The Jesus Incident

Untold eons ago, a series of voidships was sent forth from our solar system, carrying human clones. One of these, the Voidship Earthling, at some point became “Ship” the all-powerful–a God-like consciousness who now wonders whether humanity is worth keeping in business. So Ship chooses a testing-ground for humanity: Pandora, a planet about to be colonized by the Shipmen–who, led by three rapacious cynics, are straying from the doctrine of Ship’s omnipotence & from the duty of WorShip. While Chaplain/Psychiatrist Morgan Oakes & his henchmen develop a Pandoran slave-labor force of deformed clones, Ship reawakens a survivor of the 1st Earthling voyage & sends him–a Jesus-like figure named Thomas–to Pandora to see whether humanity can redeem itself. The stories of Pandora, of Thomas the doubting Ship’s emissary & of the machinations of Oakes–all these are overlaid with countless biblical references & parallels that at 1st seem merely pretentious but eventually take on a certain fascination. All in all, this collaborative effort is shapelier & swifter-paced than Herbert’s Dune books, but also less intricate & painstaking in imaginative detail.–Kirkus (edited)