Macrolife by George Zebrowski
Macrolife is a science fiction narrative centered around the Bulero family, who have gained wealth and influence through the marketing of a powerful but unstable substance known as bulerite. This material is utilized for constructing large habitats both on Earth and in space. The story unfolds as bulerite structures begin to fail, leading to catastrophic explosions that incite a nuclear war and render Earth uninhabitable. The surviving Bulero family members escape to a space colony called Asterome, a hollowed-out asteroid, where they embark on a journey through interstellar space with the aim of forming a collective organism known as Macrolife.
Set a thousand years later, the tale follows John Bulero, a clone, who grapples with his identity and the desire for a terrestrial existence. After experiencing the harsh realities of life on a distant colonized planet, he returns to Asterome, where he realizes the superiority of artificial habitats for human survival. As Asterome contacts rebuilt civilizations on Earth, they are invited to join a broader community of intelligent beings. The narrative culminates in a cosmic crisis, where John must take initiative amidst Macrolife's existential challenges, ultimately linking individual identities and the fate of Macrolife to the survival of consciousness through the cycles of the universe.
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Subject Terms
Macrolife
First published: 1979
Type of work: Novel
Type of plot: Science fiction—future history
Time of work: 2021, 3000, and the far future
Locale: Earth, the space colony Asterome, and throughout the cosmos
The Plot
The Bulero family has grown wealthy and powerful by marketing an immensely strong, though poorly understood, substance called bulerite, used to construct massive habitations on Earth and in space. Bulerite suddenly proves to be unstable, and bulerite structures begin exploding. These disasters trigger a nuclear war on Earth and the emergence of a strange force field that engulfs Earth and makes it uninhabitable.
Surviving members of the Bulero family—matriarch Janet, philosophy professor Sam, and heir Richard—take refuge in a space colony, the hollowed-out asteroid Asterome, which moves away from Earth to contact other surviving humans on Mars and near Jupiter. After thwarting a general’s effort to seize control of Asterome, its residents decide to travel into interstellar space, hoping that Asterome can “reproduce”—build and populate duplicates of itself—and become one of many cells in an emerging collective organism called Macrolife.
A thousand years later, John Bulero, a young clone of Sam, lives in Asterome as it moves through the galaxy but longs to experience life on a planet. When Asterome approaches Lea, a planet once colonized by refugees from Earth, he visits there, discovers a tribe of savages, and marries one of its female members. When his wife is killed by raiders and he is driven to violent retaliation, he comes to understand the brutality of planetary life and returns to Asterome. Realizing that artificial space colonies are the best homes for humanity, he prepares to have a “link” implanted that will connect his brain directly to Asterome’s computer intelligence and to other linked individuals.
Now equipped with a faster-than-light drive, Asterome returns to investigate conditions on Earth and learns that humans there have rebuilt civilization on Earth and in nearby space colonies, and that they are preparing to meet alien visitors. These birdlike creatures invite humans to join a growing community of intelligent beings.
After billions of years, John awakes from the group intelligence of Macrolife, in which his individual identity has been submerged. He is told by Macrolife that the entire universe is contracting and will soon die in a massive explosion, and that Macrolife, in response, is breaking down into its individual parts. There is a possible, but risky, way for Macrolife to escape the universe’s death and survive into a new universe; however, Macrolife hesitates to act and therefore requires the individual initiative of John, who commands the collapsing being to take the necessary steps. After the universe dies and Macrolife finds itself in a new universe, John observes another Macrolife appearing, a survivor from an even older universe. He posits that each of an endless series of universes generates its own enduring form of Macrolife.