The Moon is a Harsh Mistress

Mike proposes that to attack Earth, the revolutionaries use a catapult of the sort used to ship goods from the Moon to Earth. He suggests they put moon rocks in a catapult to “bomb” Earth from the Moon.

Manuel and Wyoming go to Manuel’s house for dinner. Manuel’s wife, Mimi, who he calls “Mum,” is married to a man named Greg who works as a preacher. After dinner, they go to church to hear Greg preach at the Pillar of Fire Repentance Tabernacle. Mum is not religious, but she attends church to support Greg.

Mimi gives Wyoming a room near Manuel’s workshop, and Manuel spends the night with Mimi. Mimi asks why Wyoming has made “herself up as an Afro” (114). Manuel explains that Wyoming has to disguise herself and tells her about their revolutionary plans. Mimi agrees to help them.

The group spends time fomenting revolution amongst the people of the Moon, or “Loonies.” The security chief, Alvarez, brings in 90 “Peace Dragoons” from Earth after the attack at the protest meeting. He implements a passport control system so that people cannot move freely. Many Loonies get fake passports to get around the controls. The revolutionary cell decides to target those with fake passports for recruitment because it is a sign of rejecting the Authority.

Manuel uses his technical knowledge to modify Mike so that the computer can talk through the phone system without being detected. They also modify the cell organizational system so that one member of each group of three manages another cell of three. Every member is given a code name based on the alphabet to communicate hierarchy (e.g. code name “Bork” is higher up than code name “Cotter”). They create an alias for Mike, naming him “Adam Selene, Chairman of the Provisional Committee of Free Luna,” to make him seem more credible.

Manuel has Mike sabotage the Warden’s climate controls so that Manuel will be summoned to “service” Mike. While there, Manuel programs Mike to speak to multiple people on the phone at once in different voices. Mike reports that their odds of success have fallen to one in nine.

Over time, the desire for revolution grows among the Loonies. People begin saying “Free Luna” to one another. The revolutionaries raise money by having Mike sabotage bank transactions and then pocketing the difference. They use the money to create the LuNoHo Company, “an engineering and exploitation firm, engaged in many ventures” (138). They use the LuNoHo company to build a 30-meter catapult. They hide the exact location of the catapult, which is almost complete by March 2076.

While LuNoHo builds the catapult, the rest of the revolutionaries prepare. The Professor stops teaching, using illness as an excuse. Wyoming joins Greg’s church and becomes like part of Manuel’s family. She works with one of Manuel’s wives, Sidris, who runs the Bon Ton beauty salon. They manage the children, who they call the “Baker Street Irregulars;” the children spy, run errands, and otherwise help with the revolution. One day, Manuel recognizes a 12-year-old girl from the protest meeting. He finds out her name is Hazel and that she is an orphan who lives in a group home. Manuel’s family adopts her. Hazel takes over the job of managing the Irregulars.

Mike takes up writing poetry. The Professor arranges to have the more mass-market work published under the penname Simon Jester. Mike’s anti-Warden poetry becomes popular around the colony, and people begin to graffiti it. Mike also writes more polished anti-Authority verse under the name Adam Selene. Manuel and the others get it published in the literary journal Moonglow. The Security Chief is furious when the journal editors cannot help him locate the elusive Adam Selene.

By 2076, Manuel, Wyoming, and the Professor have begun preparing to travel to Earth by wearing weights and visiting the centrifuge. They believe they will need to go there to negotiate on behalf of the colony. Greg has gone to work for LuNoHo Company, so Manuel has more responsibilities on the farm. In February, Manuel goes to Hong Kong in Luna on “business.” He meets with a Japanese organizer Wyoming knows, Clayton. Clayton arranges for Manuel to meet with people to recruit them to the revolutionary cause.

One day, Manuel goes to see a friend of his who works as a judge. When he arrives at the judge’s office, the man is not there. Instead, he finds a group of Loonies led by a boy named Slim who are looking to try a tourist named René LaJoie from Earth for making unwanted advances on a woman at a bar. Manuel agrees to hear the case. They recruit a jury from the street. The jury hears the evidence and rules that the tourist should not be killed for the crime, but that he should be punished. Manuel sentences the tourist to paying a hefty fine.

After the trial, Manuel and LaJoie go to a bar. Manuel explains that there are no laws on the Lunar Colony; this ad hoc judicial system, along with social expectations, is how they maintain order. If someone violates their cultural code, they can be punished with fines, shunning, exile, or death. He also discusses how Lunar society differs from Earth’s society, saying that girls who begin puberty are considered to be ready for sex and marriage; additionally, there is no such thing as “rape” on Luna. Manuel asks Mike to run a background check on LaJoie and learns that LaJoie is very wealthy on Earth. So, Manuel invites LaJoie to dinner at his home. He hopes to cultivate LaJoie as a contact on Earth to help support their revolution.

The revolutionaries continue to incite revolutionary fervor in the masses through a variety of methods, such as writing revolutionary songs. They test their catapult, and it works. Many people begin wearing red “Liberty Caps” in public. Manuel is pleased to see Slim wearing one and talking about revolutionary ideas. LaJoie agrees to join the revolutionary effort and returns to Earth. The Loonies develop a code they can use to communicate with him. He uses revolutionary funds and his own fortune to increase support for the Lunar revolution on Earth.

The revolutionaries spy on the Warden’s encoded messages and learn that he has requested more security; however, his request has so far been denied. Still, they notice that space is being made in the “Complex” (the capital) for around 30,000 people. Mike tells them it is going to be used to billet troops.

One morning, a Civil Servant arrives to work to find that six Dragoons have raped and murdered an 18-year-old girl named Marie Lyons. The revolutionaries overhear the head of the Dragoons encouraging Chief of Security Alvarez to cover it up, while Alvarez wants to kill the men. Even though they have not finished preparing, the Professor decides that they must act immediately, since the masses are outraged by the event. He directs Mike to stop all communication with Earth so that the Authority based there does not know what is happening. Then, to whip up a mob against the Dragoons, he tells the revolutionaries to spread the news that the Dragoons are planning on raping and murdering women throughout Lunar City.

Manuel goes to Tube Station West, a transit station. He discovers that all three passport guards have already been killed by a mob. He goes to a phone box and directs Mike to call Alvarez and make it seem like the attack is ongoing; Manuel wants Alvarez to send more Dragoons to the area so the revolutionary forces can attack them. The Warden barricades himself in his room with 13 Dragoons and security forces. Mike sabotages the climate controls in the room and suppresses the oxygen. Then, revolutionary forces in “p-suits” (pressure- and climate-controlled space suits) break into the room to take the Warden. The revolutionaries win the battle.