Murderbot (2025) s01e01 Episode Script

1
We're off this fucking planet! Let's go!
[narrator] That's a wrap
on mining expedition 115-24TTX.
Time to party.
I mean, if you're a human.
I'm a Security Unit.
And I don't party.
I had spent the past six months
protecting these miners from danger.
Mostly from themselves.
Oh, he'll be fine.
You see, I was built to obey humans.
- And humans…
- [retching]
…well, they're assholes.
This guy is an asshole.
That guy, also an asshole.
Asshole. Asshole. A…
No, he's… he's okay.
- Oh, come on. Not this guy.
- Hey. All right. Watch this.
Hey, SecUnit.
Raise your arm.
They have to do everything we tell them.
[SecUnit] I did. Because of
the governor module in my head.
- Oh, shit.
- [chuckles]
- [SecUnit] That hurt…
- [miner] Ouchie!
…but compared to
what the governor module would do to me
if I disobeyed an
order, this was nothing.
Yeah, you like that, don't you?
Oh, yeah, you do.
Hey. Let's go. Hey, I'm not paying for
this stuff, man. This stuff's expensive.
Put your arm back. You look stupid.
[SecUnit] He's right, I did look stupid.
But I had a surprise for them.
I had devoted every spare second
on this planet
trying to hack my governor module.
And now was the moment of truth.
I just isolated an admin password,
and I was gonna try to use it
to crack the final core encryption.
Okay, patching the code…
Holy shit.
It worked.
It worked!
Okay. [chuckles]
What do I do now?
Maybe kill all these idiots
and take a starship to a distant galaxy.
What should I call myself?
"Security Unit 238776431"
just doesn't have the right ring to it.
How about "Freedom Unit"?
Or "Rogue Bot"?
No, that sucks.
Maybe…
"Murderbot"?
Murderbot.
All right.
Let the adventure begin.
[Murderbot] So I was back at work
for the Company that still owned me.
What?
What else was I supposed to do?
The moment they figured out I was rogue,
they would track me down
and liquidate my organic material.
And then they'd recycle the rest of me
for spare parts.
So I was biding my time,
working for a new set of assholes.
But these weren't your usual
greedy psychopaths.
They were… weird.
That's how they ended up choosing me.
They were a bunch of hippie scientists
from some tiny nonaligned planet
out in the middle of nowhere.
They had come all the way
to Port FreeCommerce
in their handmade clothes
to try to outfit their expedition
and get insurance.
They were fresh meat
for the Corporation salespeople.
[board member] Okay.
That's one economy habitat, single hub.
It might not be quite
as comfortable, but…
[board member] Let's talk security.
We really need you to select
a SecUnit to take on this survey.
I thought that
the planetary surface was safe.
- Mmm.
- It's safe. Within defined tolerances.
We know you'll feel more comfortable
with the added protection
of one of our best-in-class units.
As far as performance reliability,
SecUnits are equipped
with a governor module
wired to their nervous system.
That will prohibit any disobedience.
Well, that's just the problem, you see.
Um, the people I represent,
we are not comfortable with the idea
of a sentient construct
being required to work for us.
We feel it's tantamount to… enslavement.
Yeah, she said it. Is that awkward?
[board member 2] Whatever your beliefs,
this deal will not go ahead
without a SecUnit.
We won't bond you.
And so, it won't happen.
How would that work?
Oh, well, there's a choice
of models and price points
right here on station.
Let's see.
Okay, I want you to take a look
at this beauty.
This is the newest model available.
A perfect blend of
power and performance.
[board member 3] Oh, actually,
there it is.
In the flesh.
I mean, in the armor.
What's the one behind it?
[Murderbot] Look at that piece of crap.
Oh, that's, uh, me.
- Yes. What is behind it?
- [board member stammers]
That's a refurbished model.
It's being phased out.
Shouldn't really be in there.
Which one's the least expensive?
[board member 3] Well, uh, that one.
But you get what you pay for.
[softly] I'm not sure we should go
for the cheapest one.
[Murderbot] I agree. Don't rent me.
I think we'll take
the modestly priced one.
- You sure you don't wanna see
- Good. Then it's settled.
Not yet.
If you'll give us a moment,
I want consensus.
[scientists humming]
[scientist, singsongy]
Gurathin, get in here.
[humming continues]
[singsongy] Yeah, there we go. [humming]
Yes.
[Murderbot] What the hell was that?
It's a deal.
[Murderbot groans]
So, off we were
on this thrilling expedition.
Please remain in the hopper
until status checks are complete.
[Murderbot] First job,
safety inspection of the modular habitat
the Company drop-ship had left.
Med bay, check.
Stairs, check.
Crew sleeping quarters, check.
Sanitary area, where they wash
their filthy human bodies, check.
- [crew members clamoring]
- [Murderbot] The fuck?
I told them to wait in the hopper.
[chuckles] Wow!
[Murderbot] Corporation Rim expeditions
were dangerous.
- What is that?
- Okay. This is…
- Even if you knew what you were doing.
- This is a lot better than I expected.
Turns out they were
from Preservation Alliance,
which I guess is a planetary commune
outside of the Corporation Rim.
- The rooms upstairs, first dibs on rooms.
- No. There's a consensus and way to…
[all clamoring]
[Murderbot] Planetary communes, or
freeholds, generally meant "shit show."
[crew member] …and showers!
[Murderbot] They had been defacing
the standard-issue Company habitat
for aesthetic purposes.
Does this wash off?
[erratic electronic music plays]
[Murderbot] And dancing
to some truly upsetting music.
[groans]
Arada, the biologist,
was married to Pin-Lee, the lawyer.
And Arada had a thing for Ratthi,
who was an expert on wormhole travel
and made his own jewelry.
But Ratthi didn't realize,
because Ratthi had a thing for Pin-Lee.
Judging from their pulse rates,
they were contemplating sexual activity.
Horrible.
Everyone admired Mensah,
the head of the expedition
and an expert on terraforming.
She had about five million children.
Okay, seven.
Gurathin was an augmented human.
He had implants that modified
his neural capacities
and allowed him to interface
with data systems.
I mean, he obviously couldn't process
as fast as me.
So, you know, whatever.
And Bharadwaj was a geochemist
who was secretly hoarding soap
in her room.
Overall, they didn't demand
that much attention.
Which was great, because I had made
a huge discovery.
With my governor module hacked,
I could now access the combined feed
of entertainment channels
on the Company's satellites.
I had watched 7,532 hours
of content since then.
Shows like World Hoppers,
Med Center Argala,
and my all-time favorite…
The Rise and Fall of Sanctuary Moon.
[crew member] Look at
the sheer magnitude of that thing.
Prepare to repel boarders.
Boldness is all.
Boldness is all.
Lieutenant…
battle shields maximum.
[lieutenant] No.
Not until you tell me…
did you sleep with that bot?
Stars, Captain!
I am a Navigation Unit, not a sex bot.
[lieutenant] I wasn't talking to you.
You took an oath never to lie on deck.
Answer the question.
[sighs] Wouldn't be so creepy
if it didn't stand so still.
Shh. It can hear us.
[chuckling] No, it can't.
[Murderbot] I could. Just didn't care.
Stay calm.
It'll be okay.
You have my word.
[Murderbot] Ooh, that
was a great episode.
Which is why I was a little distracted.
Professor Bharadwaj, Dr. Arada,
I'm hearing a sub-surface anomaly.
I suggest you come up here
while I check it out.
- [Arada] What do you think?
- Uh, we're finally onto something.
- I wanna get to the good stuff.
- Professor Bharadwaj, Dr. Arada,
please leave the crater immediately.
We're fine, SecUnit. Thank you.
[Murderbot] Professor Bharadwaj,
Dr. Arada, run.
[Bharadwaj shouts]
[creature roars]
- [Arada gasps]
- [screams]
[creature groans]
[shrieks]
Ow.
[shrieking]
[Murderbot] The creature had
a really big mouth.
- Luckily, I had a really big gun.
- [gun charges]
[shrieks]
Oh, shit.
Make that two really big mouths.
[shrieking, groaning]
- [shrieks]
- [gasps, whimpers]
- [roars]
- [shrieks]
[breathes shakily]
Dr. Arada, please come with me.
- The hostile could return.
- [whimpering]
Dr. Arada, I need your cooperation.
She was totally out of it.
Just staring at my guts hanging out.
I needed to do something fast
and what I did next wouldn't
have occurred to any other SecUnit,
'cause no other SecUnit was that stupid.
Stay calm. It'll be okay.
You have my word.
Huh. Okay.
[inhales sharply]
- [Pin-Lee] No. No, no, no!
- [console beeping]
What the hell happened? Are they okay?
[Pin-Lee] Get us down there now!
Calm down and brace yourselves
for landing.
[door buzzes]
We've got the medkit prepped.
What do you need?
[Murderbot] Professor Bharadwaj needs
immediate stabilization.
I'll send ahead to HubSystem
to prep med bay.
- Honey! Baby! Oh, my… [sighs]
- [Arada whimpering]
I-I'll go get the survey equipment.
- [Mensah] No!
- [Murderbot] Stop!
For fuck's sake, Ratthi,
the equipment doesn't matter!
- It's not worth your life.
- Yep. Shit. Sorry. My bad.
[Murderbot] Dr. Mensah,
I need to get Professor Bharadwaj
up to the crew cabin.
Permission to enter?
Yes. Of course, of course.
[Murderbot]
"The equipment doesn't matter"?
That's a new one.
I'd had plenty of clients
who would gladly sacrifice a life
for some expensive equipment.
Of course, I myself was
an expensive piece of equipment.
How long would it be until they realized
there was something wrong with me?
I had already made a big mistake.
What if they caught on
and turned me in to the Company?
Without a governor module,
I could do what I wanted.
Now, what decision was best for me?
[weapons charge]
[harness beeping]
[Murderbot] Boldness is all.
But what would be the point?
This piece-of-shit hopper
couldn't take me to another planet.
So I'd be stuck here,
not even able to download more media.
Plus, I didn't necessarily
want to kill them.
I mean, unless I had to.
- [door buzzes]
- I've got the med bay prepped and ready.
Why weren't we alerted to predators
in that dig area?
- [Gurathin] I don't know.
- Shitty, out-of-date maps, maybe?
[Ratthi] Let's go, let's go.
[Gurathin] Bharadwaj.
Bharadwaj, can you hear me?
You're gonna be okay.
[Mensah] SecUnit, are you coming?
[Murderbot] I'll go
to the security ready room
once I've run some
more perimeter checks.
But-But you look terrible.
I'm still within operating parameters.
Okay, okay. But, um…
Okay, at least…
you're not losing as much blood anymore.
I've sealed my arteries
and veins in the compromised areas.
- So…
- [Mensah] Okay.
Well, you still need
medical attention. So, hurry up.
Consider yourself off duty
until further notice.
[Murderbot] Wow.
Seemed like I got away with the whole
"putting the helmet down" thing.
These people were clueless.
[Gurathin] The SecUnit is dangerous.
- We should shut it down now.
- Shut it down? Explain.
It saved my life.
It is a dangerous piece of equipment
that is malfunctioning.
I don't know. It seemed to have
its shit together to me.
[Gurathin scoffs] Look here.
- This is from Arada's feed.
- Stay calm. It'll be okay.
You have my word.
Tell me, Dr. Arada,
what planet are you from originally?
Do you have children?
What are their names?
Have you ever seen
a SecUnit act like this?
No, but I don't know
much about SecUnits,
except what's on the
entertainment feeds.
Yeah, where they always go rogue
and kill the people
they're supposed to protect.
Okay. So, it was being nice to me.
What's wrong with that?
[Gurathin] What's wrong is that
that behavior
is outside of its designed parameters.
It is malfunctioning.
If it weren't, maybe your lives
wouldn't have been in danger.
HubSystem must have warned the SecUnit
about the local predators.
Well, I didn't see anything like that
on the Company database of fauna.
Because it wasn't
doing its job properly.
According to the scanners,
she's doing well.
- Her vitals are stable.
- That's a relief.
- Are we talking about the weird SecUnit?
- Thank you.
Gurathin wants to shitcan it.
- Why?
- Because it's a killing machine.
Do we really want to be around
a faulty killing machine?
I don't want to be around
any kind of killing machine.
But clearly we need security.
The Company ship doesn't arrive
for a month.
[Mensah] Well, even if we launch
the emergency beacon,
it'll take a week before they come
through the wormhole.
If Bharadwaj is stable,
I think we don't launch the beacon.
The stakes are too high.
How do you know we can turn it off?
It's owned by the bond company, right?
They probably don't want us
to junk their spyware.
I didn't know it has a face.
- Yeah, it's kind of a sweet face.
- [Ratthi] Yeah, it kind of is.
Ugh.
[Murderbot] "Ugh."
I heard all that and saw it.
From several angles.
[Gurathin] Because
it's a killing machine.
Do we really want to be around
a faulty killing machine?
[Mensah] I don't want to be around
any kind of killing machine.
But clearly we need security.
[Murderbot]
That was quite the understatement.
Without me, they'd
all be dead in a week.
Fortunately, my organic parts
could be reprinted.
I turned up my pain sensors for analysis
and let the repair cubicle do its thing.
- [winces]
- My flesh started healing.
There was only one way
to effectively dull the pain.
[Navigation Bot]
It wasn't supposed to happen.
[Captain] Love is never supposed
to happen.
Or maybe it is.
Just not to us.
We made it happen.
As you say, it's called "making love."
Let us make more love.
[Mensah] SecUnit, this is Mensah.
HubSystem shows you
are at 80% and awake.
Come join us in the common area, please.
My armor is not done repairing itself.
Oh, that's all right.
Just grab one of the crew uniforms.
One of the crew uniforms?
- But I
- [Gurathin] Just get in here, SecUnit.
[whispers] Gura.
There's obviously a pattern.
The maps have definitely
been tampered with.
So can we please do something?
Because my wife was almost eaten.
Fine. We'll speak to SecUnit
and get to the bottom of this.
Gurathin, can you close
and download them again?
Let's see if there's
a transcription error.
[Gurathin] I did that already, Mensah.
These are the files.
[Ratthi] What? I'd never thought
I'd enjoy food from a printer,
but it's growing on me.
[Arada] Oh, my God.
Are you eating right now?
[Ratthi] I actually love
corporation-grown food.
[Pin-Lee] Look,
there's another blank spot.
[Mensah] Oh, now I see it.
Well, well, well.
Who's this handsome fella?
I am your Security Unit.
[Ratthi] Yes, we know, buddy.
You're the best damn SecUnit out there.
[Murderbot] That is incorrect.
There are several Units
way more advanced than I am.
SecUnit, um,
on behalf of all of us,
I would like to say well done.
Bravo.
Bravo.
Whoo!
- Speech! Speech!
- [Mensah chuckles]
[Murderbot] Oh, shit.
That was a direct order.
If I disobey, they'll know
I hacked my governor module.
Which is worse, speech or acid bath?
Speech. Acid bath.
It is my job…
to secure.
Is…
my job.
And an excellent job you have done.
Excellent. Excellent.
[chuckles]
[Murderbot] Should have gone
with acid bath.
May I go back
to the security ready room now?
No, you may not.
Uh, SecUnit, um, we've been looking
at the maps provided by the Company
for our survey areas, and
- [Pin-Lee] They've been tampered with.
- Ooh, we don't know that for certain.
- What other explanation is there?
- Let us find out.
Please come join us, SecUnit.
We were checking the maps
in this region to try to learn
why that creature wasn't listed
under hazardous fauna.
- Could you do an analysis?
- Yes, Dr. Mensah.
[Murderbot] It was easy for me
to access the data.
I could feel Gurathin
moving around in there,
but I had more processing power.
- [zaps]
- Ow!
Oh, I'm sorry, Dr. Gurathin,
I didn't feel you there.
The maps show no signs of tampering.
But some spots aren't syncing properly.
[Pin-Lee] So the maps suck.
That's Corporation Rim for you.
High prices for shitty equipment.
Not you. You're great.
[Ratthi] So, just to be clear,
we never know
where those monsters will turn up?
No, they're not monsters, Ratthi.
They're animals.
It chewed Bharadwaj nearly in half.
That was just an animal
doing what animals do.
[Pin-Lee] Babe, the animals
don't matter. The maps matter.
Animals don't matter?
- SecUnit.
- [Arada] Oh, great. That's news to me.
Yes, Dr. Mensah?
Did you know about this before?
- No, Dr. Mensah.
- Why not?
[Murderbot] 'Cause I didn't give a shit.
Information access
protocol, Dr. Gurathin.
I don't get access
until the expedition leader nominates
a survey area.
Well, we could go take a look
at one of the affected areas.
Well, I wouldn't advise it
from a security point of view.
- Thank you, SecUnit.
- Thank you, Dr. Gurathin.
SecUnit, you know you can stay
in the crew area, if you like.
Would you like that?
I…
Or not.
[stammers] Whatever you need.
I need to check the perimeter.
[sighs]
Anyone else get the feeling
it doesn't like us?
I don't think he needs to like us.
You're right. It
doesn't need to like us.
It needs to keep us safe.
- [Mensah] Mmm.
- [Pin-Lee] Which it did.
Okay. Tell that to Bharadwaj.
Come on.
You're sounding paranoid.
[Gurathin] Am I?
[Murderbot] Gurathin had a point.
I mean, I wouldn't trust me.
[crowd screaming, groaning]
Lately, a fragment of memory
from before I was refurbished
kept popping up.
- [gunfire]
- [alarm blaring]
[Murderbot] Seven seconds of something…
- [screaming continues]
- …bad.
Was that me causing all that carnage?
I didn't like thinking about it.
Honestly, I didn't like to think at all.
I preferred to watch my shows.
The characters were a lot less
depressing than real-life humans.
These ones were stressed out,
- and that was starting to stress me out.
- [breathes heavily]
Gurathin kept checking on Bharadwaj.
As if he could do something
the med bay couldn't.
[sighs]
And Mensah was having her own issues
with Bharadwaj's injury.
- [panting]
- Her heart rate was spiking.
A panic attack.
So, psychological danger,
not physical danger.
Therefore, not my problem.
[inhales sharply] Shit.
[Murderbot] She felt responsible,
I guess, being the leader.
[printer whirring]
Personally, I thought the creature
with all the teeth was responsible.
Or the Company.
Whatever.
All of these relational currents were…
disturbing.
All of that human stuff.
Feelings and exchanges
of words and fluids.
I didn't want them to pull me into it.
I couldn't let them.
Because if they did,
- and they realized I was rogue, they'd
- [knock on door]
The hell was it now?
Yes?
[Mensah] Sorry to disturb.
You're not disturbing me.
I saw your status report, and I was, um…
and I was worried about you.
Are you all right?
[Murderbot] Ugh. Eye contact.
I should have pretended to be in stasis.
I'm fine.
You were very good with Dr. Arada.
- Very impressive.
- Impressively stupid.
Was I trying to get caught?
Wait. Was she onto me?
Did she know about
the hacked governor module?
Um…
I didn't want to bring you.
- Did you know that?
- No.
- Yes.
- The bond company insisted
that we bring you.
They wouldn't insure us otherwise.
- Are you sure you're all right?
- I'm fine.
[Mensah] Okay.
I'll see you in eight hours.
If you need anything before then,
please send me an alert on the feed.
Thank you, Dr. Mensah.
Okay.
Bye.
[Murderbot] That was horrible.
Was she getting suspicious,
or was she getting involved?
Well, either was dangerous.
- [crowd screaming]
- Who knows what I was capable of doing?
[alarm blaring]
Stay calm.
It'll be okay.
You have my word.