Helios Project

The Helios Project, also known as the Helios Program, was a plan devised by Artemis Zogg during his long time as the Polaris Galaxy's Minister of Defense. It was intended to save planets from destructive situations such as supernovas, black holes, temporal rifts and galactic disasters in general and transport them to a safe place where vital light would be provided by the project's artificial sun.

The project was headed by Vorn Garblak, Zogg's advisor and chairman of the Galactic Panel of Interstellar Know-It-Alls. He is credited as being the brains behind Helios.

Design[]

Helios under construction — Helios' artifical sun under construction.

The project is comprised of two key components; the teleportation equipment used to shift planets across space and the artificial sun used to supply said planets with sunlight to survive. This artificial sun is from which the project derives its namesake.

A Geo-Shift Sphere and the Surinox Shard on Zogg's warship bridge.

The equipment used a Geo-Shift Sphere in conjunction with the Surinox Shard to teleport entire planets and anything else it is used on to preset coordinates. The Geo-Shift Sphere was a minor component of the equipment and replaceable, at a cost of up to 11 million bolts. The Surinox Shard was however the key element of the technology, without which it cannot function. Applying negatively charged energy to the shard creates a bridge between realities, while positively charged energy results in simple teleportation which Helios uses in it's design. The shard's wormhole inducing capabilities were crucial in the project's completion.

History[]

Before Ratchet & Clank (comic)[]

Helios Project Blueprints — The Helios Project blueprints.

The program had been in development for years by Zogg's Galactic Panel of Interstellar Know-it-alls in Meridian City on planet Igliak. While initially agreeing to endorse Zogg's campaign to become the next Polaris president, Captain Qwark was convinced by his manager Cyrus to instead run for office himself. Qwark had taken much of the credit for defeating Dr. Nefarious following the events of A Crack in Time and the Polaris public elected him after only four months. Zogg was outraged by this, but was finally pushed over the edge when President Qwark moved to terminate the Helios Program. Due to Qwarks experiences with Percival Tachyon and the Dimensionator, he believed that wormhole transportation technology was far too dangerous.

The Helios Project — Helios is activated.

Fueled with resentment, Zogg ordered his subordinates to load all Helios materials onto his own ship and changed the aim of the program. Helios would be used to steal planets from across the universe in order to construct a new galaxy for him to rule as president. This would come to be named the Artemis Galaxy. Zogg pursued this crusade with his loyalists out of revenge against Qwark and the people who Zogg perceived as ungrateful for not electing him president in spite of all he'd done for them as defense minister.

Ratchet & Clank (comic)[]

After stealing planets with the transportation technology and moving them to remote points of space, Zogg forced the inhabitants of these worlds into slavery and threatened to withhold sunlight from them if they did not obey him. Without vital sunlight from Helios, any planet Zogg had stolen would quickly freeze and perish.

When Zogg was eventually defeated and banished to Dimension A2-66, the Artemis Galaxy was never completed and the Helios Project was officially terminated once and for all. The project's geo-shift technology was replicated and used with the shard to then return each stolen planet back to their respective orbits.

Appearances[]

Behind the scenes[]

In ancient mythology, Helios is the Greek god of the sun.