Марта Уэллс - Exit Strategy

She kept her gaze on the plaza, so I could look at the side of her face. “I thought about it.”

She was quiet for twenty seconds, watching the movement in the plaza below. “Have you thought much about what you want to do?”

“Watch media.”

She did the lifted eyebrow look which I had on file as meaning: I know you’re trying to be funny but you’re not funny . It was most often aimed at Ratthi and Gurathin. “I think if that was all you wanted to do, you’d be off somewhere doing it, and you’d never have gone to Milu.”

“I watched a lot of media on the way to Milu.” It wasn’t exactly a counterargument, but I thought it was important data.

“Gurathin showed me the video you shared with him.” She meant the video of the transport with Ayres and the others. “You were helping those people.”

“I couldn’t help them. They had a contract labor agreement.”

I saw from her reaction that she knew exactly what that meant. “It was too late for you to help them, then.” She started to turn toward me, then looked out over the plaza again. “But you wanted to.”

“I’m programmed to help humans.”

Eyebrow lift again. “You’re not programmed to watch media.”

She had a point.

She continued, “The reason I ask, is that you’ve received a job offer from GoodNightLander Independent.”

Okay, now that was a surprise. “They want to buy me. I thought I was illegal in the territories they operate in.”

“It’s illegal to own a SecUnit,” Mensah corrected. “They want to hire someone who may or may not be called Rin, who they suspect is based somewhere in the Preservation Alliance, whose citizenship status will be considered immaterial.” She smiled. “I think that’s how they put it.”

I still couldn’t believe this. “They want to hire a SecUnit.”

“They want to hire the person who saved their assessment team from combat bots and contract killers, and they don’t care what that person is.” She glanced at me again. “Also, I’ve been talking to Dr. Bharadwaj and she wants to ask you to consider making your story public. Not to the newsfeed, but as part of a documentary account. There’s been a small movement for a while in the Preservation Alliance to press for full citizenship for constructs and high-level bots. She thinks a full account of your situation, in your own words, could be a great contribution. Even if all you did was agree to release the message you sent to me before you left Port FreeCommerce, as part of a public account of the GrayCris incident, it would help. She’d like to discuss it with you, if you feel it’s something you could consider.”

Okay, maybe I should have been appalled. It was a terrifying idea. It was a terrifyingly attractive idea. I said, “A documentary on the entertainment feed?”

Mensah nodded. “Again, there’s no rush about any of this. I just want you to know you already have options here, and I expect you’ll have more offers for your services or advice as a security consultant. And that you have friends here you can discuss things with, whatever you decide to do, or wherever you decide to go.”

I had options, and I didn’t have to decide right away. Which was good, because I still didn’t know what I wanted.

But maybe I had a place to be while I figured it out.

All Systems Red

Artificial Condition

Rogue Protocol

The Cloud Roads

The Serpent Sea

The Siren Depths

The Edge of Worlds

The Harbors of the Sun

Stories of the Raksura: Volume I (short fiction)

Stories of the Raksura: Volume II (short fiction)

The Wizard Hunters

The Ships of Air

The Gate of Gods

The Element of Fire

The Death of the Necromancer

Between Worlds: The Collected Ile-Rien and Cineth Stories

Emilie and the Hollow World

Emilie and the Sky World

Blade Singer (with Aaron de Orive)

Stargate Atlantis: Reliquary

Stargate Atlantis: Entanglement

Star Wars: Razor’s Edge

City of Bones

Wheel of the Infinite

MARTHA WELLShas written many novels, including The Wizard Hunters, Wheel of the Infinite, the Books of the Rakshura series (beginning with The Cloud Roads and ending with The Harbors of the Sun ), and the Nebula Award–nominated The Death of the Necromancer, as well as YA fantasy novels, short stories, and nonfiction. The first book in the Murderbot Diaries series— All Systems Red —was a New York Times bestseller, won the Alex, Locus, and Nebula Awards, and is nominated for a Hugo Award. You can sign up for email updates here.

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EXIT STRATEGY

Copyright © 2018 by Martha Wells

All rights reserved.

Cover illustration by Jaime Jones

Cover design by Christine Foltzer

Edited by Lee Harris

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First Edition: October 2018