In a future in which individuals have no name, no independence, and no values. Equality 7-2521 lives in the dark ages of the future where all decisions are made by committee, all people live in collectives, and all traces of individualism have been wiped out. Despite such a restrictive environment, Equality 7-2521 dares to stand apart from the herd--to think and choose for himself, to discover electricity, and to love the woman of his choice.
An old woman comes to Mars because a fraudulent travel agent offers a "trip to heaven". She and other members of her traveling group find an extremely battered and derelict rocket which was supposed to be used for the last part of the trip. And it is used for that trip, in a pretty literal sense.
Well, it seems that Ivar Jorgensen has hit on the ultimate engine of destruction: a weapon designed to exploit man's greatest weakness. The blueprint can be found in the next few pages; and as the soldier in the story says, our only hope is to keep a sense of humor!
Before reading this story, prepare yourself for a jolt and a chill in capsule form. O. Henry could have been proud of it. It could well become a minor classic.
In a future devastated by the reversal of the Earth's magnetic field, Mongolia becomes the last refuge of civilization, protected by a natural anomaly. Astrophysicist Altaa and her team discover that to avoid disaster they must restore an ancient reactor capable of stabilizing the Earth's magnetic field.
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.
It's undoubtedly difficult to live with someone who is Different. He must, because he is Different, live by other ways. But what makes it so difficult is that, for some reason he thinks you are Different!