The Jesus Incident

Untold eons ago, a series of "voidships" was sent forth from our solar system, carrying human clones. And 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 and from the duty of WorShip. While Chaplain/Psychiatrist Morgan Oakes and his henchmen develop a Pandoran slave-labor force of deformed clones, Ship reawakens a survivor of the first Earthling voyage and 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, and of the machinations of Oakes - all these are overlaid with countless biblical references and parallels that at first seem merely pretentious but eventually take on a certain fascination. All in all, this collaborative effort is shapelier and swifter-paced than Herbert's Dune books, but also less intricate and painstaking in imaginative detail. (Kirkus Reviews)