Genesis (2000) Poul Anderson

Christian Brannock is astronaut, poet, singer and eventually uploaded brain in a box. He travels the stars and one iteration of him bonds with the great galactic mind – Alpha.   Alpha then sends him to investigate why the great mind over Earth -Gaia – does not want to try to extend the eventual existence of the planet as the sun gets closer to super nova. Typical (good) Poul Anderson.   Good characters and better plot with a lot of situations.