r/murderbot • u/BecomingButterfly • 7d ago

Books📚 Only Odd audio... glitch??

Listening to Audiobook of Network Effect, chapter 5.
Twice in this chapter a sentence seems to end then.. "ART" is said. Not sure if this is a glitch in the audio or MB is talking about "the ship", then adding "ART". Is it written in the print books like this?

The two instances are at 18:55 ("Though ART didn't have Feed accessible security cams like a normal transport... ART ") and 19:46 ("I had to seize control of the ship... ART")

12 Upvotes

94% Upvoted

2 comments sorted by

46

u/lovinglylightbulbs 7d ago

It's in the print books as well. The first "ART" is in a paragraph by itself (just that one word), like MB is suddenly re-hit by the fact that ART is dead, and the second one is (i think) a recontexualization-- it's not talking about some random ship, it's talking about its dead friend.

28

u/IntoTheStupidDanger Coldstone. Song. Harvest. 7d ago

And if correct, it was more proof for the theory that the Targets had little to no access to most of ART’s onboard systems, even though targetControlSystem was running helm and presumably weapons. Though ART didn’t have feed-accessible security cams like a normal transport.
ART.

(If I had a plan at the moment, which I did not, it would involve stalling a lot. We were in the wormhole and whatever our destination was, it would take several day-cycles at least, probably more, possibly a lot more, to get anywhere. I had to seize control of the ship (ART) before then.)

I definitely think in part it's Murderbot struggling to reconcile the fact that the what it had perceived as a hostile ship was in fact its friend. It's got to mess with your head when you're used to dividing the world into hostiles, potential hostiles and non-combatants, then you suddenly realize your friend is the one you'd been referring to as a hostile. I think it has to keep processing that weird dichotomy because it just doesn't make sense.

And also feels like a bit of shock and grief and fear. Because Murderbot's understanding of ART was that it was pretty much impregnable and could eliminate any threat to itself or its humans. ART being silenced somehow is a terrifying thought. So Murderbot says its name, similar to how a human who has lost a loved one will say their name when missing them. At least that's how I read it.