"Being the top Preservation expert in dealing with contract law in the Corporation Rim apparently made Pin-Lee like the CombatUnit version of a lawyer." (Fugitive Telemetry)
Pin-Lee is one of the members of the PreservationAux survey team. She takes on multiple sets of duties as the needs arise, and when they've all been rescued she returns to her regular work as an expert solicitor in the Preservation Alliance.
Biography[]
Book Series[]
Not much is known about Pin-Lee before the books, except that she is Preservation's best expert in contract law in the Corporation Rim, and that she and Bharadwaj flirt in an old comfortable way that suggests it has been going on for a long time.
First appearing in All Systems Red, Pin-Lee is one of the members of the PreservationAux survey team. Pin-Lee's duties during the original survey are never stated, but she is noted as having experience in habitat and shelter construction, and she takes shifts piloting with Mensah and Overse. After the initial attack from the surveyed planet's fauna she works as one of the team's unofficial system interpreters, looking for signs of sabotage in their computers and data packages.
She takes part in the trip out to the blanked-out zone on their map, as well as the mission to the DeltFall survey habitat. Although she doesn't wade into danger the way Murderbot (and on occasion Mensah) does, she pilots the getaway transport when everything goes south and helps sort through the aftermath. At this point it has become clear that HubSystem is both hacked and dangerous, so she and Gurathin are tasked with taking it down. When the last away-team comes together Pin-Lee and Gurathin team up again to hack into GreyCris' HubSystem while they're distracted. Gurathin is able to trigger GreyCris' emergency beacon, which signals to the Company that something is wrong, and leads to their rescue.
Pin-Lee, Ratthi, and Gurathin stay with Mensah until the political leader is kidnapped and held for ransom. When Murderbot reappears (Exit Strategy) they're able to rescue her, and then rescue Murderbot when it becomes trapped at the last second. After they all finally return to Preservation and the string of crisis resolves, Pin-Lee draws up contracts for Murderbot and acts as its legal counsel, which it continues to use through Fugitive Telemetry and Network Effect. When ART's message buoy summons help from Preservation at the end of Network Effect, Pin-Lee is part of the envoy sent in response. Immediately she puts her skills at contract negotiation to use, teaming up with the Perihelion's crew to dispute Barish-Estranza’s claim on the colony below.
TV Series[]
Pin-Lee is introduced as a non-binary (they/them) lawyer and Arada’s spouse, and part of a complex romantic dynamic with Arada and Ratthi. In episode 2, this dynamic develops into a polyamorous relationship among the three. In episode 3, Murderbot uses they/them pronouns for the first time when referring to Pin-Lee. In episode 4, Pin-Lee had been ordered by Mensah to return to the transport. Later, Pin-Lee pilots the ship and successfully crushes the attacking robot by landing the vessel on it.
Pin-Lee continues to support the Preservation Alliance team. In episode 9, Pin-Lee assists Gurathin in the technical operation involving the drone launch, which is intended to enable access to GrayCris’ HubSystem so that the team can manually launch their beacon.
Personality[]
Pin-Lee is one of the more fierce members of the PreservationAux team, both confident in her skills and ready to use them to defend the people around her. She tends to become exasperated frequently, and although she expresses this around her friends she does not take it out on them. Her exasperation tends to come out in the form of cursing, throwing things when others aren't around, and a brisk manner. Conversely, her protectiveness tends to take the form of making sure her friends are safe, and fighting to defend them (with legal-ese or otherwise) when danger approaches.
She's had enough experience with the Corporation Rim in her time as a solicitor to be instantly suspicious of corporate elements when they're involved. This plays into her role as one of the more practical members of every team, and her ability to predict ruthless schemes that others from Preservation are less ready to see.
She gains Murderbot's trust early on in the series with her compassion (such as her readiness to see personhood in Murderbot despite the danger around them), her attention to detail (Murderbot trusted she'd verified how many SecUnits there were in the DeltFall base), and her good judgment. She is the first member of the team that Murderbot approaches in Exit Strategy after an unexplained absence, and when it notices her obvious conflict at making a choice it trusts immediately that the options are terrible.
In Fugitive Telemetry, Ratthi asks Murderbot if it learned to swear from Pin-Lee, because apparently their profanity is similar in some ways. (They are interrupted before this question is answered.)
Physical Appearance[]
Pin-Lee is an unaugmented human. Her physical appearance is not detailed in depth, but she is described at least once: when she rescues Murderbot from the Company at the end of All Systems Red she is wearing "sharp business attire", and "looked like somebody from one of the shows [Murderbot] liked. The tough yet compassionate solicitor coming to rescue us from unfair prosecution."
Not much else is known besides this, though it is known that the standard PreservationAux uniform is grey.
Gallery[]
Official Art[]
The Murderbot Diaries has an illustration of an offscreen moment in Home: Habitat, Range, Niche, Territory where Murderbot, realizing that Mensah has been accosted by an unwanted reporter, rushes to her rescue. Ratthi says afterwards, “SecUnit jumped over my head!”, and when Mensah left the group Arada's bare feet had been in Overse's lap. Arada, Bharadwaj, Gurathin, Murderbot, Overse, Pin-Lee, and Ratthi were all present in this scene.
TV Series[]
Notes[]
- Murderbot notes that Pin-Lee takes medication (Exit Strategy); it is not disclosed for what reason.