“If I Forget Thee, Oh Earth”
This story is about a child named Marvin and his father who live on moon. His father showed him the earth from moon’s surface and told him that earth was destroyed in a nuclear war. The people living on moon have the goal to restore earth now as they are the last of human race.
The Master is given less than a year to live after he suffers from heart failure. He is frozen and kept at a secret place for a hundred years. Over this time, people forget the secret location and Master revives millions of years later, only to find himself surrounded by insects. He understands that insects won the war over man and are now ruling the world. He dies upon seeing this sight.
"The Nine Billion Names of God"
This is a story about a group of Tibetan Monks compiling a list of every possible name of God, in hopes of fulfilling God's purpose. They buy a computer that will reduce this process from 1500 years to 1000 days, as well as two engineers to make sure the computer runs smoothly. The engineers discover that once the list is complete the world will end. This makes them nervous. Not because the world will end, but because they’re afraid how the monks will react when they discover they were wrong. The engineers plan is the flee Tibet right before the lists completion so they're not around when the world doesn't end. Right before they get on the plan to leave, at the time of the lists completion, they look up, and notice the stars beginning to disappear.
