Helios

*Helios* is the last book in the first trilogy. It focuses on the adventures of Nomad and his adopted son. It is later revealed that Nomad is none other than Jaymeson Nicks, offering his humble services in healing people broken by war through compassion, companionship, and faith in the living Architect.

*Helios* is an episodic fix-up in nature, driven by a series of short adventures over a long period of time.

## Poetic Prologue

*Do not go gentle into that good night,*
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

*Though wise men at their end know dark is right,*
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.

*Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright*
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

*Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,*
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.

*Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight*
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

*And you, my father, there on the sad height,*
Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

## Plot

### Prologue: The Nomad

*Helios* begins with an aged man telling the story of the "burning of Earth" to an audience, opening with the line "I remember when Earth burned..." But the reader does not know that Nomad was actually involved, nor that his true identity is Jaymeson Nicks. At the end, someone asks his name and he simply replies, "Nomad. Just Nomad."

### First Adventure: Ceres

In the first adventure, the Nomad is delivering a shipment of supplies to Ceres when he discovers a young man trying to steal his ship. Instead of harming him, he kidnaps the young boy and "allows" him to stow away on the ship. He learns his name is Manufa and they become traveling companions.

### Second Adventure: Vesta I

In the second adventure, the Nomad has to make a shipment of goods to Vesta on a time schedule and decides to employ the boy that tried to steal his ship. He makes use of him as a ship mechanic and laborer and in return shares his goods with him, teaching him the value of spacer life and of hard, honest work.

### Third Adventure: Vesta II

In the third adventure, they run into a Soldier of Charon on Vesta who has been looking for the boy and the Nomad learns some of the boy's back story. He had involved himself with this warlord to support himself but had been caught stealing from the leader and so he ran. The Nomad saved his life and the fled Vesta.

### Fourth Adventure: The Rim

In the fourth adventure, they head to the Rim to escape the trouble of the Main Belt. The boy thinks this idea is insane, as they will be closer to the Soldiers of Charon, but Nomad reassures him that he knows more people in the Rim than in the Belt. They arrive on Europa and meet Nomad's friend Bil Jax.

### Fifth Adventure: War

In the fifth adventure, Nomad takes a lucrative job for one of the Kenshu warlords, an old Army of Eastern Kamijing veteran who served with Nomad in the Solar War. The boy takes an interest in the unique relationship the AEK veteran and Nomad has, observing a closeness Nomad has not shown to anyone else. Nomad begrudgingly reveals that he fought in the Solar War, and that his real name is Jaymeson Nicks, but insists on being called Nomad because "that's not who I am anymore".

### Sixth Adventure: Charon

In the sixth adventure, they make the delivery for the warlord and are intercepted by a Charonite vessel on their way back. Even Nomad has no idea how they discovered them. Nomad and Manu prove rather valuable in the fight and end up taking the Charonite soldiers hostage and demanding they be brought to Charon. At Charon, Nomad ends up sorting out the business with the leader by paying him a large sum of resources. For the first time, Manu feels truly grateful to have met Nomad rather than just being his conscripted laborer.

### Seventh Adventure:

In the seventh adventure, Nomad reveals that his purpose in the Rim is to provide healing for people. He shares his devotion to the Architect with Manu. Manu decides to embrace Faith. They run into the HASIC warlord group and do some business, bringing them to Neptune. The HASICs derive their name from their founder, an American Jew named Hasic; the name is also a sort of acronym for "Head Spacer In Charge".

[more material in between these two events]

Towards the end of *Helios,* Manu will become the founder of the Sons of Andromeda warband on Io. Nomad will discover the long-sought for reason for the disappearance of his late wife's parents: they were killed by the Soldiers of Charon once having reached the moon of Jupiter. Manu and Nomad regard their meeting as fate, and Manu embraces his destiny as the true adopted son of Jaymeson and Cera Nicks. He swears vengeance on the Solders of Charon. The Sons of Andromeda enters into official communion with the Protectorate and enlist many former members of the Army of Eastern Kamijing and other Protectorate factions.

## Characters

**Nomad**: The protagonist and pseudonym of Jaymeson Nicks. It is also the name of his D5-17 transport craft. He has a large beard and though old, he is in pristine shape.

**Manufa**: Nomad's hapless companion who tried stealing his ship. Nomad adopts him as a son and calls him Manu.

**Bil Jax**: A Rimmer on Europa. He normally goes by Jax. Friend of Nomad's who frequently purchases his goods. He owns a spacer bar which also serves as his personal living quarters.

## Motifs

"I am the Nomad, this is the Nomad, we are the Nomad. I am the ship, we are one. Get it now?" - Nomad, speaking to Manu in reference to himself and his transport space craft.

--

"Would you prefer Fu-fu?" Nomad to Manufa, when Manufa protests at being called Manu.

--

"Well, I mean, I understand you have a bone to pick, but surely every life has got to have a price, right? Nomad said. Manu protests, but Nomad later assures him he was only negotiating with the Charonites.

--

"There's only a few people in the whole of Sol that do it. Plenty more know how. But I'm the only one several AUs in any direction that actually does it. The easiest way is to weld a new engine to your target with remote control and pilot it elsewhere - given that it's already unoccupied, or not if you're a little shaky on the morals - but really anyone with a spare engine, arc welder, and a LOX line can do that. I prefer taking them intact and then chopping them down. Steal one or two a cycle and you're set. If you can move them."

"Who buys them?" Nomad gruffed.

"Parts? Anyone. Whole ships? Only the warlords. And that's dangerous business for anyone."

--

## Behind the Scenes

Manufa is a Hausa word for "purpose".

I once stayed in an RV with a friend. The RV's name was Nomad. I would frequently do psychedelic drugs and imagine the RV was a space ship. Both my companion and I referred to ourselves as nomads.