Quotes from Martha Wells

On this contract, Dr. Ratthi jumped up and said, "I'll get the cases!" I yelled, "No!" which I'm not supposed to do; I'm always supposed to speak respectfully to the clients, even when they're about to accidentally commit suicide.

Humans do the "make it a question so it doesn't sound so bad" thing and it still sounds bad.

On her bad days, she felt like a dead albatross would be more appropriate headgear for her, suiting her mood and her apparent role in life.

No hugging," I warned her. It was in our contract. "Do you need emotional support? Do you want me to call someone?

The superstructure above me was triangular, angled back in a way to make it faster or something, I don't know, I'm a murderbot, I don't give a crap about boats.

Just remember you're not alone here." I never know what to say to that. I am actually alone in my head and that's where 90 plus percent of my problems are.

So, I'm awkward with actual humans. It's not paranoia about my hacked governor module, and it's not them; it's me. I know I'm a horrifying murderbot, and they know it, and it makes both of us nervous, which makes me even more nervous.

Since I hacked my governor module, it's not like I haven't thought about killing the humans. But once I started exploring the company servers and found hundreds of hours of downloadable entertainment media, I just thought, there's no hurry. I can always kill the humans later, after the next series drops.

Ramad's expression tightened. Kai knew what he was thinking and also wished there was a way to make Dahin shut up.

I liked humans, I liked watching them on the entertainment feed, where they couldn't interact with me.

And I had to kill the rest of the Targets in the extremely painful ways I'd been visualizing.

Solving your problems is an interesting exercise in lateral thinking. "So you're bored?

I know a "fuck off" when I hear one. So I fucked off.

He hadn't said Tremaine was crazy either. He gave the impression that he was used to being pulled out of a sound sleep to humor people in the middle of a cold night... "Maybe that's why I love him," Tremaine thought, lifting an ironic brow at herself. Then she processed that thought. "I do what?

They ranged from bleakly depressing (due to an excess of realism) to highly unlikely (due to an excess of optimism).

I was not in control of this situation and I could see at least ten instances now where I'd made wrong decisions and being in control of the situation was really important because otherwise it was in control of me and that felt like a short step to being back in the company's control.

Agricultural bots have the statistically lowest chance of accidental injuries but are physically the most terrifying. It's weird how something designed to take care of delicate lifeforms looks the most like it wants to tear you apart and eat your humans.)

I COULD HAVE BECOME a mass murderer after I hacked my governor module, but then I realized I could access the combined feed of entertainment channels carried on the company satellites. It had been well over 35,000 hours or so since then, with still not much murdering, but probably, I don't know, a little under 35,000 hours of movies, serials, books, plays, and music consumed. As a heartless killing machine, I was a terrible failure.

Just clients. And if anyone or anything tried to hurt them, I would rip its intestines out.

Young humans can be impulsive. The trick is keeping them around long enough to become old humans. This is what my crew tells me and my own observations seem to confirm it.

I went up on ART's control deck where it was quiet. It felt familiar in a good way, so I pulled the memory of my first time aboard so I could compare it. It was better without ART threatening to destroy my brain.

Indah's gaze wasn't exactly skeptical. "What controlled circumstances?" I said, "Isolated work installations." Her expression turned even more grim. "Corporate slave labor camps." I said, "Yes, but if we call them that, Marketing and Branding gets angry and we get a power surge through our brains that fries little pieces of our neural tissue.

Humans have a bad tendency to use weapons unnecessarily and indiscriminately. Of the many times I had been shot, a depressingly large percentage of hits had come from clients who were trying to "help" me.

Overse added, "Just remember you're not alone here." I never know what to say to that. I am actually alone in my head, and that's where 90 plus percent of my problems are.