Chapter Three

Murderbot boards a transport ship heading to RaviHyral Mining Facility Q Station and discovers the ship's AI is a highly sophisticated, sentient bot capable of conversation. After an tense standoff where the transport threatens to expose Murderbot's status as a rogue SecUnit, the two begin watching entertainment media together, gradually forming an uneasy alliance as the transport learns to process human narratives through Murderbot's reactions.

Murderbot boards the transport after it decouples from Port FreeCommerce, exploring the ship's layout and settling into a crew meeting area to watch downloaded media. The transport suddenly addresses Murderbot through the feed, revealing it knows Murderbot is a rogue SecUnit with a scrambled governor module—a discovery that terrifies Murderbot, who fears the transport could easily destroy it. After a tense exchange where Murderbot demonstrates the pain of governor punishment, the transport apologizes and begins requesting that Murderbot watch entertainment media with it, specifically the show Worldhoppers. The transport explains it struggles to process human context and emotional reactions without Murderbot's filter. Over multiple cycles through the show, Murderbot observes the transport developing emotional attachments—becoming agitated at character deaths, relieved at resurrections, and afraid during tense episodes. The two bond over various shows, with the transport eventually asking why Murderbot dislikes its function as a SecUnit. When the transport discovers through a Port FreeCommerce newsburst that Murderbot left without Dr. Mensah's permission and is heading to RaviHyral for research, it questions why Murderbot won't use the ship's extensive archives or the transit ring's library feeds instead. Murderbot, irritated by the implication of its stupidity, initiates a shutdown sequence rather than answer.