Subterranean moon base, nanobots, dinosaurs

[EricB]

I cannot remember the name of this book. From what I recall, it goes something like this. Earth had begun colonizing different planets/ moons in the solar system, but those colonies were still dependent on Earth. Before the start of the book, some alien presence wiped Earth out of existence and the colonies were left to fend for themselves. There may be other books (series) about other planets, but the one I read was about the moon. They had subterranean caverns that were melted into existence by a stockpile of nukes. The caverns were pressurized and flora and fauna added. The only genetic samples they had for fauna were dinosaurs, and so they grew them for meat. Everyone was infested with nanobots that constantly monitored health. The nanobots were controlled by a supercomputer, and that was a main plot element.
Any help on the name of this book?

 

[WaylanderToo]

welcome - sounds an interesting idea there. I'm hoping that someone on here will have an answer

 

[EricB]

Fingers crossed!

 

[chrispenycate]

Could possibly (though not the dinosaurs as such) have something to do With Varley's 'eight worlds' stories? It's not a very close match - I'd have expected more clones and memory storage.

 

[EricB]

Steel Beach by John Varley, 1993! You've got it! You guys are the hymenopteran femoro-tibular joint!

FYI The dinosaurs were only a small part of the story but they were an important foreshadow for having Central Computer robots in your noodle. The dinosaurs were raised for meat, but some Luna colonists were against the practice, while most Lunas were OK with it and the dino ranchers were all for it. As a method of arbitration, a sort of dinosaur whisperer character could commune with the dinosaurs (his brain nanobots to their brain nanobots via the Central Computer) to see what they wanted.

Thanks again,
E