"Soldier From Tomorrow" (later reprinted under the title "Soldier") is a 1957 science fiction short story by Harlan Ellison, originally published in Fantastic Universe in October 1957.[1] Its protagonist is Qarlo Clobregnny, a soldier from thousands of years in the future, who has been conditioned from birth by the State (the "Tri-Continenters") solely to fight and kill the enemy (the "Ruskie-Chinks"). After time traveling to the present, Qarlo is "civilized" by Lyle Sims, a government agent, and Soames, a philologist, and eventually goes on a lecture tour to warn of the coming armageddon. Ellison loosely adapted the story for his script for the 1964 The Outer Limits episode "Soldier".

"Soldier" is the first of two episodes of The Outer Limits television series written by Harlan Ellison and is loosely adapted from his 1957 short story "Soldier from Tomorrow." Ellison later brought suit against the producers and distributor of The Terminator (1984) for plagiarism[1] of this episode.

Plot
Eighteen hundred years in the future, two infantrymen clash on a battlefield. A random energy weapon strikes both and they are hurled into a time vortex. While one soldier is temporarily trapped in the time limbo, the other, Qarlo Clobregnny, materializes in an alley off a city street in the United States in the year 1964.

The feral Qarlo is soon captured and later interrogated by Tom Kagan, a philologist. Qarlo's origin is eventually discovered after Kagan translates his seemingly unintelligible language – "Nims qarlo clobregnny prite arem aean teaan deao" – into colloquial English..."(My) name is Qarlo Clobregnny, private, RM EN TN DO"; his name, rank and serial letters, which is what any soldier would reveal if captured by the enemy. Qarlo has been bred and trained for one purpose – to kill the enemy. Progress is made in "taming" him, however, and despite the reservations of Kagan's government associates, Kagan takes Qarlo to his home and family. Although he seemingly begins to trust Kagan, Qarlo breaks into a gun shop and brings home a rifle.

Meanwhile, the time eddy holding the enemy soldier eventually weakens and he materializes in 1964 and tracks Qarlo to Kagan's home. In a final hand-to-hand battle, the soldiers kill each other, but the question is posed whether Qarlo sacrificed his life because he was trained to kill, or because he wanted to save the Kagan family.