All Earth needed was a good stiff dose of common sense, but its rulers preferred to depend on the highly fallible computers instead. As a consequence, interplanetary diplomatic relations were somewhat strained--until a nimble-witted young man from Mars came up with the answer to the "sixty-four dollar" question.
Allan Stern and his secretary Beatrice Kendricks after they awake in New York City, one thousand years after an asteroid destroys most life on earth. In the third book, Allan marries Beatrice (they finally have sex after two years) and with the people of the Abyss set off to build a new civilization on the surface. Yes they run into a few problems along the way (mostly a tribe of semi-human flesh eaters), but Allan is always able to work things out, with Beatrice by his side.
The trials of a patent lawyer are usually highly technical tribulations--and among the greatest is the fact that Inventors are only slightly less predictable than their Inventions!
The captain had learned to hate. It was his profession--and his personal reason for going on. But even hatred has to be channeled for its maximum use, and no truths exist forever.
Despite a warning received in the Suq by a nomad, Conan stays the night in a cheap tavern in Zamboula, run by Aram Baksh. As night falls, a black Darfarian cannibal enters Conan's small chamber by means of a trick lock to drag him away to be eaten. The Darfarian slaves in the city are cannibals who prey on travelers, the people of the city tolerate this and stay locked securely in their homes, while nomads and beggars make sure to sure to spend the night at a comfortable distance from its walls.