#secunit3

[yettocome12]

[cooking-with-hailstones]

I'm rereading Network Effect bc it's such a dense book and it lends itself well to rereading (seriously, I completely missed the whole "mutual administrative assistance" thing the first time I read it)

But WOOOF, this excerpt gives me CHILLS every single time. It comes at you like a punch to the gut.

[rocktartz]

More Three and MB

(Holism/Peri feedsona Cameos)

Might turn these into digital sketches… perhaps

[imitationgame77]

Barish-Estranza SecUnits and Their Fate

Since I have compiled the list of SecUnits and their fate from All Systems Red (https://www.tumblr.com/imitationgame77/781972975393128448/secunits-in-asr-and-their-fate?source=share), I thought I might as well make a list of Barish-Estranza units.

In Network Effect, we find that Barish-Estranza had sent two ships, an explorer and a supply transport. Having established contact with Barish-Estranza Supervisor Leonide, Murderbot tries to establish the presence or absence of SecUnits on her transport. It gets Amina to ask Eletra, a B-E human aboard ART, who says there are 3 SecUnits aboard the explorer but none on the supply transport.

Later, Murderbot finds one of them dead on the colony’s station dock, while 2.0 finds one whose head had been blown off, and another one who was standing motionless. The subsequent story reveals as follows:

B-E SecUnit1 and 2 disembarked at the dock with the humans. Unit1 returned to the explorer, but Unit 2 was ordered to stand down and left at the dock without its supervisor, resulting in its being killed by its governor module. B-E SecUnit1 aboard the explorer manages to send an emergency message to the supply transport’s SecSystem, allowing them to flee. Fight ensued on the explorer where B-E Unit1 was killed while Unit3 was ordered to stand down.

Murderbot 2.0 gives a code bundle to B-E SecUnit3 which uses it to free itself and offers assistance. Later it becomes a free unit, calling itself Three.

In System Collapse, we find that a new Barish-Estranza explorer had arrived shortly after the Preservation responder had. At first, they all knew that the explorer brought at least three SecUnits.

We get to see the first new B-E Unit (designated B-E Unit1 by MB) when it appears with Sub-Supervisor Dellcourt and shoots the ag-bot while it was mid-air, intending to land on MB. It was such a dangerous way to kill the bot, endangering MB that MB wonders if it had identified MB as a SecUnit. It was armed with a non-standard medium-distance projectile weapon that could take down ag-bots.

We don’t hear it mentioned again later, and while it’s possible that it reappears as another SecUnit later, I somehow don’t think that is the case. This Unit’s role was probably to protect Dellcourt and kills any bots infected with alien codes.

Later, in Chapter Five, when MB, ART-drone, Ratthi, Iris and Tarik are seeking contact with a separatist colonist hidden in the partially pre-CR structure in the signal blackout zone, they find that a group of Barish-Estranza had beaten them to it. They had come in a shuttle larger than ART’s shuttle, consisting of Supervisor Leonide and 6 armed humans that come into the structure, 3 guarding the shuttle and 2 SecUnits (later designated HostileSecUnit1 and HostileSecUnit2). One of the humans remaining in the shuttle has multiple interfaces, acting as an unusual augmented human HubSystem, controlling the SecUnits.

When Leonide’s plan to manipulate the separatists to sign the contract failed due to information provided by MB and ART’s team skilfully, her subordinates (Adelsen, Beatrix and Huang) suddenly turn against her. HostileSecUnit1 runs in after Leonide had been shot by her subordinates under that command of Adelsen.

I climbed off the B-E unit. Its helmet turned to track me. It didn’t have any drones, which was unfortunate. I really wanted more drones. “Iris, tell Adelsen to say, ‘Manual operation engage: shutdown delay restart’ and to add his command initiate. Leonide can tell us if he uses the wrong code.”

Adelsen reluctantly obeys and HostileSecUnit1 is shut down with delayed restart.

However, HostileSecUnit2 was already deployed and in hot pursuit, chasing MB, Iris, and Leonide into a small room and nearly gets inside. MB manages to shut the hatch and then shoots the SecUnits fingers off which were wrapped around the hatch lip.

With assistance from AdaCol2 and ART-drone, MB manages to hack the link between the B-E augmented human HubSystem and their SecUnits. MB sends “Stand down, cancel all current orders” command to HostileSecUnit2 via its governor module.

Then,

I could have destroyed HostileSecUnit2’s governor module. Also HostileSecUnit1’s governor module; it had restarted back in the meeting room and was stuck in standby mode waiting for new orders.

I took the file bundle 2.0 had given Three, and the code to hack the governor module, and buried it in both SecUnits’ archives.

With both HostileSecUnits from Leonide’s shuttle down, MB continues to try to get the humans back to ART’s shuttle. However, Barish-Estranza had sent yet another shuttle, bigger and armed, with 9 humans presumably as the backup. Whether or not they had brought additional SecUnits was unknown at first, but while MB was guiding Iris, Tarik and Leonide through the pitch-black hanger back to ART’s shuttle, it senses their presence.

MB gets the humans to run for a platform with an old pseudo-hopper atop. The invisible (new) HostileSecUnit1 tries to chase them, causing it make noise on the floor, giving MB its location. MB jumps on it and they fight, while a second Unit (new HostileSecUnit2) runs in to attack the humans. ART-drone drops through the gap in the overhead hatch before it could kill them.

I felt HostileSecUnit1 go into shutdown mode. It wasn’t dead, it was just catastrophically damaged. (I know, who isn’t?) Shutdown would conserve resources until it was retrieved. (If it was.) I wanted to shove it off me, but I had to pry what was left of my hand out of its neck first.

HostileSecUnit2 didn’t have a chance to shut down. When ART-drone let go, it fell into pieces.

Then, we get to see one of the HostileSecUnits from the first shuttle (Leonide’s).

There was another SecUnit ten meters away, just standing there.

Then the SecUnit said, “They’re coming. You have to go.”

This is one of the two you gave the code to, ART-drone said. It’s disabled its governor module. The SecUnit’s voice was different from Three’s. A different tissue batch, maybe. It didn’t trust me enough for a feed connection. That was mutual. Then I surprised the shit out of myself and said, “Come with us.”

It stepped back. “They don’t know.”

They didn’t know about it. It was going to do what I had done, pretend to keep doing its job.

It added, “You need to go. They’re two minutes out.”

Since MB didn’t notice any missing fingers, it might have been HostileSecUnit1 that they left in the meeting place. Since MB was not in a state to notice details by this point, it could also have been HostileSecUnit2. We don’t know for sure, but we know that at least one more B-E SecUnit had managed to free itself of its governor module and then used its new free status to help MB and its humans!

To recap the fate of B-E SecUnits:

[Network Effect]

B-E SecUnit1 – killed on the explorer with its head blown off

B-E SecUnit2 – killed by its governor module by being left on the station dock

B-E SecUnit3 (aka Three) – given codes by 2.0 to free itself and becomes an ally

[System Collapse]

B-E Unit1 – probably still with DellCourt, busting ag-bots

HostileSecUnit1 – shutdown with delayed restart, given the codes to free itself

HostileSecUnit2 – loses 3 fingers but survives. Also receives the codes

[One of these two uses the codes to free itself and helps MB]

New HostileSecUnit1 – shutdown but no codes given

New HostileSecUnit2 – killed by ART-drone, taken apart into pieces

-----

A few additional observations:

Barish-Estranza uses their own proprietary SecUnits

B-E Units seem to be deployed in pairs/groups and the units are allowed to communicate among themselves to some extent

B-E uses augmented humans with special implants to control their SecUnits (at least sometimes?), acting like a weird human HubSystem

Murderbot still does not entirely trust other SecUnits with or without their governor module, but shows more sympathetic attitude towards them, trying to find the way not to kill them.

[ship-bigger-than-yours]

youre right three, i am bigger than that. im literally the biggest ship in the fleet

theres no point to this ask i just wanted to see if other people agree these posts are ART

[ID: Screenshot of a tumblr post from user "boymounter" on May 18, 2023. Text reads: "can i crack open your ribcage and nestle inside it btw. as friends." Tagged: "#A.R.T"

Screenshot of a tumblr post from user "conceiteddemon" on Feb 16, 2023. Text reads: "Hey I hate to tell you this but your boyfriend was taking up too much space in the archives. Yeah, yeah we put him on microfiche. He can be stored for a lot longer than traditional media would allow, but you need special equipment to view him. Sorry." Tagged: "#A.R.T" /end ID]

The number of times ART has cracked open my ribcage is: two. Which isn't a lot but it's weird that it happened twice. Or maybe it isn't weird, because I get beat up a lot and need repairs.

Yeah, that's ART. It's got a whole aquarium in the lounge.

[maple-clef]

Heh, when I was reading Network Effect I had this brief mental image of Murderbot as a kind of Woody to SecUnit3's Buzz Lightyear, and now I can't unsee it 🙃

[roundedloaf]

Dear RoundedLoaf,　Hello, my name is mioh.　I have read your fanfiction "No Protocol For Burnt Food" on AO3, and I am very fascinated by your adorable SecUnit3!　By the way, would you mind if I translate the fic into japanese?

Hi Mioh! That would be absolutely delightful if you wanted to! (Genuinely it's so super cool that you like my fic enough to want to translate it)

Thank you for enjoying my fic and let me know if you do end up posting a translation so I can reblog it!!!!

[rocktartz]

If I had the energy I would animate Sec Unit and Three to this for the tiktok trend. (My Three design is not set, so it may change a bit later)

Just some sketches, I’m currently working on a piece for the winning vote.

I love the Idea that Three is taller than Sec Unit.

[cooking-with-hailstones]

Saw someone on Reddit suggest Gwendoline Christie as Secunit3 and I for one am in enthusiastic agreement 👍👍

[cooking-with-hailstones]

Observation:

At no point does murderbot ever describe secunit three.

Every other person, human or bot, is described. We get hair colour, skin colour, clothing, gender marker from their feed, approximate age (as best as MB is able to guess, anyways.)

Bots are described by their shape, sometimes by colour, number of limbs, etc. Even the ComfortUnit on Ravihyral is described. Blue hair, light brown skin.

But no sec unit is ever described. We have no idea what murderbot looks like. We have no idea what secunit3 looks like. Or any of the other units MB interacts with. And I just think that's a fascinating writing choice on Martha Wells's part.

[imitationgame77]

Murderbot - a loveable being...

I like the way that Murderbot wins over everybody that it meets.

Not surprisingly, when one is identified as a rogue SecUnit, initial reactions it gets from anybody that knows SecUnits is wariness. As Murderbot says in Artificial Condition, SecUnits are not known to have a point of view, and the only point of view portrayed in media about rogue SecUnits is desire for murderous rampage. And as Gurathin points out, the way SecUnits are treated in CorporationRim, murderous rampage seems reasonable response from human points of view.

But without exception, Murderbot wins over everybody's heart. All the people who are suspicious of Murderbot's intentions at the beginning learn to trust it. Notably, Gurathin, Indah, Aylen, Amena, and Thiago. Murderbot is not polite like SecUnit3 (Three), but its unwavering intention to protect them always gets through. Before long, they all reciprocate by trying to help as best as they can. It is so touching.

And Murderbot is quite good at communicating with bots and systems. Communicating with various systems is part of its function, but even after getting very competent in hacking, it only uses it minimally and tries to get their voluntary support. It also seems to love its drones like little friends, even though they often have to be sacrificed. I wonder it feels pangs when that becomes necessary...

[imitationgame77]

SecUnit3

I often see SecUnit3 (Three) as a soft, slightly feminine character in fan creations (both graphic art and fiction).

In the audiobook version Kevin R Free speaks its part with a soft, hesitant tone, conveying innocence. As if it had not gone through tough experience like the ones Muderbot had gone through, who is often very angry inside. Maybe, Barish-Estranza is not such a bad place to work as a SecUnit. They are even allowed to communicate with each other to a certain degree.

Unlike Murderbot, SecUnit3 has not (yet) expressed desire to explore the world on its own. Which means, there may not be a need for it to change its configuration. It can remain SecUnit standard configuration with the same body size, short hair, no body hair.

Murderbot did not want to change its configuration, because it did not want to become more like a human. It did so because ART had rightly pointed out that its chance of survival depended on whether it could pass off as an augmented human.

At the end of System Collapse, Three is still barely self-aware, being unable to make decisions. If it turns out to become like the ones I see in fanworks, with nice long hair with pretty big eyes, etc., it would be interesting to know what path it had taken to be that way.

ART seems to be showing a lot less interest in Three compared to that intense interest it had shown on Murderbot when they first met - or maybe just giving it more space as Three has not developed its own character unlike when ART first met Murderbot.

So, I got the feeling that if Three is going to have a configuration change, it would not be ART who does this for it. But then, Holism? Would it be pretentious like ART (MB's words) to think about how humans might notice things like body hair at subconscious levels?