Perihelion

> *ART’s official designation was deep space research vessel. At various points in our relationship, ART had threatened to kill me, watched my favorite shows with me, given me a body configuration change, provided excellent tactical support, talked me into pretending to be an augmented human security consultant, saved my clients’ lives, and had cleaned up after me when I had to murder some humans. (They were bad humans.) I really missed ART.* (Rogue Protocol Chapter 1)
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**Perihelion** is a bot-piloted wormhole-capable space research and teaching vessel registered to the Pansystem University of Mihira and New Tideland, in a system between Port FreeCommerce and RaviHyral, within the Corporation Rim.

Perihelion is the most advanced bot-pilot Murderbot has ever encountered. Perihelion’s crew keep its advanced nature a secret, at least in part because it covertly gathers intelligence about the Corporation Rim while acting as a cargo vessel. Murderbot calls it 'ART' (short for Asshole Research Transport).

## Biography

AIs like Perihelion are started by the University as 'babies' and raised in family environments; in Perihelion's case, it was raised alongside Iris, who it sees as a sibling. It is not the only one of its kind, though it is the first one Murderbot has met.

Perihelion is affiliated with the Pansystem University of Mihira and New Tideland, and it is part of an anti-corporate team that gathers information and strikes out against corporations. It is on an information-gathering mission (posing as a ship on an automated cargo-run) when it meets Murderbot, accepting its offer to trade media for hitchhiking. Once they're en route it reveals itself to be more sophisticated than expected, and they become friends. Perihelion helps Murderbot modify its appearance and plan for its next journey, and when they arrive it helps from afar.

Murderbot parts ways with it at the end of Artificial Condition, and Perihelion continues on its mission. Sometime later its team receives word that Barish-Estranza isturning 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, Perihelion is intercepted and captured (ironically) by lost colonists who'd hijacked a Barish-Estranza shuttle and were looking for weapons and transportation. Three of Perihelion's crew are given implants made of Pre-Corporation-Rim technology and alien code, much like the ones already implanted on the Lost Colonists, and Perihelion is likewise contaminated by TargetControlSystem. There is a struggle, and before it is defeated it lays a trap by way of telling its captors that the weapon they want is Murderbot, and that they should try to capture it also. It sets and conceals a message buoy to release to warn PreservationAux of what is happening. From there, Perihelion only just manages to save a hidden, limited copy of itself before it is deleted by TargetControlSystem.

The lost colonists pilot Perihelion's hull to the Preservation Alliance, getting there quickly thanks to the implants they placed on its engines. They kidnap Murderbot (and unwittingly a portion of PreservationAux), then return to the Lost Colony, unaware of the message buoy that triggered automatically upon their arrival. Murderbot frees itself and its friends along the way, finding Perihelion's backup through a trail of carefully hidden clues that only it would recognize. Murderbot fights back targetControlSystem, killing the localized infection, then triggers the backup, allowing Perihelion to reclaim its body.

Their reunion does not go well: Perihelion's memory is damaged, its body is strewn with organic implants and wreckage from the earlier fights, and when Murderbot realizes that Perihelion meant for the colonists to find it (resulting in its humans' capture) it is furious. They argue, and when Perihelion demands they help it rescue its crew they argue more. They immediately reach an impasse, and it takes time before everyone cooperates enough to sort through the crisis.

They investigate what happened during the lost portion of Perihelion's recent memory and prepare for the upcoming conflict. Perihelion and Murderbot pull their resources (and code) to build a killware version of Murderbot, though they hope never to use it. Perihelion's hand is forced when Murderbot leads a team down to the Lost Colony, and Perihelion is attacked by the hijacked Barish-Estranza transport, and Perihelion needs a way to retaliate. Murderbot 2.0 is sent to the transport, where it finds three of Perihelion's crew, along with the remains of the Barish-Estranza crew and their last SecUnit. It teams up with SecUnit 3, and they rescue the crew.

Down on the planet, Murderbot has found the rest of Perihelion's crewmembers. It rescues them at the cost of its own freedom, and when the crew is out of danger Perihelion arms its Pathfinder drones, preparing to bomb the colony until Murderbot is released. SecUnit 3 talks it down, suggesting a more covert approach, and Perihelion reluctantly agrees. Murderbot is rescued successfully, with Perihelion and its crew (temporary and otherwise) creating a distraction while SecUnit 3 helps extract it.

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 PreservationAux is told about Perihelion's true mission, recruiting her (and her people's) help.

Before the end of Network Effect, Perihelion privately asks Murderbot to join its crew.

## Abilities

Perihelion seems to be highly unusual as an example of artificial intelligence. It is capable of highly complex processing and takes independent, fairly creative action on numerous occasions.

ART is outfitted with many sensors, which can provide data for many things, such as heat, density, angle of motion, etc. Cameras are located in many areas inside of ART, but aren't overtly visible as Murderbot wasn't aware of them at first.

ART has Pathfinders, which are a more highly-sophisticated (and larger) drone designed for space. Pathfinders are equipped with scanners capable of performing terrain imaging and environmental scans. Pathfinders can also relay audio, capable of being used as a long-distance communication device. In Network Effect, ART has its Pathfinders re-fitted with weapons (so they are capable of being armed).

Perihelion has a “debris deflection system” which is a functional weapon, though it is not registered as a gunship.

## Personality

Murderbot consistently remarks that ART is an "asshole" (hence the nickname ART, which stands for "Asshole Research Transport"). Kaede (a member of ART's crew) notes that ART (or Peri) has a "dry sense of humor."

## Crew

Perihelion is **very** attached to its crew. It becomes very distressed while watching media with Murderbot that contain story elements of ship crews being injured or killed, and takes drastic actions to protect its own crew.

Known members of Perihelion’s crew include:

* Iris
* Kaede
* Karime
* Martyn
* Matteo
* Seth
* Tarik
* Turi

## Physical Appearance and Locations

The Perihelion's registry designation is embossed on its hull: "Perihelion. Pansystem University of Mihira and New
Tideland." Its main brand color is blue, and this is incorporated into its crew's uniform and furniture padding. (The furniture is also padded with white.)

* Control deck (the bridge where the human flight crew would be stationed), also the location of Perihelion’s "brain" equivalent
* Crew meeting area below the control deck
* Private cabins for crew/teaching staff
* Shared bunk space for students
* Medical lab with surgical suite
* Mess hall
* Large recreation area with treadmill and other exercise machines
* Teaching suites
* Modular lab space / cargo modules, managed by transit ring’s bot-piloted tugs
* Supply storage
* Engineering

## Official Art

Perihelion has appeared on the cover of a few different book covers, with a gallery of examples below. For a more possible (but difficult to confirm) instances, please see the Official Art Category page.

English Cover ACEnglish Cover NEEnglish (Illustration of NE for Subterranean)
## Notes

* Martha Wells explains, "its real name is a numerical feed address. All bots have one and that's what they use when they communicate with each other, and not the names that humans might give them."
* The word perihelion is the point in the orbit of a planet, asteroid, or comet at which it is closest to the sun. The word comes from the Greek "peri" meaning "near" and "helios" meaning "sun." Aphelion, conversely, is the farthest point in a celestial body's orbit around the sun.

## References

1. ↑ *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
2. ↑ *Five Things You Don't Know About the Murderbot Diaries*, Martha Wells, https://marthawells.dreamwidth.org/511317.html
3. ↑ Farmer's Almanac : Perihelion and Aphelion