In the last hour he s lost his house to a local bypass and his planet to an interstellar one. Now he discovers that his friend Ford Prefect is actually from Betegeuse and not from Islingdon, as he thought. She still remembers her daughter, her husband and the freedom of her life before the USA became the State of Gilead. Now all that is gone. She is a Handmaid, a legal concubine conscripted by the State, placed in the home of a childless Commander and his Wife.
All women wear the designated clothing for their position and are strictly regulated.
The Demolished Man by Alfred Bester Ben Reich committed a murder during a huge society party no easy task when a quarter of the population is telepathic. Lincoln Powell knows Reich is guilty, but still has to prove it. Somewhere out there is a frightened witness and the race is on to find her. When the professor and his companions bend time and space to reach the planet they are shocked to find a ruling class of apes hunting and enslaving humans. The ape elite is no happier at being forced to accept the existence of a rational man.