“Hello,” he said, peering at us via a display surface ART had generated. “How many SecUnit friends does Peri have?” (Network Effect)
Martyn is a biologist and member of Perihelion's crew, a teaching and research vessel, and occasional cargo hauler. These goals are also a cover for the crew's anti-corporate activities, which are to gather information and strike out against corporations.
Biography[]
Martyn has one marital partner (Seth) and one daughter (Iris), who he and Seth raised alongside the Perihelion AI like a sibling.[1] As of Network Effect he's affiliated with the Pansystem University of Mihira and New Tideland. He and the rest of the crew had received word that Barish-Estranza was turning its attention towards the Lost Colony, so they set out to reach it first. They intend to block Barish-Estranza from re-enslaving the colony and, if possible, to make new allies.
Before they can reach the colony, they're intercepted and captured (ironically) by lost colonists who'd hijacked a Barish-Estranza shuttle and were looking for a ship that could travel further. Martyn and two other crewmates are given implants made of Pre-Corporation-Rim technology and alien code, much like the ones already implanted on the Lost Colonists. The unaffected members of his crew are approached by a sympathetic colonist, who smuggles them to the Lost Colony's surface in an attempted rescue.
Martyn and the others are saved when Murderbot 2.0 and SecUnit 3 disable their implants and bring them back to the Perihelion. When they arrive they receive news of the other crewmates (soon to be rescued), and about Murderbot's capture. Once they regroup they immediately coordinate a rescue, and soon Murderbot is safe as well.
An armed ship from the Preservation Alliance arrives some days later, expecting to need to rescue the PreservationAux team. Murderbot reaches out and diffuses the situation, and Seth and Iris tell Mensah about their group's true mission, recruiting her (and her people's) help.
Personality[]
Martyn doesn't get much screentime, but during one of the few times he speaks (shown in the above quote) he is calm and friendly, even given that he's in quarantine and is speaking to the type of construct generally known for its dangerous capabilities.
Physical Appearance[]
Martyn has lighter skin, with short white hair. He wears a Perihelion's crew uniform, which is blue and includes a jacket with a logo, and is noted as looking 'like the crew of a ship that did deep space mapping and teaching with the occasional cargo run and/or corporate colony liberation on the side, like they hadn’t expected to leave their ship and had been caught by surprise.'[2]
Notes[]
- Murderbot finds a large cabin that could be Captain's quarters while giving ART an initial sweep. There is a photo in this cabin that shows two men, one of which sounds like Seth's later descriptions. (Murderbot avoids identifying the faces at the time, so their identities are only implied.)
References[]
- ↑ 426. All About Murderbot with Martha Wells, SB Sarah, Smart Podcast Trashy Books, https://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/podcast/426-all-about-murderbot-with-martha-wells/#transcript
- ↑ One wore a blue jacket but the way he was curled against the wall I couldn’t see if it had the right logo. [...] They didn’t look like corporate employees on the job. They looked like the crew of a ship that did deep space mapping and teaching with the occasional cargo run and/or corporate colony liberation on the side, like they hadn’t expected to leave their ship and had been caught by surprise. Chapter 14, Network effect.