The Folded Sky

In Elizabeth Bear's epic science fiction novel, Dr. Sunya Song embarks on a perilous journey across the Milky Way to connect with Baomind, an ancient alien artificial intelligence crucial for humanity's survival. As an archinformist on an unprecedented research mission, she is joined by her teenage children and alien wife to protect invaluable data from falling into the hands of Freeport pirates, who consider AI an abomination. With their lives at stake and no assistance in sight, Sunya must rely on her expertise to save her family and the future of humanity.