The Mote in God's Eye is a
science fiction novel by American writers
Larry Niven and
Jerry Pournelle, first published in 1974. The story is set in the distant future of Pournelle's
CoDominium universe, and charts the
first contact between humanity and an alien species. The title of the novel is a wordplay on the Biblical "
The Mote and the Beam" parable and is the nickname of a star.
The Mote in God's Eye was nominated for the Hugo, Nebula and Locus Awards in 1975.
Setting
The Mote in God's Eye (originally titled
Motelight) is set in Pournelle's
CoDominium
universe, where a union of the United States and the Soviet Union
produced a world government and a number of colonies in other star
systems, followed by nuclear war on Earth and the rise of the First
Empire based on the planet Sparta several centuries before the events of
the novel. There is a reference to these events in Pournelle's novel
King David's Spaceship.
Many, but not all, humans are part of the Second Empire, held
together by an interstellar navy modeled on 19th century British lines,
with all-male crews, a highly competent officer corps grown from
midshipmen recruited in their teens and trained on the job, and
well-armed and -organized Marines to carry out ground missions. Those
who prove themselves worthy can be promoted into the aristocracy. The
aristocrats themselves tend more towards duty than privilege. The Empire
is predominantly Christian, but other religions are more or less
tolerated. The people of the planet Dayan are Jewish, while Horace Bury
is a Muslim business magnate from Levant. An upstart religion, the
"Church of Him", which was founded when the Mote became intensely bright
and was regarded as part of the Face of God, is shown in decline, its
founder having committed suicide when the light from the Mote went out.
Plot summary
In
the year AD 3017, humanity is slowly recovering from an interstellar
civil war that tore apart the first Empire of Man. The Second Empire is
busy establishing control over the remnants of its predecessor, by force
if necessary. After a rebellion on the planet New Chicago is quashed,
Captain Bruno Cziller of the Imperial battlecruiser INSS MacArthur
remains behind as Chief of Staff to the new governor, while Commander
Roderick Blaine is given temporary command of the ship, along with
secret orders to take Horace Hussein Bury, a powerful interstellar
merchant suspected of instigating the revolt, to the Imperial capital,
Sparta. Another passenger is Lady Sandra Bright "Sally" Fowler, the
niece of an Imperial senator and a traumatized former prisoner of the
rebels.
New Caledonia is the capital of the Trans-Coalsack sector, on the opposite side of the
Coalsack Nebula from Earth. Also in the sector is a
red supergiant
star known as Murcheson's Eye. Associated with it is a yellow Sun-like
star, which from New Caledonia appears in front of the Eye. Since some
see the Eye and the Coalsack as the face of God, the yellow star is
known as the Mote in God's Eye.
Human ships use the
Alderson Drive, which allows them to travel instantaneously between "
Alderson points" in specific star systems. Approaching New Caledonia,
MacArthur is ordered to investigate when an alien spacecraft, propelled by a
solar sail, is detected. After the spacecraft fires upon
MacArthur,
Blaine has its main capsule detached from the sail and taken aboard.
Its sole occupant, a brown and white furred creature, is found dead.
After much debate,
MacArthur and the battleship
Lenin are sent to the star from which the alien ship came, the Mote.
MacArthur
carries civilian researchers to make first contact with the aliens, or
"Moties" as they are quickly nicknamed. Admiral Kutuzov, aboard
Lenin,
has strict orders to avoid all contact with the aliens and ensure that
human technology does not fall into their hands. The Moties seem
friendly and have advanced technology that they are willing to trade,
much to Bury's delight. Although they also possess the Alderson Drive,
none of their ships have ever returned. This is because, unknown to the
Moties, the Mote's only Alderson exit point lies within the outer layers
of the star Murcheson's Eye. Human warships can survive there for a
limited time because of their protective
Langston Fields, which the Moties do not have.
The Moties are an old species, native to a planet that the humans
label Mote Prime, that has evolved into many specialized subspecies.
The first taken aboard MacArthur is an "Engineer", possessing
amazing technical abilities, but limited speech and free will. It brings
along a pair of tiny "Watchmakers" as helpers. Some days later, a
delegation of "Mediators" (like the dead pilot of the probe ship)
arrive. Their specialty is communication and negotiation. The Mediators
invite the humans to send a party to Mote Prime. After some debate, the
invitation is accepted. Each person in this group acquires a
"Fyunch(click)", a Mediator who studies their human subject and tries to
learn how to think like them.
Back on MacArthur, the Watchmakers escape, and although it
is assumed they have died, they have actually been breeding furiously
out of sight. Undetected by the crew, they modify parts of MacArthur to suit their needs. When they are discovered, several attempts to rid MacArthur
of the infestation fail, and a battle for control of the ship erupts.
The crew is eventually forced to abandon ship after suffering
casualties. The party on Mote Prime is quickly recalled without
explanation and told to rendezvous with Lenin. Once MacArthur is evacuated, Lenin fires on her to prevent the potential capture of human technology. This reveals that the Watchmakers have improved MacArthur's Langston Field. Nevertheless, MacArthur is destroyed.
During the evacuation,
MacArthur midshipmen Staley,
Whitbread and Potter are cut off and forced to escape in
Watchmaker-modified lifeboats. The lifeboats automatically land in a
sparsely populated area of Mote Prime. There the midshipmen find a
fortified museum. It provides evidence of a very long and violent
history, though the Moties had carefully portrayed themselves as
completely peaceful. Following this discovery, the midshipmen are
tracked down by Whitbread's Mediator Fyunch(click), who reveals that
Moties (other than the short-lived, sterile Mediators) must become
pregnant periodically or die. This inevitably results in overpopulation
... and civilization-ending wars. The Masters, whom the Mediators obey,
have also concealed the existence of one Motie subspecies from the
humans: Warriors more deadly than any human, even
Sauron supersoldiers.
The museums exist to help restore civilization after a collapse.
The "Cycles" of civilization, war, and collapse have gone on for
hundreds of thousands of years, leaving the Moties
fatalistically
resigned to their destiny. Only a mythical character called "Crazy
Eddie" believes there is a way to change this, and any Motie who comes
to believe a solution is possible is labeled a "Crazy Eddie" and deemed
insane.
The current civilization utilizes a type of industrial
feudalism,
with coalitions of Masters governing the planet. One faction, led by
"King Peter", wanted to reveal the truth to the humans, but was
overruled. Colonization of other planets would inexorably bring about
conflict with humans, as the inevitable Motie population explosion would
force them to seek to take over human worlds. Nonetheless, the more
powerful coalition sees this temporary solution as preferable to the
impending collapse. Both factions send Warriors after the midshipmen,
one to capture them, the other to rescue them. The stronger group's
Warriors trap the midshipmen, but the trio refuse to surrender and die
as a result.
Unaware of the midshipmen's fate, Lenin leaves the Mote
system, taking with it three ambassadors, a sterile Master and two
Mediators, whose mission is to open the galaxy to their species while
concealing their terrible secrets.
An Imperial Commission is on the verge of granting colonies to the Moties, but MacArthur
Sailing Master/Lieutenant Kevin Renner figures out the truth just in
time. It is the passengers on the original probe, ejected into space and
burned up by solar radiation, that give the game away. Not only is
there a Warrior among the group, but several are visibly pregnant,
demolishing any argument about them being statues or religious icons.
The decision is made to gather a battle fleet to either disarm or
try to annihilate the Moties. The ambassadors are faced with the
extinction of their species, knowing that the Masters would never
submit. However, a Mediator comes up with a third option: a blockade of
the system's only Alderson exit point. This plan is adopted, over the
strenuous opposition of Bury, who views the Moties as the greatest
threat humanity has ever faced.
Characters
- Commander Roderick "Rod" Blaine
- A navy officer and member of an influential aristocratic family,
Blaine is promoted to captain of the Imperial battlecruiser INSS MacArthur.
On return to New Scotland from the Mote, he is retired from active
service and appointed to the Commission charged with negotiating with
the Moties.
- Lady Sandra "Sally" Bright Fowler
- After leaving the Imperial University at Sparta with a master's
degree in anthropology, she and a classmate named Dorothy embarked on a
trip to study primitive cultures (such as human colonies isolated by the
civil war) first hand. They became caught up in the revolution on New
Chicago. Dorothy disappeared and Sally was imprisoned in a concentration camp,
where she took on a leadership role. Months later, she and her servants
were rescued by Imperial forces. The niece of an Imperial senator, she
is sent home aboard MacArthur, then recruited for the expedition to the Mote based on her skills.
- His Excellency Horace Hussein Chamoun al Shamlan Bury
- An Imperial magnate, Chairman of the Board of Imperial Autonetics,
and a leading member of the Imperial Traders Association, Bury
instigates the rebellion on New Chicago. The Navy suspects his
involvement, so he is made a virtual, though unofficial, prisoner aboard
MacArthur, with the intent of sending him to New Sparta to face
the judgement of the Imperial Court. Although rich, he is not in a
position to bribe Blaine, whose family is even richer. His experiences
during the evacuation of MacArthur turn him into an advocate for isolating or even destroying the Moties.
- Nabil
- Bury's servant, skilled with dagger and poison. Travels with Bury to
New Scotland, the Mote, and eventually to Sparta. At Bury's command, he
captures two "Watchmaker" Moties and places them in a spacesuit's air
tank in suspended animation. Later Bury throws the tank away, having
become intensely fearful of Moties.
- Commander Jack Cargill
- First lieutenant of MacArthur, promoted to executive officer after the battle of New Chicago.
- Commander Jock (Sandy) Sinclair
- MacArthur's chief engineer. Born in New Scotland.
- Jonathon Whitbread
- A MacArthur midshipman,
he becomes the first man to make contact with a living Motie. He has an
easygoing personality in contrast to his shipmate Horst Staley.
Whitbread is described as being "17 standard years old", slightly
younger than the more senior Staley.
- Horst Staley
- A MacArthur midshipman. Born on the former rebel planet Sauron,
he adheres rigidly to naval regulations and the chain of command, and
displays no sense of humor. Like the other midshipman, Staley is still
in his teens. Despite this, he is put in command of a boarding party of
marines ordered to rescue trapped passengers and retrieve Motie
technology during the evacuation of MacArthur.
- Gavin Potter
- A MacArthur midshipman. Born on New Scotland, he joins the crew when MacArthur
refuels at a moon of one of the outer planets in the New Caledonia
system. Potter serves as the guide to New Scot culture for other
characters, particularly the cult known as the Church of Him. He
describes the intense light seen coming from the Mote a century earlier,
convincing the crew that the incoming probe from there was launched
using lasers.
- Kevin Renner
- The sailing master of MacArthur
and former merchant navy officer does not regard himself as a permanent
Navy officer. He displays a somewhat irreverent attitude towards the
Navy and its traditions while supporting the Imperial Aristocracy style
of government.
- Admiral Lavrenti Kutuzov
- Kutuzov is chosen to command the mission to the Mote because of his
ruthless devotion to duty by whatever means are necessary: He once
reduced a populated planet to ashes in order to stop a dangerous
rebellion against the Empire of Man.
- Senator Benjamin Bright Fowler
- Sally's uncle, dispatched to New Scotland to meet Lenin on return from the Mote, and head of the Commission to negotiate with Moties.
- Father David Hardy
- The ship's chaplain aboard MacArthur and an expert linguist, he
becomes part of the team that meets the first Motie delegation.
Incorrectly regarded as "unworldly", he does not believe everything the
Moties say, observing that "priests hear a lot of lies". He is also the
first to interpret some Motie communication.
- Dr. Anthony Horvath
- Minister of Science for Trans-Coalsack sector. Leader of the New
Scotland science delegation to the Mote. He advocates for open contact
with the Moties, ignorant of any threat they represent.
- Dr. Jacob Buckman
- An astrophysicist whom Bury cultivates as a source of information about the activities of the rest of MacArthur's crew.
- Admiral Plekhanov
- Fleet Commander in the Battle of New Chicago, then Acting Governor-General of the recaptured colony.
- Bruno Cziller
- Captain commanding MacArthur, then Rear-Admiral on Plekhanov's staff on New Chicago, ceding command of his ship to Blaine.
Moties
Moties
are described as bipeds, about 1.3 meters tall, covered with fur whose
color depends on the subspecies. Their most obvious feature is the
asymmetric arrangement of arms, with two dexterous right arms and one
heavily muscled left arm whose musculature attaches to the head, so that
Moties have no left ear to match the large, membrane-like right ear.
The backbone is jointed rather than flexible and the entire upper body
swivels to turn the head. The face is simple and incapable of
expression. Gestures replace facial expression.
Master Moties have all white fur, described as silky. Engineers
have brown fur, while Mediators have patchy fur in brown and white. They
are sterile hybrids of Masters and Engineers. Siblings tend to have
identical patterns of patches. Masters are obeyed by all other Moties,
though Mediators have some independence to negotiate between Masters.
Other Motie subspecies include Warriors, optimized for hand-to-hand
combat and weapon usage, Doctors with extra dexterity, and semi-sentient
Farmers who raise crops. The Watchmaker species is related to Moties
but is about one-third the size and has four arms in a symmetrical
arrangement.
Moties alternate between sexes as part of their reproductive
cycle, except for Mediators who cannot reproduce and have shorter lives.
Mediators are referred to as females throughout the novel. Master
Moties may become sterile males with hormone treatment, at which point
they can become "Keepers", preserving common resources that should not
be fought over.
- The Asteroid Miner
- After MacArthur appears in the system, the first ship to rendezvous comes from a group of Trojan asteroids related to the only gas giant
planet. The pilot is a Brown Motie, an "idiot savant engineer" with
instinctive understanding of science and technology, amazing dexterity,
and poor communication skills. Whitbread boards the Miner's ship and
finds it occupied by the Miner and dozens of Watchmakers, smaller Moties
with similar abilities but lower intelligence. The Miner accompanies
Whitbread back to MacArthur, bringing two Watchmakers and killing
the rest by evacuating her ship's air. The humans are unable to
communicate with the Miner, not realizing her status, but discover her
ability to improve gadgets. Before the next delegation of Moties
arrives, the Miner dies from failing to become pregnant in time. The
Watchmakers reproduce in vast numbers and re-make MacArthur under the humans' noses, eventually leading to the ship's evacuation and destruction.
- Whitbread's Motie
- When the midshipmen land on Mote Prime, Whitbread's Fyunch(click)
arrives in an aircraft with "Charlie", another Mediator, and a Brown
Motie technician. Whitbread's Motie serves a Master Motie who was given
jurisdiction over interaction with humans, but will kill the midshipmen
rather than expose the truth about Moties. At this point all the other
Fyunch(click) Mediators are either "Crazy Eddie" or helping their
Master. She is instrumental in helping the midshipmen get away from the
Museum, explaining their peril to them, and instructing the Brown to
work on weapons and transport for them. She apparently kills Whitbread
to prevent his capture, Whitbread having done the same for Potter while
Staley died fighting, and is later executed in shame for having killed
her Fyunch(click).
- "Charlie"
- Charlie is a Mediator whose Master, called "King Peter", is willing
to protect the midshipmen and send them home. Charlie regards
Whitbread's Motie as Crazy Eddie but is willing to work with her to
prevent a war. Later Charlie is one of the Motie ambassadors to the
human Empire. It is Charlie who suggested the blockade of the Motie
system, to prevent the annihilation of her species.
- "Ivan"
- Ivan is a "Keeper", a sterile Master Motie in the male phase who
cannot have children and theoretically has no interest in dynastic
conflict. Keepers have jurisdiction over vital common resources, such as
the Museums. Ivan is the official Ambassador from the Moties to humans.
- "Jock"
- Jock is a Mediator, and is the third ambassador to the humans. She was in the first delegation of Moties that met MacArthur
but did not become a Fyunch(click). She serves the same Master as
Whitbread's Motie. Her job was to study Kutuzov, the one human who
commanded all the others but never communicated with Moties.
Crazy Eddie
The
Moties frequently refer to the mythical character they call "Crazy
Eddie" when talking to humans. There are many Crazy Eddie stories, but
all revolve around the inevitability of repeated cycles of collapse of
Motie civilization and the pointlessness of trying to prevent them. The
drive that humans call the Alderson Drive, which allows human ships to
travel between star systems, is called by Moties the Crazy Eddie Drive,
because although it is founded in sound science and has been reinvented
many times by Motie civilizations, ships that attempt to use it
disappear and are never seen again. The Moties do not know that the
ships they send appear inside the hot photosphere of Murcheson's Eye.
Human ships are protected by the energy-absorbing Langston Field. The
point in space where the Alderson Drive operates is known to the Moties
as the Crazy Eddie Point. This is the title of the second part of the
novel. The other parts are titled "The Crazy Eddie Probe", "Meet Crazy
Eddie", and "Crazy Eddie's Answer". From the Moties point of view,
humans are Crazy Eddie. Several Moties, including Rod Blaine's
Fyunch(click), become Crazy Eddie after exposure to human attitudes.
Reception
Robert A. Heinlein,
while giving the authors extensive advice on a draft manuscript,
described it as "a very important novel, possibly the best
contact-with-aliens story ever written".
Theodore Sturgeon, writing in
Galaxy, described
The Mote in God's Eye
as "one of the most engrossing tales I have encountered in years",
stating that "the overall pace of the book [and] the sheer solid
story
of it" excuse whatever flaws might remain, with the one complaint being
that he found it unlikely the Moties would not have used genetic
engineering at some point to curb their population growth.
Portsmouth Times
reviewer Terry McLaughlin found the novel "a superior tale, told
without the pseudo-psychology background that seems to mar many a new
science fiction novel."
Brian W. Aldiss and
David Wingrove
reported that while the imagined aliens were "fascinating creations",
the "style and characterization [emphasize] the weaknesses of both Niven
and Pournelle."
Awards and nominations
Sequels
Pournelle and Niven followed up with the sequel
The Gripping Hand and in 2010 Pournelle's daughter, Jennifer, published an authorized sequel entitled
Outies.
Other related works
60,000 words were cut from the novel before publication. The short story "Reflex" was instead published in 1983 in the first
There Will Be War collection, edited by Pournelle and
John F. Carr. It details an early phase of the battle for New Chicago, told from the rebels' point of view.
MacArthur,
with Captain Cziller in command and Blaine as Exec, engages and defeats
a rebel ship, but because of the technology, particularly the Langston
Field, the ship is still deadly and surrender is a complex matter.
Midshipman Horst Staley is sent to board and disable the ship while
carrying a suicide bomb to prevent interference. He makes a mistake,
allowing the "political officer" aboard the ship to snatch away the
bomb, but the crew who are sick of the revolt overpower the officer.
This preys on his mind during the events of the main novel. The rebel
ship was taken over as the prize ship
Defiant, commanded by Blaine during the final battle.
"Motelight" was also originally written as part of the novel, but
was never published except as part of the non-fiction piece "Building
'The Mote in God's Eye'" that appeared in Pournelle's collection "A Step
Farther Out". It describes how two astronomers on New Scotland try to
continue their work during the war with New Ireland, and are thus the
first to see the sudden brightening of the Mote due to the laser launch
system being activated. The rest of the population are hiding under the
Langston Fields protecting their cities from bombardment, until one day
the field fails and they see the Coal Sack with a glowing green Eye. The
story also mentions "Howard Grote Littlemead", who believes that the
bright Mote really is the Eye of God, and founds the Church of Him. It
is in one of the churches that Potter shows Renner and Staley a
holographic picture of the Coal Sack showing the intense green glow of
the Mote.
Larry Niven also wrote a poem "In Memoriam : Howard Grote Littlemead" that was published much later.
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