The two middle Murderbot diaries, Rogue Protocol and Exit Strategy, are the ones I tend to have the least to say about. They remain as good as ever, with the character continuing to evolve and figure out what makes Murderbot Murderbot, but they still feel like filler to a small degree.
In Rogue Protocol, Murderbot heads to an abandoned GrayCris terraforming platform so that it can figure out what the full extent of GrayCris’ illegal activities encompass, with the purpose of sending the data to Dr. Mensah in aid of her efforts to harm the corporations. Naturally, GrayCris was pretty much lying about the purpose of the facility, are assholes, and didn’t care who their assholery would impact. Shit ensues.
The only real dynamic of note in Rogue Protocol that stands out from the other stories is Murderbot’s interactions with Miki, a pet human-form robot who aids the explorers Murderbot accidentally intercepts on its way to the GrayCris facility. Miki is pretty much the opposite of Murderbot, utterly docile and friendly, guileless and willing to believe that Murderbot is there to help, implicitly and to the point where it tells white lies to its beloved human owner, Don Abene, to Murderbot’s benefit. Miki is able/willing to do this because, unlike Murderbot, it has never known anything but trust and love from its humans.
Throughout these interactions, we get a fuller picture of the extent to which Murderbot was not only exploited, but wholly abused by the various humans who have owned it in contract. At one point, it directly references humans torturing it and using it for target practice, blowing pieces off of it, just because they were bored and didn’t think of it as sentient (or didn’t care). As Murderbot realizes how sheltered Miki has been for its entire life, Murderbot frequently references needing to step aside and “have an emotion.” It’s a sad set of moments, but also helps Murderbot to grow as a character, stepping one notch closer to figuring out what it is, what it wants to do, and how a life might look for it.
Still 10/10 even though it’s not my favorite in the series, just because you don’t ever want to miss anything Murderbot.