Eh, I think Martha Wells is definitely setting this up on purpose. It's a very fannish sensibility she brings, which makes sense, considering she's spent a lot of time in fannish spaces AFAIK. It's that oh, honey sensibility. And sometimes she subverts it -- Dr. Mensa [sp] specifically stating that it was wrong for her to try to bring Murderbot home with her right off and that she underestimated Murderbot's selfhood and capacity to get by in the world. And sometimes she leans waaaay into it and it gets weird for me.