Fugitive Telemetry by Martha Wells
Fugitive Telemetry by Martha Wells, Murderbot Diaries Book 6.
Introduction
Fugitive Telemetry by Martha Wells is a novella in the Murderbot Diaries Series. The first four stories are all novellas that complete a self-contained single story. The author set this story is between the novellas and the Murderbot novel, Network Effect. The protagonist of the diaries is a SecUnit (Security Unit), a part organic and part mechanical cyborg, or as it calls itself a Murderbot. In this story, Murderbot is a Security Consultant to Dr. Mensah on Preservation Station. It finds a murdered human and must solve the mystery. Who was the victim, how was he killed, and why was he murdered?
Summary
In Fugitive Telemetry by Martha Wells, Murderbot examines a dead human. Murderbot reports its impressions to Dr. Mensah and Senior Security Officer Indah of Preservation Station. The human is unidentified. Indah calls it a murder while Mensah wants to call it an accidental death for now. Mensah talks to Murderbot on a private channel because they are worried that the GrayCris corporation (the antagonists for the previous novellas of the series) is involved with the death. Mensah convinces Indah to let Murderbot help her learn about the dead human. Insah wishes Murderbot would call him the deceased or the victim.
Murderbot and Insah investigate the case with help from Tech Tural. Insah confirms Murderbot as a consultant for Station Security. Murderbot must become part of the system to investigate the system to get access to the Preservation Station networks. It’s a hard transition for Murderbot because of her Rogue SecUnit identity. All Murderbot wants is to find out who killed the dead human and then can go back to a normal life watching reruns of the show Sanctuary Moon. Murderbot follows the clues and uncovers an unusual suspect.
Recommendation
Fugitive Telemetry by Martha Wells is a locked room murder mystery set on a space station. As a procedural mystery, the story doesn’t have the fireworks of the previous novellas. This story is a different and interesting experience. I recommend it. Network Effect won the 2021 Locus Award for best novel and I think they should nominate Fugitive Telemetry in the novella category next year. I believe she will write more stories in the Murderbot diaries and I plan to read them when they are published.
Links
This is the link to the Goodreads page for Fugitive Telemetry by Martha Wells.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/53205854-fugitive-telemetry
Book Review of Network Effect by Martha Wells, Book 5 of The Murderbot Diaries, a novel. The diaries protagonist is a SecUnit (Security Unit), a cyborg, or as it calls itself Murderbot. Murderbot must solve a complex mystery or risk the deaths of its human clients.
This is a link to my review of All Systems Red by Martha Wells, Book 1 of The Murderbot Diaries.
Book Review of Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells, a series of four novellas. SecUnit calls herself Murderbot. She has feelings of companionship for her human employers. What lengths will she go to protect them?