Chapter 3

Murderbot awakens in its cargo case after infiltrating Barish-Estranza's torus station. It retrieves its equipment, escapes the cargo bay undetected by manipulating security systems, and navigates the station's elaborate artificial canyon landscape to locate transport to its target installation thirty kilometers away.

Murderbot regains consciousness inside the sealed cargo case, having been transported through security checks via a stealth field generator. It monitors the cargo bay through a drone and confirms its container remains undetected by Barish-Estranza's automated scans. After disarming the case and retrieving its equipment, Murderbot exits into a module storage rack and uses forged worker credentials to pass through the facilities area. It changes into civilian clothing in an unmanned locker room and moves into the admin section, eventually reaching a massive public disembarkation hall filled with passenger transports.

Upon exiting into the port's main area, Murderbot discovers the station's interior has been designed as an enormous artificial planetary landscape—a canyon carved with shops, offices, and terraces built into artificial stone cliffs. Realizing the Barish-Estranza corporate installation it needs to reach is thirty kilometers away, Murderbot explores transportation options. Pipeline transit requires entry codes that would trigger visual security checks; external shuttles are limited and unsuitable. It settles on booking passage on a public ground vehicle running along carved tracks through the artificial canyon, using the code it had been given—though this creates anxiety about potential alerts or traps. Murderbot enters its private cabin on the vehicle and attempts to calm itself by watching entertainment feeds, but underlying fear about the safety of its team prevents genuine distraction.