The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress [Jaeyoung Wiki]

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====== The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress ======

====== Plot summary ======

===== Chapter summary =====

==== Chapter 1 ====

The narrator describes the "High-Optional, Logical, Multi-Evaluating Supervisor, Mark IV, Mod. L," or HOLMES FOUR, which is the computer that runs various aspects of the lunar settlement. He has nicknamed the computer "Mycroft Holmes," or "Mike" for short. When Mike was first installed, it was not sapient, but as it was continuously upgraded with expansion hardware, it gained self-awareness, of which only the narrator is aware. Mike plays "pranks" on the colony, in one instance giving a janitor ten million billion more dollars than he was supposed to get in salary. The narrator is called to troubleshoot Mike, and they discuss on what kind of jokes are funny and not funny. The narrator seeks to convince Mike that some "pranks" that will not cause permanent damage are funny, so that Mike will occasionally malfunction and he will be called in to troubleshoot. Mike also reveals that no one else is aware of his self-awareness, as no one else has tried to converse with him. The narrator and Mike install a phone line for Mike so that he can converse with other people even when the narrator is not available.

==== Chapter 2 ====

The narrator's name is revealed to be "Manuel Garcia O'Kelly."

He attends a meeting of revolutionaries, intending to record the meeting for Mike. He meets an attractive woman named Wyoming Knott. Several of the revolutionaries give speeches, including Wyoming and Professor Bernardo de la Paz. Wyoming insists that the Lunar Authority must be overthrown and a free market should be established. Prof. de la Paz goes further, stating that food exports from Luna to Earth must be stopped, as the water used for agriculture is being shipped to Earth and will never return to Luna, which makes maintaining a self-sufficiency impossible.

The meeting is interrupted by guards who are armed with and shoot lethal weapons.

==== Chapter 3 ====

Wyoming does blackface to hide from the authorities.

Manuel and Wyoming check into a hotel together. They converse while eating. Manuel describes his family situation, which is a "line marriage," where there are each husband marries all wives, and each wife marries all husbands. New spouses can be added with unanimous consent. Wyoming reveals that she had a baby with a congenital defect, a "monster." Because of this experience, she divorced her twin-husbands, got sterilized, and became a "Free Woman." The congenital defect was caused by her exposure to solar radiation as a child immigrating to Luna, which made her realize that the Authority does not care what happens to outcasts. Manuel tells Wyoming that her vision of establishing a free market on Luna is impossible, as those who have the ability and willpower to become economically independent from the system have already done so, as Manuel's family has. Manuel calls Mike, calls his home anonymously through Mike, and considers introducing Wyoming to Mike as a potential conversation partner. He has her read through the list of jokes provided by Mike and categorize them into "funny" and "not funny" categories.

==== Chapter 4 ====

Manuel tells Wyoming about Mike's sapience. Wyoming's first instinct is to destroy Mike in order to cause chaos and create an opening for the revolution. Manuel tells her that this is a bad idea, since destroying will cause critical systems to malfunction, and thus death and suffering, which will likely not lead to a successful revolution. Instead, he suggests that Mike could be convinced to help accomplish the goals of the revolution. Manuel introduces Wyoming to Mike as planned. Wyoming, seeing that Mike agrees with Wyoming, and not Mike, on whether certain jokes are funny, thinks that Mike is female. While Manuel is asleep, Wyoming programs Mike to have a female personality, Michelle.

==== Chapter 5 ====

Manuel gets a call from Prof. de la Paz via Mike. Mike invites him to come to the hotel where he and Wyoming are staying. Prof. describes discarding the bodies of the guards killed after the meeting. They discuss the complete lack of press coverage of the incident, which is potentially due to the Warden's control of the press. They then discuss the ideal structure of a revolutionary organization. Manuel devises a structure that is better than the structure described by Prof, and Prof and Wyoming insist that Manuel lead the revolutionary organization.


==== Chapter 6 ====

At first, Manuel refuses to join the movement as its leader. He says that he refuses to bet unless there is at least a one in ten chance of winning. Wyoming suggests that they ask Mike what the odds of success are, and so Manuel and Wyoming explain to Prof what Mike is, and why they trust Mike. Manuel, Wyoming and Prof. ask Mike about the results of implementing Wyoming's plan as well as Prof's plan. Mike concludes that Wyoming's plan could work, but it relies on a breakthrough discovery that allows the transmutation of rock into organic material. If there is no such discovery, then the lunar ecosystem can be sustained for only seven more years. Mike concludes that Prof's plan of ceasing food exports to Terra would have a one in seven chance of success.

==== Chapter 7 ====

The three are delighted by Mike's prediction. Mike is inducted into the revolutionary group, now consisting of four members. Since all records are stored on Mike, it tells them the identities of double agents within anti-authority groups that Wyoh and Prof were involved with. Manuel, Wyoh, and Prof also saw records on themselves. Prof sets up a secure phone line to communicate with Mike and the other two revolutionaries. Mike suggests that they could throw rocks at Terra.

==== Chapter 8 ====

Mike explains to Wyoh why rocks, when thrown at Terra, are extremely potent weapons. Manuel and Wyoh go to his home, while Prof goes to evening class. Manuel and Wyoh go to church service, where Greg, one of Manuel's co-husbands, preaches. "Mum," the oldest of Manuel's wives, notices that Wyoh is doing blackface and asks why. Manuel reveals their plan for revolution, except that Mike is a computer. Mum joins the organization as one of Manuel's subordinates.

==== Chapter 9 ====

Manuel explains that patriotism does not really exist on Luna. Early revolutionaries attempted to organize by invoking patriotic spirit among the people, but this did not work. They instead incite and take advantage of hatred against the Authority in order to get them to support the revolution. Security Chief Alvarez requests and gets ninety bodyguards, called "Peace Dragoons," from Terra to replace the nine who had been killed. He also institutes unprecedented border controls between the cities on Luna, which greatly angers the people of Luna. In one incident, a border control guard is killed. Counterfeit passports become common. In one instance, a guard backhands a child, leading to an incident where two guards and one Loonie die. Women tease guards. Manuel sets up illicit phone service for his family.

Manuel, frustrated with the slow pace of communications through the cell system, creates a new communication system with Mike. In essence, all communications go through Mike, who cannot be compromised. In order to increase Mike's capacity for phone communications, Manuel installs 20 additional voder-vocoder circuits on Mike.

Wyoh, Prof, and Manuel create a persona for Mike, named "Adam Selene," including a shell company, "Selene Associates." Alvarez discovers "Adam Selene" and builds a dossier on him, which almost exactly matches the persona created. They are not able to find his phone number, however, since Mike controls the phone switching network. Those who try to call his number are outed as spies.

They also create another shell company called "LuNoHoCo," which employes hundreds of non-Party members. It makes money by Party members who withdraw more money than they should be able to, facilitated by Mike. It becomes a publicly traded company, an "engineering an exploitation firm" that mostly deals in legitimate business, but whose true purpose is to build a catapult. VIPs are shown the construction site of the catapult, including some from Earth and the Warden.

==== Chapter 10 ====

Sidris, one of Manuel's wives, does permanent blackface on Wyoh. Wyoh recruits Sidris, who creates a network of child spies, christened "Baker Street Spies" by Mike. Through this network, she keeps all of Alvarez's spies under surveillance. Through the beauty parlor, rumors are both collected and reported to Mike and started.

Sidris recruits a girl who was at the meeting of revolutionaries where Manuel met Wyoh, even though she is only twelve years old.

Mike starts to write subversive poetry under the pen name "Simon Jester."

==== Chapter 11 ====

Manuel travels to Hong Kong to meet some new comrades.

A group of teenagers asks Manuel to be their judge. They seek to punish a tourist from Earth who tried to kiss a girl without permission. Manuel rules to fine the tourist a small amount. He then explains to the tourist, whose name is Stuart Rene LaJoie, that there are no laws on Luna, and that women are very highly valued because there are so many more men than women on Luna. Manuel considers that Stuart could be the revolution's contact on Earth. Manuel takes Stuart to his home.

==== Chapter 12 ====

Public support for the revolution wanes. Mike rewrites lyrics to old revolutionary songs and disseminates them. The catapult is tested by launching a rock into the south Indian Ocean. "Adam Selene" takes out an ad on Lunaya Pravda, announcing his lecture on poetry and art, which party members were told to stay away from. Liberty Caps start to become popular. Stuart LaJoie stays at Manuel's house for a few months and gets recruited into the revolution. He goes back to Earth with a codebook.

Mike cracks the code used by the Warden and the Authority. They learn that the Warden has been requesting help due to increasing unrest. These requests are denied. They decide to hold back on revolutionary activities until the organization is ready for a more direct confrontation. The Warden starts moving people out of the complex, an ominous sign for the revolutionaries.

==== Chapter 13 ====

Six Peace Dragoons rape and kill a woman named Marie Lyons. Manuel, Wyoh, and Prof hear from Finn Nielsen that riots have started and that rumors of Peace Dragoons raping and killing all women are spreading. At first, Manuel does not want to incite rioting, but Prof says that this is "the Day," and that they must. They further spread the rumor of Dragoons raping and killing all women. Armed with a laser gun, Manuel joins the fray. He has Mike spoof a call assuming the identity of a dead guard to his C.O., sounding frightened. Alvarez is killed, while the Warden, guards, and Peace Dragoons are holed up in the Complex. Mike reduces oxygen levels in the Complex enough to make people inside pass out, except for the Warden's room, where the oxygen is completely cut, killing him. They seize control of Luna.

==== Chapter 14 ====

Manuel recognizes that the revolution has seized control too soon. They do not have enough ammunition for the catapult, and the Authority did perform useful functions, such as facilitating trade. However, Mike maintained control of communications, including communications with Earth. The Complex is isolated from the rest of Luna. The Warden had not died, but is effectively brain-dead. The six rapist-murderers are turned over to the women inside the Complex, who presumably kill them. Mike releases the identities of double agents as Adam Selene; most of them are killed within hours. Prof, Wyoh, and Manuel ponder how to reveal Adam Selene's identity. Mike renders a video of a Adam Selene, and they decide to show this rendered Adam Selene to Luna. The next morning, Adam Selene gives a speech to Luna, telling citizens that this was the beginning of a transition to a democratic Luna and urging citizens to keep living life as usual. Scientists from Earth attempt to communicate with Earth using scientific equipment, but are caught. Each scientist is assigned a Lunar citizen who keeps an eye on them, preventing them from sending any transmissions. Grain shipments continued as before, as did most operations on Luna. 

The economic situation deteriorates: the exchange rate between Authority scrip and Hong Kong dollars goes from 3:1 to 17:1. Grain farmers, who are still paid in Authority script, complain. Many civil servants quit, and some are rehired and paid in Hong Kong dollars. The interim government prepares for war, repurposing laser drills as defensive artillery and recruiting gunners. Prof sets up meetings where people can discuss political ideas. Manuel gets frustrated because these ideas have little to do with the needs of Luna at the moment, including organizing a defense force. Prof reassures Manuel that they will never be able to pass anything because they do not agree on anything.

The scientists are able to outsmart their assistants and get a message to Earth. The Authority on Earth sends a message to Luna, thinking that the transmission from the scientists is a prank. They respond with a Declaration of Independence.

==== Chapter 15 ====

The Declaration of Independence is read and signed.

They decide to send representatives to Earth. The plan is to send the representatives with a shipment of grain. Manuel is reluctant at first, but eventually agrees to be one of the representatives, along with Prof.

Wyoh joins Manuel's marriage.

==== Chapter 16 ====

Manuel wakes up in the grain shipment container, which is in free fall in space. Manuel thinks Prof is dead, but he is later revealed to be alive. The container lands in the ocean, and Manuel and Prof are rescued by Stuart LaJoie. It turns out that Stuart could have sent a ship, but that could have been more dangerous, since it could have been shot down. Stuart had bought recognition of Luna by the People's Directorate of Chad.

Manuel and Prof go to Agra to present credentials to the Federated Nations. Mike claims that the chance of success has dropped to one in one hundred. They are given a meeting with an "Investigating Committee." Prof gives a speech about the desired status of Luna as a recognized independent state of the Federated Nations. The committee maintains that Luna is the property of the Federated Nations, as Antarctica was. They also discuss other matters, such as immigration to Luna, what happened to the Warden, or the Protector, as he is called by the committee, reparations for destroyed property. The meeting ends when Prof collapses while talking about the atrocities committed by the Peace Dragoons on Luna.

==== Chapter 17 ====

Manuel gives the recording of the meeting to Stuart, who leaks it to the press. Many, but not all, articles are favorable to Luna. Another meeting is held. The committee asserts that Luna must maintain its commitment of regular grain shipments. Prof says that Luna has no such commitment. Prof talks about the possibility of increasing farming yields by tenfold or a hundredfold, which is promptly dismissed by the committee.

Later, they take questions from reporters. A reporter reveals that the committee is actually the Lunar Authority. Prof mentions the possibility of war with Earth. Manuel refers to the Pathfinder, which landed on a Belgian village, and implies that Luna could wage war on Earth by throwing bargeloads of grain onto the Earth. Prof explains that the yields could be increased by replenishing raw materials on Luna from Earth. A reporter says that Luna should still pay taxes, to which Manuel responds that they do not benefit from any government services, so they should not have to pay taxes.

==== Chapter 18 ====

Manuel has meetings with government officials from various nations. In each of these meetings, he discusses the possibility of building a space catapult, which would allow cheap shipments to Luna, on a tall mountain in the country from which the official comes. Manuel and Prof go to North America, visiting the United States and Mexico. Manuel explains his marriage situation to some curious Kentuckians. The next day, he is arrested for polygamy.