Jupiter

Grant Archer merely wanted to study astrophysics, to work quietly as an astronomer on the far side of the moon. But the forces of the New Morality, the coalition of censorious do-gooders who run twenty-first-century America, have other plans for him.
To his distress, Grant is torn from his young bride and sent to a research station in orbit around Jupiter, charged with the task of spying on the scientists who work there. Their work may lead to the discovery of higher life forms in the Jovian system - a discovery whose implications might destabilize the theocratic power structure back on earth.
What Grant's would-be controllers don't know is that his loyalty to science may be greater than his desire for a quiet life. But that loyalty will be tested in a mission as dangerous as any ever undertaken.
Meanwhile, what lurks in the middle reaches of Jupiter's vast atmosphere is more than any faction has counted on . . . and stranger than anyone could possibly have imagined.