The Moon is a Harsh Mistress

After work, Manuel decides to go to a “protest meeting” at the Stilyagi Hall. Manuel is barred from entering the meeting until his friend Shorty vouches for him. Shorty introduces him to an organizer from the lunar settlement New Hong Kong named Wyoming “Wyoh” Knott. They listen to the speeches, but Manuel is not impressed by the rhetoric. The protestors want to overthrow the Authority that holds a monopoly on the economy of the lunar colony. Toward the end of the meeting, Wyoming speaks. She passionately argues that they should refuse to sell goods like wheat or minerals to the Authority until the Authority allows a free market. Next, Professor Bernardo de la Paz speaks. He largely agrees with Wyoming, but counters that the protestors should not allow any exports to Earth because “every load [they] ship to Terra [Earth] condemns [their] grandchildren to slow death” (34); water, a precious resource on the Moon, is depleted through shipments of wheat.

Suddenly, the Lunar Authority’s security forces enter the hall and violently break up the meeting. The protestors fight back. Shorty is killed in the chaos, and Manuel escapes with Wyoming.

Manuel finds a bathroom for Wyoming to hide in. Then, he buys her skin-darkening makeup, black hair dye, and a red dress. She changes into her disguise, and they check into a hotel. When she takes a bath, Wyoming tells Manuel she is a “Free Woman.” He explains that he is married into a “line” that involves multiple wives and husbands and complex family relations. Wyoming tells him that she was once married, but she divorced her husbands after the child they conceived “was a monster and had to be eliminated” (44). She blames the birth defects on the solar radiation she experienced when traveling from Earth to the Moon. Now, she works as a surrogate for “Chinee” families. Manuel tells her his family works as homesteaders.

Later, while Wyoming sleeps, Manuel calls Mike. He makes Mike create a secure line. Then, he calls Mimi, one of his wives, on the secure line. She tells him there has been no news of the conflict at the meeting hall but that Professor de la Paz has been calling for him. After they hang up, Manuel has Mike scan the network for signs of the Professor and directs Mike to create a secure data storage for them to use.

Wyoming and Manuel go over the list of jokes together and discuss which ones are funny. When she asks why they are doing this, Manuel describes Mike and his desire to know what is funny. When Wyoming learns that Mike is a central computer, she proposes blowing Mike up to bring down the Authority. Manuel argues against this because it could damage life support services ordinary people need; privately, he is also against this because of his fondness for Mike.

Then, Manuel puts Wyoming on the phone with Mike. Wyoming and Manuel share their thoughts about the jokes. Wyoming notes that Mike always agrees with her about which jokes are funny and decides that Mike “is a she” (65), not a “he,” as Manuel says. Manuel goes to bed and Wyoming and Mike continue talking. Later, Manuel hears Mike talking to Wyoming in a woman’s voice. Wyoming tells Manuel that she has nicknamed Mike “Michelle” and that the computer took on a woman’s personality—she and Michelle engaged in “girl talk” about pregnancy “and so forth” (66). Then, Manuel and Wyoming both go to sleep. In the middle of the night, Manuel wakes up to hear Wyoming sobbing.

The next morning, Manuel awakes to an alert from Mike that Professor de la Paz is calling Manuel’s home phone number. Manuel cuts in on the call and talks to the Professor, who tells him that the Warden is looking for Wyoming and the Professor. Manuel tells the Professor to come to their hotel room.

The Professor arrives and tells them all of the Warden’s bodyguards were killed, and he spent the night cleaning the scene. He insinuates that he took the bodyguard’s laser guns. Then, he escaped. The Professor and Manuel explain to Wyoming that no news of the protest and attack was published because all of the press goes through the Authority’s central computer system. The Professor argues that this is a weakness of their movement because control of communications is essential in a revolution. Wyoming argues that they should strike against the Authority immediately, but the Professor feels they aren’t ready yet.

The Professor explains that the best structure for a revolutionary movement is one of three-person cells to avoid being undermined by infiltrators and spies. In a cell system, everyone operates on limited intelligence; if they are infiltrated, they cannot bring down the whole operation. Manuel argues that a better model would be one of an “open pyramid of tetrahedrons” (or a four-sided pyramid) (78), where one member of a three-person cell knows one person in another three-person cell. Manuel argues that this creates more secure lines of communication between cells. After Manuel’s explanation, the Professor asks Manuel to lead the revolution, and Wyoming agrees on Manuel’s behalf.

Manuel protests against being the leader of the revolution. They order vodka from room service and talk about politics. Manuel says he believes there “are no circumstances under which State is justified in placing its welfare ahead of mine” because he is “self-centered” (82). The Professor agrees with Manuel. Wyoming describes herself as a “Fifth Internationalist” presenting a “united front” with a “practical program” (83). The Professor describes himself as a “rational anarchist” who could “get along with a Randite” (83). He believes that there are only “self-responsible individuals,” no “state,” “society,” or “government” (83). Despite their minor political differences, they all agree that they need to overthrow the Warden and the Authority in a revolution.

The Professor says they need to begin planning immediately, and Manuel suggests asking for Mike’s input. The Professor is somewhat skeptical but agrees. They want to see what Mike calculates about the odds of their revolutionary success. Mike tells them that while Wyoming is right, a free market would improve people’s standard of living on the Lunar Colony. However, they need to improve shipping from Earth to the Moon to make it feasible. Mike calculates that if the current extractive model continues, the Lunar colony will run out of water and other resources in seven years. Upon hearing this, Wyoming agrees with the Professor’s proposal of a shipping embargo. Then, Mike calculates the probability of their revolution succeeding at one in seven.