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Bloom (novel)
Encyclopedia
Bloom, written in 1998, is the fifth science fiction
novel
written by Wil McCarthy
. It was first released as a hardcover in September 1998. Almost a year later, in August 1999, its first mass market edition came out.
Bloom is one of Borders' "Best 10 Books of 1998" and is a New York Times Notable Book.
The premise of the book is how to handle human technology that has evolved beyond human control.
called "Mycora" have consumed Earth
and other planets of the inner solar system, forcing humankind to eke out a bleak living in the asteroid
s and Galilean moons
. Two groups of humanity exist—The Immunity which use "ladderdown
" technology and augmented reality
and lives on the moons of Jupiter, and The Gladholders which use human intelligence amplification
and artificial intelligence
and live in the asteroid belt. The story begins on Ganymede
with an article about a “bloom”, or outbreak of Mycora, that serves to emphasize the danger and horror of this technogenic life (TGL). The author of said story, Strasheim, is also the main character. He is first seen in the office of Lottick, a major public figure, who has called him there for an unknown purpose.
Lottick tells Strasheim that the Mycora have apparently been stealing human gene sequences and may develop resistance to the coldness of the outer system, which incites concern. In the short term, a mission to drop some TGL detectors onto Mars' and the Earth's polar icecaps has been approved and Lottick asks Strasheim to go along as a reporter. In the long term, a starship is being constructed to try to beat the Mycora to colonizing other star systems.
Strasheim agrees and soon after goes to meet the other crew-members and inspect the ship, which is called the Louis Pasteur which is technologically camouflaged to protect the crew against Mycora. Unfortunately, an unnamed man releases a Mycora bloom in the hangar, killing one crew-member and forcing the others to launch the Pasteur three weeks earlier than planned and without adequate supplies.
Because of their forced launch, the Pasteur docks at Saint Helier, a medium-sized Floral asteroid
to pick up supplies. While there, they are surprised multiple times, but what shocks them most is that the asteroid's inhabitants have apparently discovered human life on Venus, co-existing with the mycora.
Shaken, the crew continues on their journey, but become aware that one of the crew is sabotaging the mission. The saboteur turns out to be a woman named Baucum, to whom Strasheim had formed a strong sexual attraction. She is secretly a member of the Temples of Transcendent Evolution, a spiritual group that believes the Mycora to be divine and invests large sums of money into researching them. After being found out, Baucum ruptures a storage bag inside herself that had been carrying spores of Mycora. Terrified, Strasheim shoves her out of an airlock before the Mycora can devour him and the rest of the crew too.
Later, it is revealed that the mission has a somewhat more violent purpose than the crew was led to believe. The detectors that they are supposed to drop on Mars' and the Earth’s surface are designed in such a way that they can generate enough heat to rid Mars and the Earth of most Mycora. The Louis Pasteur is being followed by an armada of Temples ships, seemingly intent on destroying them at any cost. Strasheim realizes that their "cascade fusion
" technology could be used to initiate a massive wave of solar flares that would wipe out most Mycoran life in the inner solar system. For this reason, the Temples ships are willing to risk their own destruction to stop the Louis Pasteur.
But the true purpose of the mission to Earth isn’t all the Temples were right about, as at the climax of the story, the Mycora is discovered to be sapient and without ill-will toward humans. Communication is brief but paradigm-shattering. An ambassador explains that nearly every person consumed on Earth or on the evacuation out-system was incorporated into the Mycosystem and are still alive, their consciousness and intelligence significantly upgraded, "Unpacked". The crew is given information on how to mark areas as off-limits to the Mycosystem. They are told that humanity is, "...Utterly free. Free to conduct your lives in the classical manner, to escape this solar system, to populate the stars. Free to Unpack, if you choose."
The book ends almost thirteen years later. The captain of the Pasteur has been diagnosed with a terminal disease and requests that Strasheim (now a successful media magnate) be his witness as he joins the Mycora and transcends.
the French microbiologist and chemist, the ship is described as being very small and having an unusual external covering invented by Lehne called the t-balance.
According to Strasheim, the Pasteur is "like a bathroom with seven shower stalls and a streetcar cockpit wedged incongruously at one end, a utility closet wedged in the other." Rather cramped quarters for a crew of seven going on a voyage that will take about two years.
The purpose of the t-balance is to convince the Mycora that the ship is part of it by means of tactile camouflage. It is described as a gleaming rainbow gray colored coating that appeared to be made up of millions of minuscule dots, each of which also appears to be made up of millions of tiny dots, and so on. The t-balance also gives off the illusion that the dots are moving. Unfortunately for the Pasteurs crew, although the t-balance should work in theory, it has not yet been tested because the only way to do so is by surrounding it with Mycora.
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
novel
Novel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
written by Wil McCarthy
Wil McCarthy
Wil McCarthy is a science fiction novelist, Chief Technology Officer for Galileo Shipyards , and the science columnist for Syfy...
. It was first released as a hardcover in September 1998. Almost a year later, in August 1999, its first mass market edition came out.
Bloom is one of Borders' "Best 10 Books of 1998" and is a New York Times Notable Book.
The premise of the book is how to handle human technology that has evolved beyond human control.
Plot summary
Bloom is set in the year 2106, in a world where self-replicating nanomachinesGrey goo
Grey goo is a hypothetical end-of-the-world scenario involving molecular nanotechnology in which out-of-control self-replicating robots consume all matter on Earth while building more of themselves, a scenario known as ecophagy .Self-replicating machines of the macroscopic variety were originally...
called "Mycora" have consumed Earth
Earth
Earth is the third planet from the Sun, and the densest and fifth-largest of the eight planets in the Solar System. It is also the largest of the Solar System's four terrestrial planets...
and other planets of the inner solar system, forcing humankind to eke out a bleak living in the asteroid
Asteroid
Asteroids are a class of small Solar System bodies in orbit around the Sun. They have also been called planetoids, especially the larger ones...
s and Galilean moons
Galilean moons
The Galilean moons are the four moons of Jupiter discovered by Galileo Galilei in January 1610. They are the largest of the many moons of Jupiter and derive their names from the lovers of Zeus: Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto. Ganymede, Europa and Io participate in a 1:2:4 orbital resonance...
. Two groups of humanity exist—The Immunity which use "ladderdown
Transmutation
Transmutation may refer to:*Biological transmutation, the claim that nuclear transmutation occurs within living organisms*Dimensional transmutation, a physical mechanism that transforms a pure number into a parameter with a dimension...
" technology and augmented reality
Augmented reality
Augmented reality is a live, direct or indirect, view of a physical, real-world environment whose elements are augmented by computer-generated sensory input such as sound, video, graphics or GPS data. It is related to a more general concept called mediated reality, in which a view of reality is...
and lives on the moons of Jupiter, and The Gladholders which use human intelligence amplification
Intelligence amplification
Intelligence amplification refers to the effective use of information technology in augmenting human intelligence...
and artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence is the intelligence of machines and the branch of computer science that aims to create it. AI textbooks define the field as "the study and design of intelligent agents" where an intelligent agent is a system that perceives its environment and takes actions that maximize its...
and live in the asteroid belt. The story begins on Ganymede
Ganymede (moon)
Ganymede is a satellite of Jupiter and the largest moon in the Solar System. It is the seventh moon and third Galilean satellite outward from Jupiter. Completing an orbit in roughly seven days, Ganymede participates in a 1:2:4 orbital resonance with the moons Europa and Io, respectively...
with an article about a “bloom”, or outbreak of Mycora, that serves to emphasize the danger and horror of this technogenic life (TGL). The author of said story, Strasheim, is also the main character. He is first seen in the office of Lottick, a major public figure, who has called him there for an unknown purpose.
Lottick tells Strasheim that the Mycora have apparently been stealing human gene sequences and may develop resistance to the coldness of the outer system, which incites concern. In the short term, a mission to drop some TGL detectors onto Mars' and the Earth's polar icecaps has been approved and Lottick asks Strasheim to go along as a reporter. In the long term, a starship is being constructed to try to beat the Mycora to colonizing other star systems.
Strasheim agrees and soon after goes to meet the other crew-members and inspect the ship, which is called the Louis Pasteur which is technologically camouflaged to protect the crew against Mycora. Unfortunately, an unnamed man releases a Mycora bloom in the hangar, killing one crew-member and forcing the others to launch the Pasteur three weeks earlier than planned and without adequate supplies.
Because of their forced launch, the Pasteur docks at Saint Helier, a medium-sized Floral asteroid
Asteroid
Asteroids are a class of small Solar System bodies in orbit around the Sun. They have also been called planetoids, especially the larger ones...
to pick up supplies. While there, they are surprised multiple times, but what shocks them most is that the asteroid's inhabitants have apparently discovered human life on Venus, co-existing with the mycora.
Shaken, the crew continues on their journey, but become aware that one of the crew is sabotaging the mission. The saboteur turns out to be a woman named Baucum, to whom Strasheim had formed a strong sexual attraction. She is secretly a member of the Temples of Transcendent Evolution, a spiritual group that believes the Mycora to be divine and invests large sums of money into researching them. After being found out, Baucum ruptures a storage bag inside herself that had been carrying spores of Mycora. Terrified, Strasheim shoves her out of an airlock before the Mycora can devour him and the rest of the crew too.
Later, it is revealed that the mission has a somewhat more violent purpose than the crew was led to believe. The detectors that they are supposed to drop on Mars' and the Earth’s surface are designed in such a way that they can generate enough heat to rid Mars and the Earth of most Mycora. The Louis Pasteur is being followed by an armada of Temples ships, seemingly intent on destroying them at any cost. Strasheim realizes that their "cascade fusion
Nuclear fusion
Nuclear fusion is the process by which two or more atomic nuclei join together, or "fuse", to form a single heavier nucleus. This is usually accompanied by the release or absorption of large quantities of energy...
" technology could be used to initiate a massive wave of solar flares that would wipe out most Mycoran life in the inner solar system. For this reason, the Temples ships are willing to risk their own destruction to stop the Louis Pasteur.
But the true purpose of the mission to Earth isn’t all the Temples were right about, as at the climax of the story, the Mycora is discovered to be sapient and without ill-will toward humans. Communication is brief but paradigm-shattering. An ambassador explains that nearly every person consumed on Earth or on the evacuation out-system was incorporated into the Mycosystem and are still alive, their consciousness and intelligence significantly upgraded, "Unpacked". The crew is given information on how to mark areas as off-limits to the Mycosystem. They are told that humanity is, "...Utterly free. Free to conduct your lives in the classical manner, to escape this solar system, to populate the stars. Free to Unpack, if you choose."
The book ends almost thirteen years later. The captain of the Pasteur has been diagnosed with a terminal disease and requests that Strasheim (now a successful media magnate) be his witness as he joins the Mycora and transcends.
Characters
- John Strasheim – The main character. Works as a cobblerShoemakingShoemaking is the process of making footwear. Originally, shoes were made one at a time by hand. Traditional handicraft shoemaking has now been largely superseded in volume of shoes produced by industrial mass production of footwear, but not necessarily in quality, attention to detail, or...
on Ganymede, but is also a very good amateur journalist. It is the latter skill which causes him to be selected for the journey to the Earth. - Vaclav Lottick – Introduced as the most powerful man in the solar system, he is the head of research for the Immunity and the man who invites Strasheim on the mission to earth.
- Darren Wallich - Captain of the Louis Pasteur, has had a “tickle capacitor” implant, which makes his personality seem more likable.
- Tosca Lehne – Another crewmember. One of the inventors of the t-balance, which coats the outside of the Pasteur with the purpose of making it appear to be part of the Mycosystem.
- Jenna Davenroy – A nuclear engineer in her 40s. She is the ladderdown expert on the Pasteur and also its chief propulsion monitor.
- Tug Jinacio – A Response lieutenant, responsible for handling emergencies on the Pasteur (ex. fire, bloom, etc.) Killed in the hangar bloom.
- Renata Baucum – Bioanalyst on the Pasteur, who turns out to be a traitor. Killed when she ruptures the Mycora hidden within her and Strasheim blows her out of an airlock.
- Sudhir Rapisardi – Coordinated the design of the TGL (technogenic life) detectors that the Pasteur will place on the earth to monitor the Mycora. Is the biophysicist on the Pasteur.
- Chris Dibrin – sent by the Governor to show the Pasteur crew around Saint Helier. He has an artificial intelligence implanted into his brain that enables him to think faster.
The Louis Pasteur Spaceship
Named after Louis PasteurLouis Pasteur
Louis Pasteur was a French chemist and microbiologist born in Dole. He is remembered for his remarkable breakthroughs in the causes and preventions of diseases. His discoveries reduced mortality from puerperal fever, and he created the first vaccine for rabies and anthrax. His experiments...
the French microbiologist and chemist, the ship is described as being very small and having an unusual external covering invented by Lehne called the t-balance.
According to Strasheim, the Pasteur is "like a bathroom with seven shower stalls and a streetcar cockpit wedged incongruously at one end, a utility closet wedged in the other." Rather cramped quarters for a crew of seven going on a voyage that will take about two years.
The purpose of the t-balance is to convince the Mycora that the ship is part of it by means of tactile camouflage. It is described as a gleaming rainbow gray colored coating that appeared to be made up of millions of minuscule dots, each of which also appears to be made up of millions of tiny dots, and so on. The t-balance also gives off the illusion that the dots are moving. Unfortunately for the Pasteurs crew, although the t-balance should work in theory, it has not yet been tested because the only way to do so is by surrounding it with Mycora.
Places
- Ganymede: Where the story begins. It is one of Jupiter's moons and home to people who are protected from the Mycora by the Immunity.
- Ansharton: A large city on Ganymede where Lottick's office is.
- Philusburg: A smaller city on Ganymede where Strasheim and his mother live.
- Galileo: The city/base/port where the Pasteur is docked on Ganymede.
- Saint Helier: A Floral asteroid where the Pasteur docks to stock up on supplies.
Terms/Organizations
- Immunity: A defensive system used by the people on Ganymede (as well as those on the other outer planets) to keep spores of Mycora from invading. Also a term used by people under its protection to refer to themselves.
- Ladderdown: System of converting elements into other elementsNuclear transmutationNuclear transmutation is the conversion of one chemical element or isotope into another. In other words, atoms of one element can be changed into atoms of other element by 'transmutation'...
further down the Periodic TablePeriodic tableThe periodic table of the chemical elements is a tabular display of the 118 known chemical elements organized by selected properties of their atomic structures. Elements are presented by increasing atomic number, the number of protons in an atom's atomic nucleus...
. As a result of using this system, the inhabitants of the Immunity have a plethora of high-numbered elements lying around. For example, they have so much gold they use it to weigh down their shoes and pave the streets. - Mycora: A substance that appears to be grey gooGrey gooGrey goo is a hypothetical end-of-the-world scenario involving molecular nanotechnology in which out-of-control self-replicating robots consume all matter on Earth while building more of themselves, a scenario known as ecophagy .Self-replicating machines of the macroscopic variety were originally...
, but is in actuality a type of technogenic life form created by humans that escaped their control and began consuming everything around it. It has also evolved from its original state and adapted to an environment where there is nothing left to consume. Throughout the book, Conway's Game of LifeConway's Game of LifeThe Game of Life, also known simply as Life, is a cellular automaton devised by the British mathematician John Horton Conway in 1970....
is used as an imperfect example of how the Mycora operates. - Temples of Transcendent Evolution: Originally formed on CallistoCallisto (moon)Callisto named after the Greek mythological figure of Callisto) is a moon of the planet Jupiter. It was discovered in 1610 by Galileo Galilei. It is the third-largest moon in the Solar System and the second largest in the Jovian system, after Ganymede. Callisto has about 99% the diameter of the...
, it is an organization that invests large sums of money into research about the Mycora. They are spiritually inclined and believe that the Mycora is "a presence greater than themselves".