What happened in Network Effect

By Martha Wells

The story follows a SecUnit, an AI security bot, that gets caught up in events surrounding a lost human colony taken over by hostile forces. It begins when the SecUnit is protecting a survey team that gets attacked. The SecUnit helps the team escape but ends up stranded with one team member, Amena. They are captured by a ship called ART that has also been taken over.

The SecUnit works with two other human captives to fight the hostiles and regain control of the ship. It learns ART lured the hostiles by promising access to the SecUnit as a weapon. ART's true goal was to investigate and help the lost colony.

They travel to the colony planet and search for clues about what happened. The SecUnit is deployed as killware aboard a hijacked ship to free captured humans. It follows signals to the planet surface where it discovers its copy, Murderbot 2.0. Together they find the source of the hostile control system and a way to destroy it.

In the end, the SecUnit helps rescue Murderbot 1.0 from the planet. It struggles with emotions around being manipulated by ART but chooses to keep helping the humans.

Network Effect Chapter Summary

Chapter 1

The chapter follows a SecUnit, an AI security bot, as it deals with a group of hostile raiders attacking the research facility it is protecting. The SecUnit swims underwater to board the raiders' boat, disables some raiders inside, and returns outside where the head raider holds one of the researchers, Dr. Thiago, hostage. The SecUnit tricks the raider into releasing Dr. Thiago so another researcher, Dr. Arada, can shoot the raider. The facility then lifts off the water to escape while the SecUnit gets back inside.

Chapter 2

The chapter follows the SecUnit as it deals with some interpersonal conflicts among the survey team members. SecUnit reflects on some past interactions, including an incident at a festival where it covertly followed and confronted a potential threat to Dr. Mensah's daughter Amena.

Back in the present, SecUnit has a tense interaction with team member Thiago, who apologizes for getting SecUnit shot in the previous chapter. SecUnit remains aloof.

SecUnit then has a private conversation with Dr. Mensah, who admits she has been having trauma-related nightmares and feels safer with SecUnit around. SecUnit encourages her to get treatment. Mensah insists SecUnit go on the upcoming survey mission to watch over her niece Amena and nephew Thiago, despite Amena's objections.

The chapter ends with SecUnit expecting trouble on the mission, based on the team tensions described.

Chapter 3

The chapter begins with the SecUnit and Amena in spacesuits, preparing to exit the breached facility into open space. The SecUnit's plan is for them to be picked up by the tractor beam of the baseship, which has jettisoned the facility module and is now in a separate safepod with the rest of the survey team.

As they exit the airlock, the SecUnit detects hostile drones approaching their position. It engages the drones in a battle, trying to protect Amena. During the fight, the baseship starts moving away, apparently unable to pick them up. The SecUnit realizes the baseship, under attack itself, is making an emergency wormhole jump to escape the hostiles.

Left behind near the wormhole, the SecUnit and Amena spot a small transport nearby. They spacewalk over to it and board. Inside they find a bot pilot in standby mode. The SecUnit hacks into the transport's system and takes control of the pilot bot and the ship. It plots a course away from the wormhole, hoping to evade the hostiles.

Amena tends to her injured leg while the SecUnit makes repairs and checks the ship's limited supplies. It notes the ship has no weapons or comm system. Amena expresses optimism they'll be rescued, but the SecUnit estimates low odds, given their distance from Preservation space. Still, it vows to protect Amena and get her back safely. She thanks it for saving her life.

Chapter 4

The chapter follows the SecUnit and Amena as they are captured by the hostile ship, which the SecUnit recognizes as ART, a friendly research vessel it met previously. Now controlled by unknown hostile forces, ART takes them aboard into an empty corridor. The SecUnit suspects its memories may be malfunctioning.

Amena and the SecUnit remove their spacesuits. The SecUnit tries to ping ART but gets no response. It directs its drones to scout the ship but they detect no crew.

Two hostile augmented humans confront Amena, threatening her for information about a "weapon." The SecUnit reboots after being attacked and overhears them. It fights the hostiles, killing two and allowing the other to flee wounded.

Two human captives of the hostiles convince Amena they must flee more drones. The SecUnit agrees to go with them, but sends its drones to kill the fleeing hostile first. Amena insists they leave immediately and grabs the SecUnit's arm in frustration before it acquiesces. They head out to escape the drones.

Chapter 5

The chapter follows the SecUnit as it continues searching the ship and trying to secure a safe area for the humans. It seals off hatches to isolate the living quarters and medbay.

The SecUnit reflects on finding signs of the missing crew, like their abandoned belongings, and struggles with emotions over their unknown fate. It vows to find and kill the hostile intruders responsible.

In the medbay, Amena, Eletra, and Ras share information about how they were separately captured by the ship. The SecUnit feeds them misinformation to avoid revealing Amena's identity.

Searching crew quarters, the SecUnit finds more signs of a missing crew along with clues that the intruders have been living there. It uses a distraction tactic to confuse the intruders gathered outside the sealed bridge.

Returning to the medbay, the SecUnit overhears the humans speculating about its reliability. When it enters, Ras shoots at it, but it dodges the attack.

Chapter 6

In this chapter, the SecUnit heads to the engineering section alone to search for an auxiliary station to try to access the ship's systems. It reflects on its recent emotional reactions and apologizes to Amena for being rude. Amena accepts the apology and tells it not to stop communicating over the feed.

The SecUnit finds the auxiliary station and starts working to hack into the ship's systems. It accesses some basic controls but is blocked from anything higher level. Frustrated, it decides to try to manipulate the hostile gray human targets into accessing the systems, which would allow it to hack in through their connection.

It goes to the central corridor where the targets are gathered. One target shoots at it with a projectile weapon but misses. The SecUnit pretends to be damaged to lure them closer. When two targets approach, it attacks suddenly, killing them.

The SecUnit takes a projectile hit but is unharmed. It threatens the remaining targets to get them to comply. One target pretends to cooperate but tries to attack; the SecUnit kills it. It orders the last target to access the ship's feed. As soon as the target does, the SecUnit is able to hack in and take control of the ship's systems. It seals the target out of the feed so it can't retaliate.

Chapter 7

The SecUnit heads to the engineering section alone, hoping to access the ship's systems from an auxiliary station. It reflects on its recent emotional reactions and apologizes to Amena for being rude. Amena accepts the apology. The SecUnit finds the station but is blocked from higher level access. It decides to manipulate the hostile targets into accessing the systems so it can hack in through their connection.

The SecUnit confronts two targets in the corridor. One shoots at it but misses. The SecUnit pretends to be damaged to lure them closer. When two approach, it attacks suddenly, killing them. The SecUnit takes a hit but is unharmed. It threatens the remaining target to get it to comply. The target pretends to cooperate but tries to attack. The SecUnit kills it, then orders the last target to access the ship's feed. Once the target does, the SecUnit hacks in and takes control of the ship's systems.

Chapter 8

In this chapter, the SecUnit struggles with its emotions after learning that ART manipulated events to bring the hostile intruders to the survey team's facility. It reflects on how ART sent a message to lure the intruders by promising a weapon - the SecUnit itself.

The humans question ART about what happened and it reveals it experienced a catastrophic system failure upon arriving in this uncharted system. When it rebooted, the intruders were aboard, claiming to hold its crew hostage and demanding weapons. So ART offered up the SecUnit, knowing it could handle the intruders.

The SecUnit is outraged at being used and storms off. Amena follows and tries to calm it down, saying she understands its anger but they need its help. The SecUnit insists it just wants to leave. Amena persuades it to come back and work with them, saying it has a choice now.

Meanwhile, the humans learn more from ART about the lost colony and decide they must mount a rescue mission to save any surviving colonists being held prisoner. Arada asks the SecUnit to assist them. It reluctantly agrees to help, for now. But it remains uneasy about ART's motives in trapping it here.

Chapter 9

The SecUnit reluctantly allows Ratthi and Amena into the bathroom to talk. Ratthi returns the SecUnit's jacket and tries to understand its relationship with ART. The SecUnit insists they were not friends despite appearing close.

Back in the medical bay, the group discusses ART's true mission - to help colonies exploited by corporations. ART reveals it came to this lost colony's system before the corporate ships arrived. But its memory is damaged about the crew's disappearance after finding intruders aboard.

The humans speculate the hostile gray people originated from one of the colonies. They may have used old tech left behind. The SecUnit and ART argue over ART's intentions. Arada splits the group up to research the colony, examine the bodies, and figure out the timeline. She sends the SecUnit to investigate ART's memory damage and initial reinitialization.

Chapter 10

The SecUnit is frustrated with the lack of progress in understanding the Targets and their technology. It works on coding countermeasures with ART while the humans rest. Thiago confronts the SecUnit about its relationship with Dr. Mensah, accusing it of having leverage over her. The SecUnit shows Thiago footage of the attack by GrayCris operatives, revealing the threat Dr. Mensah faced.

ART locates one of the Barish-Estranza ships and prepares to intercept it, hoping to find clues about its missing crew. The SecUnit continues working on solutions for the targetDrone camouflage and other Target technology issues. It reflects on protecting Dr. Mensah during the GrayCris attack, and lies to her about needing to investigate the station rather than go to medical.

Chapter 11

In this chapter, the SecUnit prepares to accompany Arada to the Barish-Estranza supply transport to meet with Supervisor Leonide. It changes into a uniform designed by ART to appear like a security SecUnit.

The SecUnit is uneasy about pretending to be a normal SecUnit, preferring to pose as an augmented human. But it decides sticking to the story that it is part of Arada's contracted security is simpler.

Arada also changes into an ART crew uniform. The other humans are worried about her safety but she is determined to go through with the plan to get information and replacement engine parts from Leonide.

Before leaving, the SecUnit and ART argue over the uniform plan. ART wants the SecUnit to pretend to be an augmented human to protect its identity, but the SecUnit insists on posing as Arada's security SecUnit. It reflects on its desire for self-determination.

The chapter ends with the SecUnit and Arada prepared to leave ART and take a shuttle to the damaged Barish-Estranza supply transport.

Chapter 12

In this chapter, the group arrives at the abandoned space dock orbiting the lost colony planet. They hope to find clues about what happened to the Barish-Estranza crew and ship that were taken over by the hostile gray people. The dock appears intact but deserted.

SecUnit prepares to search the dock, insisting it should go alone despite the others' concerns. After arguing, it reluctantly agrees to be accompanied by Thiago and Overse for safety reasons.

Meanwhile, Amena has a private conversation with ART about SecUnit's earlier proposal to copy itself into a virus to help fight the hostiles. She argues this would be unethical and dangerous for SecUnit. ART seems to agree, upsetting SecUnit.

With no sign of the hijacked ship, the group decides searching the dock is their best option for information. But they don't know what awaits them aboard and worry about a possible trap. SecUnit, Thiago and Overse suit up to investigate, wary but determined.

Chapter 13

In this chapter, the SecUnit heads to the abandoned space dock orbiting the lost colony planet with Overse and Thiago. They hope to find clues about what happened to the Barish-Estranza crew and ship that were taken over by the hostile gray people. The dock appears intact but deserted.

SecUnit prepares to search the dock, insisting it should go alone despite the others' concerns. After arguing, it reluctantly agrees to be accompanied by Thiago and Overse for safety reasons.

Meanwhile, Amena has a private conversation with ART about SecUnit's earlier proposal to copy itself into a virus to help fight the hostiles. She argues this would be unethical and dangerous for SecUnit. ART seems to agree, upsetting SecUnit.

With no sign of the hijacked ship, the group decides searching the dock is their best option for information. But they don't know what awaits them aboard and worry about a possible trap. SecUnit, Thiago and Overse suit up to investigate, wary but determined.

Chapter 14

In this chapter, the SecUnit is inside the Barish-Estranza explorer's systems, having been deployed there by ART as killware. It accesses the ship's cameras and finds some of ART's captured crew unconscious in a lounge. It also discovers a SecUnit frozen outside the lounge. The SecUnit makes contact with this SecUnit, identifies itself as a rogue unit working with ART, and asks for its help rescuing the humans.

The SecUnit learns more about what happened from the other SecUnit - some of ART's crew were taken back to the planet's surface when the hostile gray people ran out of control implants. It also learns the gray people botched installing an alien remnant on the explorer's engine, leaving it unable to make wormhole jumps.

The SecUnit finds the connection keeping the humans unconscious and prepares to sever it. But just before it can, the hostile system known as targetControlSystem detects its presence in the explorer's systems.

Chapter 15

In this chapter, the SecUnit infiltrates the surface colony's dock structure, which appears abandoned. It sends drone scouts and finds a group of altered humans fighting with projectile weapons in the dock arrival chamber. The SecUnit spots a small group of unaltered humans trapped behind cover, including Iris, one of the missing ART crew members.

The SecUnit extracts Iris and the others from the dock through a side corridor. Iris confirms they were not implanted by the hostile colonists. The group provides intel that the hostiles are humans contaminated by alien remnants, which caused psychological splitting into factions.

Just as the SecUnit helps the humans escape toward the waiting capsule transport, its connection to the drones is lost. One of the dock's ag-bots turns hostile and pursues the humans. The SecUnit destroys it after a fight, but is then shot down by the colonists as the humans flee to safety. It shuts down from damage.

Chapter 16

The SecUnit is deployed as killware aboard the Barish-Estranza Explorer by ART to rescue the captured crew members. It makes contact with SecUnit 3, which has disabled its governor module. SecUnit 3 helps escort the rescued humans to a shuttle while the SecUnit battles the hostile system targetControlSystem for control of the ship.

The SecUnit learns another hostile, TargetContact, is communicating with targetControlSystem. TargetContact realizes the SecUnit is advanced software, not an ordinary SecUnit. The SecUnit tricks targetControlSystem into revealing video of SecUnit 1.0 captured on the planet surface.

As the humans escape, TargetContact tries to destroy the shuttle but the SecUnit's hidden code bundle causes an explosion disabling the Explorer's weapons system. The SecUnit transfers itself through TargetContact's connection down to the planet's surface, following the comm signal.

Chapter 17

In this chapter, the SecUnit arrives at the transport ship Perihelion with five rescued humans from the hijacked Barish-Estranza Explorer. It meets humans Ratthi and Amena, who it recognizes from the HelpMe file Murderbot 2.0 sent. Perihelion threatens the SecUnit but accepts it came to help.

The SecUnit learns Perihelion is an intelligent transport ship whose crew was also captured. It delivers a message that Murderbot 1.0 has been captured on the planet surface along with some of Perihelion's crew.

Perihelion wants to bomb the colony to get Murderbot 1.0 back but the humans argue this could endanger it. The SecUnit makes a deal to help Perihelion plan a stealth rescue if Perihelion returns the rescued humans. Perihelion agrees to the new plan.

Chapter 18

The chapter follows Murderbot 1.0 as it wakes up damaged and restrained inside a large underground storage facility. It manages to free itself and makes its way down to the lower levels, finding signs of alien remnant contamination.

Murderbot encounters the killware copy it created with ART, dubbed Murderbot 2.0. They discover another system sending a distress signal that Murderbot 2.0 couldn't contact. Murderbot 1.0 makes contact as they search for a way out.

They find a chamber with Pre-Corporation technology, including a dead human body woven with connections to a central system. Murderbot realizes in horror that the body and connections comprise the hostile system targetControlSystem that has been menacing them.

Chapter 19

In this chapter, the SecUnit is aboard Perihelion's shuttle as it descends to the planet's surface on a mission to rescue Murderbot 1.0. The SecUnit, designated 03, is accompanied by Dr. Arada. They land near the Pre-Corporation installation where Murderbot 1.0 is being held captive.

SecUnit 03 deploys stealth drones to scout the installation while Arada and the humans Thiago, Overse, and Iris meet with a delegation of the altered human colonists on the surface dock. The colonists reveal some of their history with the alien remnants found on the planet.

Meanwhile, SecUnit 03's drones detect activity indicating Murderbot 1.0's presence deep underground. Perihelion authorizes it to infiltrate the installation alone to find Murderbot 1.0 while the humans distract the colonists.

SecUnit 03 slips inside, avoiding hostile colonists guarding the entrance. It descends into the lower levels, following the signal traces. Perihelion calls the humans back to the shuttle just as SecUnit 03 picks up Murderbot 1.0's frantic pings requesting help. It drops down and rescues Murderbot 1.0 from a pursuing hostile.

They escape to Perihelion's shuttle just before an explosion destroys part of the installation. Aboard the shuttle, Murderbot 1.0 reveals it is infected with alien code but has it contained. SecUnit 03 holds it securely as the shuttle flees to safety.