On vacation in Polynesia, Alex Hergensheimer experiences a series of world-changes, all of which point to Armageddon and reveal him to be a pawn in the ancient feud between God and Lucifer.

An epic adventure set in the year 3000 when the future of the human race is at stake.

High above the planet Harmony, the Oversoul watches. Its task, programmed so many millennia ago, is to guard the human settlement on this planet, to protect this fragile remnant of Earth from all threats. By control of the data banks, and subtle interference in the very thoughts of the people, the artificial intelligence has fulfilled its mission. Having lost access to some of its memory banks, and some of its power systems are failing. And on the...

A youth who has known only the primitive life of a galaxy slave is purchased by a beggar who turns out to be a man with many extracurricular activities.

These stories trace trivial human lives and mundane desires, which is precisely where Vonnegut₂s inimitable perspective as a humanist shines, illuminating his alternating hopeful and dismal outlook, although undoubtedly focusing on the latter.

When the alien ship screamed through the solar system, it disrupted communications between the far-flung human mining ships and supply stations and between them and Earth. So Earth and Luna were unaware that they had been invaded until the ship pulled into Earth orbit, and began landing terra-forming crews in China. Politics and pride slowed the response on Earth, and on Luna, corporate power struggles seemed more urgent than distant deaths. In this...

After being discharged from the war, E.C. Gordon responds to a newspaper ad which asks "Are you a coward?". He discovers the ad has been placed by a beautiful woman named Star. Star informs him that he is the one to embark on a perilous quest to retrieve the Egg of the Phoenix.