Ruben Carcones

"Der Treiber wurde zur Seite geschleudert, und verschwommen nahm er wahr, dass Ruben Carcones sich der Grauen entgegenwarf."
("The Driver was hurled aside, and through blurred vision he perceived that Ruben Carcones was throwing himself at the Grays.")
-- Booklet 049

Ruben Carcones is a PSI-Assassin -- a psychic killer with the ability to channel PSI energy as a destructive force -- who plays a pivotal role in the Valhala 13 crisis and the Hate Plague arc of Die Terranauten (Booklets 046-049). Known also as a Scanner (an assassin who lost his eyes, perceiving the world through psionic senses) and designated a Negative (a term for his class of PSI-powered destroyer), Carcones is a figure defined by paradox: a professional killer whose most consequential acts are liberations and rescues. His attack on a secret Council of Corporations station on the icy planet Quostan frees Llewellyn 709 from captivity, an impulsive act of violence that unravels Queen Ishiya's carefully orchestrated doppelganger operation and sets in motion the events that expose Valhala 13's infiltration of the Terranauts. Over four booklets, Carcones fights alongside Claude Farrell, battles Queen Ishiya's forces through ice passages and plague-ravaged starships, and ultimately dies in mutual combat with Ishiya aboard the GARIBALDI -- the final casualty of the Hate Plague crisis.

Background

The PSI-Assassin

Carcones belongs to a rare and feared class of psionic operatives known as PSI-Assassins (German: PSI-Assassinen) -- individuals who possess what is termed PSI-Destruction Potential (PSI-Zerstorungspotential), the ability to channel psychic energy not for communication, navigation, or healing, but for killing. Where Drivers use their PSI abilities to navigate Space II and Riemenmannen emit lethal PSI radiation that must be contained by golden straps, a PSI-Assassin's gift is narrower and darker: the focused application of psionic force to destroy.

The term Negative (Negativen) is used to describe Carcones and his kind -- a designation that sets him apart from the "positive" applications of PSI wielded by Drivers and Terranauts. This terminology reflects the Council of Corporations' classification of PSI-users by utility: Drivers are assets to be controlled; PSI-Assassins are weapons to be deployed.

The Scanner

Carcones also bears the title of Scanner -- a term indicating that he has lost his eyes and perceives the world through psionic senses alone. Whether this loss was a consequence of his PSI abilities, a deliberate modification to enhance his psychic perception, or the result of combat injury is not specified in the saga. The designation "Scanner Ruben Carcones" appears in the glossary as a distinct entry, suggesting that the title carries professional significance within the hierarchy of PSI-Assassins -- a Scanner being an assassin who has transcended ordinary sight in favor of psionic awareness.

The Mission to Quostan

Before the events of Booklet 046, Carcones was operating on Quostan -- a harsh, icy planet at the edge of Council space -- on what the glossary describes as "a pointless mission." The exact nature of this mission is unclear, but references to a meeting with a Konzernherr (Corporation Lord) in Brasilia suggest that Carcones had prior entanglements with the Council's corporate hierarchy. Whether he was employed by a corporation, pursuing a personal vendetta, or operating under some other directive, his presence on Quostan placed him at the intersection of several converging crises -- the imprisonment of Llewellyn 709, the Council's forbidden experiments on the native Ice Devils, and the deployment of the Riemenmann doppelganger Valhala 13.

Carcones was accompanied on Quostan by two companions: Gus, his dying human partner, and Anh, an Ice Devil (German: Eisteufel) -- one of the native creatures of Quostan. That Carcones had formed a bond with one of Quostan's indigenous beings suggests a period of extended habitation on the planet and a capacity for attachment that complicates the image of a cold-blooded killer.

Biography

Liberation of Llewellyn 709 (Booklet 046)

Carcones' entry into the saga's central narrative occurs in December 2499, when he and his dying partner Gus observe a secret station on Quostan where the Council of Corporations is conducting forbidden experiments on the native Ice Devils. The station is under the command of Queen Ishiya, who has transferred the real Llewellyn 709 -- captured on Stonehenge II and replaced by his doppelganger Valhala 13 -- to Quostan in a deep-sleep capsule.

Carcones witnesses the arrival of Valhala 13's capsule at the station. His hunting instinct takes over. Rather than observing further or retreating, Carcones attacks the station single-handedly and frees the imprisoned Riemenmann. This act of impulsive violence has consequences far beyond anything Carcones could have anticipated: by liberating Llewellyn, he sets in motion the chain of events that will expose Valhala 13's infiltration of the Terranauts, trigger the Hate Plague crisis, and ultimately lead to the destruction of both Valhala and Queen Ishiya.

After the liberation, Carcones and Llewellyn 709 find themselves on the run across Quostan's frozen surface, pursued by Queen Ishiya and her Gray Guard forces. They encounter Gus dying and are eventually cornered. It is at this critical moment that Lyda Mar -- who had stowed away aboard the CYGNI after sensing Valhala 13's impersonation on Rorqual -- makes psionic contact with Llewellyn 709 and guides the ship to Quostan.

It is during this escape that the terrible truth of the Hate Plague becomes apparent: Lyda Mar, Ennerk Prime, and Onnegart Vangralen had been infected with the virus on Sarym, and it has now activated upon contact with Llewellyn 709's PSI signature. Carcones, along with Farrell and most others aboard the CYGNI, is infected with the Hate Plague -- the virus that causes uncontrollable rage and madness.

The Crisis Aboard the CYGNI (Booklet 047)

Aboard the CYGNI, the Hate Plague spreads relentlessly. Carcones and Claude Farrell, both infected, fight to retain their sanity during the brief lucid intervals between surges of psychotic violence. Only Lyda Mar and Llewellyn 709 prove immune to the virus.

When Queen Ishiya and her Gray Guard prisoners escape their confinement (after a medo-robot is destroyed), they move to seize control of the ship. Ishiya's objective is specific: she intends to awaken Valhala 13 from deep sleep in the ship's stasis chambers and use him as a weapon to deliver Rorqual's location to Max von Valdec on Earth.

Despite their deteriorating condition, Carcones and Farrell intervene. In a tense confrontation in the deep-sleep chambers, the two plague-stricken fighters stop Ishiya from awakening Valhala. Claude Farrell manages to put Valhala 13 back into deep sleep. This intervention -- two infected men, fighting through rage and delirium, to prevent a catastrophe they can barely comprehend -- represents one of the saga's most striking demonstrations of willpower overcoming biological compulsion.

As the CYGNI approaches Earth, Llewellyn 709 contacts Max von Valdec, offering to exchange the captured Gray Guards (including Ishiya) for the Hate Plague antidote. Valdec refuses, demanding unconditional surrender. The CYGNI is attacked by Gray Guard space fighters and forced to flee into Space II, eventually emerging near Rorqual.

Captured on Rorqual (Booklet 048)

In the most dangerous phase of the crisis, Valhala 13 fully awakens aboard the CYGNI, and Queen Ishiya forces him to help her land on Rorqual to spread the Hate Plague across the Terranaut stronghold. Carcones and Claude Farrell, both still fighting the effects of the virus, attempt to stop Ishiya and Valhala but are captured.

With Carcones and Farrell neutralized, only the combined psionic efforts of David terGorden, Lyda Mar, and Llewellyn 709 -- who had been pulled through a dimensional rift to an unknown doomed planet -- prevent catastrophe. They sacrifice Valhala 13 to close the rift, and the Terranauts seize control of Valdec's fleet, setting course for Earth to retrieve the antidote.

Death Aboard the GARIBALDI (Booklet 049)

The final chapter of Carcones' story plays out aboard the GARIBALDI, the Driver ship docked to the BERLIN, as the Terranauts negotiate with Max von Valdec for the Hate Plague antidote. The plague continues to ravage those aboard: Claude Farrell has succumbed to the point of threatening to bomb Berlin; Angila Fraim and Sirdina Giccomo suffer in agony; Asen-Ger and dozens of Drivers are dying on Rorqual.

In this atmosphere of escalating violence and desperation, the final confrontation between Carcones and Queen Ishiya takes place. Ruben Carcones kills Queen Ishiya -- the Gray Guard Queen who had pursued him across Quostan, whom he had helped thwart aboard the CYGNI, and who had captured him on Rorqual. But Ishiya kills Carcones in the same exchange. The mutual destruction eliminates both combatants, ending a rivalry that had played out across four booklets and three planets.

Carcones and Ishiya are the final casualties of the Hate Plague crisis. Shortly after their deaths, Ennerk Prime and Onnegart Vangralen deliver the antidote to the remaining infected, and the antiserum works instantaneously, saving Claude Farrell, Asen-Ger, and the other survivors.

Key Actions

• Observes the secret Council of Corporations station on Quostan and witnesses the arrival of Valhala 13's deep-sleep capsule (046)
• Attacks the station and frees Llewellyn 709 from Queen Ishiya's captivity -- the act that unravels the Valhala 13 doppelganger operation (046)
• Flees across Quostan's frozen surface with Llewellyn 709, pursued by Gray Guards (046)
• Destroys a Gray Guard glider using his PSI-Destruction Potential, causing the ice passages to collapse (046)
• Escapes Quostan aboard the CYGNI with Lyda Mar, Llewellyn 709, and Claude Farrell (046)
• Intervenes with Claude Farrell to stop Queen Ishiya from awakening Valhala 13 in the CYGNI's deep-sleep chambers (047)
• Captured by Queen Ishiya and Valhala 13 on Rorqual alongside Claude Farrell (048)
• Kills Queen Ishiya aboard the GARIBALDI in mutual combat; is killed by Ishiya in the same exchange (049)

Relationships

Abilities and Designations

Appearances (4 booklets)

Timeline

Themes and Significance

The Outsider as Catalyst. Ruben Carcones is not a Terranaut. He is not a Driver in the conventional sense, not a member of the Driver Lodge, not a veteran of Rorqual's feudal wars or the MIDAS's intergalactic exile. He is a PSI-Assassin -- a professional killer on what even his own glossary entry calls "a pointless mission" -- who stumbles into the saga's central crisis and, through a single impulsive act of violence, changes its course. By freeing Llewellyn 709, Carcones inadvertently triggers the chain of events that exposes Valhala 13's infiltration, reveals the Hate Plague, and ultimately leads to the downfall of Queen Ishiya's operation. He is the stone thrown into the pond that creates ripples across four booklets -- a reminder that in the Terranauten universe, the most consequential actors are not always the ones with the grandest designs.

The Weaponized Gift. Carcones represents the dark mirror of the Driver gift. Where Drivers navigate Space II, communicate telepathically, and form lodges of mutual support, Carcones uses his PSI abilities to destroy. His designation as a "Negative" makes this explicit: he is the negative image of what PSI can be. Yet the saga complicates this classification by showing Carcones using his destructive abilities in service of liberation -- destroying a Gray Guard glider to protect Llewellyn 709, stopping Queen Ishiya from awakening Valhala 13, and ultimately killing the Gray Guard Queen herself. The PSI-Assassin's violence, directed at the right targets, becomes indistinguishable from heroism.

The Blind Warrior. As a Scanner -- an assassin who has lost his eyes -- Carcones embodies a paradox of perception. He cannot see in the physical sense, yet his psionic awareness allows him to perceive threats, navigate ice passages, and fight Gray Guard soldiers. In a saga where PSI abilities are constantly feared, suppressed, and exploited by the Council of Corporations, Carcones' blindness-that-sees is a metaphor for the deeper perception that the Council's regime cannot extinguish.

Mutual Destruction. The reciprocal killing of Carcones and Queen Ishiya -- each destroying the other aboard the GARIBALDI -- provides narrative symmetry that resonates across the Hate Plague arc. Ishiya is the architect of the Valhala 13 operation; Carcones is the man who tore it apart by freeing Llewellyn. Ishiya pursued Carcones across Quostan; Carcones helped stop Ishiya aboard the CYGNI. Their final confrontation, in which neither survives, closes a cycle of escalating violence that began on Quostan's frozen surface. It is fitting that the Hate Plague's last casualties are not innocents but two combatants whose mutual hostility -- born of opposing purposes and sharpened by four booklets of pursuit, capture, and counter-attack -- finally consumes them both.

The Companion of Ice Devils. That Carcones has bonded with Anh, an Eisteufel -- one of the gentle native creatures of Quostan who are themselves victims of the Council's experiments and later the Hate Plague -- adds an unexpected dimension to his character. The professional killer with the capacity for interspecies friendship; the blind assassin with an Ice Devil companion on a frozen world: these details suggest that Carcones' time on Quostan was more than a "pointless mission." It was a kind of exile, perhaps even a kind of peace, that was shattered when the Council's machinations arrived at his doorstep.

See Also

• Queen Ishiya -- Carcones' recurring adversary and mutual killer
• Claude Farrell -- Carcones' combat partner during the Hate Plague crisis
• Llewellyn 709 -- The Riemenmann freed by Carcones on Quostan
• Lyda Mar -- The Terranaut who rescued Carcones from Quostan
• Valhala 13 -- The Riemenmann doppelganger whose deployment Carcones inadvertently unraveled
• Gus -- Carcones' dying human partner on Quostan
• Anh -- Carcones' Ice Devil companion
• PSI-Assassin -- Carcones' designation and class of operative
• PSI-Destruction Potential -- The specific PSI ability wielded by Carcones
• Negative -- The broader category of destructive PSI-users
• Scanner -- The designation for a blind PSI-Assassin
• Hate Plague -- The bioweapon that infected Carcones and shaped the final arc of his life
• Quostan -- The icy planet where Carcones operated and freed Llewellyn
• Ice Devils -- The native creatures of Quostan, one of whom was Carcones' companion
• CYGNI -- The ship aboard which Carcones fought Queen Ishiya and the Hate Plague
• GARIBALDI -- The ship aboard which Carcones and Ishiya killed each other
• Rorqual -- The Terranaut stronghold where Carcones was captured
• Council of Corporations -- The regime whose secret operations brought Carcones into the saga
• Terranauts -- The resistance movement Carcones aided but never formally joined

Ruben Carcones appears in 4 of 99 booklets of Die Terranauten (046-049). He is a PSI-Assassin, a Scanner, a Negative -- a blind killer with an Ice Devil companion whose impulsive liberation of Llewellyn 709 on Quostan unraveled the most dangerous covert operation the Council of Corporations ever launched against the Terranauts, and whose death alongside Queen Ishiya in mutual combat closed the Hate Plague crisis that his own actions helped to expose.