In the near future, two men—a quiet, rule-following biologist and a swashbuckling engineer—are tasked with a decades-long mission to colonize a planet outside the Solar System. But in the spaceship’s close quarters, tensions bubble up until one man decides he is going to kill the other.

In a dystopic future on Earth, as a woman comes home from vacation, she hears about a continent emerging from the sea as old ones sink, and returns to find her husband released from Rehabilitation Camp. He and his fellow researchers discover how to make a “sun tap” to channel the sun’s energy into power, but then he is again forced away by the government, into a hospital.

On an intergalactic spaceship, two runaway servants turned mercenaries agree to a dangerous mission that will take them back to the planet from which they escaped—in return for a shot at a clean record and a peaceful life.

A brief but ill-fated spark flares between an earth-roaming Spacer and a local frelk.

In the far future, a zealous scientist wanders the highlands of Venus alone, risking death at the hands of Cytherean tigers in order to discover the lost settlement that would vindicate her research and satisfy her jealousy for her "perfect" partner. What she discovers, however, fails to satisfy her. Tired of living in her famous partner's shadow, a zealous scientist in the far future embarks on a dangerous solo expedition through the highlands of Venus in order to discover the lost city of Ishtar. What she discovers, however, fails to satisfy her.

In the near future, a young mother leaves behind a book for her daughter before she embarks on her space journey to the outer solar system in an attempt to communicate with extraterrestrial creatures. Sections from her book are interspersed with her husband's verbal recollections of their love story, which he addresses to their young daughter.

When a rebel space pilot discovers a potential cure to the plague that has enslaved most of the known galaxy under an iron-fisted corporation, she must risk life, limb, and soul to return the specimen to her fellow revolutionaries.

A woman feels a strange wash of power over her as she accidentally stumbles into the world of a science fiction convention.

A young woman struggles to balance work, her demanding partner, and the numerous alien-like creatures who keep moving into her small apartment in space with her.

In a faraway future, humans have sunk to the bottom of the food chain, with animals leading society and taking charge of the world. Despite animals' hatred for humans, a smart, observant horse becomes interested in a strange human girl, one who doesn't seem to fit in with her group.