From the time the first Homo sapiens looked up at the night sky the stars were there, sparkling, tempting us to reach out and seize them. With the passing millennia and the development of technology, they evolved from brilliant points of light to suns, planets, moons, solar systems, and galaxies -- a vast universe waiting to be explored, if only we could find the means to get there.

Though humankind's push for the stars has at times slowed and stalled, there are still those who dare to dream, who work to build the bridge between the Earth and the universe. But while the scientists are still struggling to achieve this goal, science fiction writers have found many ways to master space and time, offering us such original and imaginative voyages of exploration as:

-- They'd traveled for over a millennium to claim an untouched paradise only to learn that the lights on the ground came from cities!

-- It was an isolated world with only its own sun for company, located far past the point any other star's light could reach, yet they had braved the vast emptiness to make it their home. And when they discovered they were not home alone, there was no going back!

-- As the initial contact and survey team, they'd never had an easier assignment. The natives were friendly, the herd creatures tame and tasty, the climate comfortable -- and then, just to make life interesting, the migration began....