Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Aside from Iris, Tarik, and Karime, who were all given much more focus in System Collapse, we don't have a lot to go on when it comes to knowing much about each member of the Perihelion crew. In some instances, it may even be difficult to tell them apart, much less write about them.

So, I've compiled a list of all relevant details and mentions of each character from Network Effect and System Collapse, including all dialogue.

By "relevant", I specifically mean that these quotes are in some way helpful to actually determine something about their character. What actions they take under pressure, how they speak and in what context, what clothes they wear, where they choose to spend their time, what tasks they take on or help with, and what group decisions or discussions they participate in.

For the sake of brevity, I will not be including mere mentions of the existence of the character, or another character simply saying their name. I may omit some instances of them not being an active participant in events, i.e. being unconscious. I will also be trimming down the quotes so they can remain focused on the character in question.

Please let me know if there is anything I missed, or anything you think out to be added, or perhaps even removed in later chapters.

First, lets begin with the Seth and Martyn.

Seth (He/Him)

Network Effect

In chapter 5, Murderbot finds the captain's quarters trashed by the Targets, and sees a photo of Seth and Martyn.

I found a larger cabin that looked like it had been deliberately trashed. [...] Someone had tried to break a display surface, but hadn’t managed it, and it floated sideways, still showing a static image of two male humans, not young, maybe Mensah’s age or older, [...] One had dark skin and no hair on the front half of his head[...] They were both smiling at the camera, with an embossed version of ART’s logo on the wall behind them.

In chapter 13, Murderbot, Overse, and Thiago investigate the drop box space dock. Going through DockSecSystem's corrupted security footage, Murderbot sees a glimpse of Seth.

I slowed the video down, running it forward on one input while trying to pull coherent images from the static burst on the other. I cleaned up two images enough to get a recognizable view of four humans in blue clothing resembling ART’s crew uniform. They were blurry and I couldn’t increase the resolution, but one faced away from the drop box corridor. He had skin color in the dark brown range and a mostly hairless head, matching the images I had of one of ART’s crew members. It wasn’t an uncommon configuration for humans (some of the Barish-Estranza crew had it, too) but the chance that it was him was in the 80 percent range.

In chapter 15, Murderbot finds Seth, Iris, Tarik, Matteo, and Kaede all somewhat desperate and banged up, but alive.

“How do we know you’re really Peri’s friend?” Seth said. He was the one I’d gotten the brief image of on DockSecSystem, tall, very dark skin, with less hair than most SecUnits. From ART’s records, he was Iris’s parent. “The colonists uploaded some sort of system when Peri was offline, they could have access to all Peri’s archives, they could know what you look like.”

[...] I said, “The name I call Perihelion is ART, which stands for Asshole Research Transport.”

Seth’s grim expression relaxed [.]

Murderbot describes the human's injuries.

They all had bruises, blood-stained and torn clothes, Seth had a limp [...]

Kaede explains that some of the infected colonists believe they are part of an alien hivemind.

Seth waved toward the drop box chamber. “That’s what we think this is about—they’ve formed factions, with the ones who are less affected trying to hold off the others. The drop box arriving again triggered the fight.”

[Iris, Tarik, and Matteo begin to argue whether the hivemind is a group delusion.]

[...] [Tarik] swayed a little and Seth steadied him. [...]

Seth said firmly, “I do not want to hear this argument again.”

Everybody shut up[.]

Murderbot prepares the humans for extraction.

Iris glanced at the others. “Everybody ready?”

They nodded, and Seth squeezed her shoulder. I had given her my secondary energy weapon, just in case.

During the escape, Seth tries to keep Iris from lagging behind because of his injuries.

Iris stopped at the doorway to wait for the others. They scrambled by and Seth grabbed her arm and tried to push her ahead of him as he limped down the corridor.

Seth doesn't quite have the stamina to keep up with an injured leg.

[...] I saw the humans still running, strung out up ahead, Seth last. Then Seth collapsed.

He has enough trouble getting back up that he needs both Iris and Thiago's help to keep moving.

[Iris] flailed forward to Seth and tried to haul him to his feet. [...] I caught a glimpse of Thiago sprinting up to Seth. [...] I risked a look back and saw Thiago had Seth slung over his shoulders and was running down the corridor with Iris.

In Chapter 17, Seth argues with ART.

Perihelion: “You cannot remain on the surface. I intend to hold the colony hostage until SecUnit is released.”

Pause.

New human contact-Seth: “Peri, your weapons don’t have the range, unless you’re talking about destroying the space dock—”

Perihelion: “I know that, Seth. I’ve armed my pathfinders.”

Seth: “You what?”

In Chapter 20, when Murderbot finally comes back online in Medical fully repaired and decontaminated, it takes stock of where everyone is and what they are doing.

Ratthi and Thiago were in the galley lounge with Seth.

Later, Seth oversees first contact with the Preservation responder and its passengers.

“Can you contact it on comm?” I said. [...]

Seth gave me a thoughtful look. “We can. Peri?” [...]

Once ART secured a comm connection with the Preservation responder, I said, [...] “Coldstone, song, harvest.”

“Acknowledged,” Mensah said immediately, sounding relieved. [...]

[...] Seth asked me, “That was a stand down code, I take it?”

By this point, Thiago had convinced Seth and Iris to tell Mensah about ART’s actual mission. [...]

Seth, as the captain, formally introduced [Mensah and Pin-Lee] to ART. He told them, “We normally aren’t able to do this, since Perihelion’s existence as anything other than a bot pilot has to be kept secret in the Corporation Rim.”

System Collapse

In Chapter 1, Seth agrees that Murderbot shouldn't go back down to the colony planet.

I wasn’t supposed to come down to the planet again. Me, ART, Mensah, Seth, and Martyn had all made that decision, because of redacted. [...]

But when it's deemed necessary, he helps Murderbot retrieve a recall beacon launcher that ART deemed could be useful as an impromptu ranged weapon against the ag-bot.

I needed something that would work from a distance, and the recall beacon was similar to certain models that the company used, though not nearly as powerful. It was designed to allow a human to hold it during operation and not be exploded into bits, so it could be operated by a landing party in distress. The idea was to get a payload with a transponder high enough in atmosphere that the signal pulse it would broadcast could easily be picked up by a ship in orbit. But you know, if you hit something with that payload at closer range, it’ll knock a really big hole in it.

[...]

By the time I had reached the storage locker where the transponder/bot-buster was kept, Seth was already there. He handed it to me and said, “We’ve only had to use it a couple of times, once on a planet where atmospheric conditions had blocked our comm, and once in an asteroid mining belt where Matteo— It’s a long story.” He scratched the back of his head and added reluctantly, “I know we said you wouldn’t have to go back…”

I didn’t have time for this. I told him, “It’s fine.”

In Chapter 2, Murderbot mentions that Seth assumes Barish-Estranza are probably lying to them.

The original Barish-Estranza task force had told us the new arrivals were a scheduled reinforcement, not a response to the distress beacon they had sent. But Seth had said they were probably lying about that. And if they were lying, it meant B-E had more backup waiting at a wormhole somewhere relatively close to this system.

Murderbot later mentions how Seth reacted to ART making a bad joke during the initial mission briefing for Karime's conference with the colonists.

ART: If Karime is present at the colony and the colonists or corporates attempt to harm her, a threat to bomb this site may be ineffective.

Seth: Peri, can I speak to you in private for a moment?

When they learn about the existence of another colony site, Seth starts out resigned, but grows increasingly despondent.

Bellagaia explained, “The comm won’t work up there. It’s interference from the terraforming batteries.”

[ART confirms that the terraforming engines could have blocked its ability to detect it.]

Sounding resigned, Seth said, So there could be another colony site.

Another human [...] said, “That site, it was never meant to be a secondary site. It won’t be on the original colony charter.”

In ART’s lounge, Seth pressed his hands to his face and groaned. [...]

ART said, The terraforming site would create signal interference that would disrupt both communication and feed traffic. [...] ART added, It would also interfere with a colony-sized air bubble installation.

Seth was frowning as he flicked through reports. He said, Right, right. That initial pathfinder scan was looking for air bubbles.

[...] Corian said, [...] “The journals talk about a rumor that they had settled underground, in a cave system.”

[...] I had [...] the video feed from ART’s lounge, where Seth was gently banging his head against the table while Martyn patted him on the back.

Seth then informs Mensah of the rapidly devolving clusterfuck.

Mensah tapped my feed from the Preservation responder. Seth just messaged me that we have an unexpected development. Is Karime all right?

Yes. She’s busy getting some fantastic news right now.

In Chapter 3, while Karime continues with her conference, Seth participates in an argument/discussion over how to begin addressing the situation.

So there was a fight at that point. Not a fight, a discussion. Whatever, agitated humans figuring out what to do. [...] Seth, Martyn, and Kaede were part of the argument/discussion—call it the argucussion—with Mensah and Pin-Lee on the comm from the Preservation responder.

Tarik suggests that he, Iris, Ratthi, and Murderbot, who are already out with a shuttle, could go and investigate now without alerting Barish-Estranza.

Seth, who had been pacing the lounge with the heel of one hand pressed to his forehead in a way that seemed to indicate that he was having almost as great a time as I was, said, “Iris, see if they’re actually out there, make contact at your discretion, agreed?”

Iris agrees, and Seth sends a quick, private goodbye.

I caught a private message Seth sent to Iris, a quick Be careful, honey. [...]

She replied [...], Yes, Dad. Of course, Dad and added a smile image.

During the shuttle trip to the blackout zone, Murderbot notes everything ART is concurrently doing, including arguing with Seth.

[...] ART [was] currently arguing with Seth about his selection of a high-carb protein for his meal break and threatening to inform Martyn and Iris about it.

In Chapter 4, Murderbot finds out Tarik used to work for a corporate combat squad, and ART explains Seth's feelings about it.

[Iris said,] “You two should work together, but Dad and Peri were agreed that SecUnit would take point on all issues dealing with mission security.”

It’s been a complex situation. Seth registered an objection when Tarik was first assigned to me, and I seconded it. Seth thought he would be too rash, and that having been required and often compelled to display aggression toward humans in the same situations as those we were trying to help would be a habitual behavior that might recur under pressure, even for a human who was actively trying to suppress it. The faculty director persuaded us to give him a chance. They were correct, it has worked out. So far.

In Chapter 6, Murderbot mentions that Seth and Martyn are listed as marital partners on ART's crew records.

Tarik and Matteo weren’t listed as marital partners in ART’s crew records. Seth and Martyn were[.]

In Chapter 11, when Murderbot, Tarik, Ratthi, and Iris are all finally coming out of the blackout zone, Iris contacts Seth immediately.

Iris got on the comm and called Seth to tell him we were alive. I backburnered her conversation [...]

Bot pilot picked up a B-E comm signal. I notified Iris [...] Iris added Seth to our team feed so he could hear and [...] we listened to several Barish-Estranza employees having a collective fight/panic attack[.]

In Chapter 12, Seth is equally as exasperated as Murderbot by ART's grudge against Holism.

The only fallout from [ART and Holism's passive-aggressive competition] so far was collateral damage to me and Seth, because it was irritating the shit out of both of us.

ART said, 7.32 minutes at the same time as Holism said, 7.3247 minutes. The resulting silence on the feed was stony, except for Seth’s exasperated sigh. (He was on the Preservation responder, sitting with the captain on the bridge.)

Martyn (He/Him)

Network Effect

In chapter 5, Murderbot finds the captain's quarters trashed by the Targets, and sees a photo of Seth and Martyn.

I found a larger cabin that looked like it had been deliberately trashed. [...] Someone had tried to break a display surface, but hadn’t managed it, and it floated sideways, still showing a static image of two male humans, not young, maybe Mensah’s age or older, [...] One [...] was lighter [than Seth], with short white hair. They were both smiling at the camera, with an embossed version of ART’s logo on the wall behind them.

In chapter 14, Murderbot 2.0 finds Martyn, Turi, and Karime on the Barish-Estranza Explorer.

Then I found a large recreational lounge with seven inert human occupants. [...] They all seemed to be breathing, just unconscious. [...] One wore a blue jacket but the way he was curled against the wall I couldn’t see if it had the right logo.

When Murderbot 2.0 and SecUnit Three attempt to get them off the ship, Martyn has a difficult time and needs assistance.

Some humans had jolted awake when the implant connections were cut and others had started to twitch and moan. [...] [Karime] and Turi hauled Martyn upright,

I got a glimpse of a corridor camera where Karime dragged Martyn along [...]

Martyn likely passes back out once they board the shuttle, and is brought to Medical, where he recovers. In chapter 20, He assists with repairing Murderbot once it is rescued.

At one point, Martyn, who was Seth’s marital partner and Iris’s second parent, got called in from Medical to consult. He was a bio expert, too, but was still in isolation getting decontaminated himself. “Hello,” he said, peering at us via a display surface ART had generated. “How many SecUnit friends does Peri have?”

[Matteo] picked up something (I suspect it was something that normally formed a vital part of my insides) and carried it off to show Martyn via the display surface.

When Murderbot finally comes back online in Medical fully repaired and decontaminated, it takes stock of where everyone is and what they are doing.

Martyn, Karime, and Turi were still in Medical isolation in a nearby cabin, but they were on the feed with the other humans.

System Collapse

In Chapter 1, Martyn agrees that Murderbot shouldn't go back down to the colony planet.

I wasn’t supposed to come down to the planet again. Me, ART, Mensah, Seth, and Martyn had all made that decision, because of redacted. [...]

Murderbot also hears a number of things from Martyn which it mentions off-handedly.

Martyn told me that Iris and ART have been interacting since Iris was a new human baby and ART was a new whatever the hell it is and sometimes that is not surprising at all.

According to Martyn, ART is of course capable of doing its own accounting, but it always ends up with extra numbers that no one can trace. So now Turi does it and has to keep a hardcopy ledger because otherwise ART would alter their data. No one knew if ART was making up numbers for the hell of it or if these numbers represented actual credit balances that ART was hiding somewhere.

In Chapter 2, Martyn contributes a bit to the discussion when they get the news about the new colony site.

“No, not one of our groups.” Bellagaia cut her off. [...] “Another site entirely. They split off nearly thirty years ago. They’re at the pole, near the terraforming.”

[...]

Onboard ART, Martyn, who was monitoring from ART’s lounge, almost spilled his cup of hot liquid and said, “What?”

Kaede said, There’s nothing about [another colony site] in the mapping data we found in the drop box station.

Martyn added, Didn’t we get visual images of the engines at the pole?

Reconstructed scan images of the engines themselves, not the terrain around them, ART said.

Martyn comforts Seth while Seth tries to handle the news.

Seth was gently banging his head against the table while Martyn patted him on the back.

In Chapter 3, while Karime continues with her conference, Martyn participates in an argument/discussion over how to begin addressing the situation.

So there was a fight at that point. Not a fight, a discussion. Whatever, agitated humans figuring out what to do. [...] Seth, Martyn, and Kaede were part of the argument/discussion—call it the argucussion—with Mensah and Pin-Lee on the comm from the Preservation responder.

When Tarik suggests that he, Iris, Ratthi, and Murderbot all go and investigate immediately, Martyn has reservations.

“We can’t comm the colonists first and ask for a visit,” Martyn said again from ART’s lounge. “I don’t like that.”

But when Seth agrees, Martyn sends a private goodbye to Iris.

I caught a private message [...] from Martyn, And keep us updated as best you can! And watch out for the weather up there!

She replied [...], Yes, Dad. Of course, Dad and added a smile image.

In chapter 5, Murderbot mentions that Martyn assisted with creating containment protocols for alien remnant infection.

I said, Let’s do full containment protocol. Which was the protocol we’d come up with (we being ART, Martyn, and Matteo and me, before my incident when I effectively became useless) for dealing with potential contamination situations.

In chapter 6, Murderbot mentions that Seth and Martyn are listed as marital partners on ART's crew records.

Tarik and Matteo weren’t listed as marital partners in ART’s crew records. Seth and Martyn were[.]

In chapter 12, Martyn gives Murderbot some thoughts on corporates.

Martyn had said he wasn’t surprised that the Barish-Estranza task force had tried to eat itself. He said there were indications that intra-corporate violence was increasing, that it had always been an unsustainable system.

Martyn also participates in negotiations with the colonists.

A second team led by Iris with Kaede and Martyn was also now in negotiation with the separatists. They still weren’t big on leaving or rejoining the other colonists, but they had committed to going forward with the idea of managing the planet as a place for studying alien remnant contamination.

And that's all for our power couple. Next chapter, we'll dive into Kaede, Matteo, and Turi.

Chapter Text

Here we have the three crew members we know the least about. Nonetheless, what we do have is helpful.

Kaede (She/Her)

Network Effect

In chapter 15, Murderbot finds Seth, Iris, Tarik, Matteo, and Kaede all somewhat desperate and banged up, but alive.

Kaede, standing by my left elbow, added, “Peri has a very dry sense of humor.” She was about the same size as Iris, but her skin was lighter and her hair was yellow.

Murderbot describes the human's injuries. Kaede's arm is likely broken.

They all had bruises, blood-stained and torn clothes [...] Kaede cradled her right arm, which had a big blue-purple splotch that meant something in it was badly hurt.

Kaede is the one to volunteer the most information about the alien remnant infection.

I said, “Do you have any intel about what happened here?”

“It’s alien remnant contamination.” Kaede looked up at me, her brow wrinkled. “The colonists knew it was here. Adamantine thought the Pre–Corporation Rim colony had sterilized the site, but they were wrong.”

[Matteo explains that the Adamantine colonists began getting sick almost immediately upon arrival on the planet, and that they attempted to move away from the source.]

Kaede continued, “Five years ago there was another outbreak of symptoms, but this time it was much worse. Some developed psychological effects, but others didn’t. Some of the affected seem to think they’re part of an alien hivemind.”

Kaede seems to agree with Iris and Tarik that the alien hive mind must be a delusion, and not real.

Iris said, “We’re fairly sure the alien hivemind thing is a group delusion.”

“It has to be a delusion,” Tarik said. [...]

“It doesn’t have to be a delusion—” Matteo began, and Kaede and Iris both started to object.

In chapter 20, Kaede is there when Murderbot comes to after passing out on the deck in the shuttle bay.

Ratthi and Arada sat on the deck in front of me with Amena hovering in the background. The others gathered around were Kaede, Iris, and Matteo. ART’s humans wore clean clothes and various medical stabilizing packs, and they all smelled a lot better.

[...]

Matteo was saying to Arada, “Kaede’s right, we’ll put together a run box so we can isolate the code—”

“Then Peri should be able to delete it—” Kaede added.

Kaede is also a part of the conversation when Arada reveals that they know about their real mission.

ART’s humans were taken aback. Iris exchanged a low-key version of an “oh shit” look with Kaede.

Amena added, “Yeah, my second mom is going to want to know what happened and she’s not exactly easy to lie to.”

“Your second mom?” Kaede prompted.

I said, “ART, I thought you told them about me.”

[...]

“No, Peri didn’t…” Kaede exchanged a look with Iris again. “We heard a little about GrayCris going down but we weren’t really following the story…”

Kaede also helps directly with Murderbot's injuries.

[...] I was lying face down, my head propped on my arms, while Thiago, Ratthi, and Kaede rebuilt the organic components in my back.

When Murderbot finally comes back online in Medical fully repaired and decontaminated, it takes stock of where everyone is and what they are doing.

Overse was in the engineering pod with Matteo, Tarik, and Kaede, going over the scans of what little was left of the alien remnant from ART’s drive. (Basically ART was going to need help from its University’s decontam team before it could go into a wormhole again, which was not good news. If Barish-Estranza reinforcements showed up, we were in trouble.)

System Collapse

In chapter 2, Kaede monitors Karime's conference with the colonists.

ART’s human Kaede thought Bellagaia had probably been instrumental in bringing Faction One around to the idea of actually talking to us.

“No, not one of our groups.” Bellagaia cut her off. [...] “Another site entirely. They split off nearly thirty years ago. They’re at the pole, near the terraforming.”

[...]

Onboard ART, Sitting next to [Martyn in the lounge], Kaede tapped the ship-wide comm and said, “Seth, come in here, please.”

Kaede said, There’s nothing about [another colony site] in the mapping data we found in the drop box station.

In Chapter 3, while Karime continues with her conference, Kaede participates in an argument/discussion over how to begin addressing the situation.

So there was a fight at that point. Not a fight, a discussion. Whatever, agitated humans figuring out what to do. [...] Seth, Martyn, and Kaede were part of the argument/discussion—call it the argucussion—with Mensah and Pin-Lee on the comm from the Preservation responder.

Kaede gently argues with Martyn when he expresses reservations about Tarik, Iris, Ratthi, and Murderbot going to the blackout zone immediately.

“I don’t like that [we can't comm ahead], either,” Kaede agreed. “We all know how dangerous cold contacts can be. But it’s not as if they’re refusing to answer. They may have no idea what the situation is here.”

In chapter 6, Murderbot catches Kaede pointedly not being a bystander in Tarik and Ratthi's "sexual discussion".

I found Kaede, standing in the galley and eating food pieces out of a container, with the abstract expression of a human reading in their feed. That was encouraging. I didn’t have much experience working with Kaede, but I knew if it was something life-threatening she would have made an effort to intervene or get help and not just turn up the volume on her interface. She saw me and pointed down toward the quarters corridor without otherwise reacting.

I left. I passed Kaede still standing in the galley. She said, “I’m not getting involved in that, either.”

In chapter 12, Kaede also participates in negotiations with the colonists.

A second team led by Iris with Kaede and Martyn was also now in negotiation with the separatists. They still weren’t big on leaving or rejoining the other colonists, but they had committed to going forward with the idea of managing the planet as a place for studying alien remnant contamination.

Matteo (They/Them)

Network Effect

In chapter 15, Murderbot finds Seth, Iris, Tarik, Matteo, and Kaede all somewhat desperate and banged up, but alive. Matteo is anxious about the impending extraction operation.

Matteo, who had blood crusted along their hairline and bleeding fingers from trying to get the lift pod open with no tools, said impatiently, “Has it been longer than two minutes or is that just me?”

Matteo volunteers some information about the alien remnant infection.

Matteo tucked their hands under their armpits. They were small like Iris and Kaede, and had a lot of dark hair that had come loose from braids. “Apparently the Adamantine colonists started to get sick not long after they got here. Some had physical symptoms—the changes to skin color, weight, eye color. They knew it was alien remnant contamination, so they moved out of the primary site and established a colony on a secondary site further away.”

Matteo seems to be the only one among the five who believes the alien hivemind might be real.

Iris said, “We’re fairly sure the alien hivemind thing is a group delusion.”

“It has to be a delusion,” Tarik said. [...]

“It doesn’t have to be a delusion—” Matteo began, and Kaede and Iris both started to object.

In chapter 20, Matteo is there when Murderbot comes to after passing out on the deck in the shuttle bay.

Ratthi and Arada sat on the deck in front of me with Amena hovering in the background. The others gathered around were Kaede, Iris, and Matteo. ART’s humans wore clean clothes and various medical stabilizing packs, and they all smelled a lot better.

[...]

Matteo was saying to Arada, “Kaede’s right, we’ll put together a run box so we can isolate the code—”

Matteo asked Ratthi something technical about the biohazard testing and I stopped listening, mostly. From what they were saying, it looked like I/2.0 had been right about how the contamination was spread.

Matteo is also a part of the conversation when Arada reveals that they know about their real mission, and seems particularly blown away to learn about Murderbot's infamy.

Arada turned to Iris. “I think I should mention … Perihelion told us why you were actually here, in this system.”

ART’s humans were taken aback. [...] Matteo said hopefully, “Um, you mean the deep space mapping?”

Amena explained. “Dr. Mensah. She was in the newsfeeds a lot in the CR—she was kidnapped by a corporate called GrayCris and rescued by a SecUnit on TranRollinHyfa, and there was a company armed ship that was attacked and another ship from a security corporate that got blown up.”

“Rescued by a…” Matteo trailed off and they all stared at me.

[...]

Matteo’s eyebrows tilted. “So the rumor that it was a rogue SecUnit on TranRollinHyfa—”

Iris thought it over, then lifted her hands. “Look, we can work all this out later. Can we agree for now that we’re all allies who keep each other’s confidences?”

“And we don’t like Barish-Estranza,” Matteo added.

“Agreed,” Arada said.

Matteo is the one to point out to Murderbot that the rescue operation was for its sake, not theirs.

I said, “That was the distraction so it could retrieve you.”

“No, we were all in that maintenance capsule, the colonists didn’t know where we were,” Matteo said, pausing to make an adjustment to something. “Peri was going to bomb the colony with the armed pathfinders until they gave you up.” They picked up something (I suspect it was something that normally formed a vital part of my insides) and carried it off to show Martyn via the display surface.

When Murderbot finally comes back online in Medical fully repaired and decontaminated, it takes stock of where everyone is and what they are doing.

Overse was in the engineering pod with Matteo, Tarik, and Kaede, going over the scans of what little was left of the alien remnant from ART’s drive. (Basically ART was going to need help from its University’s decontam team before it could go into a wormhole again, which was not good news. If Barish-Estranza reinforcements showed up, we were in trouble.)

System Collapse

In chapter 1, Seth mentions Matteo in an aborted anecdote regarding the beacon launcher Murderbot attempts to use as an impromptu weapon against the ag-bot.

[...] the recall beacon was similar to certain models that the company used, [...] It was designed to [...] be operated by a landing party in distress. The idea was to get a payload with a transponder high enough in atmosphere that the signal pulse it would broadcast could easily be picked up by a ship in orbit. [...]

[Seth] handed [the transponder] to me and said, “We’ve only had to use it a couple of times, once on a planet where atmospheric conditions had blocked our comm, and once in an asteroid mining belt where Matteo— It’s a long story.” [...]

In chapter 3, while Karime is busy with her conference with the colonists, and everyone else is busy either assisting her or arguing about how to handle the separatists, Matteo is busy elsewhere.

Matteo and Arada were still working on medical upgrades.

The medical upgrades it means are mentioned in chapter 2:

[...] one faction of the colonists [had sent] us a copy of the software on their main medical unit, and ART had removed any traces of contaminated code and modified its own decontam package to run on old shitty equipment. Then each unit had to be individually accessed and reloaded with the cleaned and enhanced operating systems via elaborately overcautious procedures to eliminate cross contamination or recontamination.

In chapter 5, Murderbot mentions Matteo when it describes its involuntary shutdown.

The rest of ART’s crew were scattered around the compartment, [...] I had my drones in standby, and Three had just been coaxed by Matteo to sit on a couch.

Murderbot also mentions that Matteo assisted with creating containment protocols for alien remnant infection.

I said, Let’s do full containment protocol. Which was the protocol we’d come up with (we being ART, Martyn, and Matteo and me, before my incident when I effectively became useless) for dealing with potential contamination situations.

In chapter 6, Murderbot mentions how it unwillingly learned that Matteo and Tarik have some manner of situationship.

Now Tarik said, “Matteo and I aren’t together that way.”

Tarik and Matteo weren’t listed as marital partners in ART’s crew records.

Turi (They/Them)

Network Effect

In chapter 14, Murderbot 2.0 finds Martyn, Turi, and Karime on the Barish-Estranza Explorer.

Then I found a large recreational lounge with seven inert human occupants. [...] They all seemed to be breathing, just unconscious. [...] One wore a blue jacket but [...] the other two were in casual clothing, one in the loose pants and T-shirt humans wore to exercise. [...] I was looking at Martyn, Karime, and Turi.

Martyn is wearing the blue jacket. It's unclear whether Karime or Turi are wearing the casual clothes vs. the gym clothes. My best guess is that Turi is wearing the gym clothes.

When Murderbot 2.0 and SecUnit Three attempt to get them off the ship, Turi is the first to spring awake.

Some humans had jolted awake when the implant connections were cut and others had started to twitch and moan. ART’s human Turi, who was young like Amena, shoved halfway to their feet and stared at SecUnit 3 as it stepped inside.

Turi and Karime both help Martyn and the Barish-Estranza employees during their escape.

[...] [Karime] and Turi hauled Martyn upright [...]

I got a glimpse of a corridor camera where Karime dragged Martyn along while Turi guided the stumbling Barish-Estranza crew ahead of them. 

SecUnit 3 [was] holding off the Targets at the module hatch as Karime and Turi pushed the other humans aboard the shuttle.

In chapter 20, when Murderbot finally comes back online in Medical fully repaired and decontaminated, it takes stock of where everyone is and what they are doing.

Martyn, Karime, and Turi were still in Medical isolation in a nearby cabin, but they were on the feed with the other humans.

System Collapse

In chapter 1, we learn that Turi does the accounting for the Perihelion crew.

The billing thing is not actually a joke; Pin-Lee and Turi, who does the accounting for ART, were preparing a counter-bill to present to Barish-Estranza after this was over. [...]

[...] ART is of course capable of doing its own accounting, but it always ends up with extra numbers that no one can trace. So now Turi does it and has to keep a hardcopy ledger because otherwise ART would alter their data. No one knew if ART was making up numbers for the hell of it or if these numbers represented actual credit balances that ART was hiding somewhere.

In chapter 3, while Karime is busy with her conference with the colonists, Turi helps out.

So Thiago and Turi and Overse had stopped working on what they were doing and tagged in to Mission One to give Karime advice and look things up if she needed it. 

In chapter 6, Murderbot mentions that Turi helped with interpreting for Three during a particular incident.

[...] Three had told me that I could wear its armor, if I wanted. Well, it hadn’t used those words. [...] Yes, it had taken 2.3 minutes of questioning by both me and ART and Overse and Turi to figure out what it was trying to tell us.

And that's it for these three. Turi in particular has laughably little to go off of, unfortunately. They have not even a single line of dialogue in either book, and almost no physical description.

Next, we'll start getting into the characters that System Collapse gives a bit more of a spotlight, starting with Karime.

Chapter Text

Karime was given a good amount of screen time in System Collapse. I will be abridging her scene in chapter 2 to emphasize her contributions while keeping some context.

Karime (She/Her)

Network Effect

In chapter 14, Murderbot 2.0 finds Martyn, Turi, and Karime on the Barish-Estranza Explorer.

Then I found a large recreational lounge with seven inert human occupants. [...] They all seemed to be breathing, just unconscious. [...] One wore a blue jacket but [...] the other two were in casual clothing, one in the loose pants and T-shirt humans wore to exercise. [...] I was looking at Martyn, Karime, and Turi.

Martyn is wearing the blue jacket. It's unclear whether Karime or Turi are wearing the casual clothes vs. the gym clothes. My best guess is that Karime is wearing the non-gym casual clothing.

When Murderbot 2.0 and SecUnit Three attempt to get them off the ship, Karime is quickly alert and proactive.

Some humans had jolted awake when the implant connections were cut and others had started to twitch and moan. [...] Still on the floor, Karime gasped and staggered to her feet. As she and Turi hauled Martyn upright, she said, “There were other people with us—in uniforms like this, are they—”

I got a glimpse of a corridor camera where Karime dragged Martyn along while Turi guided the stumbling Barish-Estranza crew ahead of them.

[...] SecUnit 3 [was] holding off the Targets at the module hatch as Karime and Turi pushed the other humans aboard the shuttle.

In chapter 17, when SecUnit Three delivers them to ART, Karime may be the only one of the three still mostly alert.

The human identified as Karime is still conscious and uses the shuttle’s comm to say, “Peri, don’t scan us! We think that’s how they infect each other!”

In chapter 20, when Murderbot finally comes back online in Medical fully repaired and decontaminated, it takes stock of where everyone is and what they are doing.

Martyn, Karime, and Turi were still in Medical isolation in a nearby cabin, but they were on the feed with the other humans.

System Collapse

In chapter 1, Murderbot mentions that Karime has a conference with the colonists which it is supposed to be monitoring. It's very important.

Karime had an in-person meeting planned with a faction of colonists at the main site habitation, and Three was going with her for security while pretending to be a human[...]

In chapter 2, Murderbot mentions that Karime was instrumental in negotiating with the colonists to help with decontaminating the colony and the colonists.

Thiago and Karime had talked one faction of the colonists into sending us a copy of the software on their main medical unit, and ART had removed any traces of contaminated code and modified its own decontam package to run on old shitty equipment.

Leading up to the meeting, Karime understands why the colonists are having a difficult time cooperating with each other, and as such, why it's been so difficult to actually talk to them.

Karime, who was the primary negotiator on ART’s crew, said, “They’ve done things to each other that can’t be easily forgiven. We know—and they know—it was caused by the alien contamination, but I think it’s going to take time for them to come to terms with that.”

“Time we’re running out of,” Mensah said.

Karime and Three reach the secondary colony site by shuttle for the meeting.

Karime had to greet the colonists waiting for her. That took a while, [...]

From ART’s personnel file, [Karime] was older than Mensah and she didn’t look like an intrepid space explorer, either, even in the protective environmental suit.

[The colonists] led her into a room where she took a seat on a cushion on a stone floor, Three taking up a position behind her. It tried to stay standing, but Karime looked back, smiled, and motioned for it to sit down. It did.

We had sent Karime [to this meeting] because she was not only ART’s lead negotiator but also looked nonthreatening.

When all the humans had settled into place, Karime said, “Thank you for allowing me to come here and speak to you.” [...]

Karime was clearly prepared to be all reasonable and calm and persuasive about how banding together temporarily with the other factions in order to get the whole population off the planet would be the best solution if the legal case couldn’t stop Barish-Estranza.

Then Bellagaia said, “First, before we get started with our questions— Some of us don’t want to tell you this. But there’s another colony site on this planet.” [...]

It took Karime three seconds to process the abrupt statement. (She was almost as good at not looking annoyed as Mensah was.) She kept her expression neutral and patient. “I’m sure we can accommodate their needs.” She gestured to Danis and Variset. “If there are other members of the different groups who should be present—”

“No, not one of our groups.” Bellagaia cut her off. [...] “Another site entirely. [...]”

Karime lifted her brows. “Another occupied site?” I thought she was being careful not to show too much reaction. It was the way Mensah would have played it. On the feed, she said, The terraforming stations on the other continents are all supposed to be uninhabited auxiliaries, correct?

Correct, ART said. Perhaps they are intoxicated.

Karime replied, You know, I’ll believe anything right now.

Bellagaia explained, “[...] We can’t call them directly, they have to call us.”

[...] Maybe these other humans were imaginary. [...] Karime [...] said in a very even voice, “Why do they have to call you?”

Bellagaia explained, “The comm won’t work up there. It’s interference from the terraforming batteries.”

“I see.” Lines formed on Karime’s forehead. She was distracted, listening to the chatter in the feed. [ART then tells everyone to shut up.] Karime said, “You said they were at the pole?”

Bellagaia nodded. [...]

Karime was thinking fast. “We can speak to them, warn them. Does Barish-Estranza know about them?”

Bellagaia shook her head [...]

Karime nodded to herself. “Okay, that makes— Can you tell me anything else about this other colony site?”

[...] Corian elbowed someone out of the way to get into the room. [...] Vi patted vir chest. “I keep the records, understood? This is not personal knowledge.”

Karime nodded. “Understood.”

Bellagaia was watching Karime carefully and must have gotten some sense of the turmoil that was going on. [...]

Corian continued, "[...] We can’t tell you where they are exactly, because we don’t know. They wouldn’t tell us.”

I thought Karime was having the same “oh shit” moment as the rest of the crew but hiding it very well. She looked around at the colonists. “Thank you for trusting us with this. We won’t share it with Barish-Estranza.” She hesitated, clearly trying to say the next part without sounding like she was giving them orders. “I understand you haven’t made a decision about what you want to do yet. It’s in your best interest not to share it with them, either, until you’re certain.”

“[...] that isn’t my primary concern,” Corian said, still focused on Karime. “The journals talk about a rumor that they had settled underground, in a cave system.”

Three’s drone saw Karime’s face sink and her shoulders tighten. Me too, Karime, me too. She echoed, “A cave system.”

Karime said, “You think it’s another Pre–Corporation Rim site. Or an alien remnant site?”

“More likely to be Pre–Corporation Rim, but—” Corian made an openhanded gesture. “You see the problem.”

Karime stayed focused on Corian, listening intently as vi talked. After vi finished, Karime asked, “Can you give me any more information where this site might be?” No, it turned out, vi could not, and nobody else had a clue, either[.]

In chapter 3, Karime continues the meeting while the rest of the team quickly rallies to figure out how to proceed.

Karime still had to continue with the original purpose of her meeting, trying to get the colonists to at least agree in principle to the idea of letting the University evacuate them to keep them from getting dumped into Barish-Estranza labor camps.

In chapter 6, Murderbot mentions that Karime is married.

Karime was listed as having marital partners back at the University’s primary site.

In chapter 12, Karime continues to participate in negotiations with both Barish-Estranza and the colonists.

With Holism and its crew and its two support ships and their crews as our backup and witnesses, Barish-Estranza had been forced to grudgingly acknowledge the documents Pin-Lee and Karime had prepared and admit that under Adamantine’s original charter (or what they thought was Adamantine’s original charter), the colonists were now the sole proprietors of the planet and could stay or go at will.

The other factions of colonists had been continuing to negotiate with the tag team of Mensah, Thiago, and Karime.

And that's Karime! Re-reading her scene unabridged is probably best to get an idea of her character, but I hope this is useful as a resource for quick skimming.

Next, we'll be moving on to Tarik, who was a main character in System Collapse with plenty of screen time.

Chapter Text

Now we're going to get into Tarik. Obviously, Tarik is a main character in System Collapse, and has plenty of screen time. Copy/pasting every mention and piece of dialogue for a main character in a novel is over the top, and not going to be very helpful.

Instead, I'm going to give every mention of him in Network Effect as usual, and then for System Collapse, I will stick to quoting major and minor moments, and summarize everything else. That is to say, I will be focusing on the smaller details that are easier to miss which may be informative, as well as keep some of the major details that would be odd to omit in a meta like this.

Tarik (He/Him)

Network Effect

In chapter 15, Murderbot finds Seth, Iris, Tarik, Matteo, and Kaede all somewhat desperate and banged up, but alive.

I said, “The name I call Perihelion is ART, which stands for Asshole Research Transport.”

[...] Tarik said, “You definitely know the real Peri.”

Murderbot describes the human's injuries.

They all had bruises, blood-stained and torn clothes [...] and Tarik kept pressing his hand to his lower abdomen and trying not to wince in a way that made me want to call a nonexistent MedSystem.

Matteo describes how the colonists chose to move to a secondary colony site further from the source of the infection when symptoms first cropped up.

“That, in itself, was not rational,” Tarik added.

Tarik seems the most adamant out of all five that the alien hivemind is a delusion.

Iris said, “We’re fairly sure the alien hivemind thing is a group delusion.”

“It has to be a delusion,” Tarik said. He swayed a little and Seth steadied him.

In chapter 20, when Murderbot finally comes back online in Medical fully repaired and decontaminated, it takes stock of where everyone is and what they are doing.

Overse was in the engineering pod with Matteo, Tarik, and Kaede, going over the scans of what little was left of the alien remnant from ART’s drive. (Basically ART was going to need help from its University’s decontam team before it could go into a wormhole again, which was not good news. If Barish-Estranza reinforcements showed up, we were in trouble.)

System Collapse

In chapter 1, Tarik had been working with Iris and Ratthi to repair the colony's feed routers. This wakes a dormant infected agricultural bot, and the three of them end up pinned down when it attacks. ART sends Murderbot down to deal with it, but it doesn't go well, and the operation ends when Barish-Estranza employees show up with a SecUnit.

Iris had come out and moved forward to meet the lead Barish-Estranza human, and Tarik had stayed with her, which was good. He had also dropped his enviro suit helmet visor before he came out, so it wouldn’t look strange that I still had mine down, which was also good.

It's unclear whether Tarik actually does this for Murderbot's benefit or not, but regardless, Murderbot seems to think that Tarik has good sense in this moment.

In chapter 2, our four main characters get away from Barish-Estranza, and repair the final feed router while Karime has an in-person meeting with some of the colonists. When they finish, the humans tune in to the team feed to listen, but Murderbot specifically gives Ratthi and Tarik read access only, so they can't chime in and be distractions.

There's also this fun moment, hinting at Ratthi and Tarik's sexual tension.

Tarik was carrying the tool cases back to the shuttle, [...] Ratthi had stopped looking at his data and was watching Tarik walk.

When the colonists reveal to Karime that there is a third inhabited colony site, which might involve more alien remnant contamination, everyone reacts badly. Tarik in particular makes 'hair-tearing-out gestures'.

In chapter 3, Tarik is the one to suggest that the four of them set out immediately to the blackout zone. This is also his first piece of dialogue in the book.

“We’re in a good position to get there without Barish-Estranza noticing,” Tarik said.

Mensah specifically reaches out to Murderbot.

Mensah tapped my private feed and said, If you’re not all right with this, you don’t have to go. Tarik has a security specialty, or we could send Three if you think it’s ready.

On the way to the blackout zone, Tarik sits in the pilot seat of the shuttle in case of emergencies, and counts down aloud as they reach the blackout point. Ratthi is a little off-put by ART.

“Is that … weird, that Perihelion does this?” Ratthi asked. He had turned around in his seat to look at ART-drone.

“Everything about this job is weird,” Tarik told him from the cockpit.

This is a bit of a hint to Tarik still being relatively new to the crew.

Later, Iris tries to psycho-analyze the colonists to determine how accurate their claims about this third colony site might be.

“You can’t do therapy on a whole colony,” Tarik said, “no matter how much they need it.”

Perhaps Tarik is being a bit tongue-in-cheek about the rest of the crew (or Iris in particular) being a little overzealous with therapy talk due to personal experience.

Tarik seems very experienced flying shuttles, as he appears to take control of the shuttle after a certain point.

Here is an interesting paragraph which tells us some about Tarik's thought process, potential areas of expertise, his expressiveness, and his discomfort working with SecUnit in particular.

“They had to bring heavy supplies in here at some point.” Iris [said].

Tarik was frowning. “Digging equipment, because even if they had a tunnel network to start with, they must have had to modify it. And you can tell this place has been changed by intense weather patterns. A bad storm could have wiped out any aboveground equipment, roads, quarries, maybe even the whole colony site.” His eyebrows were doing things that made him look angry, but from his tone and the read that threat assessment was getting off his body language, he was just concentrating. [...] Tarik added, “Uh, why is there a drone in my face?”

Murderbot volunteers to scout out a potential landing zone to keep Ratthi or Tarik from doing it. Tarik is baffled.

I stepped over to the main cabin hatch and said, “You can let me out now.”

Now Tarik looked alarmed. “Whoa, whoa, hold on! We’re still more than twenty meters above the ground. Let me get us just a little closer.”

In chapter 4, they find a scary hatch, and Murderbot investigates alone. Tarik does a better job of actually listening to Murderbot. They find Pre-CR structures inside.

Tarik seems to be in charge of vehicles in general, as when they discover a vehicle in the tunnel, Tarik is the one to get it running and then to drive it (for the next 40-ish minutes).

Another interesting tidbit related to Tarik's academic interests.

[Ratthi] and Tarik had been having a rambling conversation about Pre-CR history and ruins; neither one of them had certifications in it, but they knew a lot about it, or at least they thought they did.

When they find a creepy, dark, occupied hangar, Tarik seems particularly agitated.

Tarik did a little annoyed sigh. “Why in the name of everything holy did those colonists think coming up here was a good idea? After they’d already had a contamination incident?”

As Murderbot gets more unsure of itself, however, Tarik gets irritated about being told to hang back.

Tarik said, “You know we’re all certified by the University in hazardous exploration, right?” [...] “We’ve done this kind of thing before,"

And as the tension ramps up, Iris decides to just come out with it.

Then Iris said, “Tarik used to be in a corporate combat squad.”

[...] I and my drone turned to look at Tarik. Even ScoutDrone2 far ahead in the hangar entrance did a pivot.

I still couldn’t read any expression through his face plate and I was pretty sure he couldn’t read mine, if I was making one, but he immediately held up his hands, palm out. He said, “I don’t want to fight you under any circumstances, period, end of story.”

[...] On the shuttle’s comm, Ratthi had made a startled but somehow not startled noise, like an “ah.” Tarik’s head made a minute jerk, like he wanted to respond but didn’t let himself. [...]

His voice deliberately ironic, Tarik added, “And thanks, Iris, anything else you want to tell the new people about me?”

Iris added, “Sorry, Tarik, but I wanted to get that out in the open. I don’t like surprises and I’m assuming ex-SecUnits don’t like them either.” [...] She continued, “So Tarik does have some experience in these kind of situations, where we’re making contact with a group that might be perfectly friendly, might be hostile, or might have good reason to be terrified of strangers. You two should work together, but Dad and Peri were agreed that SecUnit would take point on all issues dealing with mission security.”

Wait, had Tarik been ART’s mission security before me? Had I taken a human’s job? [...]

ART explains Tarik's role on the team in more detail to Murderbot.

It’s been a complex situation. Seth registered an objection when Tarik was first assigned to me, and I seconded it. Seth thought he would be too rash, and that having been required and often compelled to display aggression toward humans in the same situations as those we were trying to help would be a habitual behavior that might recur under pressure, even for a human who was actively trying to suppress it. The faculty director persuaded us to give him a chance. They were correct, it has worked out. So far.

[...] I said, If you already have a security consultant—

ART-drone interrupted, He’s not a security consultant, he’s a mission specialist. He has a good knowledge of the tactics that corporates like Barish-Estranza employ. You are a security consultant.

In chapter 5, Murderbot makes the call to send the two humans back to the shuttle with Ratthi. Tarik tries to be a bit more supportive.

Tarik did a body language thing that started as an aborted clap on my shoulder and ended with an awkward shrug as he remembered I wouldn’t like it. He said, “Just remember you’ve got backup.” I suddenly got why Iris had brought up his past in sanctioned corporate murder; she wanted him to think about his current job vs. my job, about who would make the security decisions. How we had something in common, I guess.

Tarik appears to have a bit of a nervous tic, when watching Murderbot's drone video as it explores further.

(In the shuttle, Ratthi whispered, “I hate this part.” He and Tarik and Iris watched the display surface intently, frozen except for the way Tarik kept pinching his lip compulsively.)

In chapter 6, they discover that the colony is in fact inhabited, and that Barish-Estranza have already found it, with a SecUnit in tow. Ratthi asks about hypothetically freeing the SecUnit, and Murderbot is reluctant.

Tarik was slumped back in the pilot’s seat with one knee hooked over the armrest (how can that be comfortable) and his expression was opaque, but I also got the feeling he wasn’t unhappy to hear my reasons for why I wouldn’t be [freeing the SecUnit].

They strategize whether bringing a colonist from the original site to vouch for them might help with getting the colonists to listen to them. Tarik is doubtful.

But basically the separatists had no reason to believe the main group’s opinion of us. “Or to even believe anybody we bring up here is actually a colonist,” Tarik had pointed out, “and not just one of us in a stolen environmental suit.”

Tarik has trust issues, ART-drone told me on our private connection. Yeah, I guess that was related to the whole ex-corporate-death-squad thing.

When they begin to negotiate with their contact, Trinh, they wonder whether Barish-Estranza has gotten their hooks into the colonists yet.

Ratthi glanced at Iris. You think B-E will make some sort of … employment pitch to this group? Ask them if they want to sign themselves over into slavery?

Tarik answered, They dress it up nicer than that, but yes, they could try. They have an isolated group here that might be vulnerable to manipulation.

Iris asks ART about whether AdaCol2 might be expressing a gesture of trust by contacting them. ART scolds Iris for attributing human characteristics to bots.

Ah, but what do you consider human characteristics? Ratthi said.

Tarik said, Oh please, don’t start with it.

Why not? Ratthi’s voice in the feed was amused.

Tarik is confused by philosophical debate, ART-drone said.

Because it likes to win and it won’t shut up until it does, Tarik said.

Tarik has an issue with projecting his emotions onto others, ART-drone said.

People, stop. I’m sorry I asked, Iris said, and added a laughing sigil.

I have a feeling that ART has made something of a habit of messing with Tarik in particular. Hazing? Who knows.

In a lull during negotiations, Ratthi and Tarik talk.

Ratthi and Tarik were talking about the Thing Going on Between Them, which, ugh. His voice low and worried, Tarik said, “I wasn’t leading you on.”

“Ah, weren’t you?” Ratthi said. He sounded like he wanted to sound unconcerned, but I thought he was actually pissed off. [...] He continued, “I don’t break up relationships.”

Murderbot tells the story of how it unfortunately learned about Ratthi and Tarik's situationship.

Midway down the corridor, Tarik slammed out of a doorway. He stopped abruptly, just short of running into me. He looked startled. [...] It was barely two seconds before Tarik said, “I know what it looks like—”

Ratthi interrupted, “It doesn’t look like anything.” [...] He turned to me. “It was a sexual discussion.”

[...] I left. [...]

Now Tarik said, “Matteo and I aren’t together that way.”

Tarik and Matteo weren’t listed as marital partners in ART’s crew records. [...]

In chapter 7, when Barish-Estranza tries to ask for a meeting, SecUnit gives a hard no, and Tarik agrees.

Tarik shook his head. I’m with SecUnit. It may not be a deliberate murder attempt, but they don’t want to get you out there to just chat. They’re going to try to get something out of you, that’s what they think negotiation is.

Leonide runs laps around them during the meeting, while the colonists watch.

Ratthi said, But they wouldn’t believe it. Even the most naive corporate would realize Barish-Estranza’s motive—

They aren’t corporates, Tarik said. He leaned back on the bed, like he was exhausted. Their parents and grandparents were corporates.

In chapter 8, Murderbot proposes the documentary idea. ART volunteers Tarik to do the music.

Wide-eyed, Tarik put up his hands not unlike the way he had when he said he didn’t want to fight me. “I played traditional oud and bouzouki and danced a little when I was in school, I certainly don’t—”

Iris insists that instead, they interview Tarik, which Tarik accepts pretty quickly. When they finish and give the documentary to AdaCol2 to distribute to the colonists, Tarik is even excited.

“It’s new,” Tarik said, waving his arms. “How long has it been since they got something new to watch?”

He seems to emote with his arms a lot.

Murderbot has emotions about how everyone came together to do this. Even Tarik.

Tarik had clearly not wanted to talk about his past any more than I wanted to talk about my emotions, but he had done it anyway, because it might help. 

In chapter 9, Leonide requests another meeting, and Iris and Murderbot go to it. Ratthi and Tarik stay with the shuttle, but when things start to go south and ART tells the both of them to get in the shuttle, Tarik hesitates.

ART-drone reviewed my analysis of the anomaly and said, Ratthi, Tarik, get in the shuttle.

Tarik turned to face the hatchway that led back into the installation, frowning.

ART-drone said, Ratthi, get in the fucking shuttle. Tarik, if you have to be stupid, don’t run toward the hostile SecUnit.

Running through the hatch back into the installation, Tarik sent back, Then give me the motherless map!

Tarik runs into some confused colonists who had been watching the streamed meeting, and tells them to get to safety and not to get involved. He talks to them for quite a bit and they nearly get pinned down with him by Barish-Estranza. They finally leave and he shelters in place when ART-drone and Murderbot order him to. He says he wants to find the colonists and ask for weapons.

In late-breaking Tarik news, he had just jumped two Barish-Estranza employees who had been approaching his position, knocking one unconscious and choking the other out, and now he also had two tiny sidearms that wouldn’t take out a SecUnit plus the sidearm from our shuttle’s supplies that he had started out with. He obviously knew his new guns were pointless because he was snarling to himself in a language I didn’t have a good translation module for. It sounded sweary with religious overtones.

ART-Drone pilots the shuttle through a tunnel to intercept the Barish-Estranza shuttle, discovering that there are now two of them, and the armed one is new.

Tarik said, That explains why there’s so many of these <untranslatable>.

With AdaCol2's help, Murderbot is able to hack one of the shuttles (and the SecUnits), but not the other. Murderbot gives Tarik a safe path to meet them as they run for it.

In chapter 10, Tarik meets back up with them and offers Leonide some help, which she turns down. Then he demands answers.

Tarik tried, Is it a schism in the upper management? Come on, you owe us that much.

When things continue to go south, Tarik does some more religious swearing. Then they run into two hostile SecUnits in the dark.

Iris drew breath to ask what was wrong. On teamFeed+Leonide I said, Kill the light.

Fortunately, Tarik was the one holding the hand-light. He clicked it off instantly, corporate death-squad training making him comply while any of the others would have needed a second or two to figure out if I was talking to them or which light.

Murderbot tells the humans to go for the hatch in the ceiling of the hangar, but Tarik thinks he can get the 'pseudohopper' up and running to fly. Murderbot is a bit distracted to consider that, but when it does actually consider it, tells them to go for it. Tarik and Leonide work together to get it running.

Tarik and Leonide were in the copilot’s and pilot’s seats, arguing about who knew more about flying semi-derelict aircraft jury-rigged from parts left behind by terraformers, but they were both working over the controls in the piloting interface.

Leonide thinks the idea of taking the flyer through the tunnel is insane. Tarik doesn't give a shit.

[...] Leonide said, “You people astound me.”

“Says the person whose fault this all is.” Tarik made some rapid adjustments and the engine humming got louder. “How do you think this thing has been getting in and out of here? Does it walk? Iris, strap in, we’re ready.”

In chapter 11, they fly through the tunnel, which takes a bit.

She was quiet for 5.3 seconds, then burst out, “Is someone actually watching entertainment in the feed right now?”

[...] Deadpan, Tarik said, “I always watch entertainment when I fly.”

When they reach the end of the tunnel, they find Ratthi in the shuttle, having covered it with a survival tent to hide it from the other B-E shuttle.

“That’s just a little brilliant,” Tarik admitted, setting us down in the mouth of the tunnel. [...] “I guess that’s why you’re a scientist.”

They all get into the shuttle and get the hell out of there.

Tarik and Ratthi were monitoring controls but had started a conversation in their private feed.

And that's about it for Tarik! Overall, he seems to be very expressive, especially with his arms, and in addition to his combat training he seems quite experienced with vehicles. He may also be religious, which is a topic The Murderbot Diaries hasn't really touched on much.

Next, we'll do Iris.

Chapter Text

Iris is the member of the crew we know the most about. She has the most screen time in Network Effect, and is a main character in System Collapse.

I'm going to be taking a similar approach to her as I did to Tarik, sticking to quoting either major details or minor, interesting ones.

Iris (She/Her)

Network Effect

The first mention of Iris comes early on, in Chapter 9, when ART gives the Preservation crew the reconstruction of the colony report.

The only interesting new info was from one of ART’s crew members, an augmented human named Iris, who had added some newsfeed archives about the hostile takeover of Adamantine Explorations after the colony had been established. There were three different articles from news sources that said an undetermined number—anywhere from four to twenty-four—Adamantine Explorations employees had died in a firefight, holding off the corporate takeover long enough for their database of wormhole coordinates to be deleted. The only reason the physical data storage still existed was that the attackers had broken in and killed the techs before they could vaporize it. Iris’s note ended: Tempting to think that they were trying to deliberately protect? conceal? the colony. Possible? Just not likely.

I didn’t think it was likely, either. But like Iris, I thought the fact that three different news sources had reported versions of the story indicated that the incident or a variation of it had actually occurred.

In chapter 15, Murderbot finds Iris, Seth, Tarik, Kaede, and Matteo alive and well.

A decorative glass rock wall curved out away from the open door to the lift pod lobby, and around the side of that wall a figure crouched. The angle was bad, but I could see an arm resting on the glass and it was dark brown, wearing a decorative woven bracelet. The pushed-up sleeve of the T-shirt was a light blue.

Iris was small, shorter and slimmer than Ratthi, not much bigger than Amena. Her dark hair was the curly kind that puffed out a lot but she had it pulled back and tied up in a band. Her long-sleeved T-shirt and pants and soft shoes were the casual version of ART’s blue crew uniform, and she had stains at her knees and elbows, cuts on her hands, and a discolored bruise on her left forearm, but I didn’t see any worse injuries.

Murderbot introduces itself to her a bit unceremoniously.

“Who are you?” Breathing hard, Iris pushed away from the wall but didn’t panic. I saw the change in her expression as she started to recognize the enviro suit I was wearing. (It went from righteously pissed off and terrified to confused.) “How did you get that suit?”

[...] I said, “I borrowed it from your transport. It sent me to retrieve you. Where are the other three?”

She frowned, uncertain and wary. “They didn’t make it off the corporate ship. A colonist helped us escape when they were transferring us to the space dock’s drop box. We couldn’t—” Her self-control was good but raw pain made her voice go thick. “She said it was too late for them. Then she was killed in the dock before I could find out what had happened—” She stopped, glaring. “If our transport sent you—from where? Where did you come from?”

[...] I said, “They didn’t put an implant in you, did they? Show me the back of your neck.”

She was understandably pissed off. “I’m not going to turn around and show you my neck, strange person I just met on a hostile planet.”

[...] I said, “That’s what someone with an implant would say, strange person I just met on a hostile planet who I am trying to rescue.”

She was keeping her expression somewhere in the vicinity of angry tough, and doing a pretty good job of it, but I could see she knew it wasn’t an unreasonable request. “No, no implant. I know they did that to some of the explorer’s crew, but not to us.” She turned around, lifting her hair to show me.

Murderbot gives itself away as probably not human. Iris is very perceptive.

She turned back around, lowering her hair and eyeing me with startled speculation. “Are you a SecUnit?”

[...] “What makes you think that.” [...]

She just looked more certain. “You’re Peri’s SecUnit.”

[...] “If I am, will you do what I say so I can get you out of here?”

She hesitated, undecided but wanting to believe. “I will if you show me your face.” [...] Her expression hardened. “If you’re really Peri’s friend, show me your face.”

Well, fine. I told the suit to retract the faceplate and fold its hood down. Her gaze sharpened and [...] the drone watching Iris’s face for me showed the recognition in her expression.

A little of the tension went out of her body. “Thank you.” Her face looked younger. She looked like she had been pretending to have hope and now she didn’t have to pretend anymore.

Iris is the least injured and the most proactive. Murderbot gives her its spare energy weapon, and she takes charge during their escape, doing her best to protect everyone.

I had a drone on Iris as she led the dash to the correct doorway [...] Iris stopped at the doorway to wait for the others.

Especially Seth, when the ag-bot tries to attack him. She doesn't hesitate.

Iris flung herself at the ag-bot, slamming through its delicate limbs to fire her weapon directly at the center of its body where its processor was.

In chapter 17, Iris is the first to try to talk to ART over comm.

Iris: “Peri, this is Iris! We need—”

Perihelion: “Iris, use the maintenance capsule to return to the space dock immediately so I can retrieve you.”

Iris: “Tarik and Kaede and Dad need to get to medical so we’ll send them up, but Peri, your friend—”

Perihelion: “Iris, I have the situation under control. Return here immediately.”

Iris: “Peri, you can’t do this alone.”

[Iris] says, “Peri, listen to me. There are factions here among the colonists. One of them actually died up on the explorer trying to help us escape. You can’t just bomb everybody. It won’t get your friend back.”

In chapter 19, Iris is one of the key negotiators speaking with the colonists during the rescue operation. Thiago tries to just outright ask for Murderbot's location.

[Thiago] says, I have to try, maybe it will be just this easy.

Overse replies, Oh, Thiago.

Iris adds, It’s never easy.

In chapter 20, Iris is there when Murderbot comes to after passing out on the deck in the shuttle bay.

Ratthi and Arada sat on the deck in front of me with Amena hovering in the background. The others gathered around were Kaede, Iris, and Matteo. ART’s humans wore clean clothes and various medical stabilizing packs, and they all smelled a lot better.

Iris told me, “It’s all right, take it easy.”

Arada turned to Iris. “I think I should mention … Perihelion told us why you were actually here, in this system.”

ART’s humans were taken aback. Iris exchanged a low-key version of an “oh shit” look with Kaede.

Iris thought it over, then lifted her hands. “Look, we can work all this out later. Can we agree for now that we’re all allies who keep each other’s confidences?”

System Collapse

In chapter 1, Iris is in charge of the mission to repair the colony's feed routers. Iris is the one who proposes that the infected ag-bot who attacks them must have been dormant and only came back online because they repaired the routers. When Barish-Estranza shows up, she immediately takes point on confronting them.

Iris had come out and moved forward to meet the lead Barish-Estranza human, [...]

“Thank you for your help,” Iris said, in a way that could be mistaken for politeness by a bot but a human would definitely know there was an undercurrent of fuck you. “Are you going to bill us later?”

Martyn told me that Iris and ART have been interacting since Iris was a new human baby and ART was a new whatever the hell it is and sometimes that is not surprising at all.

Still smiling, Dellcourt said, “Can I ask what you are doing here? Besides antagonizing the local inventory?”

Iris said, “Only if I can ask you what you’re doing here.”

Iris even goes out of her way to thank the SecUnit, even if it makes her look odd.

Iris was doing a good job of trying to keep most of the B-E humans’ attention, but I could tell the SecUnit was looking at me.

I don’t know if Iris had noticed this or not, but she turned in the SecUnit’s direction and said, “Thank you for your help.”

Dellcourt’s expression was startled. “It’s a SecUnit.”

Iris ignored him, and we collected our remaining transponder and the launcher and left.

In chapter 2, Murderbot recounts how Iris runs defense for ART making a very bad joke.

ART: If Karime is present at the colony and the colonists or corporates attempt to harm her, a threat to bomb this site may be ineffective.

[...]

Iris: It’s just joking.

Iris told Thiago that [ART] had undergone a traumatic experience and would verbally act out until it had fully processed what had happened. Thiago said he knew that but he also thought it enjoyed terrifying people. Iris was pissed off and just smiled in an “I’m going to pretend you aren’t serious so I don’t have to fight you right here in this corridor” way.

(I’ve realized that Iris is ART’s Ratthi.)

Iris is also the only human Murderbot is looking after that gets to chime in on the team feed during Karime's meeting.

On the team feed, Iris said, Peri, would that kind of interference block your initial scan for signals?

While nobody is happy to hear the news about the new colony site, Iris's reaction is restrained. She simply sits there with her face in a wince.

In chapter 3, Iris checks in with everyone, including Murderbot, that they're alright with heading immediately for the blackout zone, and gets some goodbyes from her dads.

I caught a private message Seth sent to Iris, a quick Be careful, honey. And from Martyn, And keep us updated as best you can! And watch out for the weather up there!

She replied to both, Yes, Dad. Of course, Dad and added a smile image.

She is fairly cheerful on the way to the blackout zone.

Iris had her curly puff of hair tied up in a headband/scarf thing.

[ART-Drone] said, This process is unnecessarily dramatic.

Absently poking the planetary data in her feed, Iris said, “Honey, you’re the one who comes up with the processes.”

Iris is also quite adept with subtle leadership strategies, easily asserting her authority without necessarily ruffling feathers, or keeping things light.

“Point taken,” Iris said, though she hadn’t given any sign that she had ever actually considered doing what Tarik suggested and I thought that might be her way of indicating that Tarik and Ratthi should both shut up while she was thinking.

Iris yelled over both [Ratthi and Tarik], “People! Calm down! We have soft-drop packs in the emergency locker. SecUnit can use one.” She had large yelling capacity for a human her size. I had the feeling it came in handy.

“Since when did you become a micromanager, Tarik,” Iris added, in what definitely wasn’t a question. She was smiling a little, and I’m pretty sure she was bantering at him, but it could also be a hint for him to leave me alone.

In chapter 4, Murderbot can tell she's putting on something of a brave face.

Iris looked at me and I saw her hesitate, because her hesitation looked a lot like Dr. Mensah’s hesitation.

“So it looks like the other colonists were right about this place,” Iris said, deeply reluctant. She had been held prisoner by colonists under the influence and direction of viral alien contamination that had given them a violent drive to get off the planet. She had escaped with only half her crew and one of her parents, and had to leave the other behind. She didn’t want to do this any more than I did, except somehow she had a lot more control over her neural tissue. “We have to check it out.”

“Maybe they didn’t understand how dangerous it was.” Iris sounded calm but she had both hands pressed to the chin plate of her helmet like she was willing something to happen, like maybe for the whole Pre-CR installation to just disappear. (I could have been projecting, there.)

She also doesn't seem to like letting tension hang in the air for too long without addressing it directly, even if it's a little blunt.

Then Iris said, “Tarik used to be in a corporate combat squad.”

[...]

Iris added, “Sorry, Tarik, but I wanted to get that out in the open. I don’t like surprises and I’m assuming ex-SecUnits don’t like them either.” [...] She continued, “So Tarik does have some experience in these kind of situations, where we’re making contact with a group that might be perfectly friendly, might be hostile, or might have good reason to be terrified of strangers. You two should work together, but Dad and Peri were agreed that SecUnit would take point on all issues dealing with mission security.”

In chapter 5, Murderbot gives us a bit more detail on Iris's augments.

(Iris had augments for extra feed connectivity and storage, but nothing for vision or anything else helpful under the circumstances.)

And Murderbot also gets more insight into Iris's leadership strategy.

I suddenly got why Iris had brought up [Tarik's] past in sanctioned corporate murder; she wanted him to think about his current job vs. my job, about who would make the security decisions. How we had something in common, I guess.

Murderbot also brings up Iris when it recounts its involuntary shutdown incident.

Iris explaining how the University normally handled evacuating colonists and how those options might work or need to change in this situation.

Iris seems to have something of a nervous tic where she bites her lip.

“No, it’s an active system trying to initiate a connection with either Peri or SecUnit.” Iris bit her lower lip in a way that looked like it hurt.

Iris bit her lip again, then said, “Go, at your discretion.”

But she's still quite a good leader.

Iris has that same thing as Dr. Mensah, the thing where she’s able to look and sound calm under circumstances where shit is possibly about to go down. She said, “Confirm. See you on the other side.”

In chapter 6, Ratthi brings up the possibility of freeing the SecUnit they see with the colonists. Murderbot shoots the idea down, and Iris doesn't comment.

Iris had her arms folded, her expression deep in thought. She had grown up with ART, and probably knew a lot about bot relationships. (She probably knew more about bot relationships than ART did.) But SecUnits aren’t bots

[...]

I continued, “Even if I did free the SecUnit, I might have to kill it anyway, if it goes rogue and tries to murder all of you.”

“I see,” Iris said. She looked like she was thinking through about half a dozen scenarios at once and none of them were panning out the way she wanted. Or maybe I was projecting.

Murderbot gets AdaCol2 to make contact with the colonists, and Iris takes point on negotiating/talking with Trinh.

I listened to bits of the conversation, but it was just too painful, even though Iris was good at talking. After the introductions she opened with, “I know Barish-Estranza told you they’re here to help you. But they’re from a corporation that is trying to take possession of this planet to claim and exploit its assets, and right now those assets are you.”

Through the translator module, Trinh said, “So you’re saying the same thing as they did, that you’re here to help us.”

Murderbot also mentions Iris's faculty position when musing about AdaCol2.

[AdaCol2] probably wasn’t like ART-prime, who is considered to be in command of itself as an individual and second-in-command of missions after Seth, and also has the same title and position both in the teaching faculty and the freeing-former-corporate-colonies side business as Iris, though most of the students and lower-level personnel it interacts with don’t know what its full capability is. (ART had shown me a personnel chart; it was complicated.)

Iris gives her impression of Trinh and the colonists from talking to them for so long.

Iris said, From talking to Trinh, this group seems independent and not easily convinced about anything. I think the chance they would fall for something like that is low. She rubbed her brow, wincing a little. I don’t even know if it’s in their best interests to try to get them to leave with the others. If we can lock down the colony’s charter to the colonists, then they’ll have the option to stay here. They could change their minds later, or not, but at least that way it would be up to them.

Iris is also curious about AdaCol2, but in a way that ART seems to disagree with.

Iris said, That’s an interesting thought. Peri, is [AdaCol2 making a gesture of trust] possible? [...]

ART-drone said, We’ve talked about these assumptions before, Iris.

Assumptions? Ratthi asked.

Attributing human characteristics to machine intelligences, ART-drone said. That this is meant as a gesture of trust may be possible but not likely, and shouldn’t be a factor in decision-making.

The group are invited to stay, and they meet another colonist, Lucia. Iris tries to talk to him, but it doesn't go very well.

Lucia showed the humans the attached restroom and how to make the beds fold down out of the walls while Iris tried to initiate three conversations (1. “How strange it must be to meet new people after so long”; 2. “It must have been fascinating to explore this place when it was first found”; 3. “Are you interested in research into Pre–Corporation Rim cultures?”) and then gave up. I could tell that even with Ratthi and Tarik trying to help she was starting to look desperate.

Lucia did a little head-tilt goodbye thing and left. Iris stood in the middle of the main room and on the team feed said, Shit.

In chapter 7, Barish-Estranza invites them to a meeting. It is a bad idea, but Iris is adamant.

Iris just looked more determined. She said, We can’t refuse this meeting, it might give us intel on how B-E is planning to get these people out of here. Whether they’re going to trick them into leaving, or use force. She did something with her mouth that was not a smile. Or worse.

Murderbot goes to the meeting, but is insecure about handling it, especially when it turns out Leonide is the one to show up. Iris does her best to be supportive and feed it responses.

I pulled a secure feed connection with Iris and said, I fucked it up. What do I do?

[...]

Iris replied, You did not fuck up. You have a connection with her now, she thinks she knows you. Our goal is to find out what she’s going to do to get these people to leave here and hand themselves over to a corporation. Just keep her talking, see what she reveals.

[...] I was watching Iris tell the others to not contact me directly now if they had a suggestion; she wanted all communication with me going through her feed connection because she didn’t want me distracted.

Despite the fact that Iris is very perceptive, and picks up on something, Iris makes her first major mistake here.

I should have paid more attention to Iris’s body language, her increasingly worried expression, and the way she had folded her arms tightly. All three humans were alerting to something, some unconventional evidence of hostile behavior, that threat assessment was not set to pick up on.

[ART-Drone said], Iris, SecUnit, I just deployed a targeted burst of interference to disrupt the camera feeds.

Distracted, Iris said, I’m seeing one view from SecUnit’s drone. Is there—

ART-drone said, The cameras installed by the colonists for viewing events in this space. They were watching this.

Iris’s mouth opened but she didn’t say anything, aloud or on the feed.

Iris looked furious. SecUnit, I’m sorry, that was my fault. I should have realized what she was doing. I’m going off feed now, I’m going to try to contact Trinh.

In chapter 8, Murderbot tells them about the idea for the documentary. Iris is both busy and stressed, talking to Trinh, but she seems to be on board with the idea quickly.

Iris put the comm on mute, pointed emphatically at us, and said, “You need to interview [Tarik]!” Then unmuted the comm again.

You can’t slam down a comm, but Iris pulled the comm interface off her ear and made an aborted gesture like she wanted to throw it against a wall. [...] My drones watched her set her jaw, frustration giving way to determination. She stomped over and dropped down onto the bed next to Ratthi. “The colonists agreed to watch our presentation, but they insist we leave by morning, when the weather is supposed to let up. That’s five hours. Where’s this music you need someone to work on?”

We didn’t let Iris work on the music, because she was better at organizing and editing, and she had a huge supply of relevant text stored in her archive augment. She took over evaluating clips when Ratthi and Tarik were doing the interview. Also, she ended up reading the narration, though she didn’t think we should use her voice. (“I think they’re as sick of listening to me as I am of talking to them,” she told us.)

Iris is clearly growing more frustrated by the second. But her determination shines through.

Iris closed the call very politely, and then sat there on the bunk squeezing her fists while we stared at her. She said finally, “Trinh didn’t trust me, but she didn’t trust Barish-Estranza, either. If she’s not part of the discussion anymore, that’s not good.”

[...] Then Iris said, very quietly, “I will not give up.” She looked up at ART-drone. “Peri, how do we make them watch it?”

Iris is very proud of their final product, and emphasizes so to Murderbot multiple times. But when Barish-Estranza calls them one last time, I think her next decision is somewhat rash and out of anger.

Iris had made up her mind. “SecUnit and I will go talk to them. Tarik, you and Ratthi and Peri go get the shuttle ready.”

ART-drone said, Iris.

Iris shook her head. “We’ve done our best with the colonists. I’ve told them how they can contact us. But I want to know what else Leonide has to say. At best, maybe it’ll give us some idea of what they might try next, or if they’re writing these people off as a loss.”

In chapter 9, Iris and Murderbot meet with Leonide again. When it devolves into violence, Murderbot tells Iris to run, but she doesn't.

Adelsen was on his knees, where he had collapsed after I shot him. Iris stood behind him, gripping his shoulder, pointing his weapon at his head. She had just said, “Tell [the SecUnit] to stop or I’ll blow his head off.” [...]

On the team feed, ART-drone said, Iris, I am both proud of you and greatly disappointed.

She was breathing hard. Thanks, Peri.

She also does well handling Leonide.

Leonide threw Iris a glare and said, “Tell your employees to shut up and get us out of here.” [...]

Distracted, thinking hard, Iris said, “You can fuck yourself. They are getting us out of here.”

In Chapter 10, they get the hell out of dodge, but Iris still takes a moment to take care of Murderbot.

Iris said, “Wait, SecUnit,” and pulled out the little suit-repair kit she had attached to her belt. She patched the projectile hole in the back, and ScoutDrone2 watched Leonide, who had a slight confused crease between her brows, watch Iris be nice to the SecUnit.

She's also still interested in assessing the situation.

Iris said [to Leonide], How extensive is this rebellion in your task force? Is it just you they hate, or is it all the upper management?

[Ratthi] said, Ahh, I hadn’t thought about that.

Iris understood corporate backstabbing better than Ratthi.

But when SecUnits show up, she defers to Murderbot. Mostly.

Iris said, Right, let’s go. SecUnit, we’ll wait for you up top.

I know they will, which is why I’m willing to die to get them up there.

I was climbing the last section of steps when Iris came down to meet me, her body language broadcasting anxious human. On the feed she said, Are you all right? Do you need help with Peri?

[...] “We need to go,” I said aloud. [...]

ART-drone reached out a limb to Iris. My function is impaired, Iris. So is SecUnit’s.

Will you shut the hell up? I said.

You shut up, it replied.

“Let’s everybody shut up and get in the flyer,” Iris said, and shouldered ART-drone’s limb, taking part of its weight.

And she certainly doesn't like ART-drone getting damaged.

ART-drone said, This is unnecessary. I am capable of—

“People who get shot don’t get to argue about safety protocol,” Iris told it.

In chapter 11, Iris proves that she is willing to do whatever necessary if the situation calls for it.

Her face grim, Iris said, “SecUnit, if you need me to authorize deadly force—”

And, of course, she gets upset and worried about ART-drone.

ART-drone shut down. Suddenly, it was just a chunk of metal. Iris made a half-sob noise that startled me so badly I flinched. She threw a wary look at Leonide and said on our private channel, Did they have time for the upload?

Yes, I said.

She nodded and wiped her eyes. I know they’re the same, it’s all just Peri. That the drone will be repaired and the next time we need it, it’ll be the same. But still, when something happens like this, it scares me. I just don’t want to lose any piece of Peri, you know?

In chapter 12, Iris continues to participate in negotiations with the separatists.

A second team led by Iris with Kaede and Martyn was also now in negotiation with the separatists. They still weren’t big on leaving or rejoining the other colonists, but they had committed to going forward with the idea of managing the planet as a place for studying alien remnant contamination.

And that's it! Obviously, there is quite more to Iris in System Collapse, but this already felt like it was pushing it. Hopefully, skimming this can be a decent refresher on her character and character voice.