Pluto

Dr. Aaron Mikelson was merged with an experimental artificial intelligence that allows him to function in various mechanical ways. He has gone AWOL in a rover on Pluto, with his colleagues on the science vessel Trombough calling on Space Force Starship Aurora to help them facilitate his return. But Mikelson has found signals from an object under the icy surface and is determined to study it. So begins an adventure that takes readers to the moon Charon, where the crew discovers and awakens another artifice that begins transforming the surface with an array of nanobots of various sizes. Attempts to communicate fail, and attempts to capture a bot for study are met with violence. The arrival of Russian and Chinese forces complicates matters. The Trombough is ordered to retreat to Pluto's orbit, but Mikelson prevents this from happening. Excitement ensues, as fans of the late Bova's work have come to expect. This final book of the Outer Planets trilogy (which began with Uranus, 2020) comes to us through rough notes given to Johnson by Bova's estate.