Bios

Bios is a 1999 science fiction novel by Robert Charles Wilson, a nominee for the 2000 Best Novel Aurora Award. Plot summary The novel is set in the 22nd century. After a pandemic-induced social collapse, Earth is controlled by the Trusts, corporate entities dominated by the oligarchic Families. The Trusts function as both business conglomerates and charitable NGOs; having restored order, their power has largely supplanted that of governments, and their managerial cadres (serving the owner-class Families) exercise quasi-feudal authority over their subordinates. In the wider solar system, asteroid settlers that did not experience the pandemics preserve a more liberal mode of existence; they maintain cautious links with the Trusts, cooperating on matters of mutual interest. Interstellar travel via quantum teleportation is possible, but difficult and hugely expensive; each launch is enormously energy-intensive, consuming a medium-sized ice asteroid. The Trusts and the asteroid dwellers collaborate to send a large scientific expedition to the planet Isis, the only world found so far to possess a complex biota. A significantly older world than Earth, Isis features a rich ecology which is - like Earth's - DNA-based. However, Isian life violently outcompetes terrestrial biology; any exposure to Isian microorganisms causes death within hours. The human research stations on Isis and the expedition's HQ in orbit must be kept sealed and sterile, with elaborate anti-contamination countermeasure. The world is nonetheless deemed worthy of intensive investigation, as understanding an entire evolutionary process parallel to Earth's could provide important biological insights.