by Ian McDonald
He can see that the wars that swept the Cortas and Vorontsovs to power are skirmishes to battles that will shake the moon to its cold heart. Battles of philosophy and politics, family and privilege, power and dynasty, law and freedom, pasts and futures.
The wise wolf goes to ground.
Thirty minutes to Hypatia Junction, change for the local shuttle to Theophilus, and Annaliese.
Robson turns in his sleep. He gives a small cry, leans against Wagner. Wagner folds his arms around the boy. He is so thin and sharp, no softness or roundness to him. Robson burrows deeper into the warmth of Wagner’s body and Wagner reclines his seat and settles back and looks out at the slender, traitor Earth. He rests his cheek on Robson’s hair. Eucalyptus, menthol. Juniper. Bergamot, sandalwood, frankincense. And Wagner Corta finds that sleep is not so hard to find after all.
* * *
The clamps click around the moto. Lady Sun grasps a safety handle and in an instant she and Darius are tens of metres high, fast-climbing the flank of the tower. The forested floor of Queen of the South drops away, and in a further breath they are hundreds of metres up. Climbing. Darius looks through the transparent bubble at the hundreds of towers on Queen of the South, connecting floor to roof. After the strict horizontals of Crucible and the chiaroscuro labyrinth of the Palace of Eternal Light, a vertical world is thrilling. He presses his hands to the bubble. A kilometre high now, a kilometre and a half. The elevator slows and releases the moto on the hundredth level. The little cab self-drives around the peripheral ledge. There is no railing.
‘Here?’ The moto has parked in front of an unprepossessing roller door, industrial and bare of any identifying tag, physical or virtual. Who puts a warehouse on the hundredth level of Jain Mao Tower?
‘Here,’ Lady Sun says and waits for Darius to offer her a hand out of the car. Which he does, promptly and unbidden. A small, olive-skinned man with a neatly groomed beard steps out of a smaller access door inside the larger shutter. Darius notes his dress. Careful, classic, cut beautifully. He only needs three steps to reach his visitors but those steps are as considered, poised and economical as a dancer’s.
‘Lady Sun.’ He kisses the old woman’s hand.
‘Mariano.’ The dapper man bows. Darius takes the offered hand, feeling out the man’s grip and muscle tone. He smiles.
‘Wary, this one.’
‘An admirable trait in a Mackenzie,’ Lady Sun says. ‘So much for you to work with and shape.’
‘What is going on here?’ Darius asks. He is one hundred levels up on an unguarded roadway. His options for flight are limited. ‘Who is this man?’
‘What is going on, my dear, is the slow and deliberate business of spite,’ Lady Sun says. ‘The Cortas have humiliated me. I cannot abide that. Humiliation in return is not an adequate revenge. I need a weapon that will cut the living heart out of them, cauterise them, take away their hope and their succession and erase them from history. I want them to watch as their children die and their line ends. I want you to be my weapon, Darius. It will take time, maybe longer than my time, but I take comfort in the knowledge that after my death, my revenge will be visited upon them. Some people find that word hard to say: revenge. They think it sounds theatrical, camp. Melodramatic. Not at all. Their tongues are too soft for it. Own the word. Taste it.’
The elegant man dips his head to Lady Sun.
‘My name is Mariano Gabriel Demaria and I am the director of this establishment. I will be personally responsible for your education, training and deportment, Darius. We make weapons here. Welcome to the School of Seven Bells.’
* * *
No one wants to be the first to talk, but someone must talk, in a situation as strange as five strangers locked together in a pressurised capsule, flying free from the end of a momentum transfer tether.
Giggles first. Survivor guilt. We made it! (though everyone arrived by the same process, though dozens of people ride the Moonloop every day). Then the questions. You okay? I’m okay, how about you? Everyone okay? Yeah that was a ride. What about Oksana? Okay?
Marina? Marina?
‘I’m okay,’ she whispers. She’s not, never will be. Nothing ever will be again. She has lost the only person she has ever loved and who, she knows with the firmament’s certainty as the capsule orbits out to rendezvous with the huge Vorontsov cycler, has ever loved her.
* * *
The squad advances down the grade from the main outlock. Helmet lights cast long, weaving beams and strike jagged, expressionistic shadows from the debris. The limited reach of the beams only amplifies the greater darkness beyond.
The figure in the yellow shell-suit raises a hand. The squad halts: five dusters in sasuits, another figure in hard moon-armour.
‘Light her up,’ Lucas Corta says.
Bots scurry down the ramp into the big black. Light: the capsized roof of a pavilion, pillars shattered, leafless trees, frozen to their strong hearts. Moments later, another light wakes: the full, sensual lips of Iansa, a glint of ice. And another: the rocky channel of a dead river, a flash-frozen lawn. Within a minute the whole lava tunnel is illuminated. The faces of the orixas, dramatically underlit, look down on the ruins of Boa Vista.
Lucas Corta hears Alexia gasp on the common channel.
‘You lived here?’
‘This was my mother’s palace,’ Lucas says.
She manages the shell-suit well, Lucas thinks, for a Jo Moonbeam. Another of her conspicuous competencies. Lucas’s excuse is that the inner skeleton supports his wreckage of a musculature. It’s his first walk in vacuum since he was a kid. Since his mother took him to look at the light of distant Earth. Not quite, he realises. Five metres across the Mare Fecunditatis, from his rover to the Moonloop station. No suit, no oxygen, no pressurisation. His private Moonrun.
He walks down the ramp past the refuges. Luna brought Lucasinho there and somehow saved his life. Lucasinho walked Luna out of Twé. Foolish and brilliant. Kids.
Off the end of the ramp on to the desiccated lawn. His boots crunch the frosted grass to powder. The destruction is more than he imagined: Lucas realises that he has never envisioned dead Boa Vista, he has never let his mind stray to what happened that day Mackenzie blades blew the emergency lock and emptied the palace to vacuum. The devastation, the dark, frozen death is more than he imagined but less than he feared.
He never loved Boa Vista, not the way Rafa and Lousika, Luna and Lucasinho, Adriana loved it. He preferred João de Deus, his distance from the demands and dramas of family, his apartment with its balcony over Kondakova Prospekt, the finest sound-room in two worlds. Now this dead hulk is his and he will have it. The whole world is his.
His squad draw up around him: handpicked escoltas, old Corta Hélio hands one and all.
‘Senhor Corta?’
‘How soon can we start?’
Glossary
Many languages are spoken on the moon and the vocabulary cheerfully borrows words from Chinese, Portuguese, Russian, Yoruba, Spanish, Arabic, Akan.
A: Common contraction for asexual.
Abusua: Group of people who share a common maternal ancestor. AKA maintains them and their marriage taboos to preserve genetic diversity.
Adinkra: Akan visual symbols that represent concepts or aphorisms. Widely used by the Asamoah family.
Amor: Lover/partner.
Amory: Polyamorys, one of the moon’s many forms of partnering and marriage.
Anjinho: Little angel. Corta term of endearment.
Banya: Russian sauna and steam bath.
Blackstar: AKA surface worker (derived from the nickname of the Ghana national football team).
Chib: A small virtual pane in an interactive contact lens that shows the state of an individual’s accounts for the Four Elementals.
Coracão: My heart. A term of endearment.
Ekata: The oneness, the group mind of a wolf pack.
Escolta: Bodyguard.
Four Elementals: Air, water, carbon and data. The basic
commodities of lunar existence, paid for daily by the chib system.
Galah: Australian rose-breasted cockatoo, used as a slang term for a noisy idiot.
Globo: A simplified form of English, the lingua franca of the moon, with a codified pronunciation comprehensible by machines.
Gupshup: The main gossip channel on the lunar social network.
Irmã/irmão: Sister/brother.
Jackaroo: Mackenzie Metals slang for a surface worker, from an Australian word for a male apprentice sheep-station hand.
Jo/Joe Moonbeam: New arrival on the moon.
Junshi: Second in command of a Taiyang surface squad.
Keji-oko: Second spouse.
Kotoko: AKA council, of rotating memberships.
Kuozhao: dust-mask.
Ladeira: A staircase from one level of a quadra to another.
Laoda: Boss of a Taiyang surface squad.
Laowei: Mandarin Chinese slang term for non-Chinese.
Madrinha: surrogate mother. Literally ‘Godmother’.
Mãe/Mamãe: Mother/Mum.
Malandragem: The art of the trickster, bad-assery.
Miudo: Child.
Moto: Three-wheel automated cab.
Nana: Ashanti term of respect to an elder.
Nikah: A marriage contract. The term comes from Arabic.
Oko: Spouse in marriage.
Omahene: CEO of AKA, on an eight-year cycle rotation.
Orixa: Deities and saints in the syncretistic Afro-Brazilian umbanda religion.
Santinhos: ‘Little Saints’. Slang name for residents of João de Deus.
Sasuit: Surface Activity suit.
Saudade: Homesick melancholy. A sophisticated and essential element of bossa nova music.
Ser: Form of address used to a neutro.
Tia/tio: Aunt/uncle.
Zabbaleen: Freelance organics recyclers, who then sell on what they find to the LDC, which owns all organic material.
Zashitnik: A hired fighter in trial by combat: literally defender, advocate.
Dramatis Personae
CORTA
Ariel Corta: former lawyer in the Court of Clavius.
Marina Calzaghe: Personal Assistant and bodyguard to Ariel Corta.
Robson Corta: son of Rafa Corta and Rachel Mackenzie.
Luna Corta: daughter of Rafa Corta and Lousika Asamoah.
Lucas Corta: second son of Adriana. Jonmu of Corta Hélio.
Amanda Sun: former oko of Lucas Corta.
Lucasinho Corta: son of Lucas Corta and Amanda Sun.
Wagner ‘Lobinho’ Corta: fifth (disowned) son of Adriana Corta. Analyst and moon wolf.
Dr Carolina Macaraeg: personal physician to Adriana Corta.
MADRINHAS
Flavia: host mother to Carlinhos, Wagner and Lucasinho Corta.
Elis: host mother to Robson and Luna Corta.
MACKENZIE METALS
Robert Mackenzie: founder Mackenzie Metals; retired CEO.
Jade Sun-Mackenzie: second oko of Robert Mackenzie.
Alyssa Mackenzie: oko of Robert Mackenzie (d).
Duncan Mackenzie: oldest son of Robert and Alyssa Mackenzie, CEO of Mackenzie Metals.
Anastasia Vorontsova: oko of Duncan Mackenzie.
Apollonaire Vorontsova: keji-oko of Duncan Mackenzie.
Adrian Mackenzie: oldest son of Duncan and Apollonaire Vorontsova; oko to Jonathon Kayode, Eagle of the Moon.
Denny Mackenzie: youngest son of Duncan and Apollonaire Vorontsova. First Blade following the death of Hadley Mackenzie.
MACKENZIE HELIUM
Bryce Mackenzie: younger son of Robert Mackenzie, Head of Finance for Mackenzie Metals, father of numerous ‘adoptees’.
Hoang Lam Hung: adoptee of Bryce Mackenzie and briefly oko to Robson Corta.
Analiese Mackenzie: dark-amor of Wagner Corta in his dark aspect.
ASAMOAH
Lousika Asamoah: Omahene of the Kotoko of AKA.
Abena Asamoah: political science student and sometime amor of Lucasinho Corta.
Kojo Asamoah: colloquium colleague of Lucasinho Corta and Moonrunner.
Adelaja Oladele: (briefly) amor of Lucasinho Corta.
Afi: colloquium colleague of Abena at Twé.
SUN
Lady Sun: the Dowager of Shackleton, grandmother of the CEO of Taiyang.
Sun Zhiyuan: CEO of Taiyang.
Sun Gian-yin: Yingyun of Taiyang (vice CEO) of Taiyang.
Sun Liwei: Head of Finance, Taiyang.
Jade Sun: oko to Robert Mackenzie.
Tamsin Sun: Head of Legal Services, Taiyang.
Darius Mackenzie-Sun: son of Jade and Robert Mackenzie.
Amanda Sun: former oko to Lucas Corta.
VTO
Valery Vorontsov: founder of VTO. CEO VTO Space.
Yevgeny Vorontsov: CEO of VTO Moon.
Valentina Vorontsova: Commander VTO cycler Saints Peter and Paul.
Dr Volikova: personal physician to Lucas Corta.
Grigori Vorontsov(a): former amor of Lucasinho Corta.
LUNAR DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION
Jonathon Kayode: Eagle of the Moon. President of the Lunar Development Corporation.
Vidhya Rao: economist and mathematician, White Hare and Lunarian Society member, independence campaigner.
SISTERHOOD OF THE LORDS OF NOW
Madrinha Flavia: joined the Sisterhood after her exile from Boa Vista.
Mãe-de-Santo Odunlade Abosede Adekola: Holy Mother of the Sisters of the Lords of Now.
Irma Loa: sister and former confessor of Adriana Corta.
MERIDIAN/QUEEN OF THE SOUTH
Mariano Gabriel Demaria: director of the School of Seven Bells, an assassins’ college.
THE WOLVES
Amal: leader of the Meridian Blue Wolves pack.
Lunar Calendar
The Lunar Calendar is divided into twelve lunes named after the signs of the Zodiac: Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius, Pisces, plus a New Year’s Day at the start of Aries.
The days of each lune are derived from the Hawaiian system of naming each day after a different moon-phase. Thus the lune has thirty days and no weeks.
1: Hilo
2: Hoaka
3: Ku Kahi
4: Ku Lua
5: Ku Kolu
6: Ku Pau
7: Ole Ku Kahi.
8: Ole Ku Lua
9: Ole Ku Kolu
10: Ole Ku Pau
11: Huna
12: Mohalu
13: Hua
14: Akua
15: Hoku
16: Mahealani
17: Kulua
18: Lā’au Kū Kahi
19: Lā’au Kuū Lua
20: Lā’au Pau
21: ‘Ole Kū Kahi
22: ‘Ole Kū Lua
23: ‘Ole Pau
24: Kāloa Kū Kahi
25: Kāloa Kū Lua
26: Kāloa Pau
27: Kāne
28: Lono
29: Mauli
30: Muku
Additionally, the larger cities (with the exception of Queen of the South) operate a three-shift system: mañana, tarde, noche. Each shift eight hours apart. Noon in mañana is 8 pm in tarde and 4 am in noche.
Tor Books by Ian McDonald
Luna: New Moon
Luna: Wolf Moon
About the Author
Ian McDonald was born in 1960 in Manchester, England, to an Irish mother and a Scottish father. He moved with his family to Northern Ireland in 1965. He has won the Locus Award, the British Science Fiction Association Award, and the John W. Campbell Memorial Award. His first novel, Desolation Road, was published in 1988. Other works include King of Morning, Queen of Day (winner of the Philip K. Dick Award), River of Gods, The Dervish House, the graphic novel Kling Klang Klatch, and many more. He now lives in Belfast. You can sign up for email updates here.
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Contents
Title Page
Copyright Notice
The Wolf Moon
Map: Nearside of the Moon
After the Fall: Aries 2103
1: Virgo 2105
2: Virgo – Libra 2105
3: Aries 2103 – Gemini 2105
4: Libra 2105
5: Libra – Scorpio 2105
6: Gemini 2105
7: Libra – Scorpio 2105
8: Scorpio 2015
9: Leo – Virgo 2105
10: Scorpio 2105
11: Scorpio 2105
Glossary
Dramatis Personae
Lunar Calendar
Tor Books by Ian McDonald
About the Author
Copyright
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
LUNA: WOLF MOON
Copyright © 2017 by Ian McDonald
All rights reserved.
Map copyright © Dave Senior
A Tor Book
Published by Tom Doherty Associates
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First published in Great Britain by Gollancz, an imprint of the Orion Publishing Group, an Hachette UK Company