Artificial Condition (The Murderbot Diaries, #2)

by Martha Wells

The only SecUnits in entertainment media were rogues, out to kill all humans because they forgot who built the repair cubicles, I guess.

Granted, it would have been hard to show realistic SecUnits in visual media, which would involve depicting hours of standing around in brain-numbing boredom, while your nervous clients tried to pretend you weren’t there. But there weren’t any depictions of SecUnits in books, either. I guess you can’t tell a story from the point of view of something that you don’t think has a point of view.

“There’s unrealistic that takes you away from reality and unrealistic that reminds you that everybody’s afraid of you.”

I told myself I still looked like a SecUnit without armor, hopelessly exposed, but the truth was I did look more human. And now I knew why I hadn’t wanted to do this. It would make it harder for me to pretend not to be a person.