Helix and the Sword

Helix and the Sword (ISBN:0812545567) by John C. McLoughlin is a science fiction novel set in the far future. Mankind lives in organic orbital habitats and considers planets with gravity to be evil, due to their peculiar religion.

However, their religion does have some interesting aspects.

The four nucleotides of DNA are symbolized by four women. Their dance creates the tree of life, or cornucopia. Their dance is the dance of evolution.

• Thymidine symbolize Fire, Abundant Energy.
• Cystosine symbolize Water, Abundant Time.
• Guanine symbolize Air, Abundant Space.
• Adinine symbolize Earth, Abundant Matter.

The four horsemen of the Apocalypse are symbolized by four men. They prune the tree of life.

• Pestilence symbolize Fire, Lack of Energy. (the Flesh)
• Death symbolize Water, Lack of Time.
• War symbolize Air, Lack of Space. (the Devil)
• Famine symbolize Earth, Lack of Matter. (the World)

The four resources are Space, Time, Energy and Matter. These are termed the Four Faces of the Living Tetrahedron.

And there is Uri Grigarin, the first man in space. He is seen as sort of a Coyote Trickster god.