Chapter Four

Murdering Bot (Murderbot) continues security operations while ART's crew conducts router installations and meets with colonists. During Karime's diplomatic mission to Faction Two, the colonists reveal a shocking secret: another colony site exists at the planet's pole near the terraforming engines, settled by separatists nearly thirty years ago and believed to have avoided contamination. This discovery threatens to complicate the legal and logistical planning already underway.

With Murderbot's shuttle recalled to maintain a deception that the team has left the planet, the group stays with Ratthi and Iris to complete one more router installation. Murderbot provides security while reflecting on the multi-phase plan: Phase I involves updating colonist MedUnits with decontamination protocols to address alien contamination, which ART and the team have completed through painstaking careful procedures. Phase II requires a legal case preventing Barish-Estranza from claiming colonist salvage rights, with Pin-Lee working on certification arguments, and determining what the fractured colonist population actually wants. The colonists have split into multiple factions with deep grievances caused by the contamination outbreak. Karime travels to meet with Faction Two leaders—Danis, Variset, and elder Bellagaia—to discuss cooperation. During this meeting, Bellagaia drops critical information: a second, entirely separate colony exists at the planet's pole near the terraforming station service base. This colony was established by original terraforming technicians who left during early contamination reports nearly thirty years ago and maintained minimal contact before ceasing communication twenty years ago. The colonists believe this polar site avoided contamination entirely. Historian Corian reveals the polar settlers were separatist-minded and refused to disclose their exact location. Journals mention rumors of an underground cave-system settlement, raising the alarming possibility of an undiscovered Pre-Corporation Rim or alien remnant site. The terraforming batteries create signal interference preventing direct communication. This revelation threatens to invalidate the legal charter work Pin-Lee has prepared and significantly complicates resource allocation and timeline estimates. The team, including Mensah monitoring remotely, reacts with shock and frustration to this development, as it extends their commitment on the dangerous planet.