Mutineers' Moon
ISBN 0671720856 | | |
Followed by | The Armageddon Inheritance |
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Mutineers' Moon is a 1991 science fiction novel by American writer David Weber. It is the first book in his Dahak trilogy, and is available in the Baen Free Library.
It was later republished in the Empire from the Ashes compendium.
Plot summary
This article's plot summary may be too long or excessively detailed. (August 2016) |
The book's premise is that the Moon is a massive space ship controlled by a self-aware computer that wants its rightful crew back aboard.
Prologue
The book begins with a prologue recording a
The loyal crew is taken by surprise, and unable to defeat the mutineers. Faced with no choice, the captain orders Dahak to execute "Red Two Internal"—a command which will flood the entirety of the interior of the vessel with deadly substances; this action will force mutineers and loyalists to the lifeboats, and the vessel will then, acting on other orders from the captain, allow back in the Dahak only the loyal crew and blow the mutineers into space. Red Two unfortunately entails the death of the captain as well; no one is able to command Dahak to destroy the mutineers as they leave aboard warships, not lifeboats, nor undo Anu's systematic sabotage of the power generators, intended to kill Dahak by starving it of power and thereby rendering it open to conquest by Anu's forces.
Unfortunately for Anu, Dahak's computer systems catch the sabotage before it utterly wrecks all the
Story
Colin's mission is hijacked by Dahak and his death is faked; as had MacIntyre returned with his data, Dahak's cover would have been blown. While MacIntyre is aboard, Dahak's
MacIntyre returns to his home to renew contacts with his elder brother, Sean, and to enlist him in a scheme to discover the mutineers' agent in the space program. It initially succeeds, but when he and Sean attempt to contact the agent, they discover their scan of the space program building was detected. MacIntyre and Sean fend off some of the mutineers (at the cost of Sean's life), but MacIntyre is rescued by an acquaintance, who sends him through a tunnel where he is captured by another group of mutineers.
This group, led by former missile tech Horus, was a dissident splinter faction of Anu's, which turned against him after the mutiny. Despite supporting Anu during the mutiny itself, Horus and his crew committed a double mutiny against Anu and fled into hiding on Earth. Once they reached Earth, they entered stasis so that the crew would survive however long it would take for civilization to reappear on Earth (Anu at the time enforced primitivism). Now, with civilization re-emerging on Earth, his group has begun a passive, behind-the-scenes war against Anu. Because they are heavily outnumbered in weaponry, they have been forced to always play it very carefully. As a result, the crew of the battleship has created a huge network of humans, many of whom are descendants of Nergal's crew. However, the arrival of MacIntyre means that the end has begun, for Dahak has at last taken a hand in the game.
Eventually, this group and its battleship, the Nergal, joins MacIntyre, and they embark on a grand plan to destroy Anu: first, they rapidly and effectively destroy a number of important installations that Anu's forces are based in (convincing Anu to withdraw all of his important personnel back to the main base), then they have their agents inside the Antarctica base steal the codes to gain access for them; finally, they fake a defeat, and when Anu relaxes, certain that they were destroyed, their now-at-liberty agents send them the codes and they launch a full assault, backed up by Dahak's orbital weaponry.
The assault costs them dearly, but Anu and his forces are killed, with Commander Inanna's brain ripped out. With the revelation of Dahak's power, the world's governments have little choice but to submit to the Planetary Governor MacIntyre. However, Colin has little time to unify the world, because the Achuultani draws ever nearer, and the Imperium is silent, even when Dahak's communication systems are repaired. Finally, MacIntyre leaves the world under the care of old Horus, and departs for the nearest Fleet Imperium base, hoping to call upon Imperial assistance.
Concept and creation
Author David Weber says the genesis for this book began with a question: "Assume that Earth doesn't actually have a Moon, but rather a giant starship disguised as our Moon which has been there for at least 50 or 60,000 years. Where did it come from, why did it come here, and why hasn't it left?" Weber says the answer to those questions built the foundation for this book and its sequels.[1]
Cancelled anime adaptation
A division of North American anime distributor A.D. Vision was working on an anime adaptation of this series, but it was cancelled with the 2009 bankruptcy of A.D. Vision.[2]
References
- ^ Adams, John Joseph (May 7, 2007), Interview with David Weber, SCI FI Weekly, archived from the original on January 29, 2008
- ^ "John Ledford". Anime News Network. 2007-05-30. Retrieved 2013-12-25.
- Mutineers' Moon, David Weber; first published October 1991 by ISBN 0-671-72085-6.
External links
- The complete text of Mutineers' Moon is available for download or reading online at the Baen Free Library here. It can also be found here (the At All Costs CD).