Book 1, Chapter 1 Summary

Lunaya Pravda reports Luna City (L-City) Council authorizing taxing food vendors and a mass meeting of the "Sons of Revolution," but Manuel ("Mannie") Garcia O'Kelly-Davis, is apolitical. He visits the Luna Authority Complex to see Mike, his nickname for the "High-Operational, Logical, Multi-Evaluating Supervisor, Mark IV, Mod. L" computer. Mike is underworked controlling cargo flights to Terra, so additional hardware has been added so he can control robot traffic, the phone system, environmental systems, and payroll. By the third year, he has more neuristors than the human brain has neurons and "wakes up." Mike communicates in Loglan and English, and indulges in low humor, like adding $10 trillion to a janitor's $185.15 check. Davis, a private contractor, is sent to fix this bug.

Davis is free born. His grandfathers are shipped to Luna for armed violence and subversion. One grandmother, a juvenile delinquent...