Helmis

Helmis is a Lorian guide whose brief but pointed role links Johnny Bezique’s education about Loris to the uncertainty surrounding Johnny’s identity and mission. Assigned to accompany Johnny, he embodies the thoughtful, gentle society Johnny finds difficult to tolerate; when they meet again among the monitors, Helmis is present as Johnny attempts to explain who he says he really is.

Identity and Introduction

Helmis is a Lorian of Johnny Bezique’s age, specially assigned as his guide after Johnny arrives on Loris. In only a few days, Johnny learns much about the planet and its politics. Helmis helps make that rapid introduction possible, serving as a personal conduit to a society whose government appears to Johnny to function largely by issuing forecasts rather than orders.

The qualities that make Helmis a capable guide have the opposite effect on Johnny. He is described as witty, forbearing, sagacious, gentle, irrepressibly humorous, keenly perceptive, and self-deprecating. The accumulation matters: Helmis is not merely polite, but seems to embody the virtues Johnny recognizes in the Lorians, and that very combination makes Johnny detest him immeasurably.

Guide to Lorian Society

Through Helmis, Johnny learns that Loris has little government in the conventional sense. Its closest equivalent to a ruler is Veerhe, Chief of the Office of Future Projections, who issues economic, social, and scientific forecasts rather than commands. Helmis’s assignment thus brings Johnny into contact with a society where governance and public feeling appear closely aligned, and where authority works differently from the coercive rule he anticipates.

That introduction sharpens Johnny’s central conflict with Loris. He recognizes the Lorians as exceptionally good people, yet believes humanity would reject rule by aliens even if those aliens acted for Earth’s benefit. Helmis’s patience and gentleness make the clash more uncomfortable, not less: the resistance Johnny describes is directed against a people whose conduct gives him little personal reason to condemn them.

The Monitors and Johnny’s Claim

After nearly two weeks on Loris, Johnny is stopped by monitors while driving near his destination. Helmis is with the group. The monitors call on Johnny to surrender, but he says their orders have been countermanded and announces that he is authorized to reveal his identity. Helmis answers that they already know it.

Johnny nevertheless claims to be a Lorian of Planner classification, specially trained in aggression for a mission that he says is now complete. He presents his recent behavior as a series of tests of Loris’s psychological condition and says he must report grave findings to the Chief Planner at the Office of Future Projections. The monitors ask for confirmation, leaving the claim unresolved in this exchange. Helmis’s brief response punctures Johnny’s attempt to control the revelation: whether or not the monitors accept his account, Johnny has not surprised the guide who once helped him understand Loris.