To Crush the Moon

by Wil McCarthy

  Stephen L. Gillett (while not mentioning a world as strange as Mulciber) outlines some of the details of this process in his excellent reference World-Building (Writer's Digest Books, 1996), but it's worth mentioning that something very similar appears to have happened to Earth. If the mass of our moon were distributed on top of the existing Earth, as it seems to have been in the early stages of the solar system's formation, we'd have a much thicker crust with much lower metal content near the surface. If the Mars-sized body which struck Earth had done so less glancingly, our planet might well have become an iron cannonball with a much larger moon. A straight-on hit could even have pulverized the Earth, forming a second asteroid belt, although it's likely that a planet of some sort would have re-formed from the shards eventually.

  the squozen moon

  The atmospheres of planettes like Maplesphere and Ash are not stable over geologic time, or even the span of a few years, without a replenishment mechanism and/or a mechanism for keeping the upper atmosphere very cold. Make no mistake: these are technological artifacts, like buildings, and will not persist forever without stewardship.

  Lune, the Goliath of planettes, does not have this problem, and will keep its atmosphere indefinitely. With a radius of 707 km (reduced from the original 1738 km), a surface gravity of 1.0 gee, and an unaltered mass of 7.3¥1022 kg, Lune's escape velocity is 3.72 kilometers per second (vs. 11.9 km/s for Earth). This is more than enough to retain oxygen and nitrogen, but also small enough to make access to space a lot easier than it is from Earth.

  The delta velocity necessary to reach Varna—in an orbit 50,000 km high—from Lune's surface is very close to the escape velocity:

  Fortunately, this is achievable through low-tech means, as we see in Chapter 19.

  Note that Lune's sphere of influence—the maximum radius of a stable circular orbit—is just over 65,000 km. Past this point, the gravity of Earth (even Murdered Earth) will perturb the orbit over time, until the orbiting object either crashes, is ejected from the Earth-moon system, or becomes a stable satellite of Earth.

  The dimensions of Lune give it a surface area of 6.28 million square kilometers—about 17% of its original area, or 1.7% of Earth. This is slightly smaller than the continent of Australia, and while it includes ocean as well as land surfaces, it does create a plausible home for hundreds of millions of human beings even at sub-Queendom technology levels.

  Because angular momentum is always conserved, reducing the diameter of Luna from 3476 to 1414 km (almost exactly a 60% reduction) will increase its rotation rate. For a sphere with a mass M, rotation period P, and radius r, the angular momentum is (2⁄5) (Mr2) (2p/P). Thus, r2/P is a constant, and reducing the radius by 60% decreases the rotation period by a factor of 6. As a result, the moon's current solar day of 29.53 Earth days (708.72 hours) is shortened to 4.92 Earth days (118.12 hours). By crushing to slightly less than 60%, the day can be adjusted to exactly 5 earth days, or 120 hours.

  The original soil composition of Luna is compared with the Earth's crust in the table below:

  So, from a terraformer's perspective Luna is not a bad piece of real estate once the gravity problem is solved. The only real problems are a lack of carbon and hydrogen in the Lunar soil, and an overabundance of toxic nickel. The figures on nitrogen are misleading, since Earth's atmosphere contains a huge reservoir of this element, whereas Luna has no such resource. A dense nitrogen atmosphere is certainly necessary to support Earthly life, so one would need to be imported.

  wellstone

  I've written a great deal about this subject elsewhere, and will not repeat it all here. For now, I'll just say that although it sounds far out—and I've pushed the limits of credulity pretty hard here—this is a mostly real technology which is currently under development. Readers interested in learning more are encouraged to check out my nonfiction book on the subject, Hacking Matter (Basic Books, April 2003), or the web site www.programmablematter.net.

  positronium

  The “positronium” material mentioned in Chapter 11 is a real substance, consisting of a semistable “atom” with an electron and positron (or antielectron) orbiting their mutual center of attraction. The positronium atom has no nucleus, but it does have a definite size, and in fact the Air Force Research Laboratory has investigated quantum dots (and by extension, wellstonelike quantum-dot solids) as a means for storing this explosive in microgram quantities. According to Gerald Smith of Positronics Research in Los Alamos, New Mexico, when the electron and positron are collided together by shock or high temperatures, each microgram of positronium releases the energy equivalent of 40 kilograms of TNT. Thus, the potential for positronium-in-wellstone as a fuel or a munition is considerable. A BB-sized pellet of the stuff could easily sink a battleship, or propel a Volkswagen to the moon.

  blindsight

  Again, a real thing, although the dolcet berry is not. Interested readers should check out V. S. Ramachandran's fascinating Phantoms in the Brain (Perennial, 1999).

  appendix D

  further voyaging

  Pumpkin orange, Conrad noted with surprise and mild disappointment. There were hints of rainbow at the edges, hints of laquered sheen at the center, but the dully glowing “white dwarf” was fundamentally orange, not much different in appearance than the neutron star had been. More than anything it looked like a wellstone nightlight in the wall of a child's bedroom. But unlike the neutron star—really just a tourist stop along the way—this planet-sized sphere contained riches: stable transuranics by the gigaton, held tightly in the core by a hundred thousand gravities.

  “If only we could pry them loose,” Tilly said to him as they stood together on their yacht's observation deck. “We'd be richer than the Biarchy itself.”

  “I think I've got an idea,” Conrad replied. And so he did, though its implementation was more difficult than he could possibly have imagined. But that's another tale entirely.

  about the author

  In a decade and a half as an aerospace engineer, Wil McCarthy has designed satellite orbits, built robotic bulldozers, simulated giant lasers, sent space probes off to the planets, and spoken the words “Guidance is go” through a dippy-looking headset. Today he's a freelance science journalist, the Sci Fi Channel's science correspondent, and president of The Programmable Matter Corporation (www.programmablematter.com), a Colorado nanotech startup doing, well, some of the things you'll read about in this book.

  On the side, he's the author of nine science fiction novels, including BLOOM (a New York Times Notable Book) and THE COLLAPSIUM (Nebula Nominee and Amazon.com “Best of the Year”) and one nonfiction book, HACKING MATTER (Amazon.com #4 bestseller and Nanotechnology Now “Best of 2003”). His short fiction has appeared all over the place.

  Further information is available at www.wilmccarthy.com

  By Wil McCarthy

  Aggressor Six

  Flies from the Amber

  The Fall of Sirius

  Murder in the Solid State

  Bloom

  The Collapsium

  The Wellstone

  Lost in Transmission

  To Crush the Moon

  Praise for the books of the Queendom:

  THE COLLAPSIUM

  “[McCarthy] studs his narrative with far-out scientific concepts that he defends in a series of appendices. He certainly has a sense of humor. [Protagonist] Bruno de Towaji . . . is surely speaking for his creator when he assures another character, ‘Imagination really is the only limit.'” —Gerald Jonas, The New York Times

  “McCarthy has pushed his work to a new level. A very deft storytelling touch added to his engineering experience makes The Collapsium a standout novel. McCarthy has added a lyricism reminiscent of Roger Zelazny to cutting-edge hard science in the manner of Robert L. Forward.” —Fred Cleaver, The Denver Post

  “The future as [McCarthy] sees it is a wondrous place. . . . While there are amusing attributes and quirks to McCarthy's characters, the greater pleasures of this novel lie in its har
d science extrapolations. McCarthy plays us his technical strengths by providing a useful appendix and glossary for the mathematically inclined reader.” —Publishers Weekly

  “Wil McCarthy is a certified science fiction treasure, a real-life rocket scientist with a gorgeous writing style and rapier wit to boot. [While his] high-concept physics ideas . . . are deft and fascinating, it's his characters and story that make The Collapsium a book to savor, a complex and layered story in the grand tradition of science fiction's masters.” —Therese Littleton, Amazon.com

  “Ingenious and witty . . . as if Terry Pratchett at his zaniest and Larry Niven at his best had collaborated.” —Roland Green, Booklist

  “Fresh and imaginative. From a plausible yet startling invention, McCarthy follows the logical lines of sight, building in parallel the technological and societal innovations. ‘Our Pick.' I wanted to visit this Queendom and meet these people.” —Mark Wilson, Science Fiction Weekly

  “Humor and SF seem an unlikely pairing, but Wil McCarthy does his best to make the marriage work in his newest novel . . . worth reading, and it's a good sign for McCarthy's future that he's willing to experiment with new styles.” —Science Fiction Chronicle

  “A fairy tale [with] . . . the most delicious superscience since Larry Niven's Ringworld. Stylistic diversity and hard scientific rigor blended with panache and striking imagination. McCarthy works hard to draw out pathos and character development. Genuinely exciting—a wonderful hoot.” —Damien Broderick, The New York Review of Science Fiction

  “The author of Bloom once again demonstrates his talent for mind-expanding sf. Vibrant with humor, drama, and quirky ideas. Highly recommended.” —Library Journal

  “[A] comedy of manners about High Physics, immortality, mad scientists, and murder. Great fun [with a] Wodehouse-meets-Doc-Smith aesthetic. As ingenious as the physics and special effects are, it is their juxtaposition to the wit and comedy that gives the novel its particular flavor. [A] playful, thoughtful book.” —Russell Letson, Locus

  “An odd mixture of elegant style, fascinating far-future particle physics and advanced nanotechnology, character caricature, and video game style combat action scenes . . . Is this a satire? A fable? The work of a superior mind forced to contemptuously stoop to fiction formula and conflict in order to display his brilliant speculations? Damned if I know. I enjoyed it.” —Science Fiction Chronicle

  “Top notch. Terribly good fun. This very funny book has something for everyone.” —Niko Silvester, Entertainment Tomorrow

  “McCarthy knows his physics, and makes it extremely easy to suspend disbelief. He creates a world that is both foreign and amazing . . . but in McCarthy's hands it appears all but inevitable.” —J. M. Frank, Mindjack Magazine

  “Quite entertaining. The science is larger-than-life, and so are the characters.” —Rich Horton, SF Site

  “I don't recall the last time a book made me laugh out loud. I did so here on page 146, and at the book's end I did so again . . . though my eyes were moist as well. McCarthy has created a story here that is distinctly Asimovian in flavor, though his voice is very much his own.” —Ernst Lilley, SFrevu

  “Prepare to use your grey matter. [McCarthy] fills his pages with lovingly rendered descriptions . . . but it is the strength of his scientific imagination that really shines through.” —Rob Williams, SFX Magazine (UK)

  “A most dazzling future. What follows is a mind-spinning struggle that recalls a Henry Fielding novel of manners, Michael Moorcock's epic sagas and the cosmic free-for-alls of Doc Smith. There's fascinating science aplenty, mad scientists, robots running amok . . . What more could you want?” —Terry Dowling, The Weekly Australian

  “A decidedly odd but enjoyable mix of mannered, decadent comedy and far-out physics. I liked and was even prepared to believe in [it].” —David Langford, Ansible (UK)

  “A wonderfully off-kilter space operetta, best described as a sophisticated version of those golden-age serials of the '30s populated with slightly mad scientists who happen to have total mastery of nanotechnology and black hole physics.” —Netsurfer Digest

  “The Collapsium will certainly win McCarthy many fans. It is full of ideas and told in a somewhat comic manner by a voice from much further in the future . . . the characters are engaging and clearly drawn.” —Nova Express

  THE WELLSTONE

  “An ideal blend of wit and superscience, set in a brilliant future age when wealth and immortality just aren't enough. McCarthy gives an adventurous new spin to the ongoing rebellion of the young.” —David Brin

  “Wil McCarthy is one of the best hard SF writers in the business.” —Jack McDevitt

  “Wil McCarthy asks a question for the first immortals: if their children do not know or fear death, might death become an exciting adventure?” —Sean McMullen

  “THE WELLSTONE has a madcap, inventive energy that proves irresistible. Wil McCarthy's previous book, THE COLLAPSIUM, was dazzling in its ingenuity, and THE WELLSTONE—a deranged take on a boys' adventure tale, with its log cabin flying through the Kuiper Belt on its programmable matter sails—is a sequel worthy of its predecessor.” —Walter Jon Williams

  “Delightful . . . McCarthy has now joined the league of major writers like Asimov and Clarke.” —The Denver Post

  “Everything I've seen of McCarthy's work is worthwhile, and this is no exception.” —San Diego Union Tribune

  “A good combination of adventure and hard sci-fi.” —Kansas City Star

  “This fun read is packed with weird but believable technology, and paints a possible picture of life in the distant future.” —The Dallas Morning News

  “If Robert Heinlein had written Lord of the Flies, he probably would have come up with something like THE WELLSTONE.” —Rocky Mountain News

  “A standout job . . . full of action, humor, top-notch speculation and intriguing characters . . . Such ambition and creative playfulness should serve this book well when award lists are made up. . . . McCarthy's tale summons up echoes of a number of classics. The rudimentary power politics recalls William Golding's Lord of the Flies (1954). The lost-boys aspect rings changes on J. M. Barrie's Peter Pan (1904). And certainly the theme of “lighting out for the territories” harks back to Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn (1884) . . . but of course McCarthy makes it his own. All these potent riffs are fleshed out in a comprehensive portrait of humanity transformed by advanced technologies. What more could any SF reader ask for? Next year will see the publication of the third volume in this fascinating series, Lost in Transmission. I, for one, wish it were to hand right now.” —Paul di Filippo, scifi.com

  “Wil McCarthy considers post-scarcity economics, leadership politics and immortality—all in an adventure that would have made Robert A. Heinlein proud.” —BookPage

  “McCarthy's satirical humor and mastery of the hardest of hard science—he actually is a rocket scientist—are just as much in evidence here as in his earlier novels. It's lots of fun.” —Netsurfer Digest

  “Strong world-building enhances the witty and satirical tone of THE WELLSTONE (4) by Wil McCarthy. It's a wildly inventive and entertaining soap opera, disguised as futuristic science fiction, which forces us to question our ideas of human utopia.” —Romantic Times

  “Examines the downside of immortality [and] manages to work some pointed satire into what is actually a very good adventure story.” —Chronicle

  “Inventive and often funny, with a dark undertone, reinforced by a downright grim prologue and epilogue, that lends a certain gravitas to the theme.” —New York Review of Science Fiction

  LOST IN TRANSMISSION

  “A gas.” —Entertainment Weekly

  “Explores the bumps on the road to utopia in a story that stands on its own within the world of this highly inventive series.” —Denver Post

  “Very cool.” —San Diego Union Tribune

  “Imaginative.” —Kansas City Star

  “With their irreverent style and rapier wit, McCarthy's novel
s are at once funny and moving, and stand out in a world of space opera clones. The alien setting only strengthens the portrayal of a very human struggle to accept an uncertain future. A page turner!” —The Romantic Times

  “A compelling coming-of-age sage . . . Fortunately, this worthy sequel . . . has enough loose ends to make another, equally engaging sequel, a necessity.” —Booklist

  “Original and intriguing.” —SciFi.com

  TO CRUSH THE MOON

  A Bantam Spectra Book / June 2005

  Published by

  Bantam Dell

  A Division of Random House, Inc.

  New York, New York

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  All rights reserved

  Copyright © 2005 by Wil McCarthy

  Bantam Books, the rooster colophon, Spectra, and the portrayal of a boxed “s” are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc.