If easy payment plans were to be really efficient, patrons' lifetimes had to be extended!

Only a race as incredibly elastic as the Grom could have a single rule of war:

It was a joyous journey Anders set out on ... to reach his goal ... but look where he wound up!

When people talk about getting away from it all, they are usually thinking about our great open spaces out west. But to science fiction writers, that would be practically in the heart of Times Square. When a man of the future wants solitude he picks a slab of rock floating in space four light years east of Andromeda. Here is a gentle little story about a man who sought the solitude of such a location. And who did he take along for company? None other than Charles the Robot