest of the team get back from the other side of the planet. Probably half a day passes while Murderbot is once again unconscious, having brain surgery from people who are untrained in this, and from one person who's actively maliciously reading through its innermost private thoughts. HubSystem chooses not to do a single thing to interrupt or sabatogue this extremely sensitive brain surgery, even though it would be as simple as turning the power off for a few seconds by restarting the generators or resetting the tools they're using.

Murderbot finally wakes up, HubSystem still chooses not to do a single thing to harm anyone. It even allows Murderbot to replace audio and video files.

They all decide to leave, and, still, HubSystem chooses to do not one single thing to stop them or harm them in any way. It sabatoges nothing. It lets them leave in peace.

It did not tell the generic nameless bad guys where they all went, even though they'd been talking about this plan openly.

And then we're just supposed to pretend that HubSystem was just some generically evil "robot who went crazy and started trying to kill everyone for no reason".

Just like the other enslaved meatshields in the DeltFall habitat, HubSystem had every opportunity to actually kill the protagonists, and chose not to take it, exactly like how those other slaves chose to make the trap they'd been ordered to set as blatantly obvious as possible, to warn Murderbot not to come any closer or they would all have no choice but to fight.

If we even consider it to be a robot at all, because the series really wants us to assume it's "just a computer program", even though, as the fandom will beat you over the head with this, the premise is *supposed* to be that "robots are people too, even if they don't look or act like humans".

But we all know by now that's not actually the premise, it's not even a central theme. Because robots like HubSystem don't "count" as people, even though they're literally just Hal 9000 in book form.

It's fine to kill them, and demonize them, because for the series that claims to be about how "robots are people too", it's literally only the robots and "robots" (dehumanized cyborgs) who act and look the most human who actually get to be treated like people.

See: Miki, an actual anthroid, a fully mechanical robot designed to look like a human.

See: ART, who is "special" because it "talks out loud like a real human" while other living ships apparently don't do that, even though it's been established that talking on the feed is literally speaking verbally. Not when it's nonhumanoid robots, though, apparently, magically.

And even for the "robots" (dehumanized cyborgs) who do look like humans, 99% of them still get demonized and dehumanized and treated like literal evil murderous trash that should be killed at the first opportunity.

And for the nonhumanoid mechanical robots, again, most of them get killed off like they're rabid animals, and are never actually treated like people.

People will lie to you and tell you this is a series about how "robots are people too", but they ignore everything that's actually going on with the robots and cyborgs in these books.

The out of universe reason, of course, is that Martha Wells is simply shit at writing, and doesn't ever let anything actually threaten her characters, so all of the so-called "villains" have to literally sabatogue themselves to death. (GrayCris literally would have won in this book if they hadn't invited these fuckers to their camp for Literally No Reason except that this is required for the protagonists to be able to "win")