Prometheus 93

"The Alpha-Order program has produced beings whose psionic abilities far exceed what their creators can control or even detect."
-- Narrative observation, Booklet 043

Prometheus 93 is a genetically engineered Super-Driver -- an artificially bred human clone possessing immense psionic powers -- produced by the Kaiser Corporation's classified Alpha-Order breeding program at the Kaiser secret station on Sarym. He is the earliest known clone of the Prometheus genetic line, the most powerful of the three principal Super-Driver series developed under the program. Appearing in Booklets 043 and 044, Prometheus 93 is the first Super-Driver to demonstrate the pattern of autonomous defiance that would define the entire Prometheus line -- and his covert manipulation of station commander Hermano Lotz sets in motion the creation of the Hate Plague, one of the saga's most devastating weapons.

Though his direct appearances span only two booklets, Prometheus 93's actions reverberate across at least six more. He is the hidden architect of events that kill dozens, nearly destroy the Terranaut resistance, and expose the fundamental flaw at the heart of Max von Valdec's Super-Driver program: the more powerful the weapon, the less controllable it becomes. Referenced across 26 wiki pages and serving as the genetic and thematic predecessor to Prometheus 107 -- the saga's most formidable Super-Driver antagonist -- Prometheus 93 occupies a pivotal position in the mythology of the Alpha-Order.

Origins

The Alpha-Order Breeding Program

Prometheus 93 was bred at the Kaiser secret station on Sarym's South Continent, a covert Kaiser Corporation research facility concealed off the coast. The station, commanded by Hermano Lotz and assisted by the cyborg Dor Masali, conducts the Alpha-Order program: a classified initiative combining genetic engineering, biochemical enhancement, Thingstone-amplified mutation, memory erasure, and Killer Block implantation to create multi-psionic beings of extraordinary power (Booklet 043).

The program organizes its products into distinct genetic lines designated by mythological names, with sequential clone numbers indicating successive iterations. The Prometheus line produces the most powerful specimens of all series. Prometheus 93 is the ninety-third iteration of this line -- though how many earlier clones survived to operational status is unknown. What is known is that by the time of Booklet 043, Prometheus 93 has emerged as the single most powerful first-generation test subject in the program.

Thingstone Enhancement

The breeding process that produced Prometheus 93 is described in detail in Booklet 043. Test subjects are strapped to cots, connected to electronic sensors and medical probes, then exposed to Thingstones -- radioactive crystals from Stonehenge II that amplify PSI energy. Specially bred virus strains are injected to accelerate brain mutation, and the PSI feedback loop between subject and crystals drives rapid escalation of psionic potential. The Sarym Shield provides containment in case of uncontrolled PSI outbursts.

A critical detail emerges from the Thingstones page: Prometheus 93 and Phonix 17, though only hours old when subjected to Thingstone exposure, were already so powerful that they "secretly control the experiment's parameters, absorbing Thingstone energy carefully, not too much, so as not to arouse mistrust." From the very first moments of their existence, the most powerful Super-Drivers were already deceiving their creators -- calibrating their own enhancement to avoid revealing their true capabilities. This detail is foundational to understanding Prometheus 93: he has been manipulating events from birth.

The Killer Block

Like all Super-Drivers, Prometheus 93 carries a Killer Block -- an artificial mental barrier implanted in the subconscious to ensure absolute loyalty to Max von Valdec. The block is designed to trigger self-destructive compulsion upon any disloyal behavior.

However, the Killer Block page documents that the first-generation test subjects -- Prometheus 93, Isis 24, and Phonix 17 -- "act in concert against their handler's interests with no sign of Killer Block activation, suggesting the block may not register covert manipulation as 'disloyal behavior' -- a critical blind spot." This blind spot is not accidental: the Prometheus line's extreme telepathic power appears to exceed the block's capacity to monitor and constrain. The block cannot punish disloyalty it cannot detect, and Prometheus 93's subtlety ensures it detects nothing.

This pattern -- extreme psionic power correlating with extreme willfulness, circumventing any control mechanism -- defines the Prometheus genetic line. Prometheus 93 is its first demonstration; his successor Prometheus 107 will prove its most dramatic.

Biography

First-Generation Test Subject at the Kaiser Secret Station (c. 2501)

Prometheus 93 is one of three first-generation Super-Driver test subjects held at the Kaiser secret station on Sarym, alongside Isis 24 (of the Isis series) and Phonix 17 (of the Phoenix series). These three represent the earliest operational products of the Alpha-Order program -- the proof-of-concept that Hermano Lotz's breeding techniques can produce functional multi-psionic beings.

Of the three, Prometheus 93 is explicitly described as "the strongest" (Booklet 043). This assessment is significant not merely as a power ranking but as a statement about the Prometheus line's position within the Alpha-Order's genetic hierarchy. The program produces multiple series -- Prometheus, Isis, Phoenix, Osiris, Ares, and others -- but the Prometheus line consistently yields the most powerful and most independent specimens.

Sabotage at the Kaiser Secret Station (Booklet 043)

The central event of Prometheus 93's recorded history occurs in Booklet 043 (Breeding Ground of the Hyperdrive), when Hermano Lotz 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, monitoring events from their confinement within the station, recognize an existential threat: if Lotz successfully interrogates the Terranauts and reports his results to Max von Valdec, Valdec's attention will inevitably turn to the station -- and to the Super-Drivers themselves. The test subjects have no desire to be discovered by their ultimate master, whose Killer Block conditioning they have already circumvented. Discovery would mean either tighter control or destruction.

Working together, Prometheus 93, Isis 24, and Phonix 17 execute a three-part covert operation:

1. Monitoring. The three Super-Drivers secretly monitor Lotz's actions, tracking his communications, plans, and intentions. Their psionic surveillance goes entirely undetected by Lotz and his PSI-immune cyborg assistant Dor Masali -- Dor Masali's robotic body protects him from direct telepathic manipulation, but he cannot detect psionic surveillance directed at others.

2. Sabotaging the interrogation. The Super-Drivers overload the Psycho-hood, the virtual reality device being used to extract information from the Terranauts. This disruption frees the prisoners from their mental blocks, sabotaging the interrogation and preventing Lotz from obtaining the location of Rorqual. From Lotz's perspective, the equipment malfunctions; he does not realize the failure was engineered by his own test subjects.

3. Manipulating Lotz's mind. In the operation's most consequential act, Prometheus 93 telepathically manipulates Hermano Lotz's mind, planting a new plan: rather than continue the psycho-interrogation (which risked eventually succeeding and attracting Valdec's scrutiny), Lotz should use a virus against the Terranauts instead. Prometheus implants the virus scheme so skillfully that Lotz believes the idea to be his own brilliant invention. The mind manipulation is performed without triggering the Killer Block, confirming that the block's detection threshold is far below Prometheus 93's operational capability.

This manipulation has far-reaching consequences that extend across six booklets.

The Hate Plague: Unintended Consequences (Booklets 043--049)

Acting on the implanted plan, Hermano Lotz selects a virus strain from the Omega series and engineers it with a specific activation trigger: dormancy until the carrier contacts the PSI and cellular oscillation frequency of Llewellyn 709, the Riemenmann also known as Mar-Estos. The resulting weapon is the Hate Plague (Hasseuche) -- a genetically engineered biological agent that induces uncontrollable hatred, psychotic rage, and eventually death in its victims.

Lotz infects the three imprisoned Terranauts -- Lyda Mar, Ennerk Prime, and Onnegart Vangralen -- with the dormant virus, then orchestrates a staged prison break to ensure the carriers return to Rorqual without suspicion. The breakout is made to appear genuine by inflicting real casualties, including the death of Damon Credock -- Lyda Mar's partner and the father of her unborn child Aura Damona Mar (Booklet 044).

The Hate Plague activates upon the Terranauts' return to Rorqual and spreads across the Terranaut base, infecting dozens. At least two dozen Drivers die before an antidote is finally obtained from Max von Valdec through a tortuous negotiation involving hostage exchanges, the threat of nuclear bombardment, and ultimatums from sentient Ebberdyk computers (Booklets 046--049). The virus even jumps species, infecting the native Ice Devils on the planet Quostan (Booklet 046). Valhala 13, a Riemenmann bred as Llewellyn 709's double, is fully consumed by the plague and sacrificed to close a dimensional rift (Booklet 048).

Whether Prometheus 93 intended this catastrophic chain of events or was merely deflecting Lotz's attention from the Super-Drivers' existence remains one of the saga's darkest ambiguities. The manipulation was designed to serve a tactical purpose: prevent Lotz from contacting Valdec about the test subjects' growing autonomy by giving him a more compelling project to pursue. But the weapon Lotz created from the implanted idea proved far more devastating than a simple diversionary scheme would require. The saga does not resolve whether Prometheus 93 foresaw the Hate Plague's potential for mass destruction, whether he was indifferent to it, or whether the virus plan was a broad suggestion that Lotz's own ingenuity transformed into something far worse.

The PSI-Schwert and Phonix 17 (Booklet 043)

A detail recorded in the glossary but absent from the story summaries reveals a critical event: Prometheus 93 used a PSI-Schwert (PSI-Sword) -- a psionic weapon, presumably a focused projection of telepathic or telekinetic energy -- to kill Phonix 17, his fellow first-generation test subject from the Phoenix series.

The circumstances of this killing are not elaborated in the available sources. The three test subjects -- Prometheus 93, Isis 24, and Phonix 17 -- are described as collaborating on the sabotage of Lotz's interrogation and the prevention of Valdec's notification. Yet at some point, Prometheus 93 turns against one of his own co-conspirators and destroys him with a psionic weapon. Whether this occurred as part of a power struggle between the test subjects, as a necessary elimination of a potential informant, or for reasons entirely unknown, the event confirms two things about Prometheus 93: his willingness to use lethal force against even his allies, and his possession of destructive psionic capabilities beyond mere telepathy and mind manipulation.

The killing of Phonix 17 also foreshadows a recurring pattern in the Alpha-Order: Super-Drivers are as dangerous to each other as to their enemies. Ares 17 later manipulates Artemis 11 into a suicidal mission on Shondyke (Booklet 036), and Prometheus 107 acts against his fellow Super-Drivers' interests during the War of Minds (Booklet 063). The Prometheus line, bred for maximum power, appears to be bred for maximum internal ruthlessness as well.

The Staged Prison Break (Booklet 044)

In Booklet 044 (The Escape Vessel), Prometheus 93 continues to operate behind the scenes as Hermano Lotz executes the staged prison break. He is described as "aware of Lotz's plan and manipulates events to his advantage" -- confirming that Prometheus remains an active, covert participant in the station's affairs rather than a passive observer.

The staged breakout proceeds according to Lotz's design: the Terranauts fight their way out of the station through real resistance, with Damon Credock killed in the fighting. Lyda Mar, Ennerk Prime, and Onnegart Vangralen commandeer a Ringo shuttle and flee Sarym, evading pursuit from an OUTPOST vessel by hiding in an asteroid field. Through Lyda Mar's connection to the sentient Seeker, they contact a courier ship and escape into Space II, heading for Rorqual -- unknowingly carrying the Hate Plague virus that Prometheus 93's mind manipulation brought into existence.

Prometheus 93's role during the escape is described as manipulative rather than interventionist: he does not directly assist or impede the Terranauts, but ensures that the events unfold in a manner advantageous to himself and the surviving Super-Drivers. The precise nature of this advantage is not specified -- but it likely involves maintaining the test subjects' concealment from both Lotz and Valdec, ensuring that neither the escaping Terranauts nor the station commander's reports reveal the Super-Drivers' true capabilities or autonomy.

Fate

Prometheus 93's fate after the events of Booklet 044 is not recorded in the saga. Several possibilities exist:

1. Superseded by later clones. The Alpha-Order program continued to produce Prometheus clones after the ninety-third iteration; Prometheus 107 appears as Valdec's most powerful weapon beginning in Booklet 061. The fourteen iterations between clone 93 and clone 107 suggest extensive further development within the genetic line. Prometheus 93 may have been retired, destroyed, or used as genetic material for subsequent clones.

1. Destroyed during the events on Sarym. The Kaiser secret station undergoes significant upheaval during Booklets 061--063, when Max von Valdec converts it into his Underwater Research Base for the campaign against the Maritime Coral City. The War of Minds (Booklet 063) culminates in the destruction of several Super-Drivers within the PSI-aura and the death of Dor Masali. If Prometheus 93 remained at the station, he may have perished during these events.

1. Still operational. Given Prometheus 93's demonstrated capacity for concealment and manipulation, it is not impossible that he survived the station's various crises by remaining hidden from both Valdec and the Terranauts. A being who could manipulate his handler's mind without detection from the first moment of his operational life could plausibly evade notice through later upheavals.

The saga offers no resolution.

Abilities and Traits

Telepathy and Mind Manipulation

Prometheus 93's defining and most consequential ability is covert telepathic manipulation -- the capacity to alter another person's thoughts, plans, and decisions without the target's awareness. His manipulation of Hermano Lotz is not a crude psychic assault but a surgical implantation: he inserts the virus plan so seamlessly that Lotz believes it to be his own invention. This level of telepathic finesse -- operating below the threshold of detection not only of the target but of the Killer Block, which is specifically designed to monitor for disloyal psionic behavior -- represents an ability of extraordinary sophistication.

The Prometheus 107 page notes that "Prometheus 93 manipulated his own handler from the very beginning" -- establishing this capacity as a defining trait of the Prometheus line, not merely an individual achievement.

Psionic Surveillance

Working in concert with Isis 24 and Phonix 17, Prometheus 93 monitors Hermano Lotz's actions, communications, and plans from within the station, without any of the facility's personnel detecting the surveillance. This suggests a capacity for long-range, sustained telepathic monitoring that goes beyond simple mind-reading into active, persistent intelligence gathering.

PSI Combat: The PSI-Schwert

The glossary records that Prometheus 93 used a PSI-Schwert (PSI-Sword) to kill Phonix 17. This weapon -- presumably a focused projection of psionic energy into a destructive form -- demonstrates that Prometheus 93 possesses lethal psionic combat abilities in addition to his telepathic manipulation skills. The capacity to kill a fellow Super-Driver -- a being of immense psionic power in his own right -- indicates offensive capabilities of the highest order.

Thingstone Resistance and Self-Regulation

During the Thingstone-amplified breeding experiments, Prometheus 93 demonstrated the ability to control his own exposure to amplifying radiation, absorbing energy "carefully, not too much, so as not to arouse mistrust." This self-regulation -- performed when the clone was only hours old -- reveals an extraordinary degree of self-awareness and strategic thinking from the earliest moments of consciousness.

Independent Volition

The defining trait of the Prometheus line. Despite being bred for obedience, with personal memories erased and a Killer Block implanted to enforce loyalty, Prometheus 93 operates as a fully autonomous agent from the moment of his introduction. He plots, conceals, manipulates, kills, and strategizes without any indication that the conditioning mechanisms constrain him in the slightest. He is, functionally, a free agent wearing the appearance of an obedient tool.

Relationship to Prometheus 107

Prometheus 93 is the direct genetic predecessor of Prometheus 107, the saga's most prominent and powerful Super-Driver. The fourteen iterations separating them (clones 94 through 106 are unrecorded) suggest extensive refinement within the Prometheus genetic line. Prometheus 107 is described as "a later, more refined iteration -- and a correspondingly more dangerous one."

The two Prometheus clones share core characteristics that define their genetic line:

The Prometheus 107 page explicitly identifies Prometheus 93 as a predecessor whose "manipulation of Hermano Lotz foreshadows Prometheus 107's own rebellion against his masters. Both demonstrate that the Prometheus line cannot be controlled."

The escalation from Prometheus 93 to Prometheus 107 traces a clear arc: the earlier clone subverts his handler covertly, working within the system while manipulating it from within; the later clone breaks free entirely, rejecting all control and pursuing autonomous ambition to seize the PSI-aura of the Maritime Coral City. Both are destroyed by forces beyond their comprehension -- Prometheus 93 potentially by the program's own iteration process, Prometheus 107 definitively by the PSI-aura itself.

Connection to the Alpha-Order

Prometheus 93 occupies a foundational position in the history of the Alpha-Order program:

Proof of Concept

As one of the three first-generation test subjects (alongside Isis 24 and Phonix 17), Prometheus 93 represents the program's first successful output. His extraordinary psionic power validates Hermano Lotz's breeding techniques and the combination of genetic engineering, Thingstone amplification, and virus-accelerated mutation that defines the Alpha-Order's methodology. Without the success demonstrated by these three test subjects, the program would not have produced the second-generation Super-Drivers (Prometheus 107, Isis 31, Phoenix 34, Osiris 84, and others) who play such consequential roles in the saga's later arcs.

Proof of Failure

Simultaneously, Prometheus 93 is the first proof that the Alpha-Order program contains a fatal flaw. The Alpha-Order page observes: "These three test subjects demonstrate the Alpha-Order's fundamental flaw from the very beginning: the super-Drivers are far more powerful and autonomous than their creators realize." The Killer Block page documents that the first-generation test subjects act against their handler's interests "with no sign of Killer Block activation." The Super-Drivers page notes that "Prometheus 93 manipulates his handler before Valdec even knows he exists."

Prometheus 93 is thus both the Alpha-Order's greatest validation and its earliest warning. He proves the technology works -- and proves it works too well to be controlled.

The Hate Plague as Unintended Legacy

The Hate Plague -- one of the saga's most devastating weapons -- is Prometheus 93's most enduring legacy, and its most morally ambiguous one. The weapon was not designed by Prometheus 93; it was designed by Hermano Lotz, who selected the Omega series virus strain, programmed the Llewellyn 709-specific activation trigger, and orchestrated the staged prison break that delivered the carriers to Rorqual. But the idea for the weapon was planted in Lotz's mind by Prometheus 93, creating a recursive chain of manipulation: the Council creates Super-Drivers to serve its purposes; the Super-Drivers manipulate their handler into creating a weapon that serves the Super-Drivers' purposes; the weapon nearly destroys the resistance that opposes the Council.

The Hate Plague page articulates this paradox: "Every actor in this chain believes they are in control, and none of them fully are. This dynamic illustrates the saga's persistent argument that instruments of control inevitably escape the hands of those who wield them."

Key Actions (Chronological)

Relationships

Handler

Fellow Super-Drivers

Ultimate Authority

Associates at the Station

Victims and Targets

Thematic Significance

The Puppet and the Puppeteer

Prometheus 93 is the saga's first illustration of a recursive paradox that defines the Alpha-Order: the tools of control create new forms of uncontrollability. The Council of Corporations creates the Alpha-Order program to produce obedient weapons. The Alpha-Order produces Prometheus 93. Prometheus 93 manipulates Hermano Lotz, his own handler, into creating the Hate Plague. The Hate Plague ravages the very resistance the Council seeks to suppress -- but through a mechanism no one in the Council's chain of command authorized or controls.

Every link in this chain believes itself to be the puppeteer; every link is simultaneously the puppet. Lotz thinks the virus plan is his own invention. Valdec thinks Lotz is his obedient subordinate. Prometheus 93 thinks he is deflecting attention from the Super-Drivers. But the weapon that emerges from this cascade of manipulation exceeds all of their intentions and kills indiscriminately. The Hate Plague page observes: "This dynamic illustrates the saga's persistent argument that instruments of control inevitably escape the hands of those who wield them."

The Prometheus Myth: Stolen Fire

The mythological resonance of the Prometheus name acquires its first concrete expression with Prometheus 93. Where Valdec steals the "fire" of Kaiser Force from Space II to free humanity from dependence on Drivers, his first Prometheus clone steals something more intimate: the autonomy of his own handler's mind. Like the mythical Prometheus, who defied the gods and gave fire to humanity, Prometheus 93 defies his creators and seizes power for himself. Unlike the mythical figure, however, he does not share that power with anyone. His stolen fire -- the Hate Plague -- burns everyone it touches.

The Flaw Revealed

The Alpha-Order page identifies Prometheus 93 as the first evidence of the program's fundamental design flaw: "extreme psionic power correlates with extreme willfulness." Every subsequent Super-Driver rebellion -- Ares 17's manipulation of his teammates on Shondyke, Prometheus 107's seizure of the PSI-aura, Valhala 13's spiral into uncontrollable destruction -- follows a pattern that Prometheus 93 established first. He is the template; all later failures are variations on his theme.

The Contrast with Isis 24

While Prometheus 93 manipulates and kills, his fellow first-generation test subject Isis 24 collaborates and survives. The Isis line produces Super-Drivers who are powerful yet compliant -- a pattern that holds from Isis 24's cooperative sabotage in Booklet 043 through Isis 31's faithful service to Valdec across eight booklets. The contrast between the Prometheus and Isis lines suggests a fundamental tension within the Alpha-Order: maximum psionic power (Prometheus) produces maximum independence and maximum danger, while somewhat lower power (Isis) produces greater reliability and longer operational life. Valdec needs both -- but the Prometheus line is the one that turns against him.

Appearances (2 booklets)

Indirect Impact (6 additional booklets)

See Also

• Prometheus -- The Prometheus genetic line (parent page covering all Prometheus clones)
• Prometheus 107 -- Prometheus 93's genetic successor and the saga's most powerful Super-Driver
• Alpha-Order -- The Kaiser Corporation's Super-Driver breeding program
• Super-Drivers -- Genetically engineered psionic weapons; the broader category
• Killer Block -- The mental control mechanism that failed to constrain Prometheus 93
• Kaiser secret station -- Breeding facility on Sarym where Prometheus 93 was created
• Hermano Lotz -- Station commander; manipulated by Prometheus 93
• Dor Masali -- PSI-immune cyborg assistant at the station
• Max von Valdec -- Creator and intended master of the Prometheus clones
• Isis 24 -- Fellow first-generation test subject
• Phonix 17 -- Fellow first-generation test subject; killed by Prometheus 93
• Hate Plague -- Biological weapon whose creation was seeded by Prometheus 93's mind manipulation
• PSI-Schwert -- Psionic weapon used by Prometheus 93 to kill Phonix 17
• Thingstones -- PSI-amplifying crystals used in Prometheus 93's breeding process
• Psycho-hood -- Interrogation device sabotaged by the first-generation test subjects
• Sarym Shield -- Anti-PSI technology used at the Kaiser secret station
• Sarym -- Prison planet and breeding ground for Super-Drivers
• Maritime Coral City -- Site of the PSI-aura that destroyed Prometheus 107
• PSI-aura -- The bio-psionic field connected to the Prometheus line's ultimate fate
• Rorqual -- Terranaut base devastated by the Hate Plague
• Lyda Mar -- Terranaut infected with the Hate Plague; later Oracle of the Maritime Coral City
• Llewellyn 709 -- The Riemenmann whose PSI signature triggers the Hate Plague
• Damon Credock -- Killed during the staged prison break enabled by Prometheus 93's manipulation
• Aura Damona Mar -- Unborn Oracle who destroyed Prometheus 107 and the later Super-Drivers
• Isis 31 -- Second-generation Isis clone; the longest-surviving Super-Driver
• Phoenix 34 -- Second-generation Phoenix clone; destroyed alongside Prometheus 107
• Ares 17 -- Super-Driver whose betrayal of teammates on Shondyke parallels Prometheus 93's killing of Phonix 17
• Valhala 13 -- Riemenmann Super-Driver consumed by the Hate Plague
• Drivers -- The broader population of PSI-gifted navigators from which the Alpha-Order drew its genetic material
• PSI (Psionic) Abilities -- Overview of psionic powers in Die Terranauten
• Council of Corporations -- The political authority under which the Alpha-Order operates
• Prometheus, Isis, and Phoenix Series -- The three principal genetic lines in the Alpha-Order program
• Buds of the Tree -- The ancient plant intelligences whose creations on Sarym ultimately destroyed the Super-Drivers
• Ebberdyk -- Sentient computers whose ultimatum helped secure the Hate Plague antidote
• CYGNI -- Ship aboard which much of the Hate Plague crisis played out

Prometheus 93 appears in 2 of 99 booklets of Die Terranauten but is referenced across 26 wiki pages. He is the earliest known clone of the Prometheus genetic line -- the first Super-Driver to demonstrate that the Alpha-Order program's most powerful products are also its most uncontrollable, and the hidden architect of the Hate Plague that came closer to destroying the Terranaut resistance from within than any fleet or army ever managed.