Exit Strategy

Exit Strategy (2018) Martha Wells (The Murderbot Diaries)

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.”

She started to laugh, then her face did something complicated and she hugged me. I upped the temperature in my chest and told myself it was like first aid.

I’d just discarded Plan Actually Not All That Terrible and shifted to Plan Approaching Terrible.

How humans decide what to do with their arms on a second-by-second basis, I still have no idea.

Publisher: Tordotcom

Rating: 10/10

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