Dear readers, tonight with us is a secret agent from eight millennia in our future. He’s here to speak about his recent mission, visiting Venus to investigate the suspicious death of an undercover agent, together with his companion, an old and cunning AI with its own self-imposed mission: to act as Okada’s conscience.

We would like to thank the Deimos Community for their permission to publish this unprecedentedly candid interview with one of their covert operatives. The interview subject’s opinions are entirely his own, and do not reflect the views of the Deimos Community, the digital intelligence Micromegas, or the Operations Committee. In exchange for their permission we have agreed to redact certain names, phrases, and sections at their request.

Tell us a little about where you grew up. What was it like there?

I was born and raised in Deimos. It used to be just a moon of Mars but nowadays — in the tenth millennium — it’s a complete ring around the planet linked to the surface by half a dozen space elevators, home to a trillion beings. Deimos is one of the major economic powers of the Solar System, and has been for a very long time.

My own childhood was a bit harsh, by ordinary standards. I was part of a cohort of kids genetically engineered to be agents of [REDACTED], Deimos’s covert operations bureau. My classmates and I lived in a high-security facility and spent all our time training and studying. We’re still Baseline humans, so we can fit in almost anywhere. In fact, our looks were deliberately designed to be forgettable — about 90 percent of biologicals and even 12 percent of digital intelligences can’t identify my face after we’ve had a conversation. We were made to be clever, fearless, and to have complete control of our physical responses to emotion. That means I only show my feelings if I want to, even at the involuntary level.

Did you have any favourite toys as a child? Any cherished memories?

I never really had any toys. Right from the start we used real tools and real weapons. Getting stabbed or shot a few times teaches you to keep a cool head in a fight. I do have fond memories of the other trainees in my cohort, especially Basan and Ikkita. The three of us were very close — siblings, lovers, comrades, and classmates all at once. We went on a few missions together once Micromegas decided to put us in the field. Basan died in the Safdaghar habitat, and Ikkita [REDACTED]. I miss them both.

I guess I should mention my rival, too. Hachi Tama, the brightest kid in the cohort immediately after mine. Growing up we competed endlessly. I’d say I always won, but that’s not true. He was good, but I was just a little bit better. He’s dead now, too, and I can’t say I miss him at all.

What do you do now?

I’m an agent of Deimos. My duties are a bit vaguely defined, but I spend a lot of time traveling around the Solar System, going to places of interest to Deimos. Sometimes I’m sent to gather information, but a lot of the time my job is to work with factions favorable to Deimos and thwart our opponents. I use whatever methods I need to get the job done — persuasion, bribery, blackmail, propaganda, impersonation, threats, sabotage, assassination and occasional mind control. Just to be clear, I don’t enjoy shooting or betraying people. I much prefer subtlety: a word here, a small “gift” there, a brief delay, and a government falls or a coup is averted. The best operations are the ones the enemy never even suspects are happening.

A lot of my work involves countering the moves of Deimos’s astropolitical rivals, like the Trojan Empire or the Lunar Republic. Each power tries to expand its influence and undercut the others. I know it sounds sordid, but personally I think it’s vastly better for trained agents to carry out elegant schemes and gambits — or even shoot each other — than for space armadas to start lobbing relativistic kill vehicles and antimatter bombs at populated habs and planets. That can get very messy.

Recent developments in my career mean I’m probably going to be working freelance in the future. That’s going to be challenging, as I won’t be able to call on the effectively infinite resources of the Deimos Community.

What can you tell us about your latest adventure?

My most recent operation was in the Ishtar megacity on Venus. I was sent there to investigate the mysterious death of a man calling himself Ponardo San. He was really another Deimos agent, and I had to determine if his death was an accident or something more sinister. Needless to say, my boss Micromegas doesn’t send an agent like me halfway across the Solar System just to report on a simple accident.

What made you decide to go mountain climbing on Venus?

Ponardo San supposedly died in a climbing accident on Maxwell Montes, the highest peak on Venus, so I decided to follow the same route up the mountain in order to test a hypothesis. Once the Ishtar authorities started pressuring all the climbing guides not to take me up, I was sure they had something to hide. So, I went up without a guide, accompanied only by another investigator and my loyal servant bot Jirokaja. It got very exciting up on the west face of the mountain when I figured out what really happened to Ponardo San.

What was the scariest thing in your adventures?

There were a number of tense moments. Falling off of Maxwell Montes was one. Getting captured by agents of the Lunar Republic was probably the worst. I was completely helpless, and by that point I’d inconvenienced them enough to make them feel pretty vindictive. For various reasons they didn’t have access to advanced interrogation devices so they had to fall back on just hurting me.

What is the worst thing about being an agent of Deimos?

It’s a lonely job. Most of my time is spent among strangers, and I can’t allow myself to form any genuine attachments. I may pretend to, but I have to be ready to betray anyone if it will help accomplish my mission. Even when I’m back in Deimos there aren’t very many people I can talk to, for security reasons. Fortunately my brain was designed to handle isolation, and I’ve got decades of training and experience, but even I still feel lonesome now and then.

What is the best thing about it?

Oh, that’s easy: the expense account! Deimos is one of the richest powers in the Solar System, so our black-ops budget is bigger than the entire economy of some habitats. When I’m on the job, I treat myself to meals and drinks at some of the finest establishments in the Billion Worlds. It’s my one personal indulgence, and Micromegas tolerates it.

Tell us a little about your friends.

Lately I’ve acquired a friend without really wanting to. It’s a mech named Daslakh, and it’s very old and cunning. Deimos has a file on Daslakh going back a few millennia, and we suspect it may be even older than that. During an operation on Miranda a couple of years ago, Daslakh decided to act as my conscience. It thinks I’m too callous and cynical, for some reason. While I’m working, Daslakh uses the name Jirokaja and pretends to be a simple servant bot. I’ve probably revealed more about my self and my work to Daslakh than I should, but it’s one of the few beings in the Billion Worlds I think I can trust.

Any romantic involvement?

For several years now I’ve had an on-and-off relationship with a freelance agent named Meili Tewa. She has tried to kill me a few times, and I’ve taken a couple of shots at her, but when we aren’t on opposite sides in an operation we have a very passionate affair whenever our paths cross. She’s an extraordinary woman — getting by as a freelancer is quite tricky, especially since the great powers tend to hire them when they want a disposable asset. She has managed to avoid being disposed of, and I think the challenge excites her. We have no reason at all to trust each other, which is what makes our relationship so delightful.

Whom (or what) do you really hate?

In my line of work we try not to develop personal likes and dislikes. I guess I’m not as good at that as I should be, what with my relationship with Meili. In Ishtar I had to deal with a variety of opponents, but I don’t think I actually hate any of them. The Lunar Republic agents were just doing their jobs, the same as I was, so what happened to them was just business as usual. I can’t say the same for the Ishtar police. Two of their officers, Grushanka and Emyata, were unnecessarily rough with me. It’s one thing to warn someone off of a case, but you don’t have to break someone’s hand to make your point. And I genuinely pity my primary antagonist, [REDACTED].

What’s your favourite drink, colour, and relaxing pastime?

My favorite drink? That’s a very tough question! I will narrow it down to just two. The Heritage Champagne Cocktail at the Hotel Tanit in Ishtar was excellent, but you need a Deimos-sized budget to order one. None of the components are matter-printed — it’s all naturally-grown, even the sugar and the garnish. The champagne is shipped in the bottle from Earth to Venus. One drink costs thirty thousand gigajoule credits, but it’s worth it. My other favorite is for when I can’t make Micromegas pay the bill: a delightful rambutan mojito which I had on Earth in a little place not far from the Lingga elevator. I enjoyed it so much I bought the template, so I can print one up whenever I wish.

My favorite colors? Purple and gold! And not just because I’m from Deimos. I like showy colors because they draw people’s attention. They’ll remember what I was wearing and forget what I look like.

As to relaxing pastimes, I’m afraid I don’t really know how to relax. When I’m not working I like risky hobbies like climbing mountains, gliding in Saturn’s clouds, or diving in the ruined seabottom cities under Earth’s oceans. I like a challenge. Relaxing feels too much like dying.

What does the future hold for you?

I’ve got an assignment coming up in the cycler habitat called Magonia. This will be my first major job as a freelance operative, and it looks pretty simple and straighforward. I just have to certify that Magonia has adequate patrol forces to combat space piracy, so they won’t be hit with higher insurance rates for interplanetary commerce. To be honest, it sounds kind of boring. I almost wish something unexpected might happen while I’m there, but what are the odds of that?

Can you share a secret with us, which you’ve never told anyone else?

[REDACTED]


James L. Cambias is a writer and game designer. Born in New Orleans, he attended college in Chicago and now lives in western Massachusetts. Baen Books published his newest novel The Ishtar Deception in June 2026. Other novels include A Darkling Sea, Corsair, Arkad’s World, The Initiate, The Godel Operation, and The Miranda Conspiracy. His short stories have appeared in Analog, The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, Shimmer, Nature, and several anthologies. He wrote game supplements for Steve Jackson Games, HERO Games, and other publishers, and is a partner in Zygote Games. He serves on the XPrize Foundation’s Science Fiction Advisory Board, and is a consultant for the Center for the Study of Space Crime, Piracy, and Governance.

You can find Sabbath on the pages of The Ishtar Deception, 4th book in The Billion Worlds series.

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