# Lieutenant John Laird — Short Fiction character guide

> Lieutenant John Laird in Short Fiction by Poul Anderson.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Laird, John Laird

**First appearance:** 0000-star-ship

## Snapshot

A lone Imperial Solar Navy lieutenant who lands on a dead world and finds something in its buried vault that could doom Earth.

## Who they are

Laird works alone, buried in the ruins of a ghost city on a bleak, moonlit planet, sifting through a labyrinth for a prize he barely understands. When a ship's hum returns to the sky, he faces the terror that his weeks of careful searching may have led the enemy straight to the weapon he was sent to claim. His nerve and improvisation in the dark passages decide whether humanity gains a defense or loses everything.

## In the story

### [Lord of a Thousand Suns](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_44_se/chapters/lord-of-a-thousand-suns)

Narrator and protagonist; a haunted Solar Survey officer possessed by the Vwyrddan Daryesh, struggling to maintain his identity and save Earth.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_44_se/characters/john_laird
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_44_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_44_se/characters