Chapter Four

After being assigned a vague consulting role with Station Security, Murderbot navigates bureaucratic restrictions and skepticism while investigating a murder victim found on the station. Using intelligence drones and cooperation with the station's free bot, Murderbot identifies the deceased as Lutran and traces him to a damaged transport in the transit ring that is sending distress signals through corrupted manifest files.

Murderbot's role as a security consultant begins poorly, with Station Security refusing to grant system access and demanding a public feed ID. After negotiation, Murderbot posts a feed ID as "SecUnit" with no other information. Two cycles later, a photo of Murderbot is leaked to the station newsstream, prompting Mensah to provide intel drones as both compensation and a gesture of defiance to Indah. Mensah has also tasked Murderbot with investigating a murder on Preservation Station. To identify the dead human without hacking restricted systems, Murderbot visits the transient housing block and cooperates with Tellus, a free bot there. They search empty rooms and find clothing matching the deceased's style in room eighteen, identifying the occupant as Lutran, registered for two cycles. Murderbot sends this report to Station Security. Needing to find Lutran's entry transport, Murderbot goes to the transit ring and systematically pings transports through the station feed. On the fifty-seventh percent of transports checked, one responds abnormally—a Corporation Rim cargo hauler with passengers that sends garbled manifest files and error codes instead of proper communication protocols. Recognizing the transport is in distress, Murderbot moves to the embarkation floor and locates the transport at its dock, where direct contact confirms something is severely wrong aboard. Unable to contact other team members readily, Murderbot calls both Ratthi and Tural to observe the situation.