Signs of Life

In Second Nature (1982), Wilder imagined a party of interstellar castaways and the society they formed on the planet Rhomary. Now, centuries later, more castaways have landed on that planet, unaware that others have preceded them. The survivors of the starship Serendip Dana are a mixed lot comprised of its regular crew, members of a paramilitary unit known as the Silvos and devotees of the Zen-like Kamalin Movement. Assisting all three groups are the oxper, enormously competent androids. It's soon clear that the greatest challenge facing the castaways is their anger and the violence it breeds, including several murders; only the intervention of the oxper and of a courageous female officer prevents still more deaths. Wilder's characters speak a futuristic slang and tech-talk that's difficult to decipher, and their development is limited, particularly among the Silvos. The oxper, however, are fascinating creations. Intelligent, physically strong but emotionally fragile, they are both more and less than the humans they guard. This novel, though not without interest, isn't up to the superior work of which Wilder appears capable. (May)