The Helios chase

One device can light a village. In the wrong hands, it can be sold to darken the world.

In a research station in southern Kenya, Dr. Amara Njoroge and her team have built the Helios cell — a clean-energy prototype small enough to hold in one hand, powerful enough to change who controls energy across the developing world. The international consortium that funded it intends to give the design away. A private broker named Silas Vane intends to auction it to the highest bidder instead — and he h...