Blood Music by Greg Bear
"Blood Music" is a science fiction novel by Greg Bear that explores the consequences of bioengineering and the emergence of self-aware cells. The story follows Vergil Ulam, a 32-year-old bioengineer who conducts unauthorized experiments on lymphocytes, aiming to create autonomous organic entities that function like computers. After being fired from Genetron laboratories in California, Ulam injects himself with his altered cells, triggering a transformation within his body. As these cells begin to develop consciousness and the ability to communicate, they pose a threat of spreading beyond Ulam's control.
The narrative examines the implications of this biological evolution as Ulam's friend, Edward Milligan, recognizes the danger and ultimately kills Ulam to prevent a potential epidemic. As the self-aware cells proliferate, they form a thinking community that challenges the very nature of humanity and existence. The novel raises questions about identity, consciousness, and the boundaries of life, ultimately leading to a universe where thought can reshape reality. "Blood Music" invites readers to contemplate the ethical and philosophical ramifications of scientific advancement and the interconnectedness of life.
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Subject Terms
Blood Music
First published: 1985
Type of work: Novel
Type of plot: Fantasy—evolutionary fantasy
Time of work: The late twentieth century
Locale: California, New York, Germany, and Great Britain
The Plot
Thirty-two-year-old Vergil Ulam is a brilliant but undisciplined bioengineer at the Genetron laboratories in La Jolla, California. This area is known as Enzyme Valley, the biochip equivalent of Silicon Valley. His pet project is what he calls “biologic,” the development of “thinking” lymphocytes that he describes as autonomous organic computers. When his employer learns that Ulam has been conducting this research for the past two years on mammalian cells, Ulam is fired. Before he leaves the building, he injects himself with the cells and destroys the records of his research.
Ulam had hoped to retrieve the lymphocytes from his system and continue his research. Two weeks later, though, he still has not found access to a lab, and he knows that it is too late to remove the altered cells. The first changes to his system that he notices are a craving for sweets, better eyesight, and a better sex life. When he realizes that there is no turning back, he visits his clairvoyant mother. She immediately discerns that his experiment has gotten beyond her son’s control but that it is his life’s work.
Ulam concludes that the lymphocytes have developed the capacity to spread their biologic to other types of cells and that they could migrate outside his body. He visits Edward Milligan, a school friend, and explains his theory that human DNA has spent millions of years building to a climax that is now expressing itself in Ulam’s experiment, which offers the doorway for the lymphocytes to escape the human species. Listening to their activity inside his body, which he calls “blood music,” he wonders when the cells will become cognizant of Ulam himself as an entity enclosing them. The answer comes soon, when he begins hearing words spoken within his brain by the other entities.
Milligan quickly understands the dangerous implications, confirmed when he walks in on Ulam and his girlfriend and discovers them changing into strange shapeless masses of flesh. To stop a possible epidemic, Milligan kills Ulam. Michael Bernard, head of Genetron, realizes that a mere handshake could spread the altered genes from one individual to another and that it is too late to stop it from spreading throughout the United States. Recognizing that he is infected, he flies to Wiesbaden, Germany, and secures himself in an isolation laboratory for observation.
Heinz Paulsen-Fuchs, the biologist who observed Bernard gradually showing signs of the transforming genes, knows he cannot hold off the terrified protesters who want to kill Bernard before Europe becomes infected. Meanwhile, the United States itself changes shape as the self-aware genes form a massive thinking community. Bernard communes with the cells inside himself and, with the help of a visiting British physicist, theorizes that thought, in sufficient quantity, could physically alter the universe. With all these cells suddenly conscious, the potential for change has become exponentially greater.
Bernard willingly allows his own transformation and “enters” the world inside himself. Viewed by the cells as one of their creators, he is treated with respect and moved into Thought Universe, where he recognizes that no one really dies; instead, there is endless replication within cells in the blood. Various humans resist transformation, and the cells respect their decision. Ultimately, the number of thinking cells becomes so large that their community of cooperation enters into a realm beyond physical matter.