HEC HELIOS
OUTER BELT INTELLIGENCE BRIEF
Public Orientation Document
Compiled for civilian readers entering the Between the Rocks archive
The Situation
Humanity has spread beyond Earth.
Mars holds the first permanent off-world settlements.
Europa hides an ocean beneath ice.
Research stations sit on the frozen edge of Pluto.
But the real frontier is somewhere else.
The asteroid belt.
A drifting field of rock, metal, ice, and forgotten worlds orbiting between Mars and Jupiter.
Billions of asteroids.
Enough raw material to build civilizations.
The Frontier
Governments tried to control the belt.
They failed.
Now the belt belongs to:
- mining corporations
- independent crews
- salvagers
- prospectors
- smugglers
- and the stubborn people willing to live where gravity barely exists.
Life here is harsh.
Ships break.
Air leaks.
Drills jam.
And sometimes the rocks hold things nobody expected.
HEC HELIOS
One of the largest corporate operators in the belt.
Known operations include:
• Helios Rig 7
• Deep-core drilling platforms
• Independent contract crews
• Corporate security units
Most personnel simply call themselves:
Rock Rats
Why These Stories Exist
The Between the Rocks archive, compiled by author Jim Bob Pearson, documents the lives of the people actually living in the asteroid frontier.
Not the politicians on Earth.
Not the astronauts in history books.
The workers.
The crews.
The survivors.
Advisory
Outer Belt operations remain dangerous.
Readers entering this archive should expect:
• corporate secrecy
• unexplained anomalies
• drifting civilizations inside stone worlds
• and the stubborn human instinct to build a home anywhere.
Entry Point
Begin your orientation at:
Transmission continues there.
Closing Line
Jim Bob Pearson
Chronicler of the Asteroid Frontier