Bios

Bios, Robert Charles Wilson, Tor, 1999

In the next century, humanity has colonized the solar system. Starflight is very expensive, so all attention is focused on the one earth-like planet found, a lush, tropical, jungle of a planet called Isis. It's a DNA treasure house, full of possible answers to questions about Earth's biology, with one large problem: every molecule is extremely toxic to humans. It's a constant Level Four "hot zone."

Into all of this comes Zoe Fisher, a young woman from Earth, literally cloned and raised to explore Isis. Earth has become a faction-ridden political hothouse, where certain Families have become the elite. Zoe comes with all sorts of new technology that is supposed to make exploring Isis safer and easier for humans. What nobody knows, including Zoe, is that some of that new technology is inside her.

Meantime, the research stations on Isis are under constant, and increasingly successful, attack from the native germs and microbes, forcing the humans to put up more bulkheads between them and the outside.

This story ends up rather sad and depressing, but it is still a wonderful piece of storytelling, with Wilson doing his usual excellent job.