"Soulless" by Alexei Alexandrov, summary Automatic translate

"Soulless" is a space novel by Alexei Alexandrov, the first book in the "Time of Dead Stars" series, which was released online no later than 2019. Its plot revolves around identity substitution: a clone of the "PX" series, known as Number Seventy-Seven, receives the body and name of Mark Ortiz de Phobos and finds himself embroiled in a struggle for the Gemina system, where power rests on money, navy, and the rule of force.

Mark’s Awakening

After the prologue, the action shifts to the planet Asrai in the Confederacy of Independent Systems, where Jodok Doyle emerges from a rejuvenation capsule and resumes his duties as the head of Arborvitae Corporation. Alongside his storyline emerges that of an unnamed clone, a man with no past and no ordinary human biography, long held as precious biomaterial and trained to obey. For him, life was reduced to pain, orders, and the wait for the next transplant, until one day he is prepared for a role far more dangerous than his previous ones.

The seventy-seventh is given the name, appearance, and status of the person he is destined to become: Mark Ortiz de Phobos, heir to the Gemina system. The real Mark has already been eliminated, and the clone is given a false face, a false position, and the circle of people who knew the body’s former owner. He must learn the speech, gestures, family connections, and habits of an aristocrat, because the slightest mistake could reveal the substitution before the new baron has a chance to establish himself.

Awakening in Mark’s body becomes the hero’s first true experience of personal will. Previously, he was a number; now, everyone around him demands that he become a man, an heir, and the master of the house. This change immediately takes on political significance: Doyle hopes to use the new Mark as a convenient tool, tied to House Phobos and his responsibilities to Arborvitae.

House Phobos and addiction

Arriving in Gemina, Mark realizes that his inheritance has come at a difficult time. House Phobos is weakened, its position precarious, and there are plenty of those around him who are ready to profit from others’ misfortunes — from corporate partners to neighboring aristocrats. In Romulus’ orbit and in the system’s fortresses, the question is stark: either the new baron quickly learns to rule, or he will be crushed, along with his title.

In the first chapters, Mark acts like someone constantly checking other people’s biographies against his own new actions. He listens, remembers, checks people out, and gradually realizes that saving his body didn’t mean freedom. Helping Arborvita and Doyle himself will come at a price, and in such an environment, payment is rarely limited to money.

His circle is also ambiguous. Christina Finch is related to Jodoc Doyle and has a military background, Patrick Lane commands a special operations group within the corporation’s security service, and veteran Admiral Ansgar Dyson brings to the table the experience of someone who thinks in terms of the fleet, not the courtroom. Mark gradually gathers people around him who are useful in defense, espionage, and quick decisions by force, and this changes the very character of House Phobos.

Mark himself initially seems like a convenient figure precisely because he grew up without a normal emotional life. He reasons coldly, easily discards illusions, and doesn’t waste energy on a beautiful pose if it gets in the way of action. But this same characteristic leads him to an internal change: playing someone else’s role, he gradually begins to make decisions for himself, rather than on behalf of those who bought and groomed him.

Pirates, Tortuga, and Family War

House Orca, led by Adan Robles de Orca, emerges as the main external adversary of House Phobos. This line quickly grows beyond a simple family feud, as it is fueled by attempts to oust Mark, deprive him of his power base, and bring Gemina under foreign control. To pressure House Phobos, both open approaches and mercenary violence, linked to pirates and the galaxy’s gray zone, are used.

A separate layer of the plot revolves around Tortuga Station in the Neutral Systems and its pirate world, where its own laws apply. Barr "The Hangman" Hayes and his entourage are prominent there, and the war between the noble houses is being sordidly continued by those who make a living from raids, smuggling, and selling power. For Mark, this is an important lesson: it’s not just his official enemies working against him, and heir apparent rights alone won’t win here.

Encounters with pirates and forays into their territory occupy a significant place in the book, because it’s here that Mark ceases to be a purely desk-bound figure. He learns to set traps, exploit others’ greed, and test people’s loyalty in a business where mistakes are immediately paid for in blood. These chapters particularly clearly show how the former number seventy-seven masters the language of war and begins to think like the master of his own operation.

At the same time, the family score is also escalating. Adan Robles views his nephew as an obstacle that should have disappeared, not returned to power. Therefore, every new fortification of Phobos, every successful move by Mark, and every foiled intrigue transform the dispute over the inheritance into a personal hatred, leaving little room for diplomacy.

Orca’s Maneuvers and Fall

In the second half of the book, the struggle enters the stage of grand maneuvers around Romulus and the orbital fortress of House Phobos. Old allies prove unreliable, secret plans come to light, and each side attempts to gain the upper hand before the other has time to complete their preparations. Chapter titles like "Spiders in a Jar," "Grand Maneuvers," and "The Fall of House Orca" accurately convey the atmosphere of these episodes: intertwined interests, mutual suspicion, and the transition from intrigue to open combat.

By this point, Mark has already far advanced from the state in which he was first inserted into someone else’s body. He doesn’t simply repeat predetermined instructions; he chooses who to use, who to keep close, and who to strike first. His words and decisions become those of a ruler, not a figurehead heir, and this is especially evident in scenes where he talks to his subordinates, distributes risk, and calmly takes harsh measures.

The enemy’s attempt to seize House Phobos, which they hope to accomplish quickly and with minimal fuss, is thwarted. The orbital fortress, the fleet, and Mark’s men prove better prepared than the enemy thought, and the Baron himself prevents the enemy from escalating the battle to their advantage. When the line reaches a final personal exchange between Mark and Adan Robles, it becomes clear that the former familial facade has been completely shed: the uncle speaks of his resurrected nephew’s fatal mistake, and Mark simply cuts the conversation short, unwilling to argue with someone he’s already written off.

The final chapters bring this narrative to a close with the collapse of House Orca. The defeat proves not local, but systemic: the enemy’s plan collapses, its power base is broken, and the sense that Marcus can be pushed out of his role once again vanishes. The epilogue in orbit around Romulus no longer depicts the birth of a new baron, but the outcome of his first major cycle of power, with Orca’s people retreating and attempting to salvage at least part of the situation, while House Phobos maintains its center of gravity.

By the end of the book, the former seventy-seventh has completely merged with the name Mark Ortiz de Phobos. He still differs from the average person in his cold psyche and memory of his origins, but now he is no longer a powerless commodity, but a master who has survived the substitution, withstood corporate pressure, dealt with the pirate threat, and destroyed the Orca’s house in open confrontation. It is precisely this shift that underpins the entire novel: a soulless commodity becomes a subject of power, and someone else’s role becomes his own destiny.