Bios — Robert Charles Wilson

A NOVEL OF BRAVERY, EXPLORATION, AND DISCOVERY IN A UNIVERSE CHARGED WITH AWE

In the twenty-second century, starflight is possible but hugely expensive, so humankind's efforts are focused on Isis, a verdant, Earth-like world only a few lightyears away. But every molecule of Isian life is spectacularly toxic to human beings. The entire planet is a permanent Level Four "hot zone."

Despite that, Isis is the most interesting discovery of the millennium: a parallel biology with lessons to teach us about our own nature. It's also the hardest of hardship posts, the
loneliest place in the universe.

Zoe Fisher was born to explore Isis. Literally. Cloned and genetically engineered by a faction within the hothouse politics of Earth, Zoe is optimized to face Isis's terrors. Now at last Zoe has arrived there. But there are secrets implanted within her that not even she suspects ... and the planet itself has secrets that will change our understanding of life in the universe.