All Systems Red

By: Martha Wells
Location: FIC WEL
Genre: Sci Fi Novella
Series: The Murderbot Diaries

A murderous android discovers itself in All Systems Red, a tense science fiction adventure by Martha Wells that blends HBO's Westworld with Iain M. Banks' Culture books.

“I could have become a mass murderer after I hacked my governor module, but then I realized I could access the combined feed of entertainment channels carried on the company satellites. It had been well over 35,000 hours or so since then, with still not much murdering, but probably, I don't know, a little under 35,00 hours of movies, serials, books, plays, and music consumed. As a heartless killing machine, I was a terrible failure.”

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 “Murderbot.” 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.


"I was honestly startled by just HOW MUCH I loved this novella. I was expecting it to be sharp and smart, which it was; I wasn't expecting just how funny it would be, with a dry humor that was often absolutely hilarious, all narrated with an incredibly compelling voice throughout the really suspenseful and exciting adventure story. And there's so much emotion running underneath - the ending was truly moving."- Stephanie