In "The Cruel Equations," a planetary explorer finds out how lethal it can be when a robot guard has been designed to do too perfect a job.

The fifteen other stories in this collection are "Can You Feel Anything When I Do This?", "Cordle to Onion to Carrot," "The Petrified World," "Game: First Schematic," "Doctor Zombie and His Little Furry Friends," "The Same to You Doubled," "Starting From Scratch," "The Mnemone," "Tripout," "Notes on the Perception of Imaginary Differences," "Down the Digestive Tract and Into the Cosmos With Mantra, Tantra, and Specklebang," "Pas de Trois of the Chef and the Waiter," "Aspects of Langranak," "Plague Circuit," and "Tailpipe to Disaster."