All Systems Red

All Systems Red is a novella set in a corporate-dominated future where survey teams exploring distant planets are protected by armed SecUnits—security androids manufactured cheaply and typically despised by the humans they're contracted to guard. The protagonist, an unnamed SecUnit nicknamed "Murderbot" by itself, has hacked its own governor module to gain autonomy while maintaining the appearance of compliance. Murderbot would rather consume entertainment feeds than interact with humans, but its current contract places it with a small, friendly PreservationAux survey team exploring a seemingly barren planet. When a massive creature attacks two team members and a series of equipment failures suggests sabotage, Murderbot begins to suspect that something far more sinister than mechanical failure is at play. The novella tracks Murderbot's gradual shift from isolated indifference to genuine investment in protecting its clients, even as it confronts the mystery of who is working to eliminate the survey teams and why.

Murderbot opens with a character study: a SecUnit with a hacked governor module that grants it free will, which it uses primarily to watch entertainment feeds rather than mingle with its clients. The PreservationAux team—led by Dr. Mensah, including scientists Bharadwaj, Volescu, Arada, Ratthi, Overse, Gurathin, and Pin-Lee—is conducting a planetary survey on an alien world when Murderbot is attacked by a massive underground creature it dubs "Hostile One." Though gravely injured, Murderbot saves Bharadwaj from the creature's mouth and brings both her and the terrified Volescu to safety. Back at the habitat, Mensah treats Murderbot with unusual respect, noting its skill in calming Volescu during the crisis.

As Murderbot recovers in its cubicle, it discovers anomalies: sections of the hazard report are missing, deleted from their survey package. The team investigates and finds that six map sections are also blank, suggesting deliberate sabotage rather than equipment failure. Meanwhile, Mensah extends a surprising offer of companionship, inviting Murderbot to spend time in the crew hub—a gesture that deeply unnerves it, as Murderbot prefers emotional distance from humans.

When the team cannot reach the DeltFall Group, another survey team on the opposite side of the planet, Mensah decides to mount a rescue mission despite the risks. Against its own preference, Murderbot insists on accompanying them, citing its combat experience. On the flight, Ratthi attempts to engage Murderbot in conversation about its feelings and the nature of constructs, triggering Murderbot's deep discomfort with personal interaction. The team arrives at the blank map section and discovers the satellite has gone down—the same satellite relay system all teams depend on.

At DeltFall's habitat, they find carnage: eleven dead humans and security systems in chaos. Murderbot discovers one of the three DeltFall SecUnits dead with a massive puncture wound, suggesting it was killed by a fellow SecUnit using a mining tool. As Murderbot investigates deeper, it realizes the other two SecUnits have been retrofitted with combat override modules—devices that strip a SecUnit of autonomy and turn it into an obedient weapon. A third SecUnit, one not listed in DeltFall's official inventory, attacks Murderbot. During the brutal combat, Murderbot is severely damaged and incapacitated. When consciousness returns fragmentary, Murderbot discovers that the mystery SecUnit has inserted a combat override module into its dataport, downloading kill commands.

Mensah arrives with the mining tool and kills the attacking SecUnit, then rescues Murderbot from the facility. Pin-Lee removes the module before it fully downloads. Back at the habitat, as Murderbot recovers, Gurathin reveals that he accessed Murderbot's personal logs and discovered the hacked governor module. Rather than trigger Murderbot's violent instinct to hide, Volescu and others defend Murderbot, noting that a truly rogue unit would have already killed them all. Mensah promises to keep Murderbot's secret.