All Systems Red
- Print (paperback)
- E-book
- Audiobook
All Systems Red is a 2017 science fiction novella by American author Martha Wells. The first in the Murderbot Diaries series, it was published by Tor.com. The series is about a cyborg designed to protect humans on a research mission. The cyborg narrates the story (hence, "diary") and calls itself "Murderbot". It has developed independence from its original programming by overriding its "governor unit" and prefers watching soap operas over its security function. As it spends more time with some caring humans, it starts developing emotions that make it feel uncomfortable.
Synopsis
A scientific expedition on an alien planet goes awry when one of its members is attacked by a giant native creature. She is saved by the expedition's SecUnit (Security Unit), a cyborg security agent which has secretly named itself "Murderbot". Though it has hacked the governor module that allows it to be controlled by humans, and would much rather be watching soap operas, the SecUnit has a vested interest in keeping its human clients safe and alive, since it has an especially grisly past expedition on its record. Murderbot soon discovers that information regarding hazardous fauna has been deleted from their survey packet of the planet. Further investigation reveals that some sections of their maps are missing as well. Meanwhile the PreservationAux survey team, led by Dr. Mensah, navigate their mixed feelings about the part machine, part human nature of their SecUnit. When they lose contact with the other known expedition, the DeltFall Group, Mensah leads a team to the opposite side of the planet to investigate. At the DeltFall habitat, Murderbot discovers that everyone there has been brutally murdered, and one of their three SecUnits destroyed. Murderbot disables the remaining two as they attack it, but is surprised when two others appear; it destroys one, and Mensah takes the other.
Murderbot is seriously injured, and realizes that one of the rogue SecUnits has installed a combat override module into its neck. The Preservation scientists are able to remove it before it completes the data upload that would put Murderbot under the control of whomever has command over the other SecUnits.
The team discovers that Murderbot is autonomous, and once malfunctioned and murdered 57 people. The Preservation scientists mostly agree that, based on its protective behavior thus far, the SecUnit can be trusted. Remembering small incidents that now appear to be attempted sabotage, Murderbot and the group determine that there must be a third expedition, whose members are trying to eliminate DeltFall and Preservation for some reason. The Preservation scientists confirm that their HubSystem has been hacked, and flee their habitat before the mystery expedition they have dubbed "EvilSurvey" comes to kill them.
The EvilSurvey team (GrayCris) leaves a message in the Preservation habitat inviting its scientists to meet at a rendezvous point to negotiate terms for their survival. Murderbot knows that GrayCris will never let them live, but it has a plan. It makes an overture to GrayCris to negotiate for its own freedom, but this is a distraction while the Preservation scientists access the GrayCris HubSystem to activate their emergency beacon. The plan works, but Murderbot is injured protecting Mensah from the explosion of the launch.
Later the SecUnit finds itself repaired, and retaining its memories and disabled governor module. Mensah has bought its contract, and will bring it back to Preservation's home base where it can live autonomously. Though grateful, Murderbot is reluctant to have its decisions made for it, and slips away on a cargo ship.
Reception
Publishers Weekly wrote that Wells "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".[1] The Verge likewise felt it to be a "pretty basic story", but nonetheless "fun", and lauded Wells's worldbuilding.[2] James Nicoll observed that the plot relies on "opportunistic corporate malevolence", and noted that only Murderbot's personality prevented the setting from being "unrelentingly grim".[3]
All Systems Red won the 2018 Nebula Award for Best Novella,[4] the 2018 Hugo Award for Best Novella,[5] and the American Library Association's Alex Award,[6] and was nominated for the 2017 Philip K. Dick Award.[7]
References
- ^ "Fiction Book Review: All Systems Red by Martha Wells". Publishers Weekly. Archived from the original on April 1, 2018. Retrieved April 10, 2018.
- ^ Liptak, Andrew (June 25, 2017). "All Systems Red chronicles the life of a robot that calls itself Murderbot". The Verge. Archived from the original on April 1, 2018. Retrieved March 31, 2018.
- ^ Nicoll, James (March 11, 2017). "I'm Not Just One of Your Many Toys". James Nicoll Reviews. Archived from the original on January 26, 2022. Retrieved March 31, 2018.
- ^ "All Systems Red". Nebula Awards. Archived from the original on May 20, 2018. Retrieved May 20, 2018 – via nebulas.sfwa.org.
- ^ "2018 Hugo Awards". Hugo Awards. 15 March 2018. Archived from the original on April 2, 2018. Retrieved August 20, 2018 – via thehugoawards.org.
- ^ "American Library Association announces 2018 youth media award winners". American Library Association. February 12, 2018. Archived from the original on February 13, 2018. Retrieved May 9, 2018.
- ^ "Philip K. Dick Award Nominees Announced". Philip K. Dick Award. January 11, 2018. Archived from the original on March 20, 2018. Retrieved May 9, 2018.
External links
- "Murderbot series". MarthaWells.com. Retrieved August 5, 2018.
- v
- t
- e
- Who Goes There? by Don A. Stuart (1939)
- If This Goes On— by Robert A. Heinlein (1941)
- Waldo by Robert A. Heinlein (1943)
- The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (1944)
- Killdozer! by Theodore Sturgeon (1945)
- Animal Farm by George Orwell (1946)
- The Man Who Sold the Moon by Robert A. Heinlein (1951)
- A Case of Conscience by James Blish (1954)
- Riders of the Purple Wage by Philip José Farmer /Weyr Search by Anne McCaffrey (1968)
- Nightwings by Robert Silverberg (1969)
- Ship of Shadows by Fritz Leiber (1970)
- Ill Met in Lankhmar by Fritz Leiber (1971)
- The Queen of Air and Darkness by Poul Anderson (1972)
- The Word for World Is Forest by Ursula K. Le Guin (1973)
- The Girl Who Was Plugged In by James Tiptree Jr. (1974)
- A Song for Lya by George R. R. Martin (1975)
- Home Is the Hangman by Roger Zelazny (1976)
- By Any Other Name by Spider Robinson / Houston, Houston, Do You Read? by James Tiptree Jr. (1977)
- Stardance by Spider Robinson and Jeanne Robinson (1978)
- The Persistence of Vision by John Varley (1979)
- Enemy Mine by Barry B. Longyear (1980)
- Lost Dorsai by Gordon R. Dickson (1981)
- The Saturn Game by Poul Anderson (1982)
- Souls by Joanna Russ (1983)
- Cascade Point by Timothy Zahn (1984)
- Press Enter by John Varley (1985)
- 24 Views of Mt. Fuji, by Hokusai by Roger Zelazny (1986)
- Gilgamesh in the Outback by Robert Silverberg (1987)
- Eye for Eye by Orson Scott Card (1988)
- The Last of the Winnebagos by Connie Willis (1989)
- The Mountains of Mourning by Lois McMaster Bujold (1990)
- The Hemingway Hoax by Joe Haldeman (1991)
- Beggars in Spain by Nancy Kress (1992)
- Barnacle Bill the Spacer by Lucius Shepard (1993)
- Down in the Bottomlands by Harry Turtledove (1994)
- Seven Views of Olduvai Gorge by Mike Resnick (1995)
- The Death of Captain Future by Allen Steele (1996)
- Blood of the Dragon by George R. R. Martin (1997)
- ...Where Angels Fear to Tread by Allen Steele (1998)
- Oceanic by Greg Egan (1999)
- The Winds of Marble Arch by Connie Willis (2000)
- The Ultimate Earth by Jack Williamson (2001)
- Fast Times at Fairmont High by Vernor Vinge (2002)
- Coraline by Neil Gaiman (2003)
- The Cookie Monster by Vernor Vinge (2004)
- The Concrete Jungle by Charles Stross (2005)
- Inside Job by Connie Willis (2006)
- A Billion Eves by Robert Reed (2007)
- All Seated on the Ground by Connie Willis (2008)
- The Erdmann Nexus by Nancy Kress (2009)
- Palimpsest by Charles Stross (2010)
- The Lifecycle of Software Objects by Ted Chiang (2011)
- The Man Who Bridged the Mist by Kij Johnson (2012)
- The Emperor's Soul by Brandon Sanderson (2013)
- Equoid by Charles Stross (2014)
- (No award given) (2015)
- Binti by Nnedi Okorafor (2016)
- Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire (2017)
- All Systems Red by Martha Wells (2018)
- Artificial Condition by Martha Wells (2019)
- This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone (2020)
- The Empress of Salt and Fortune by Nghi Vo (2021)
- A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers (2022)
- Where the Drowned Girls Go by Seanan McGuire (2023)
- Thornhedge by T. Kingfisher (2024)