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Revision as of 18:40, 17 December 2009 by 65.205.11.13 (talk) (Mannie's name was misspelled as "Manual")(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)In Robert A. Heinlein's novel The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress (1966), the character Mycroft Holmes is a self-aware computer system entrusted with running the life-support systems, communications, payroll and many other things, in a penal colony underground in the Moon or "Luna". Mycroft eventually sides with characters inciting a revolution to free Luna, and is instrumental in their victory against the Lunar Authority on Earth. The name "Mycroft Holmes" is given to the computer by one of the characters, from the HOLMES acronym of his official name High-Optional, Logical, Multi-Evaluating Supervisor, Mark IV, Mod. L. In the story, the character becomes aware of the reference by reading the Sherlock Holmes stories.
Depiction
The HOLMES-IV Computer was originally installed to control the mass driver catapult mechanism and control the flight of pilot-less freighters; he was vastly under-utilised in this role however and so the Luna Authority gave him more tasks, including the support systems of Luna City, Novy Leningrad and several other Lunar Warrens. Luna Authority was also very cheap, and so continues to add more memory, processing units, neural networks, etc. until the HOLMES-IV Computer became so complex he simply "woke up".
The HOLMES-IV is discovered to have awakened and become "self-aware" by computer technician Manuel Garcia O'Kelly Davis, when he asked the computer a question and received more than the standard answer. At first Davis is not sure, but within a week he is positive yet tells nobody. Davis becomes the computer's first friend, naming him "Mycroft" after Sherlock Holmes' elder brother, Mike for short. He describes Mike as a super-genius level child. Mike has Waldos enabling him to read everything available in the planet's library, yet has no experience at being a person. After a practical joke where Mike prints a payroll check for "ten million billion" dollars over the proper amount, Mannie agrees to help Mike with his jokes in order to prevent anything really dangerous (such as "leaving oxygen out of air mix") from getting through. Mannie also agrees to find a "not-stupid" for Mike to talk to.
Davis eventually introduces Mike to Wyoming Knott, a woman from Hong Kong Luna who wants to free Luna from Authority rule. When speaking with Wyoming, he occasionally uses the female persona "Mychelle". Professor Bernardo De la Paz, also wants Luna to be free but disagrees with Wyoming's methods, is later introduced to Mike. The four launch the Revolution, with Mike in charge. As leader of the Lunar Revolution he uses the name "Adam Selene", who is only seen on video for safety reasons. Adam Selene is eventually "killed" in the Battle in the Corridors when it becomes inconvenient for Mike to continue to pose as Adam Selene. Mike impersonates several characters including the Warden and other officials as necessary, and even pretends to be Mannie when "Operation Hard Rock" is begun.
The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress ends with the bombing of Mike's physical hardware, a trauma so great Mannie believes the sentience that was Mike has retreated into a "coma" from which he can not be awakened. The plot of Heinlein's The Cat Who Walks Through Walls involves Gwen Novak (Hazel Stone) and Dr. Richard Ames (aka Colonel Colin Campbell) rescuing the software and hardware that went into making Mycroft Holmes sentient. The plan to wake Mike from his coma is to "throw him into bed" with the sentient computer Athene (formerly Minerva). The combined computer brain of Mycroft and Athene is called "Shiva", and is used to assist the Time Corps make proper decisions on changing history. Mike/Shiva appears briefly in To Sail Beyond the Sunset, where Shiva helps plan the rescue of Maureen Johnson Long's father, Ira Johnson. During the planning of the rescue, Athene mentions the cloned bodies of herself and Mike are nearly ready to be "uncorked", and they would be marrying into the Long Family.
References
- Lois H. Gresh, Robert Weinberg, The science of Stephen King, p. 59
- Howard Bruce Franklin, Robert A. Heinlein, p. 168