Bloom (novel) - Plot Summary

Plot Summary

Bloom is set in the year 2106, in a world where self-replicating nanomachines called "Mycora" have consumed Earth and other planets of the inner solar system, forcing humankind to eke out a bleak living in the asteroids 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.