An intergalactic space war leads to a gladiator-like fight between a human and a spherical alien. They fight to the death, and whoever wins prevents the annihilation of their race.

When a young man signs up to fight in an intergalactic war in exchange for his citizenship, he finds himself inexorably drawn to the killing technology they’ve given him to murder the enemy.

In the far future where posthumans upload their consciousness to the digital cloud and reside in robotic bodies to achieve immortality, humans who reject this conversion are hunted down by the posthuman's artificial intelligence army. But as one AI becomes aware of the posthumans' excessive cruelty, he starts to recognize the inherent worth of mortal humans. In the far future where posthumans upload their consciousness to the digital cloud and reside in robotic bodies to achieve immortality, an AI soldier in charge of hunting down humans who reject this conversion becomes troubled that the posthumans have, along the way, traded away their conscience.