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Language:
English
Series:
Part 11 of Murderbot Drabble December 2025 (unrelated short pieces)
Collections:
Murderbot Diaries Drabble December 2025
Stats:
Published:
2025-12-10
Completed:
2025-12-10
Words:
200
Chapters:
2/2
Comments:
30
Kudos:
61
Bookmarks:
3
Hits:
176

Obsolescence / Lost and Found

Summary:

This is a sort of two-part story, one chapter for each of the two prompts for Day 11: "Obsolescence" and "Lost and Found".

Chapter 1: Obsolescence

Summary:

Turi teaches Murderbot to write by hand.
ART is curiously watching.

Chapter Text

I have been watching SecUnit struggle for forty-two minutes but couldn't contain myself anymore.

Bharadwaj is spelt with an 'h'.

"Fuck off ART, stop breathing down my neck. Physical writing is different from recording in the feed. Go and harass Tarik instead."

"Shhh Peri, it's legible. That's the most important part," said Turi reproachfully. "SecUnit is doing really well. Don't distract it."

I don't understand why SecUnit wants to do this. It hates handcrafts and handwriting is obsolescent.

Its brows were pulled and the mouth was a single tight line in concentration.

I saved that image into my permanent storage.

Chapter 2: Lost and Found

Summary:

Murderbot had been missing and ART had been searching.
ART discovers that perhaps Turi was right.

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

It had been 187 days since SecUnit went missing in action when I finally found it.

Its writings were partially hidden in the sand but visible near the entrance to the long-deserted mine.

With no comm or feed signals, it was silent except the sound of occasional wind.

I recognised SecUnit's awkward handwriting. Familiar misspelling.

ART.

Mensah.

Rati.

Pin-Li

Iris.

Turi.

Baradwaj

(More sand)

ART

I'm here.

ART

Then my drone-form found it.

Half-buried in the sand. Its face half-hidden by its arm. Its hand still clutching the broken-off nail spelling AR.

I'm here, I echoed. I finally found you.

Notes:

It's deliberately left ambiguous whether Murderbot could be revived or not.