Exit Strategy Quotes

“I was having an emotion, and I hate that.”
― Martha Wells, Exit Strategy

“Possibly I was overthinking this. I do that; it’s the anxiety that comes with being a part-organic murderbot. The upside was paranoid attention to detail. The downside was also paranoid attention to detail.”
― Martha Wells, Exit Strategy

“It would have been hilarious if I wasn’t about to die. It was still a little hilarious.”
― Martha Wells, Exit Strategy

“So the plan wasn't a clusterfuck, it was just circling the clusterfuck target zone, getting ready to come in for a landing.”
― Martha Wells, Exit Strategy

“Disinformation, which is the same as lying but for some reason has a different name, is the top tactic in corporate negotiation/warfare.”
― Martha Wells, Exit Strategy

“It was very dramatic, like something out of a historical adventure serial. Also correct in every aspect except for all the facts, like something out of a historical adventure serial.”
― Martha Wells, Exit Strategy

“I don’t want to be human.”

Dr. Mensah said, “That’s not an attitude a lot of humans are going to understand. We tend to think that because a bot or a construct looks human, its ultimate goal would be to become human.”

“That’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard.”
― Martha Wells, Exit Strategy

“I’m going to mark your cognition level at fifty-five percent.” “Fuck you.” “Let’s make that sixty percent.”)”
― Martha Wells, Exit Strategy

“I was having an emotion, and I hate that. I’d rather have nice safe emotions about shows on the entertainment media; having them about things real-life humans said and did just led to stupid decisions”
― Martha Wells, Exit Strategy

“By tricky I meant I was getting an average of an 85 percent chance of failure and death, and it was only that low because my last diagnostic said my risk assessment module was wonky. (I know, that explains a lot about me.)”
― Martha Wells, Exit Strategy

“In the shows, I saw humans comfort each other all the time at moments like this. I had never wanted that and I still didn’t. (Touching while rendering assistance, shielding humans from explosions, etc., is different.) But I was the only one here, so I braced myself and made the ultimate sacrifice. “Uh, you can hug me if you need to.”
― Martha Wells, Exit Strategy

“But they were humans— who knows why they did anything?”
― Martha Wells, Exit Strategy

“The bad thing about having emotions is, you know, OH SHIT WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED TO ME.”
― Martha Wells, Exit Strategy

“How humans decide what to do with their arms on a second by second basis, I still have no idea”
― Martha Wells, Exit Strategy

“I really needed to get around to setting that one-second delay on my mouth.”
― Martha Wells, Exit Strategy

“I knew interpreting the emotional subtext in the speech and apperance of real humans was completely different from interpreting it in shows and serials. (For one thing, the shows and serials were trying to communicate with the viewer. As far as I could tell, real humans usually didn't know what the hell they were doing.)”
― Martha Wells, Exit Strategy

“I hate having emotions about real humans instead of fake ones, it just leads to stupid moments like this.”
― Martha Wells, Exit Strategy

“It’s very dramatic,” Ratthi added. “The crew think you’re a special security agent who betrayed the company to save us.” It was very dramatic, like something out of a historical adventure serial. Also correct in every aspect except for all the facts, like something out of a historical adventure serial.”
― Martha Wells, Exit Strategy

“I don't like planets. There's dust and weather, and something always wants to eat the humans.”
― Martha Wells, Exit Strategy

“No, I impersonated my client. My imaginary client. That I impersonated.” I was caught in a loop for a second there.”
― Martha Wells, Exit Strategy

“The one good thing about having emotions was that it accelerated the repair process for my memory storage. (The bad thing about having emotions is, you know, OH SHIT WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED TO ME.)”
― Martha Wells, Exit Strategy

“At thirty-seven hours since arrival, I sat up. I said, aloud, “That was stupid.” Everything was clear, sharp. Note to self, never, ever jump into a gunship with a bot pilot and fight off a construct Attacker code again. You almost deleted yourself, Murderbot.”
― Martha Wells, Exit Strategy

“On the feed the humans settled some details of what I was designating as Operation Not Actually A Completely Terrible Plan.”
― Martha Wells, Exit Strategy

“WHEN I GOT BACK to HaveRatton Station, a bunch of humans tried to kill me. Considering how much I’d been thinking about killing a bunch of humans, it was only fair.”
― Martha Wells, Exit Strategy

“I was trying not to think about all the ways I’d screwed up and what might happen next, a future that was bound to include even more creative screw-ups on my part. I had gotten used to the former and I hated going back to the latter.”
― Martha Wells, Exit Strategy

“Reaction 1: oh, that’s who had hacked my code. Reaction 2: flattering that they thought I was dangerous enough to pay for the contract on a Combat SecUnit. Reaction 3: I bet PortSec did not okay that and was going to be pissed off. Reaction 4: oh shit I’m going to die.”
― Martha Wells, Exit Strategy

“Anyway, there was a difference in watching media because I was safe on a transport with no one making me do anything, and watching media because I was trying not to think about all the ways I’d screwed up and what might happen next, a future that was bound to include even more creative screw-ups on my part.”
― Martha Wells, Exit Strategy

“She hesitated, then sent to me in the feed, I’m going to touch you, don’t freak out.”
― Martha Wells, Exit Strategy

“The last thing I wanted was to ask the company gunship for help. The last thing I wanted was for GrayCris to catch us. The two last things were incompatible.”
― Martha Wells, Exit Strategy

“I guess you could pay off the management to let you bring in a SecUnit and weapons and do a hostage exchange, but they drew the line at giving you free feed access.”
― Martha Wells, Exit Strategy