Prometheus

"Prometheus breaks free from Valdec's control and plans to dominate the PSI-aura himself."
-- Summary of Booklet 063, War of Minds

Prometheus is a designation for a line of genetically engineered Super-Drivers -- artificially bred human clones possessing immense psionic powers -- produced by the Kaiser Corporation's secret Alpha-Order program on Sarym. The Prometheus series represents one of three principal genetic lines in the program, alongside the Isis and Phoenix series. Of all the Prometheus clones, Prometheus 107 is the most prominent, serving as Max von Valdec's most powerful psionic weapon during the warlord era before ultimately breaking free of his master's control and meeting destruction within the PSI-aura of the Maritime Coral City.

The Prometheus clones embody the central paradox of Valdec's regime: having developed Kaiser Force to eliminate humanity's dependence on Drivers, the Kaiser Corporation then bred its own Drivers -- more powerful and more dangerous than any natural-born psionic -- to project the very force it sought to make obsolete.

The Alpha-Order Program

The Prometheus, Isis, and Phoenix Series (German: Prometheus-, Isis- und Phonix-Reihe) are genetic lines developed at the Kaiser secret station on Sarym under the supervision of station commander Hermano Lotz. The program, known as the Alpha-Order, uses genetic engineering and forced breeding to create multi-psionic beings of extraordinary power -- living weapons designed to serve the Kaiser Corporation and, by extension, Max von Valdec.

The super-Drivers are designated by their series name and a clone number (e.g., Prometheus 93, Prometheus 107), indicating sequential iterations within each genetic line. Higher numbers generally represent later, more refined clones. The Prometheus line appears to produce the most powerful specimens: Prometheus 93 is described as "the strongest of the three" early test subjects, and Prometheus 107 becomes Valdec's single most formidable psionic weapon.

Known Prometheus clones include:

Other super-Driver series that operate alongside the Prometheus line include:

Prometheus 93

Prometheus 93 is the earliest known Prometheus clone to appear in the saga. He is introduced in Booklet 043 as one of three genetically engineered super-Driver test subjects held at the Kaiser secret station on Sarym, alongside Isis 24 and Phonix 17.

Sabotage at the Kaiser Secret Station (Booklet 043)

When Hermano Lotz, the station commander, captures the Terranauts Lyda Mar, Ennerk Prime, Damon Credock, and Onnegart Vangralen and subjects them to psycho-interrogation to learn the location of the Terranaut base Rorqual, the three super-Driver test subjects intervene covertly. Working together, Prometheus 93, Isis 24, and Phonix 17:

• Monitor Lotz's actions and plot to prevent him from alerting Max von Valdec to their existence
• Sabotage the interrogation by overloading the Psycho-hood, freeing the Terranauts from mental blocks
• Manipulate Lotz's mind: Prometheus 93 -- described as the strongest of the three -- takes the lead, telepathically planting a plan in Lotz's brain to use a virus against the Terranauts rather than continue direct interrogation

This manipulation has far-reaching consequences. Lotz's virus scheme leads directly to the creation of the Hate Plague -- a bacteriological weapon that ravages the Terranauts across multiple booklets (044-049). Whether Prometheus 93 intended this catastrophic outcome or was merely deflecting Lotz's attention from the super-Drivers' existence remains ambiguous.

Aftermath (Booklet 044)

In Booklet 044, Prometheus 93 continues to monitor events as Lotz executes the staged prison break that allows the infected Terranauts to escape. He is described as "aware of Lotz's plan and manipulates events to his advantage." His fate after the events on Sarym is not recorded in the saga -- he may have been superseded by later Prometheus clones or may have perished during the destruction of the research station.

Prometheus 107

Prometheus 107 is the most significant Prometheus clone and one of the saga's most formidable super-Drivers. He appears in at least seven booklets (061, 063, 066, 067, 068, 090, and is referenced in others) and undergoes a dramatic arc: from obedient weapon of Max von Valdec, to rogue power seeking to dominate the PSI-aura of the Maritime Coral City, to annihilated psionic consciousness within the aura's heart.

Under Valdec's Control on Sarym (Booklet 061)

Following Valdec's exile from Earth (Booklet 054), the former Lord Colonel establishes himself on Lancia and Sarym, drawing on the super-Driver clones produced by the Alpha-Order program. Prometheus 107 is described as an "artificially bred super-Driver in Valdec's power, initially planning a revolt but ultimately controlled by Valdec."

In Booklet 061 (Death Awaits on Sarym), Valdec attempts to breach the Maritime Coral City -- an ancient coral structure with immense psionic power -- by deploying Prometheus 107 alongside Phoenix 34 and Isis 31, using the captured David terGorden as a psionic key. The operation partially succeeds: they force an entrance into the coral city. But the PSI-aura fights back, neutralizing the super-Drivers and forcing Valdec to flee as his underwater base self-destructs.

Breaking Free: The War of Minds (Booklet 063)

Booklet 063 (War of Minds) represents the climax of Prometheus 107's arc. During Valdec's second attempt to control the PSI-aura, the following sequence of events unfolds:

1. Valdec forces David terGorden's mind to open a connection to the PSI-aura, but the aura fights back, killing Expert Mira and -- critically -- empowering Prometheus 107 with psionic energy beyond anything the Alpha-Order program intended.

1. Prometheus 107 breaks free from Valdec's control. Empowered by the PSI-aura, he ceases to be a weapon and becomes an independent actor with his own ambition: to dominate the PSI-aura himself.

1. Prometheus captures Llewellyn 709 and Lyda Mar, intending to use them as "keys" to access the PSI-aura. He recognizes that their unique psionic connections -- Lyda's Mediator abilities and Llewellyn's identity as the Riemenmann -- make them essential conduits to the aura's power.

1. Within a symbolic reality inside the PSI-aura, Prometheus and his fellow super-Drivers find the Terranauts, who have been enslaved by the Silver Ones. Prometheus seeks to exploit their connection to the aura.

1. Lyda Mar, aided by her unborn daughter Aura Damona Mar, uses her Mediator powers to transport the Terranauts and the super-Drivers to the heart of the PSI-aura. There, the super-Drivers -- including Prometheus 107 -- are destroyed, their psionic forms annihilated by the overwhelming power of the ancient bio-psionic intelligence.

This is one of the saga's most dramatic reversals: the weapon bred to serve Valdec first rebels against his control, then is destroyed by the very power it sought to seize. Prometheus 107's ambition -- to dominate the PSI-aura -- mirrors Valdec's own, and both are repelled by forces beyond their comprehension.

The Warlord of Lancia (Booklets 066-068)

Chronologically, the events on Lancia in Booklets 066-068 take place before the War of Minds, during Valdec's exile period (c. 2502-2503). Prometheus 107 serves as Valdec's primary enforcement tool during this era:

Booklet 066 -- In the Light of the Murder Sun:

• Prometheus 107 accompanies Valdec and Isis 31 aboard the funnel ship REGENT as Valdec seeks to regain power after his ouster.
• After their fighter crashes on Lancia due to a transparency effect caused by energies from Space II, Valdec, Prometheus, and Isis eject and make their way to Kaisergrad on foot.
• They are attacked by machines controlled by Banshees within the transparent city.
• Prometheus 107 kills Maxwell Sholar -- Valdec's own cousin and security manager of the Kaiser-Lancia Complex -- when Sholar threatens to use a nuclear grenade.
• Prometheus 107 also kills Tosten Phibas, the Manag of the Kaiser-Lancia Complex.
• These killings demonstrate both Prometheus's lethal power and his willingness to eliminate anyone who threatens his master's objectives -- or his own survival.

Booklet 067 -- The Planet Plunderers:

• Prometheus 107 participates in Valdec's campaign of plundering colonial worlds such as Krisan, stripping them of industrial equipment, food, and people to build up Valdec's power base on Lancia.
• He interrogates Morgenstern, a captured Terranaut, using his powerful telepathic abilities. However, Morgenstern's PSI protection prevents the super-Driver from extracting information -- a notable failure that demonstrates the limits of even a Prometheus clone's power against a properly defended mind.

Booklet 068 -- The Programmed Assassin:

• Prometheus 107 continues to serve as a super-Driver clone in Valdec's retinue during the ongoing conflict with the Electronic Assassin -- a killer computer programmed to eliminate Valdec.
• He is present during the Kaiser Force flash in the Aron System that transforms the region and kills Glaucen, Valdec's security manager.

Bodyguard on Earth (Booklet 090)

In Booklet 090 (The Ship of Serenity), set during Valdec's Second Reich, a Prometheus clone (referred to simply as "Prometheus" without a number) serves as Valdec's bodyguard on Earth. When former managers of ASK attempt to assassinate Valdec at the Ziolkowski Shipyards using recessive psionics and an electronic assassin, Prometheus thwarts the attack, saving Valdec's life.

This may be Prometheus 107 (if his destruction in Booklet 063's timeline occurs later than the Lancia events, which is plausible given the saga's non-linear chronology), or it may be a later Prometheus clone bred after the loss of Prometheus 107. The text does not specify.

Key Events (Chronological by Saga Timeline)

Prometheus 93

• Sabotages the psycho-interrogation of the Terranauts at the Kaiser secret station by overloading the psycho-hood, alongside Isis 24 and Phonix 17 (043)
• Manipulates Hermano Lotz's mind, planting the virus plan that leads to the Hate Plague (043)
• Monitors the staged prison break and manipulates events to his advantage (044)

Prometheus 107

• Accompanies Valdec and Isis 31 aboard the REGENT during the exile period (066)
• Crashes on Lancia with Valdec and Isis 31 (066)
• Kills Maxwell Sholar and Tosten Phibas at Kaisergrad (066)
• Interrogates Morgenstern on Krisan -- fails to break his PSI protection (067)
• Present during the Kaiser Force flash in the Aron System (068)
• Deployed alongside Phoenix 34 and Isis 31 to breach the Maritime Coral City on Sarym (061)
• The PSI-aura initially neutralizes the super-Drivers (061)
• Breaks free from Valdec's control after being empowered by the PSI-aura (063)
• Captures Llewellyn 709 and Lyda Mar, intending to use them as keys to dominate the PSI-aura (063)
• Finds the Terranauts enslaved by Silver Ones within a symbolic reality inside the PSI-aura (063)
• Destroyed within the heart of the PSI-aura by Lyda Mar and Aura Damona Mar's combined power (063)

Prometheus (unspecified clone)

• Thwarts an assassination attempt against Valdec at the Ziolkowski Shipyards on Earth (090)

Relationships

Master

Fellow Super-Drivers

Enemies

Handlers

Victims

Abilities and Traits

• Telepathy and Mind Manipulation: The defining ability of the Prometheus line. Prometheus 93 can manipulate the mind of his own handler, Hermano Lotz, planting complex plans without detection. Prometheus 107 can interrogate prisoners, though he is thwarted by sufficiently strong PSI protection.
• Psionic Combat: Prometheus 107 is described as Valdec's "most powerful psionic weapon," capable of killing opponents and subduing resistance fighters through raw PSI force.
• Independent Volition: Despite being bred for obedience, the Prometheus clones consistently demonstrate independent thinking. Prometheus 93 manipulates his handlers from the very beginning; Prometheus 107 plans a revolt even before the PSI-aura empowers him. The Alpha-Order program's fundamental flaw is that extreme psionic power correlates with extreme willfulness.
• PSI-Aura Susceptibility: When exposed to the PSI-aura of the Maritime Coral City, Prometheus 107 is simultaneously empowered and destabilized. The aura amplifies his abilities but also severs Valdec's control, leading to a brief period of autonomous ambition followed by destruction.
• Lethal Force: Prometheus 107 demonstrates a capacity for casual violence -- killing Maxwell Sholar and Tosten Phibas without hesitation -- suggesting that the Alpha-Order program either did not instill or actively suppressed moral inhibitions.

Thematic Significance

The Prometheus Myth Inverted

The name "Prometheus" -- the Greek titan who stole fire from the gods to give to humanity -- resonates throughout the saga in multiple ways:

1. Valdec as Prometheus: As noted in the Valdec biography, Valdec himself embodies the Prometheus myth: he steals the "fire" of Kaiser Force from Space II to free humanity from dependence on psionic elites. That he names his most powerful weapons "Prometheus" suggests an awareness of this parallel -- or perhaps an unconscious identification with the titan's defiance.

1. The Clone as False Prometheus: Unlike the mythical Prometheus, who gave fire to humanity, the Prometheus clones serve only one man. They are instruments of tyranny, not liberation. The name becomes ironic: these beings of enormous power exist solely to extend one mortal's dominion.

1. Destruction by Higher Power: Just as Zeus punished the original Prometheus, the PSI-aura -- an intelligence far older and vaster than anything Valdec can control -- destroys the Prometheus clones when they reach too far. The ancient bio-psionic system of the Buds of the Tree will not be seized by force, whether by Valdec or by his rebellious creations.

The Uncontrollable Weapon

The Prometheus clones are the saga's most vivid illustration of a recurring theme: the weapons Valdec creates invariably turn against him. Kaiser Force destroys Zoe when it runs wild. The Ebberdyk computers mutate and rebel. The super-Drivers -- bred to be perfectly obedient psionic soldiers -- prove to be the most dangerously independent beings in the saga. Prometheus 93 manipulates his own handler before Valdec even knows he exists. Prometheus 107 breaks free the moment a power greater than Valdec's touches him.

This pattern reflects the saga's fundamental argument: control is an illusion, and the attempt to engineer absolute obedience -- whether in machines, clones, or political subjects -- produces only more sophisticated forms of rebellion.

Appearances (8 booklets)

See Also

• Alpha-Order -- The Kaiser Corporation's super-Driver breeding program
• Prometheus, Isis, and Phoenix Series -- The three principal genetic lines
• Super-Drivers -- Genetically engineered psionic weapons
• Max von Valdec -- Creator and master of the Prometheus clones
• Kaiser secret station -- Breeding facility on Sarym
• Hermano Lotz -- Station commander, manipulated by Prometheus 93
• Maritime Coral City -- Site of Prometheus 107's destruction
• PSI-aura -- The bio-psionic field that both empowered and destroyed Prometheus 107
• Lyda Mar -- Nemesis; destroyed Prometheus 107 with Aura Damona Mar
• Llewellyn 709 -- Captured by Prometheus 107 on Sarym
• Aura Damona Mar -- Unborn Oracle who helped destroy the super-Drivers
• Isis 31 -- Fellow super-Driver, Prometheus 107's most frequent companion
• Osiris 84 -- Fellow super-Driver in Valdec's service
• Hate Plague -- Consequence of Prometheus 93's manipulation of Hermano Lotz
• Sarym -- Planet where the Prometheus clones were bred and Prometheus 107 was destroyed

The Prometheus series appears in 8 of 99 booklets of Die Terranauten. They are the most powerful -- and most rebellious -- products of Max von Valdec's Alpha-Order super-Driver program.