Soldier of Steel

A Lords of the Stars Short Story

Mattias von Schantz

A slight difference in chemical composition was the only distinction between a biot and a biological organism. The biot, like the biological organism, was made up of billions upon billions of tiny cells. However, the biotic cell was not based on carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen. Instead, it was based on the elements that constituted the framework of technological civilization: silicon, copper, iron, and titanium. The biotic cell was artificial, produced in the laboratories on Mars, but it did not differ significantly from its biological counterpart—except in two important ways: the biotic cell was more resilient and easier to program.

October 8, 2718, Lowell City, Mars

He felt the light hitting his eyelids. Warm, inviting rays of different wavelengths struck the photoreceptive cells of his retina. With a slight effort, he managed to open his eyes.

The room he was in was almost empty, apart from the hard bunk he was lying on and the ceiling lamps he was now—against his will—staring straight into. With even more effort, he managed to sit up.

A middle-aged man wearing a white coat pulled out a chair and sat down in front of him.

"How do you feel?" asked the man. "Tell me your name."

He had to think first.

"Myan Lami," he answered after some hesitation.

"I don't know; I feel so empty, as if I’ve been asleep all my life." He was genuinely disoriented.

"In a sense, you have. You have no memory of what happened before because you have not existed before."

Memories were surfacing now, Lami felt. Not memories of experiences, but implanted knowledge. Somewhere in the back of his mind, a bell rang.

"Biot?"

"Good. You will soon feel completely at ease with yourself. You are Myan Lami, serial number NL-27, assigned as a Special Agent for the Sunguard."

The Sunguard—the military and police organization on which the ultimate responsibility for maintaining peace and security within the Terran Federation rested. And it had succeeded in this endeavor—more than just well. Since the Kelar War in the late 21st century, there had been almost 700 years of uninterrupted peace. Even though humanity had encountered several civilizations around alien stars, peace had been maintained—and all because of the Sunguard.

Unfortunately, that security was now cracking at the seams. The rights of the Terrans were still upheld—but at the cost of the freedom of other races. To secure the future of the Terran Federation, these artificial humans were now being taken into service. Almost identical to the original, but with strength, speed, and abilities that far surpassed them.

That was who he was: Myan Lami. Human—but also superhuman—Special Agent with unlimited authority. He was ready for his first mission.

"Well," said the older man, "you have a few different missions to choose from." He adjusted his archaic glasses. From his collar, the emblem of the Sunguard shone down at him. It testified to wildness, but also to safety.

"Which ones are there, and what do they involve, sir?"

"Two weeks ago, an observation squad of regular Sunguard soldiers disappeared on the first planet of Epsilon Indi A. This needs to be investigated." The old officer continued leafing through his papers. "Additionally, there is unrest on Jerr right now. You would be needed there."

When the Sunguard War Cruiser Volgograd landed at Kerrma-non Airport, Myan Lami was on board. With military precision, weapons, supplies, and soldiers were stowed aboard the jeeps that would transport them to the barracks. Kerrma-non, the capital of united Jerr, spanned a vast area. The airport was located on the outskirts, which meant the journey to the city took over an hour. Meanwhile, Lami took the opportunity to get to know the soldiers in the same vehicle as him. It quickly became apparent that he was the only biot on board.

The explosion came as a shock. Despite all security measures, the Jerrassian Liberation Front had managed to strike the convoy.

Now the vehicle and all his newfound acquaintances were scattered across the street. Well, he was biotic, and as such, could withstand quite a beating. In less than a second, he had seized a gaser-type pulse rifle, which he now aimed at the crowd. The gaser beam, invisible itself, excited the atoms in its path and caused the air it passed through to glow. Humans—black, hairy Jerrassians—screamed. Chaos erupted. Lami continued to fire volley after volley into the panicked crowd.

The nightmares came unexpectedly. These weren’t ordinary nightmares—biots didn’t need to sleep—but there was no better word for them. In fact, Myan thought it might have been easier if they had occurred while he was asleep; then he could have dismissed them as mental aberrations created by the brain after an exhausting day. Instead, they came during his waking state, forcing him to accept them as part of his personality.

Was he faulty? Had a bug crept into the production process, rendering him unfit to be a Special Agent? He had shot at people—shot and killed them. Of course, his actions had been praised by his superiors. After all, the dead had been human, but not Terran, and thus it was entirely justified to limit their rights—all according to Terran philosophy.

No biot would ever imagine harming a Terran. But the question lingered: what was the real difference between Terrans on the one hand, and Jerrassians, Kelar, and Etarians on the other? They were all human, just originating from different planets.

The certainty grew stronger and stronger within him—he had acted wrongly. Although he was artificial, seen by many—though not by himself—as a machine, he couldn’t escape his conscience. He had to do something drastic. He requested a transfer to join the expedition to Epsilon Indi A 1.

It was dangerous, of course. The previous expedition had fallen silent within 17 hours. But even if he was now choosing his own death, he had to do this—for himself, for the dead, and, above all, for the principle of the equal value of all people.

Whether they were born in the solar system or around Tau Ceti.

Author's Note

Thank you for reading Soldier of Steel! What you've experienced is just one of many stories set in the expansive Lords of the Stars universe I've created over the past 30 years. If you enjoyed it, there are many more tales to explore, where familiar characters and locations might reappear, or you could discover new favorites. Exploring the wider Lords of the Stars universe also gives you the joy of connecting the dots and uncover connections between the stories.

If Soldier of Steel is the first story from this universe you've read, I think you'll particularly enjoy Conscience of Steel and From My Point of View, both of which explore similar themes.

Visit the official Lords of the Stars blog for more information about this hard sci-fi universe: https://lordsofthestars.wordpress.com