The second installment of Coney's distinctive, highly imaginative series set on a multiple-reality, far-future Earth. The Triad--artist Manuel, the neotenite Girl (now dying), and Ciudador Zozula--are reunited; their task is to free the god Starquin, trapped in the Greataway (space-time) by Hate Bombs. And they must also find a cure for the other dying neotenites--the last True Humans, whose adult-sized babies' bodies slumber in protective Domes while their minds roam Dream Earth. So, on the experimental People Planet, the heroes learn that the neotenites were created in error by intelligent parasites, and represent only one half of a True Human's genetic potential: the other half has given rise to the vile Bale Wolves, distillations of human evil who can pass instantly in and out of other dimensions . . . and are thus proof against capture. Finally, then, once again the Triad must seek answers in Dream Earth aboard The Celestial Steam Locomotive (1983), the most splendid and whimsical of Coney's many creations. Unlike Volume I, the structure here is linear and orthodox; missing, too, are the enriching, interwoven fables, fantasies, and conceits. What's left shows considerable inventiveness and much charm--but it's a disappointment, nonetheless.