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Bots, Constructs & Augmented Humans

“Constructs and bots don’t trust each other.” ~ Murderbot

• AG-Bot Agricultural Bot described as 9 Meters tall with a small head (for sensors) on a long curving neck. It walks on twelve long jointed limbs which allows it to walk through agricultural areas without damaging plants. Murderbot describes it as being covered in spikes and as having arms like tentacles. Said to be harmless by Murderbot. Until it wasn't.
• ART (and Holism)
  Asshole Research Transport | A transport bot (understood as the entire vessel)  that communicates “verbally” rather than through the code and images bots normally use.
  
  • Designation: Perihelion, deepspace mapping and research vessel, Pansystem University of Mihira and New Tideland
  • ART momentarily allows Murderbot past its “firewall” (not Murderbot’s word). Murderbot states that “It was enough time for me to get a vivid image of what I was dealing with. Part of its function was extragalactic astronomic analysis and now all that processing power sat idle while it hauled cargo, waiting for its next mission. It could have squashed me like a bug through the feed, pushed through my wall and other defenses and stripped my memory. Probably while also plotting its wormhole jump, estimating the nutrition needs of a full crew complement for the next 66,000 hours, performing multiple neural surgeries in the medical suite, and beating the captain at tavla.”
  • In a later novel Murderbot was able to “experience” being a “Bot Pilot”. “I slipped all the way into the ship, into the pilot bot’s hardware. I’d seen ART do it.” After being reminded of ART, Murderbot comments on the strangeness of feeling the vacuum of space when “inhabiting the same hardware” as the gunship. "I suddenly had a different body, hard vacuum on a metal skin, I saw the approaching ship with my eyes, not just sensors.” This is in reference to the Gunship but presumably ART also has a kind of nervous system and ART’s hull, at minimum, feels sensation. Presumably ART, no less than the GunShip, is the entire vessel, not just a motherboard. So to speak.
• Augmented Human (human with tech implants)
  • Implant Dr. Mensah receives an implant from the company as a “fail safe”. This is how Murderbot is able to track and ultimately contact her on TranRollinHyfa, and it is inferred to be less invasive than an augment
  • Rudimentary implants are used to control humans captured by the hostile Adamantine colonists in Network Effect, and are described by Murderbot as being similar in function to the governor module

• Bot Pilot The sentience of Bot Pilots ranges from fairly simplistic to the powerful intelligence of ART. (Murderbot does refer to ART as a “pilot bot”.)  Murderbot also observes that Cargo Transport Bots watch entertainment feeds, which suggests a high degree of sentience even in fairly mundane bot pilots.
• Cargo Bots

• Combat Bot (a dedicated non-humanoid combat bot) Murderbot asserts that Combat Bots generally need human guidance unless they’re given very simple, object oriented tasks. Like, for example, “Kill Murderbot”.
• Combat Unit (a humanoid SecUnit/construct with a combat module)
• Comfort Unit/Sexbot (Murderbot referred to a sexbot’s expression as Unit Standard Neutral when they engaged hostile humans. There may be a joke here, by Wells.) 
• Construct (Muderbot describes itself as having “organic parts” and “human neural tissue”)
• Data Port (a receptacle/plug at the back of Murderbot’s neck for data input and control of unit—later altered by ART for Murderbot’s protection)
• Governor Module (used to “govern” constructs via reward & punishment)
• Hauler Bot
• Machine Intelligence (As opposed to Human Intelligence.)

• Maintenance Bot
• Module (For cargo but also refers to plug-in “education modules” for medical, combat, “comfort”/sex, navigation, etc…) 
  • Combat Override Module (used by hostile SecUnits to override Murderbot’s control of self — plugged into data port)
• PA Bot Port Authority Bot can easily decode hatch locks when entry into a transport or shuttle is necessary.
• SecUnit 
  • Described as having “generic” human faces/features (giving hope to legions of Murderbot readers who hoped to be cast as Murderbot).
  • All have the same physical specifications — height, arms, legs, torso — (ART altered Murderbot’s physical attributes so that it would not immediately be identified as a SecUnit during security screenings.
  • Categorized as a “Deadly Weapon” (much to Muderbot’s chagrin).
  • Murderbot, and presumably all SecUnits, have a self-monitoring “performance reliability rating” which is diminished by physical (and psychological) damage (or just by being really annoyed).  Asking Murderbot to babysit, for example, might send it straight to a Repair Cubicle (see below). 
  • Reputation of SecUnits. Humans do not seem to trust or like SecUnits, which is odd at first glance, because SecUnits are, ostensibly, meant to protect humans (provide security services). That would seem to be their whole raison d'être, and yet a human (oops… PTSD) will attempt to murder Murderbot, shooting Murderbot in the back while murderbot is trying to save their lives. Great. Just great. Wells/Murderbot leaves it to the reader to fill in the blanks. Maybe SecUnits have been used like mob enforcers? As far as Wells/Murderbot reveals, it’s definitely true that SecUnits have killed humans (hence Murderbot’s name), but thus far that appears to have only been because the SecUnits were hacked/damaged—and not behaving normally. In Network Effect, Murderbot flatly states what has already been implied in the earlier Novellas “I could have said that even SecUnits under company protocol use minimum force necessary because the company hates paying survivor damage bonds, and also because SecUnits are not rabid murderers unless humans specifically order them to be.” Murderbot also observes, multiple times, that media (read “TV”), for plot reasons, portrays SecUnits as dangerous, untrustworthy and murderous. It’s fairly clear that Murderbot regards the reputation of SecUnits as misguided, at best, and flatly wrong at worst. Questions regarding the narrator’s reliability come into play, but nothing specifically contradicts Murderbot’s assertions.
• System Reboot Murderbot's System Reboots can be voluntary or involuntary, the latter due to critical malfunctions or extensive damage. Although Murderbot doesn't call it a "System Reboot", an early example might be in All Systems Red, p. 64. Murderbot is surprised by a hostile SecUnit. "I was suddenly on my back on the floor, systems failing... I came back online to no vision, no hearing, no ability to move. I couldn't reach the feed or the comm."  (If anyone can give me a quote or page number for better examples—I'm blanking out.)
  • Unit Offline When the damage is so extensive that a System Reboot isn't in the cards, Murderbot goes offline. Murderbot describes it this way: "I tackled her off the edge of the rock, turning to land on my back,curling an arm over her suit helmet to protect her head from impact. We bounced off rocks and crashed through trees, then fire washed over the plateau and knocked out my — unit offline"   
• Transport Bot (bot pilot for transports) Also called “bot-transports” by Murderbot.

Corporations / Collectives / Associations

• The Company (Security Service)
• Barish-Estranza (Resource Extraction)
• Bond Company Provides security services (often via SecUnits) on a per-contract basis. Basically an insurance company. Charges are based on risk assessments and the value of the assets. If the covered assets cannot be recovered, the Bond Company pays out damages to the asset owners and/or survivors. If the claim against the Bond Company exceeds the bonded amount, further payment will be required before further action is taken. Bond Companies also offer mapping and communication services, along with equipment like Vehicles and Habitats, for bonded (insured) sites.
• BreharWallHan A resource extraction company/corporation that operates a Contract Labor Installation mining asteroids (meant to be X-years of labor followed by a sizable payout) that has instead turned into a multigenerational slave labor installation. This Corporation is bad news.
• DeltFall Sponsors of a resource survey crew murdered by GrayCris operatives. GrayCris was attempting to hide the discovery of Alien Remnants, meaning to sell what it found on the black market.
• Divarti Cluster

• EinoArzu (Security Service.)
• GoodNightLander Independent (Resource Extraction)

• GrayCris (Survey and Resources Extraction but not in a good way.)
• Palisade (Security Service.)
• Pansystem University of Mihira and New Tideland (Good guys.)
• Pre-CR Anything that was prior to the mega Corporations of the pre-Corporate Rim. During this period, there seemed to be less corporate influence over planets and colonies. Governance was more independent and there was less exploitation. New worlds were colonized while corporate interests, though still heavy-handed, had not yet evolved into a political system governed by corporations.

• Preservation Alliance (Where bots and constructs are permitted to exercise free-will—usually with a human “guardian” providing oversight. Murderbot distastefully compares this to being a pet. Preservation Alliance is not subject to corporate interests, exploitation or control.) 
• PreservationAux A scientific research organization led by Dr Mensah. Operates with Preservation Alliance. Avoids the exploitative practices of the corporation rim.
• Preservation Station An orbital station housing a transit and habitat ring, under the auspices of Preservation Alliance. The name of the planet it orbits is curiously unclear, but then Murderbot doesn’t like planets, so maybe it’s personal.
• Stockade Kumaran (Security Service.)

Docking Terminology

• Cargo Docks | Cargo Section
• Control Interface Found in the bulkhead next to the hatch. This is the interface used by the PA Bot to decode locks and open recalcitrant hatches.
• Hatch (hatches are described as lining a station’s bulkhead) Can be round or rectangular.
• Lock (secures hatches)
• Merchant Docks (Vaguely distinguished from Cargo Docks.)
• Module (Attaches to exterior of transports instead of being carried in a cargo compartment.)
• Module Drop (Where modules are placed for dispersal to & from cargo transports?)
• Public Docks

• Salutation (Normally answered by an “Answer Protocol” when pinging transports at the hatch), and not answered by another “salutation”. This is what tips Murderbot off to a damaged/malfunctioning Cargo Transport.
• Transit Ring Assigned Marker (Gives docking number and registry name at hatch.)
• Transport Dock

Drones

• Intel Drones Small, insect-like, most commonly associated with SecUnits. Prohibited on Transit Rings
• Pathfinders p. 178 Network Effect. “Pathfinders are like drones for space, basically active scanners that would zip around the planet collecting environmental information and terrain imaging, plus looking for comm signals, possible energy sources and whatever might be planning to kill us. (…) They were really expensive, not something normal survey teams had access to…” 
• Repair Drone p. 111 Network Effect.Performs maintenance and other specialized repairs.
• Security Drones (Small and commonly found on Transit Rings.)
• Scoutdrone What it sounds like. Murderbot uses these to scout perimeters. These are small information gathering drones that are more or less flying cameras. Murderbot keeps them in his pockets.
• Weapon Scanning Drones (May be the same as Security Drones but unclear.)
• Combat Drones Armed and much larger than ordinary drones. “These were the bigger model that had intel capacity, extra shielding, and an onboard energy weapon.” According to Murderbot, not as useful for stealth, collecting proprietary client data, or patrolling a base perimeter.

Feed & Comm Systems

• hotelEnvironmentAccessAndMobilitySystem (MobSystem) “I was in the pod and at the right section by the time Gurathin and Serrat reached the room. There was no cover in the corridor, so I told the pod to hold and notify hotelEnvironmentAccessAndMobilitySystem (MobSys for short) not to take action on any maintenance requests. (It sounds like a lot of trouble just to stop a pod, but if I didn't do it that way it would have crashed the system. Literally, if I interfered with MobSys' pod traffic control. And by literally, I mean pods full of humans and augmented humans crashing into each other.)”
• Comm (audio-based communication)
• Feed On Transit Rings, more or less an “internet connection” that can provide entertainment, maps, schedules, etc… There are also “secure”—unless you’re Murderbot, then nothing is secure—feeds related to security.
• Feed ID (Provides name, pronouns, biographical information.)
• Feed Interface Usually refers to the external interfaces humans use to communicate in and interact with the feed.
• HubSystem 
• Normally under the control of a company/corporation.
• Acts as a centralized systems hub. While powerful, some systems remain autonomous. 
• Medsystem (can be or is(?)—unclear) isolated from Hubsystem (Book 1, Chapt 5).
• Manages Governor Modules.
• Records conversations for corporate data mining in habitats, transit rings, hoppers, transports, shuttles, etc…
• Communicates with Satellites.
• Delivers Software “Packages” and/or Upgrade “Packets” (which Murderbot chose not to apply—unlike Windows 11).  
• Can override/immobilize modules used to control Bots(?) and Constructs.
• Murderbot was forced to hack Hubsystem so that Hubsystem wouldn’t report Murderbot’s hacked governor module to its corporate owners—unlike Windows 11.
• Can alter/edit a Bot’s code (this was in reference to Hopper Bot Pilots).
• Controls a Hopper’s Scanners (All Systems Red), not SecSys (when Hubsystem was disabled). It’s also possible that SecSys (unlike MedSystem) cannot function without HubSystem. Unclear.
• Media Soap operas like Lineages of the Sun and The Rise and Fall of Sanctuary Moon. The opiate of the Bot and Construct masses. 
• MedSystem Provides medical information & guidance | informs Murderbot of its “Performance Reliability” although Murderbot later seems able to ascertain this information without MedSystem.
• Decontam Operation What it sounds like. When there’s a biological mess to clean up onboardship, human or alien, decontamination units are sent out to mop things up.  
• Repair Cubicle (These are dedicated cubicles overseen by MedSystem (Artifical Condition) for the treating/repairing of presumably humans(?) and constructs. They are self-cleaning and self-sanitizing—including the ability to remove all traces of DNA.)
• MedSystem is useful to Murderbot as a link providing information regarding the diagnosis of medically related issues, effectively acting as a sort of “Medical Module”. Murderbot states that it can still diagnose human medical conditions without MedSystem, presumably by virtue of its increasing sentience and experience, but the implication is that it will be less effective, accurate and less thorough. What could possibly go wrong.
• Ping Analogous to digitally knocking at the door in order to identify bots, constructs, etc…
• SecSystem (See Speculative Security Tree Below)
• Station Feed Provides notices, alerts, entertainment, information, commercials, etc…
• Tap Tapping into a pre-existing/current feed, like tapping a phone call. Also used as a form of non-verbal communication within an existing connection, ie tapping an acknowledgment or nonverbally alerting others.

Security Systems & Feeds (Tree)

So, the relationship between the various feeds and systems (who answers to who) is never made clear (as in all over the map) but one can speculate. If you’re going to make up your own “systems” and feeds, the following might be a helpful guide? For example, I added hypothetical SecSystems in Italics based on Wells’s Transit Ring “pods”. One could speculate that these Pods have their own specialized “Systems”, or not.

Central System (159 Network Effect) Murderbot states that this was the earlier version of Hubsystem (40 years older in the world of the novel) that did not have subsystems. In other words, there was Central System and that was it (which begs the question: then why call it “Central” System if there’s only one system?). But it’s possible to read too closely.   

1. Port Authority (PortAuth) / Station Feed (public feed)
1. Medsystem
   (Medsystem is shown to function without Hubsystem in All Systems Red and Network Effect, suggesting that it is an independent system, which makes sense. This is the one system you don’t want to lose if all your other systems are down—because that would mean things are bad and getting worse.)

1. HubSystem / PortAuthSys
   On a transit ring/station, these would likely and effectively be the same (?) —not sure what higher authority there is than “Port Authority”.
   1. SecSystem (Monitors drones, cameras, weapons, etc…)
      1.      PortSec
      1. PortMaintSec
      2. LockControlSys
   1. StationSecSys 
   2. HotelSecSys
1. Station Security / StationSecAdmin (all feeds secure)

• EmbarkationSec
  
  
• ProductionSec

• EngineeringSys

• AtmosphericSys

• GeoSys

1. StationCommCentral
   This was rattled off by Murderbot as “not… a Port Authority System” with no further explanation, implying that it is a separate and autonomous system. One can speculate that this manages all communication systems, making sure that they do in fact communicate with each other. Probably stores all information from these communication systems in one centralized database. This would be an immensely important system to Corporations interested in data mining.
2. Station Resource Allotment
   Mentioned by Murderbot as having approved the temporary use of station processing power and memory / “storage space”. Unclear whether this is human or machine. Likely machine. If machine then it sounds analogous to an OS Kernel that allots and manages buffer, cache,  swap and memory resources. Etc…

1. Transport Local
   This too was rattled off by Murderbot as “not… a Port Authority System” without further explanation. Hazarding a guess, one might speculate that this is the Transit Ring’s Control Tower (System). It would make sense that this would be an autonomous system. You don’t want your Traffic Control system getting an unwanted update/patch from HubSystem that crashes your control tower—unlike Windows 11.
2. hotelEnvironmentAccessAndMobilitySystem (MobSystem)
   Essentially controls the Transit Ring’s “Buses & Subway System”. As it were.

Presumably, Lifters and Transports would be similar, if not the same, to Shuttles and “Ships”. Habitats have a Hubsystem. So, getting deep into the weeds, we (because there’s more than one of us writing this) would tentatively assert the following: SecSystems need someone or something for oversight, and that can either be HubSys or the Bot-Pilot (or a meddling SecUnit). So while the MedSystem is autonomous, for example, the SecSystem does not seem to be fully autonomous. The question arises because a Hopper or Transport isn’t always going to be in range of HubSys. 

1. Shuttle / Bot Pilot 
1. MedSystem
2. ShuttleSecSys

• ShuttleMaintSec
• NavSys

• DockSys

• DockSec

• LifesupportSys

1. Ship / Bot Pilot 
1. MedSystem
2. ShipSecSys

• ShipMaintSec
• NavSys

• DockSys

• DockSec

• LifesupportSys

1. Boat (As in an actual seaworthy boat.)
1. FacilitySys (Appears in Network Effect Provided translation services to Murderbot so that Murderbot could understand and speak to Raiders. Presumably a FacilitySys would exist on every platform, vehicular and stationary, as these services would be immensely useful anywhere.

Editorial Comment: To quote Murderbot, it does sometimes seem that Wells “Just makes shit up” in an eff-consistency sort of way; like she can’t remember the name of the blahblahsecsys from 97 pages before and so makes up a new blahsys blahsec. That’s okay. To quote Murderbot, “Whatever.” 

Security & Combat Terminology

• Comm Port (used for pinging)
• Corporate Combat Squad Group of people (presumably humans) hired by corporations. Iris mentions that Tarik, a former member, was made to kill others, and has experience contacting unknown and potentially hostile groups.
• Crowd Control Poppers p. 239 Network Effect. Never described but probably similar to, if less aggressive, than stun grenades.
• ID Marker (Apparently an identifying chip humans can, according to Murderbot, “cut out” if they really want to.)
• Feed Marker Perimeter (digital equivalent of police tape)
• Governor Module This is classified as a security device and as a weapon because it is used to control the behavior of SecUnits. The Governor Module can cause them to experience pain and can destroy the SecUnits if, for instance, they exceed their permissible perimeter distance (the maximum distance from those they’re assigned to keep secure). Murderbot never states whether machine intelligences other than SecUnits have Governor Modules.
• Initial Incident Assessment (What it sounds like.)

• Killware (malware meant to destroy/wipe target software in any software-reliant system—like bots, constructs and possibly any tech augmented humans) 
• Sentient Killware More advanced form of traditional killware, capable of acting independently of its programming. Murderbot states that “It was a conscious bot, moving through the feed like I did, like ART, but with no physical structure to go back to; and that was why it was so fast." (Exit Strategy)  This is an interesting case because it implies a kind of “software sentience” independent of hardware platform and that can clearly move from platform/host to platform/host. In principle, one could imagine cases of nested sentience(s). Sentient software within sentient software within sentient software like nested parasites. Think Ophiocordyceps unilateralis for Bots and Constructs—that ant-fungus that turns ants into zombies.

• Major Incident Team (follows Initial Incident Assessment if necessary)
• Projectile Weapons 
  • Some are denoted as Armor Piercing
• Retrieved Client Protocol Murderbot refers to this in the context of humans (clients) who have been rescued by a SecUnit and the protocols which presumably apply to such “clients”, including isolation (in the event of alien contamination), debriefing, psychological debriefing, and any medical treatment. 

• Security Interdict (Command issued to SecSystem to lockdown unsecured area?)
• Station Security Response Team
• Station Security Office

• Target (When Murderbot identifies hostiles, it will refer to them as “targets” —Target One, Target Two, Target Three, etc.— as targets to disable or kill. The terminology makes humans queasy. I don’t know why.)
• Murderbot Assessments
  • Efficiency (Murderbot's Efficiency rating seems to reflect its psychological state. Murderbot, for example, is anxiety prone: "The idea was so painful I dropped to 97% efficiency." p. 14 All Systems Red)
  • Performance Reliability Rating (This seems to reflect Murderbot's physical state. In All Systems Red, When its performance reliability rating dropped to 10%, a shutdown was initiated. p. 70)      
  • Threat Assessment (A percentage assessment of potential hostility.)
  • Risk Assessment (Risk is not necessarily related to hostile action, but more general environmental and circumstantial dangers.)
• Verbal Emergency Call (Presumably made using Comm.)
• Weapons
  • Projectile Weapon
  • Energy Weapon (Described as releasing Explosive Bolts.)
  • Powered Armor (Mainly increases a human’s strength and doubtless looks cool. Also, humans wearing powered armor can be mistaken for SecUnits.)

Tools & Devices

• Beacon (Used to summon aid/rescue.)
• Bio Hazard Cleaning Unit p. 179 Network Effect. The tool does what it sounds like. Cleaned up the mess on ART. 
• Contact DNA Cleaner A device capable of removing any DNA from any surface. Murderbot observes that this is an expensive device that would normally only be in Corporate hands. Useful if you murder someone. I’m told.
• Deflection Vest Page 41 Network Effect. Designed to provide protection from “inert blades, slow projectiles, fire, acidic gas, low energy pulses, and so on…” 
• Display Surface Analogous to a flat screen, but what it is precisely is unclear. Possibly also projected. Can be any size or shape. Some display surfaces float. Murderbot at one point describes “Display Surfaces” lying around an abandoned orbital station, so clearly these can be like flatscreens. Display Surfaces can also, apparently be materialized(?) out of thin air, implied to be more substantial than a holo, but this too is unclear.
• Holo A holographic display.
• Emergency Kit Page 97 Network Effect. A bit like a first aid or first responders medical kit that can also provide diagnostic and treatment guidance.
• Environment Suit 236 Network Effect. Not for spacewalks but for environments (planetary or otherwise) with less than ideal conditions for human survival — thin or poisonous atmospheres for example. Murderbot does not appear to be immune from such atmospheres, but can sustain them much longer than any human. Ultimately, it would seem that Murderbot also needs to wear Environmental Suits for sustained exposures.
• Evac Suit For emergency space walks. “This emergency device alerts the Port Authority emergency notification network and the transponder will send your location…”
• Floating Delivery Cart Useful for moving murdered humans around. I’m told.
• MedUnit Seemingly the automated/bot/or Medsystem controlled  equivalent of a first responder.
• Message Buoy An interplanetary or interstellar buoy that is effectively a message in a bottle—like leaving informational bread crumbs behind.
• Mineral Survey 
• Pressure Drills
  • Sonic Drills (Used by Murderbot to take out a CombatBot’s “motherboard”.)
  • Sonic Mining Drill (Used by Dr. Mensah to take out a SecUnit in ASR)
• Recycler Will recycle clothing, damaged armour or human waste. Is capable of producing new material (like clothes, armour or food) from it. The limitations of a recycler are unclear. Useful for destroying evidence. Like the blood-stained clothes of a murdered human. If you’re asking for a friend.
• Wormhole Drive Engine which enables ships to navigate wormholes.

Stations & Transit Rings

The Orbital or non-Orbital Station/Platform/Transit Ring is the most confusingly described arena of the Murderbot series. For some reason, I imagine them looking somewhat like the space stations of the original Star Trek series. That is probably not what Wells has in mind.

• Access Floor

• Air Wall A “pressurized wall of air” meant to allow a “porous” border through which humans can escape in the event of sudden depressurization/hull failure. Analogous to the airwalls at the entrances to some modern buildings, meant to prevent heat loss.
• Airlock Foyer Unclear but Murderbot described the foyer as the area one goes to during disembarkation. The area that is presumably depressurized before departure and repressurized on arrival.
• Automated Transient Service Center A self-help (analogous to self-checkout) system where transients (travellers) can reserve minimalist cubicles (rooms) for rest and sleep.

• Backbone Pressurized support-structure of orbital platforms—normally only used for maintenance and may have the appearance of a hollow crane-like structure—like the “backbone of this grainery crane.
• Embarkation Floor Presumably analogous to an airport Departure Terminal.
• Embarkation Zone Security Analogous to airport security.
• Feed Markers Murderbot states that these are used by humans to navigate orbital stations/ring stations, suggesting that they are analogous to floor plans.
• Habitation Block Murderbot presumably means this to apply to that portion of an orbital station where hotels and living quarters are located.

• ID Screening System (Analogous to airport Passport Control.)
• Mall This may be short for Station Mall Junction or the Station Mall Junction may be a part of the greater Transit Ring “Mall”.  Might also be synonymous with Port Authority District.
• Markers These “are limited broadcasts directly to feed interfaces that work even when the feed is down, and are supposed to be for marking exits and emergecy routes and are usually used in the Corporation Rim to torture you with advertizing displays.” 

• Occupation Block (Unclear but may be analogous to an office block.)
• Pod Wells/Murderbot (confusingly) applies this to both the “cars” that carry humans through Transit Pipes (see below), and to the seemingly separate and specialized sections of an orbital station/Ring or Transit Ring: an “atmospheric pod”, an “engineering pod”, a “geo pod” and a “production pod”. The reader can only guess at what these might be. Murderbot provides no further information apart from their names. These are described as connected by “Tubes”, seemingly to be distinguished from “Transit Pipes”, and the tubes are connected by nodes (analogous to a crosswalk or intersection). If “tubes” are not the same as “transit pipes”, then they’re probably meant for pedestrians rather than automated cars/pods.
• Port Authority District It is implied that this is where “cafés, hotels, cargo brokers, transit offices, tech shops, and so on” can be found, to be distinguished from the “habitation block” and the “occupation block”. Might be synonymous with “Mall”.
• Port Work Zone Barracks are here, for Transit Ring workers, and supplies, etc.
• Preservation Station Port Authority Just what it sounds like. Each orbital or interplanetary station has its own Port Authority. 
• Private Feed Can be yours if you’re willing to pony up for a swank hotel room with a display surface the size of a wall.
• Public Feed Information Bases (Just what it sounds like.) Presumably giving access to Station Feed (providing notices, alerts, entertainment, information, commercials, etc…) It’s unclear whether “Public Feed” and “Station Feed” are the same thing. Murderbot seems to access Station Feed without hacking, suggesting that it’s also Public or another name for Public Feed.
• Ship Ring Murderbot refers to the ship ring as being part of or adjacent to the embarkation floor—presumably public transport. Possibly analogous to the airport corridors that house departure gates.
• Station Mall Junction Commercial—physical?—center of transit ring with “food courts” —called “food service centers”—and hotels. Possibly synonymous with “Port Authority District” and “Mall”.
• Station Security Operations  41 Network Effect This is where items such as “Deflection Vests” are stored, and presumably all other security related paraphernalia on any given station.
• Transit Pipe (Pods are used to travel through Transit Pipes—the pipes are described as transparent—within Transit Rings). Murderbot also seems to later describe these as “tubes”. See Tubes below. The nearest analog might be the Pneumatic Tube Messaging Systems of the 1910s through 1940s, except big enough for people.
• Transit Pod (All Systems Red.) Unclear if this is different from the pod of a “Transit Pipe”. But later, Wells/Murderbot will confusingly (for the reader) refer to an “atmospheric pod”, an “engineering pod”, a “geo pod” and a “production pod” (Rogue Protocol). These are  not describing “transit pods” that have these areas as destinations, but seemingly separate “sections” attached to or part of the larger orbital station (analogous to the different sections of the NASA Space Station), connected by “tubes”. Murderbot describes having to go through a node and a central node (of tubes) to reach these “pods”. The meaning or appearance of a node, let alone a central node, is unclear but comprehensible in an abstract way (presumably analogous to a crosswalk or intersection). Murderbot offers no description of them.  To confuse matters further, Murderbot will describe looking down at the “engineering pod’s hub” (the meaning of “hub” is unclear) through a “transparent tube”. It’s unclear whether this transparent tube is a connecting walkway or a “Transit Pipe”. 
• Transit Ring Entrance (Primary Entrance)
• Tubes Likely to be pedestrian passageways connecting “pods” (specialized and isolated sections) of an orbital station. But could also be Transit Tubes. To further confuse matters, Wells/Murderbot seems to call Transit Pipes “Tube Transports” in Rogue  Protocol. “Transit Pipes” are probably the same as “Tube Transports”. 

The Universe According to Murderbot

Or the (I have no idea where to categorize these terms.)

• Air Bubble Found on planets with hostile atmospheres (like planets being terraformed.) Murderbot doesn't go into detail but one might imagine a dome of glass, plastic or some other transparent barrier. ART asserts that the signal noise from terraforming engines would disrupt an air bubble installation, suggesting that an air bubble is formed by a force field.
• Alien remnants (Remains left by alien species that—disappeared? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ They include inorganic compounds (“strange synthetics”) or organic remnants—although if there are still organic remnants around, that somewhat begs the question —> Is this a crime scene?)
  • Strange Synthetics Apparently worth killing for and lucrative on the black market. Can also be mined legally if you have the right permits. 
• Contract Labor Installation (Meant to be X-years of labor followed by a sizable payout. In reality, (some) corporate entities turn these installations into multigenerational slave labor camps.) 
• Corporation Rim (A region of space controlled by corporations, not political entities.)
• Gravity Well There is one or more of these on ART. Murderbot provides no description beyond observing that this or that character is going into one. They seem to go between decks/floor levels. Best guess is that they are like the place where a fireman’s pole would go except there’s no pole and there’s no gravity, so you can go both directions in a gravity free “well” (which makes it more like a “zero-g well”.   ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

• Lift Tube Network Effect. Murderbot refers to these as primitive and fatally unreliable. He encounters them on the unnamed planet featured in Network Effect. It’s essentially an anti-gravity elevator—and you’re the elevator. Good luck with that.
• Preservation Alliance
• PreservationAux (The orbital station of Preservation Alliance) 

• Sound Baffle Field This appears to be describing something like a forcefield, found on planets, between neighbors and asshole noisy neighbors. Think of it as an updated version of a fence between backyards.

• Sound / Privacy Field This appears to be describing a smaller version of a sound baffle field. The Bunk Beds on ART are outfitted with Sound Privacy Fields for, you know, reasons. 
• Survey Planet About as close as Murderbot comes to actually giving a planet a name.

Vehicles & Living Quarters

• Colony Ship Murderbot refers to the PreservationAux orbital station as having been built around a “giant colony ship”. (Fugitive Telemetry). All that we know, as regards a description of it, is that it’s giant and curved.

• Corporate Support Carrier 157 Network Effect. Murderbot doesn’t go into detail so we’re left to surmise that it is what it sounds like, a dedicated starship/carrier carrying “supplies” of one kind or another—like the parts vans that follow Harley Davidson motorcycles. We’re given to assume that they’re lightly armed, as in mostly incapable of defending themselves. 

• Drop Box A space elevator. Murderbot’s description suggests that the elevator is quite large.
  • Space Dock Where the space elevator is affixed to an orbital station. 
  • Surface Dock Where the space elevator is affixed to the planet.
  • Maintenance Capsule A smaller “elevator” used to service the space elevator’s shaft.

• Gunship (What it sounds like but not so great against Sentient Killware.)

• Habitat (A planetary living environment, each having its own hubsystem.)
• Hopper (planetary “shuttle”)
  • Hopper Pads How Hoppers land on uneven terrain.
• Hover Crane Useful for murdering SecUnits. If you’re asking for a friend. Unclear whether the crane hovers (most likely based on its weight and size) or the crane acts as a tractor beam, hovering what it wishes to move. Murderbot’s description was primarily concerned with its size and weight and its effectiveness as a murder weapon (if it should be dropped on a SecUnit (almost)). Located in the Public Docks, though likely used in the Cargo and Merchant docks.
• LifeTender An old-fashioned escape pod used on the colony ship which carried the original refugees to Preservation. “The life-tender wasn’t so much an EVAC suit as it was a small vehicle. It opened into a kind of diamond-shaped bag with rudimentary navigation, propulsion, and life support. According to the library record, it was designed to get several humans off one ship and onto a new one, usually because the first ship was about to have a catastrophic failure.” Some have Transponders set to communicate with a colony ship’s Comm ID. “The library entry also said life-tenders weren’t used anymore because without their transponders, they were difficult to locate and didn’t meet Preservation’s current safety standards.”
• Lifter (Between planet & orbital platform.)
• Responder Not a specific vehicle but the ship assigned to picket duty round an orbital station. Also responds to mayday calls.
• Shuttle (Between starships and orbital platforms.)
• Soft-Drop Pack Page 233 Murderbot does not go into detail but appears to be a device which allows a slow descent from a hovering vehicle at low altitudes.
• Station Responder Sort of like an emergency response vehicle. Mainly seems to operate around space stations, but is also capable of wormhole travel.
• Station Tug (A space tugboat.)
• Transport (Between star systems via wormholes.)
  • Cargo Transport (Murderbot observes that Cargo Transport Bots also watch entertainment feeds.) Passenger transports (and other vessels) can be rented out as cargo transports between assignments.
• Passenger Transport Carries humans between systems for a fee.
• Pick-Up Transport A seemingly dedicated transport for extraction, emergencies or rescue. Only mentioned once, and may be synonymous with a Station Responder.