Larry Dever suffers an unfortunate accident that removes him from his lower extremities. He is put into suspension until a suitable solution can be found for his predicament. He is later revived to preserve his archaically pure genes for the purposes of man's colonization of space and is fitted with a sentient mannequin lower half. This is not and acceptable fate for Larry who longs for some real (and interactive) companionship, so he re-enters suspension only to emerge in the Hive society, a mannequin-less "hemihuman".

Larry meets up with Big Har, a biological reject accidentally spared from death. Harlan escapes a repeat fate by becoming a Tweenwaller, living between the walls that form of the complacent underground Hive society. Together they long to escape the society that has rejected them and aim to emerge on the harsh surface of Earth. (As does the separate storyline of Drum, a Hive citizen facing a retirement in suspension or working in the sewers).

Meanwhile the cyborg harvester whale known as Rorqual Maru, whose purpose is to serve mankind, becomes washed ashore while mankind has evolved into the Hive society and moved underground. She (at least, I think it's a she) finally sends her remote meck Trilobite to search for signs of life. Trilobite meets up with outside (and underwater) dwellers and, since it refers to the whale as deity, Rorqual Maru is offered to them as a God. Eventually, Rorqual Maru becomes controlled by the members of the Hive and must be reclaimed by the renegade band of Outsiders consisting of Trilobite, Larry, Big Har, Drum, and a renegade sex-machine clone of Larry Deever named ARNOLD.
http://www.sfsignal.com/archives/002533.html

The Godwhale focuses, like Bass' preceding book, on the messy conflict with the four- and five-toed over resources and the very right to exist. Bass' Primitives in The Godwhale are the five-toed who have hidden in the Sea, a vast and lifeless place that no longer can supply carbs to the Hives, and is thus ignored. Because the chain of life in the oceans has been destroyed, these savage genetic Originals must poach Hive agri-culturted food, much like theie land living brothers in the first book, with the added advantage of a better place to hide when the Hive Security boys come a-huntin'. Bass falls into a fair bit of Noble Savage cliché, with a Polynesian inspired human population and the old, wise Original Ecologist Godwhale righting wrongs and saving the Moderns from themselves. But this is a quibble, for the narrative is a rousing techno-adventure story that succeeds brilliantly. It is perhaps not as Message carrying as its preceding volume, but this is a so-what. Bass explores the mysterious space Culture that is again stirring the pot in a world Gone Wrong, the counter-Minds to the omnipotent computer intelligences that rule the Hives.
http://www.strangewords.com/archive/whale.html