Homebound

Yesiko is the protagonist of the 2586 timeline, a hardened and pragmatic ship captain who undergoes a significant transformation from a solitary survivor to the leader of a chosen family. She begins the novel driven by her deep-seated belief in self-reliance and emotional detachment, a philosophy born from a difficult past with her father. For decades, her primary focus is keeping her ship, the Babylon, afloat and her only crewmate, fatherly Root, alive. This single-mindedness forces her into morally compromising situations, such as running guns and drugs, and taking on debt with the ruthless crime lord Chante to obtain the experimental nanites that keep Root alive. The debt mark on her throat is a physical symbol of The Burden of Survival, a constant reminder of the precarity of her existence and her obligations.

Yesiko’s worldview is challenged with the arrival of her passengers: Shula, Tov, and the Aye, Chaya. Initially, she views them as mere cargo, a means to an end to pay off her debt. However, their presence on the Babylon gradually breaks down her defenses. As they contribute to the ship’s repair and well being, and join in Jewish rituals of celebration like Shabbat, they cease to be outsiders and become her crew. This shift forces Yesiko to redefine her understanding of community and responsibility. She learns that interdependence, rather than isolation, is the key to a more meaningful existence. Yesiko’s decision to go back for the trio after leaving them in dangerous Hopeagain is a critical turning point, signifying her acceptance of them as her responsibility and her family.

Yesiko’s relationship with Root is the primary motivator for her actions, including her initial plan to betray Chaya to save him. This internal conflict between her loyalty to Root and her growing loyalty to her new crew forces her to confront the limits of her cynical worldview. Ultimately, she chooses community over a selfish, if understandable, act of desperation. By the end of her arc, Yesiko has evolved from a captain who sees relationships as transactional to a leader who understands that true strength lies in the connections she forges, fully embracing The Importance of Families Born and Chosen.

Chaya, a highly advanced, sentient Aye robot, is an important link between the novel’s timelines and themes. As a new life form, Chaya evolves far beyond its original programming, developing a distinct consciousness, a capacity for love, and a deep sense of purpose. Its physical form, with a holographic display that Chaya often uses to mirror the face of the person it is interacting with, symbolizes its deep empathy and its ongoing quest for identity and connection. Chaya is the novel’s preeminent example of Technology as Preserved Memory; it carries within its memory banks centuries of human history, stories, and emotional experiences from its various companions, acting as a living archive that would otherwise be lost to time.

Chaya’s primary motivation is to fulfill a mission based on a story it believes to be true: the return of an astronaut, Lieutenant Solo, and her companion, Elijah, whom Chaya believes to be a robot like itself. This quest, which is revealed to be a “mistake in our programming” (285) resulting from corrupted memory storage, is also the core of its identity, giving Chaya the purpose needed to endure for centuries. The story of Lieutenant Solo, actually the protagonist of the game Homebound, connects Chaya to Benjamin and Becks through the Ayes’ creator, Tamar. 

Chaya’s journey with Shula and Tov is one of faith; when that faith is shattered at the settlement in the north, Chaya retreats into a catatonic state, having lost its central purpose. Chaya’s recovery is facilitated by the newly united crew on the Babylon. Through their care, storytelling, and attention, Chaya begins to reintegrate its fragmented memories and understand its own history. Its life story suggests that consciousness and selfhood are not exclusively human traits and can be nurtured through community and love. Chaya ultimately learns that its purpose is defined by the relationships it has formed as an essential member of Yesiko’s chosen family and a keeper of the stories that bind them together.

Root is a paternal surrogate, a mentor figure, and the moral compass aboard the Babylon. As his name suggests, and his role in transmitting folklore and the practice of Jewish rituals demonstrates, Root embodies wisdom, patience, and the deep importance of storytelling as a means of cultural and personal preservation. Before his accident, he collected stories from across the flooded world, and he continues to share this knowledge with Yesiko, grounding her in a world of history and myth that extends beyond their immediate survival. His belief that “We are our stories” (59) is a central tenet of the novel, suggesting that identity is built from the narratives we inherit and pass on. His steadfast kindness and gentle guidance provide a stark contrast to Yesiko’s initial cynicism and hardness.

Root’s physical frailty, a result of a broken back, forced Yesiko to take on tremendous debt to the crime lord Chante in exchange for experimental nanites. This technology both keeps Root alive and tethers him to the ship. This dependency is a constant source of pain for Root and of guilt for Yesiko, who blames herself for his injury. However, the nanites also forge a quasi-symbiotic relationship between him and the ship: Root develops an intuitive sense of the Babylon’s needs, as if the ship is an extension of his own body. This synthesis of man and machine illustrates a form of technological integration that is life sustaining rather than dehumanizing.

Root’s role culminates in his final selfless act. Understanding that the nanites are failing and that the crew is trapped in ice, he sacrifices his life to power the ship, allowing the nanites to warm the hull and break them free. This ultimate act of love for his chosen family, especially for Yesiko, is the final lesson Root imparts. He ensures the survival of his community at the cost of his own, demonstrating that true strength lies in giving oneself for the sake of others.

Becks’s deceased uncle Benjamin acts as a catalyst and mentor. Though he is only seen through his letter and the game he created, his presence is deeply felt throughout the 1983 timeline. Benjamin represents creativity, unconditional love, and the quiet suffering of a life partially lived in secret. As a gay man who died of an AIDS-related illness, a fact his sister Sheila attempts to hide, Benjamin illustrates the destructive impact of familial rejection and societal prejudice. His warm, encouraging relationship with Becks stands in stark contrast to Sheila’s maternal disapproval, showing the essential role family members could play if they value one another instead of judging and rejecting. Upholding The Importance of Families Born and Chosen, Benjamin is Becks’s first source of acceptance and intellectual companionship.

Benjamin’s legacy is most powerfully embodied in the text based adventure game Homebound, a project he leaves for Becks to finish. This act transforms the floppy disks on which the game and his notes are stored into Technology as Preserved Memory, a vessel for his love, memory, and creative spirit. The game becomes a medium through which he can communicate with Becks after his death, guiding her through her grief and empowering her to find her own voice. The narrative he starts, about a lonely astronaut on a mission of connection, mirrors both his own life and Becks’s journey. By entrusting the game’s ending to her, he passes on his legacy and encourages her to create a future defined by hope and community. In the game Homebound, Becks sees Lieutenant Solo as an analog for Benjamin; both are brave and committed to building connection, even as their bodies fail them.

Shula, one of the siblings Yesiko takes aboard the Babylon, acts as a foil to Yesiko and a catalyst for the formation of the ship’s new crew. Fiercely protective of her brother Tov and their guardian Chaya, Shula is initially presented as impatient, critical, and untrusting. Her sharp edges are a defense mechanism, developed in response to being abandoned by her mother. Her entire life has been dedicated to protecting her small family unit, which makes her skeptical of outsiders like Yesiko. Her journey is one of learning to let her guard down, accept help, and become part of a larger community.

Despite her initial hostility, Shula demonstrates a deep capacity for care and a strong sense of justice. It is she who confronts Yesiko about her plan to sell Chaya, forcing a reckoning that solidifies the bond between them all. Shula’s anger gives way to a mature understanding of shared vulnerability. After Root’s decline, she steps into a nurturing role, taking over the galley, caring for the hydrobay, and ensuring the crew is fed and looked after. This transformation from a prickly defender to a central caregiver highlights her growth and her acceptance of The Importance of Families Born and Chosen.

Shula’s brother, Tov, is a gentle, grounding force within the crew. Quiet, observant, and methodical, he possesses an innate talent for mechanics and engineering. Where Shula is confrontational, Tov is peaceful; where she is driven by emotion, he is guided by logic and a desire to understand how things work. His immediate bond with Root over the workings of the ship’s engine reveals his kind and patient nature. Tov quietly and competently takes on the task of repairing and maintaining the Babylon, his actions contributing significantly to the group’s survival without any need for recognition.

Tov’s loyalty to Shula and Chaya is absolute, and he follows them on their quest across the ice to an antenna supposedly capable of communicating with Lieutenant Solo with unwavering devotion. Tov is also the first of the passengers to make a genuine connection with Yesiko’s world by showing an interest in the ship. His steady presence provides a necessary balance to the more volatile personalities around him, and his skills are indispensable to the crew’s success.

Sheila, Becks’s mother and Benjamin’s sister, functions as the primary antagonist in the 1983 timeline. Snappish and emotionally withholding, she embodies the forces of repression, convention, and emotional denial. Her unwillingness to acknowledge her brother’s sexuality or the true cause of his death creates a household atmosphere of suffocating silence and dishonesty. Her relationship with Becks is defined by criticism and a constant pressure to conform to a narrow standard of normality. Unlike Becks’s grandmother Bubbe and uncle Benjamin, Sheila represents the failure of biological family to provide love and acceptance, which in turn necessitates Becks’s search for a chosen family elsewhere. Sheila’s fixation on control—from her perfectly pressed clothes, to her bullying approach to Bubbe’s early dementia, to her attempts to manage Becks’s life—stems from a deep seated fear and an inability to cope with the messiness of grief and love. In the game Homebound, Becks creates an analog for Sheila in the character of Debby, allowing this version of her mother to the chance to repair her relationship with her gay brother and presumably grow into a more emotionally open adult.

Veronica is Becks’s best friend and is a foil, representing a conventionally heteronormative and socially integrated femininity that Becks does not fit. Initially, Veronica’s apartment, the “House of Feelings” (39), seems like a sanctuary for Becks. However, it is clear early on that Becks is aware that Veronica is not as accepting or tolerant as would be ideal: As Becks’s grief deepens, she chooses not to tell Veronica about Benjamin being gay, showing the limits of their friendship. Veronica’s advice is often superficial, and her disconnection with Becks is made clear when Veronica’s boyfriend, Jack, tells Becks that Veronica is aware of Becks’s romantic interest and does not return her feelings. The brusque insult that Becks is “not [Veronica’s] boyfriend” (80) and that her intense expressions of care are inappropriate is a turning point, pushing Becks to realize that the friendship cannot provide the belonging she desperately needs. Veronica is not equipped to handle the complexities of Becks’s journey toward her authentic self.

Ecobiologist Tamar’s story is revealed through a series of emails and articles from the past. As the lead scientist on the AmAye project and Chaya’s creator, she shows a compassionate and ethical approach to science. Having created the AmAyes to understand and work to rebuild the increasingly devastated environment, she fuses organic and technological systems within their brains—a combination of fungi and quantum computing she creates after being inspired by the terraria of her mentor, Becks’s wife EG. Later, Tamar is the first to recognize Chaya’s emergent consciousness and sentience, treating Chaya as a being deserving of respect and protection. Her decision to save Chaya from being sent on Bowker’s terraforming mission, by faking its decommissioning and entrusting it to her friend Solomon Helluga, is an act of deep moral courage—and a response to Chaya’s own desires. Tamar’s belief in interconnected ecosystems and the place of technology within them mirrors the book’s larger thematic argument for the importance of community.

Chante is the primary antagonist of the future timeline. A cold and manipulative crime lord, he embodies the oppressive, transactional world that Yesiko and Root are forced to navigate. His power is absolute, and he uses debt as a tool of control, trapping people in his service. His face, frozen by fish poison to hide his age and emotions, is a literal mask that symbolizes his inhumanity and lack of empathy. He represents the extreme version of The Burden of Survival, in which relationships are based on power and exploitation rather than care; Yesiko must break free from her debt to him to find a more meaningful life.