The Murderbot Diaries, #7
System Collapse
by Martha Wells
Contents
Chapter Eleven
Overview
The team survives the tunnel escape when Ratthi’s improvised disguise keeps their shuttle hidden long enough for them to launch. A Barish-Estranza pursuer nearly stops them, but SecUnit sacrifices pathfinders to protect the shuttle and buy their way out of the blackout zone.
Once communications return, Leonide reasserts command and orders her people to stand down, shifting her from captive liability to useful authority. ART-drone’s successful handoff to ART-prime prevents a deeper loss, and Iris’s grief prompts SecUnit into an unexpectedly cathartic emotional moment.
Summary
SecUnit rides the old pseudohopper through the construction tunnel while injured, bleeding, and low on reserve power. Tarik and Leonide focus on the crude controls, and SecUnit calculates their arrival time while considering how Barish-Estranza might try to find them. Iris tries to treat SecUnit and ART-drone, but SecUnit refuses help to conserve energy; Leonide notices entertainment leaking into the feed and snaps at the group, exposing the strained truce.
At the tunnel exit, the team first thinks the bay is blocked, then realizes the obstruction is their own shuttle disguised with a survival tent. Ratthi explains that he used the tent and dust to make the bay look like a sand drift because a Barish-Estranza shuttle had been spotted nearby. The team hurriedly loads ART-drone, restores the tent to the cargo hatch, and launches with ART’s shuttle bot pilot before everyone is fully strapped in.
As the shuttle climbs toward the edge of the blackout zone, ART-drone loses function, so SecUnit gently takes over the pathfinders it had been coordinating. The team begins to relax as they near safety, but once the shuttle clears the dust cloud, a Barish-Estranza armed shuttle attacks from below. SecUnit and the bot pilot anticipate the pulse shot: one pathfinder absorbs the blast, and a second pathfinder rams the pursuer’s nose, damaging it enough for ART’s shuttle to escape upward.
Outside the blackout zone, communications return. The team detects a University ship, and Iris contacts Seth to report that they are alive. SecUnit also reaches ART-prime and sends video of the pursuit; meanwhile, the shuttle intercepts a panicked Barish-Estranza command channel in which employees argue about the armed University vessel. Leonide requests comm access and uses her authority to order her command staff and the mutineers to stand down.
ART-prime reconnects fully, takes over the remaining pathfinders, and joins the shared processing space with the failing ART-drone. ART-drone transfers itself to ART-prime before shutting down, leaving the physical drone inert. Iris is shaken despite knowing the upload succeeded, and SecUnit reassures Iris while feeling a powerful cathartic emotion; when ART tells them to console each other, both SecUnit and Iris tell ART to shut up, which helps.
Who Appears
- SecUnitInjured narrator; takes over pathfinders, defeats the pursuer, and experiences emotional catharsis.
- IrisTries to treat SecUnit and ART-drone, contacts Seth, and grieves the drone’s shutdown.
- LeonideWounded Barish-Estranza supervisor; helps during escape and orders her people to stand down.
- ART-droneDamaged Perihelion iteration; loses function but completes its handoff to ART-prime before shutdown.
- ART-primeReconnected ship intelligence; takes pathfinders, receives ART-drone’s handoff, and docks the shuttle.
- TarikCo-pilots the pseudohopper, monitors shuttle systems, and grants Leonide comm access.
- RatthiHides the shuttle with a survival tent and warns the team about the nearby B-E shuttle.
- Barish-Estranza mutineersPursue the team in an armed shuttle and panic when confronted by the University ship.
- SethUniversity contact whom Iris calls after the shuttle exits the blackout zone.