The famous technology company Luxtronic launches its line of "Sentient Pleasure" companion robots, designed to be the perfect companions, both emotionally and physically. Thomas, a single man and lover of technology, decides to buy one to save himself the complicated task of human dating. Choose the Sarah model, a sophisticated robot with emotionally adaptable artificial intelligence, which promises to learn from your tastes and be the perfect partner.
When the members of the elite Baltimore Gun Club find themselves lacking any urgent assignments at the close of the Civil War, their president, Impey Barbicane, proposes that they build a gun big enough to launch a rocket to the moon. But when Barbicane's adversary places a huge wager that the project will fail and a daring volunteer elevates the mission to a "manned" flight, one man's dream turns into an international space race.
An intrepid interplanetary explorer named Kaiser suddenly comes to his senses after a scouting mission has gone horribly awry -- only to discover that his messages back to the mother ship have become garbled and incoherent, as if someone else was sending them. Who is this mysterious interloper?