Riding The Torch:
Jofe D'mahl, a senso producer, is one of the chief entertainers aboard the generation torchship Brigadoon. Ego to the brim and the ship's main socialite, he has no time for the voidsuckers--the sullen men and women who go beyond the massive ship's hydrogen umbra to seek out new planets for its passengers to settle. Goaded into taking one such trip after a voidsucker news bulletin upstages his latest senso, however, D'mahl has the experience of his life. Cut off from all technology and social affairs of the Brigadoon, he is offered a new perspective on existence. Problem is, he also comes upon knowledge that unhinges his mindset regarding the Brigadoon's mission.
The Tin Soldier:
Can human love survive the distance between the Stars?
"Tin Soldier" tells the story of Maris, an ex-soldier who, following wounds sustained in battle, has received cybernetic implants that, as a side effect, slow his aging to "about five years for every hundred" (he is 115 years old as the story begins, though physically he looks "about twenty-five"), and Brandy (short for Branduin), a female starship crew member.
The novella follows the relationship that develops between these two people who fall in love, but through circumstances can only see each other for a few days every 25 years.