Chapter Three

Faced with a contaminated agricultural bot attacking the router installation where her human team is trapped, Murderbot must use an improvised recall beacon as a weapon. During the confrontation, a Barish-Estranza SecUnit arrives and saves her from the falling bot—a save that feels suspiciously close to lethal. Barish-Estranza's arrival on-planet marks an escalation of corporate interest in the colony.

Murderbot is deployed to the alien-contaminated planet despite earlier agreement she wouldn't return, to handle a rogue agricultural bot that has jammed its limb into the router installation where Ratthi, Iris, and Tarik are sheltering. The ag-bot is nine meters tall with multiple jointed limbs and shows enhanced processing capability from alien contamination. Murderbot retrieves a recall beacon from ART's inventory—a tool designed to broadcast signals but capable of explosive impact at close range—and rides down to the planet in an environmental suit. Her initial plan to use the launcher from a distance seems impossible given the bot's speed, so she improvises: she drops two charges to lure the bot away from the installation, then triggers the first explosive remotely as the bot approaches. The contamination augments the bot's processing, allowing it to anticipate the trap and jump, losing only two leg tips. As the bot plummets toward Murderbot, she prepares to fire the final charge, but a Barish-Estranza SecUnit intercepts with precise explosive bolts, destroying the bot's processor. However, the shot comes dangerously close to killing Murderbot as well—potentially intentional. Sub-Supervisor Dellcourt and a Barish-Estranza team arrive on scene with five humans and an armed SecUnit. Iris handles the tense interaction diplomatically while Murderbot feigns a leg injury and keeps her visor down to avoid detection as a SecUnit. Dellcourt confirms via veiled conversation that Barish-Estranza is actively hunting contaminated bots. The team departs with the remaining equipment, and Iris pointedly thanks the B-E SecUnit by name, which surprises Dellcourt, indicating Barish-Estranza does not expect their own SecUnits to be acknowledged as individuals.