"Chimera" by Alice Thompson

An audio book.

Prologue - Artemis has returned from a 9 month space journey, back to Jason. She's the only survivor. She recalls nothing. She decides to write a novel about being on the Chimera on a trip to Oneiros (a distant moon).

The ship goes faster than light. A tree grows in it. They're seeking bacteria that will consume CO₂ back on a dying Earth. There are 12 dryads (humanoid robots with DNA). Luther is the crew leader - he's neurodivergent because they're better leaders. Her father was a leading AI expert. In her childhood she was shielded from VR and remote learning. She's an expert on dreams at the neuron level. The 4 crew take anti-dreaming sleeping pills.

She used to do dream research with Jane. The Elite shut their project down. Jane killed herself. Artemis found out that the Elite had reacted to a tip-off from Jason, who'd recently become her boyfriend. She went mad for a while. The space mission is Jason's.

Bacteria appear on the ship's hull. Ivan, a crew member, studies it. It disappears, then he disappears. Armetis learns from Cressida (Mission Control) that 6 years ago the previous crew had disappeared on Oneiros. The dryads start questioning the team - they shouldn't be able to.

They land, and settle in the moonbase. Fabricators are there - less conscious than dryads. It's arctic cold. Ivan returns at the door. He recalls nothing about the missing days. She can hear churchbells. She has feelings for Troy (an android) and visa verca. Shadows fall over humans and they dream. The bacteria/shadows are somehow transferring human dreams to the fabricators. She finds a tunnel. In the tunnel she finds the brain-dead crew of the first expedition. Someone's attempting to transplant AI brains into the old and new crew. Troy injects Armetis, preparing her for an operation.

Epilogue - she thinks she has Troy's brain - the best of best worlds. She burns the draft of her novel.

Ivan's disappearance isn't explained. The plot (dream transfer) is suddenly revealed. So Cressida and Co planned it all? Did Armetis bring the bacteria and shadows back? Why not try transplanting human brains into androids? How was Oneiros discovered in the first place?

Other reviews

• Ash Caton (the book itself becomes a forceful chimera of old and new; its futuristic environment peopled with characters nominally hailing from antiquity. ... Novels about artificial intelligence are formally obliged to ask what it means to be human.)
• Jackie Law (this is an interesting take on the dangers of space exploration. Having said that, I retain reservations over the plot’s efficacy and my lack of investment in outcomes until the end.)
• Afric McGlinchey (There’s a sense of dissociation and disconnection throughout. The psychology and characterisation feel jerky, disorientating. There is minimal momentum, despite the drama of their situation, and mission. Instead, the focus is on Artemis’s almost clinical observation of the character traits and behaviours of crew members and dryads, which appear incongruous.)
• Alastair Mabbott