#mostly because in the first four books mb actually uses security cameras for this purpose more than drones

[coquelicoq]

i know we're all losing it at this sudden insight we've gained in the [tarik voice] uhhh why is there a drone in my face scene, so i wanted to pull out some moments from previous books in which murderbot uses drones to look at people and see how differently they read if we now assume said drones are hovering inches away from their faces. reviewing my notes to look for examples is how i found out that mb doesn't pilot drones to look at people's faces until FT/NE, with one exception, and it's a doozy:

When it [the drone] reached Wilken, I had it stop and hover in front of her face for twenty-six seconds. Okay, so I was a little angry. (RP, ch. 5)

so like, it knows putting a drone in somebody's face is gonna freak them out, and it uses that to fuck with a human that pissed it off. lol.

that's really the only moment in the first four books where mb could conceivably be droning right up in someone's business, and it's made explicit. so i don't think we missed anything there. FT and NE are another story. here are some of my favorite moments:

FT

Indah faced me and asked, "You have experience at this?" Watching her via the drones, I kept my gaze on the Starchy Foods!!! sign, which had little dancing figures around it which I guess were supposed to be starchy foods. (ch. 1)

there's something about having a drone in your face while you're trying to talk to a person who is staring very seriously at a whimsical sign that contains three exclamation points...

Indah stared at Tural. So did I, with my drones. (ch. 2)

MULTIPLE drones in face incident! plus your boss giving you the eyeball?? tural is doing their best u guys please have mercy!

He [one of Mensah's assistants] was used to me and used to confidential council stuff, so he didn’t even glance up at my drones, just nodded to us and slipped out as we stepped in. (ch. 6)

whose job is it to tell newly hired assistants "ignore it" when there's a drone in their face? it's probably part of the standard onboarding procedure at this point tbh.

Then me, Aylen, and Indah were standing in the office looking at each other. Or they were looking at me and my drones were looking at them. (ch. 6)

mexican standoff if instead of guns you had eye contact and also one of the people involved doesn't like making eye contact. or something.

NE

The drone I had watching [Mensah's] face increased magnification, its low-light filter rendering her features in black and white. (ch. 2)

POV you're having a tense conversation about trauma therapy in the dark with a little flying camera buzzing around your head. just little secunit teammate things! (i actually think mensah finds this very comforting though. she smiles at the drone four pages later <3)

I wanted to use my drones to look at [Amena], but while that was calming for me, it wouldn’t be for her. (ch. 3)

hmm would it not be calming for amena to have something hovering in her face right when she's about to be abducted by raiders? ya think??

I had a drone view of Amena watching the hand scanner, her brow furrowed in half-wince, half-concentration. (ch. 6)

it doesn't have to be like this [mb 🤝 performing surgery] when it can also be like this [putting a drone in amena's face 🤝 mb 🤝 performing surgery]. mb has two hands (metaphorically)

My drone watched [Amena] eyeing me. (ch. 20)

every time mb says it sees through a drone that someone is watching it gets 200% funnier if this means that the person is deliberately ignoring the drone invading their personal bubble in order to look at the person that is outside of their personal bubble. like that's commitment.

[Mensah] came and sat down next to me in the lounge and I adjusted a drone to be able to get a view of her face. (ch. 20)

read: "a drone zoomed down from where it was circling above my head and stopped an inch in front of mensah's nose." i mean, you don't have to read it that way, it's never made explicit and i'm not the boss of you. but isn't it fun to imagine?

#there is a LOT to say about mb and gaze and i will say a little more about it in the next post #but this is still barely even scratching the surface #i honestly was super surprised by how few examples there are of mb using drones to watch people in lieu of using its eyes #it feels like that happens all the time but it's actually not that common (or at least not mentioned very often) #mostly because in the first four books mb actually uses security cameras for this purpose more than drones #(in FT and NE it has access to drones but not security cameras) #anyway i'll get into that more in the next post <3 #the murderbot diaries #murderbot #mb gaze #mb sc #system collapse spoilers #my posts