Chapter Two

Murderbot stows away on a supply ship to Milu station, a nearly-abandoned facility, and discovers it will dock with an expedition heading to an abandoned terraforming facility. Discovering the expedition includes only human security consultants and an unusual human-form bot named Miki, Murderbot decides to infiltrate the mission and attempts to forge an alliance with Miki, the bot companion of expedition leader Don Abene.

After saying goodbye to the transport carrying Tapan and the others, Murderbot uses hacking skills to bypass station security and boards a supply ship bound for Milu on a forty-seven-cycle schedule. During the voyage, Murderbot monitors two human passengers—security consultants Wilken and Gerth—hired by GoodNightLander Independent to assess an abandoned terraforming facility. Upon arrival at Milu station, Murderbot discovers the station is nearly dead, with most systems shut down and minimal activity. Murderbot observes Wilken and Gerth meeting with Don Abene, Hirune, and Miki, a human-form bot. The expedition plans a twelve-hour initial assessment of the facility before returning to analyze findings. To infiltrate the shuttle, Murderbot establishes contact with Miki via secure feed connection. Miki immediately attempts to alert Don Abene, but Murderbot blocks the message and claims to be a security consultant hired to protect the team. Despite Murderbot's expectations of resistance, Miki agrees to keep the secret after Murderbot promises to keep Don Abene and the team safe. Miki reveals it has genuine affection for Don Abene and the others, treating them as friends rather than mere operators. Miki grants Murderbot full system access to the expedition shuttle and agrees to serve as Murderbot's eyes, ears, and voice during the mission, willing to help protect its friends from danger. Murderbot privately processes the unexpected ease of Miki's cooperation—a bot apparently raised with kindness rather than abuse or control.