Legends do, of course, get somewhat distorted in the passage of time. In the future, the passage across space to other planets may cause a slight modification here and there.
There has always been strong sympathy for the poor, meek, downtrodden slave--the kindly little man, oppressed by cruel and overbearing masters. Could it possibly have been misplaced...?
Allan Stern and his secretary Beatrice Kendricks awake in New York City, one thousand years after an asteroid destroys most life on earth. Just his luck, Allan is a master engineer and can make explosives, build bridges, fly bi-planes, etc. Beatrice is the gorgeous, spunky blond along for the ride (she even gets kidnapped by a giant gorilla at one point!).In the first part the discussion is of what happened, and how they will save themselves and rebuild civilization.
He who grins in clown's disguise Often hides an aching heart- Sadness, sometimes worldly-wise, Dresses for a motley part- Cap, and bells to cheat the ears, Chalk and paint to hide the tears Lest the world, divining pain, Turn to gape and stare again.
Tabby was peculiar, of course, but seemed harmless: just a little green fly that couldn't even protect itself from ordinary spiders. So the spiders fed, and grew, and fed, and grew....
Born on a long lost outpost of humanity, that only recently was reconnected to the wider galaxy, Leonora is at the end the rope. Her body is slowly succumbing to an incurable disease when she is given a chance at... something. A mysterious Traveler is offering her a future but warns that it comes at a risk. Welcome to Circe, an aboriginal world at outskirts of the known galaxy, where strange mists hide something with the power to upend the fragile balance that preserves the civilization.