My summer reading has been slow going, and my brain hasn’t wanted to focus on things that are new all that well. So, I’ve met my brain where it’s at – spending time scrolling through fanfiction, rewatching favorite series, and hunting up novella length books that sound good. When it was announced that Reactor was going to have another novelette in the Murderbot universe, this time focusing on Perihelion, better known to you and me as ART, I was excited. I have been putting off re-reading Network Effect because I want to let the world of the television show version of Murderbot recede in my mind’s eye and I haven’t felt confident that my brain is up to the dense 350+ pages. But 7,500 words I could absolutely handle and Rapport: Friendship, Solidarity, Communion, Empathy features no characters that have made appearances on the show.
Rapport is set in the relatively immediate aftermath of Artificial Condition, when Peri has concluded its solo mission and time with Murderbot and is now back to regularly scheduled adventures with its crew. We join action in progress as Iris and the rest of the team are doing final preparations to infiltrate a station with researchers and join them on that mission. What we are treated to though, is Peri beginning to share what it has learned in its time with Murderbot with its crew. It starts by slowly dropping into conversation things it shouldn’t have access to, but eventually it has a heart to heart with Iris, its human sibling equivalent. We’re experiencing the story with Iris, and that made the Oh moment land perfectly.
While this wasn’t the strongest of Wells’ short works (that would be Home in my opinion) it was still a lovely little bit of additional information about the characters and the world. And what meeting Murderbot meant for Peri (the sigh I let out at It has given me a better understanding of trauma.) But one thing that intrigued me that has really nothing to do with the heart of the story is how Wells titled this and Home. Both have four-word subtitles that function like a litany of synonyms with added meaning. I think that’s neat and clearly defines these as the ones that are not from Murderbot’s POV.
Bingo Square: Favorite. ART has always been my favorite.