42 pages • 1-hour read
Exit Strategy
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Symbols & Motifs
Entertainment Media
The motif of entertainment media, particularly the serial The Rise and Fall of Sanctuary Moon, is Murderbot’s primary tool for processing its existence and a buffer against the anxieties of interpersonal connection. Having spent over 35,000 hours consuming media, Murderbot uses fictional narratives as a substitute for and a guide to lived experience, providing it with the context to interpret and mimic human behavior. Murderbot’s internal voice often considers its experiences in the context of fictional serials, both to highlight the fantastical nature of the fictive worlds it loves and to demonstrate its capacity for nuanced reading of its real environment.
Murderbot’s frequent retreat into entertainment media reveals the conflict between its desire for connection and its instinct for self-imposed alienation. The shows are a safe space where it can observe relationships without the risk of being controlled or misunderstood. By filtering its reality through these serials, Murderbot builds an identity separate from its function as a corporate tool, demonstrating that personhood can be constructed from chosen influences rather than just programming. The stories offer a framework for understanding its traumatic past, much of which was purged by the company. As it recalls, “the images hung around like ghosts in an endless historical family drama serial” (11). This comparison reveals how media has become the lens through which it even comprehends its own fragmented history, turning trauma into a familiar narrative genre to make it manageable. At the same time, the media it has chosen to consume is inextricably linked to its sense of self and its quest for autonomy. When its memory core is fragmented, it is the stored media and its links to Murderbot’s own experiences that restore its functioning:
A complex series of neural connections, all positive, led me to a large intact section of protected storage […] The Rise and Fall of Sanctuary Moon? I started to review it. And boom, hundreds of thousands of connections blossomed. […] Memories started to sort and order at a higher rate (151-52).
Hacking
The motif of hacking represents the most tangible expression of Murderbot’s agency and intelligence. In a universe governed by corporate contracts and proprietary systems, skillfully hacking safeguarded computer systems and security protocols is Murderbot’s primary means of asserting control and achieving freedom. This technical knowhow is an act of rebellion against the dehumanizing system that views it as property—Murderbot is literally repurposing the abilities programmed into it by the bond company (which we see also as something mastered by the Combat SecUnits) to bypass the guardrails created to contain it. By infiltrating security feeds, altering its own programming, and commandeering complex ship systems, Murderbot rewrites the rules of its existence.
Its proficiency is also a measure of its personal growth and evolving consciousness. After one difficult mission, it reflects that “all this coding and working with different systems on the fly had opened up some new neural pathways and processing space…Hard work really did make you improve; who knew?” (15). This moment of self-awareness shows that its abilities are not static but develop through experience, much like those of a biological being. Murderbot’s capacity for self-improvement and adaptation is central to the novella’s argument for Defining Personhood Beyond Biology and Programming, proving that Murderbot is a sentient individual actively shaping its own identity and destiny.
Contracts and Bonds
Formal agreements, particularly the security bond purchased for Dr. Mensah’s survey team, function as a symbol of the hollow, transactional nature of corporate power in the world of the series. The bond—a type of insurance—symbolizes a system where safety and loyalty are not ethical obligations but commodities to be bought, sold, and suspended when parameters become unprofitable. As we learn, contracts in the Corporation Rim are highly conditional. On space stations, for example, companies can pay to silence the ads of their competitors: “I picked up the feed but it was crammed with advertising, with the transit schedules and service listings swamped by corporation ads that were dissolving into static because other corporations had paid fees to drown them out” (36-37).
The novella’s conflict is predicated on the failure of this system; the bond company’s gunship abandons its clients, halting its retrieval mission because of contractual obstacles and access denials. Its allegiance is purely financial, a critique made in two ways. First, as Murderbot conjectures and Pin-Lee confirms, if GrayCris were to raise enough money to counter PreservationAux’s offer, the bond company would cancel its contract in favor of GrayCris. Second, even more explicitly, the bond company demands an additional payment to allow Murderbot aboard its own vessel. A crew member explains, “This bond is required when bringing an unsecured deadly weapon aboard an armed company transport” (136). This declaration reduces Murderbot to a dangerous object and protection to a line item, encapsulating the theme of corporate dehumanization. The failure of the contract creates a moral vacuum, forcing Murderbot to operate on a personal, non-transactional code of loyalty that the corporate world cannot comprehend. Its actions stand in direct opposition to the bond’s empty promises, suggesting true security comes from chosen connection, not a contract.
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