Murderbot sneaks off the craft through a rear airlock, and soon confirms that an armed boarding team is waiting to storm the ship in search of a rogue SecUnit. Learning that Dr. Mensah has been accused of corporate espionage by GrayCris and is now missing, Murderbot determines that she has likely been abducted by the company and taken to the corporate hub at TranRollinHyfa. Murderbot realizes that its actions on Milu have put Mensah in danger, and notes the possibility that GrayCris is luring it to TranRollinHyfa, but goes anyway. Murderbot approaches the three members of Mensah's original expedition team—Ratthi, Pin-Lee, Gurathin—who are there trying to amass the funds to pay the ransom GrayCris has demanded for Mensah. They hatch a plan wherein they will pretend to have the money and arrange for an exchange, as a means to draw Mensah out of the impenetrable security zone. The ruse works, and the three researchers flee to their contracted gunship while Murderbot moves to retrieve Mensah. Murderbot dispatches Mensah's captors easily, but a station-wide alarm is triggered before they can reach a shuttle. Three hostile SecUnits arrive. Murderbot convinces Mensah to escape, intending to sacrifice itself for her, and seizes control of all nearby drones and hauler bots to create chaos. Mensah and her team manage to manually open a gate for the critically injured Murderbot to escape. Fleeing on the gunship, they are pursued by a Palisade security ship that attacks the gunship with a computer virus intended to seize control of its systems, neutralize any augmented human crew, and open all the airlocks. Murderbot and the bot pilot hold off the worst effects of the malware, and manage to isolate the virus in a shuttle that they disengage from the gunship. With control of the gunship restored, the captain fires on the Palisade ship and the team makes their escape. Murderbot has a critical system failure, and collapses. After awakening in a med bay with Mensah and the team as they arrive at their home base, Preservation, Murderbot begins a lengthy self-repair process. Mensah and her team offer to shelter Murderbot until it is back up to 100% functionality and can decide what it wants to do next, even if it is just to watch media. The team invites Murderbot along on their upcoming expedition as their security detail, and Mensah later mentions that GoodNightLander—the contractor of Murderbot's Milu