The Oort Federation, page 1
Praise For The Oort Federation
The mathematical metaphors in Robert G. Williscroft’s Icicle reminded me of classic Heinlein. In this sequel, The Oort Federation, Williscroft throws a surprising twist at us. Braxton Thorpe’s team builds on technology captured from the aliens, suggestive of the “super-science” of E. E. “Doc” Smith’s classic space operas. Icicle scaled up from the lab to beyond the Solar System. In The Oort Federation, Williscroft continues to build momentum, from terraforming Mars to expanding out to the stars, attempting to resolve a multi-sided conflict between the Oort, two alien planets, and Thorpe’s own human rivals. With hints that go beyond even this, I can hardly wait for the next episode in this epic.
– Alastair Mayer
Author of The T-Space Series
The Oort Federation: To the Stars is one of the most speculative, concept-rich, science-fiction novels I have ever read. You know it’s speculative when it comes with its own dense Glossary of terms relating to Portal Technology, MERT Drives, Lagrange points and the like. The further you read, the deeper you are taken into how the Universe actually works and what mankind’s destiny in it will ultimately be.
One thing I especially like is the extent to which the author explores humanity’s potential with concepts like clones, digital copies or electronic “Updates,” and the possibility of remaining young and even living forever without the need to have children. Our universe is indeed vast, and this sequel to Icicle: A Tensor Matrix, offers something for everyone: an ongoing space war between a ruthless Russian oligarch and members of the Federation; not one but two fully realized alien worlds and cultures; even cats and digital cats that hop from one section of the galaxy to another as easily as you and I step into another room.
I was absolutely swept away by what humanity was evolving toward. Are there any limits to our possibilities and aspirations? After this galaxy and universe, what about the next one? At one point in the novel, John Butler, Chairman of the Oort Federation, tries to anchor eThorpe’s loyalties to the Solar System and Man-As-We-Know-Him. But eThorpe is an electronic download, a member of a new breed, and he makes it plain that “Federation jurisdiction stops at the edge of the Oort Cloud.” He and no one else will lead “an expedition into the unknown” and be responsible for its success.
Exhilarating, challenging, and mind-blowing. I can only hope that the author continues this series, perhaps in a new universe.
– Professor John B. Rosenman, Norfolk State University
Former Chairman of the Board, Horror Writers Association
Author of The Inspector of the Cross Series
The Oort Federation
To the Stars
The Second Oort Chronicle
Copyright © 2021 by Robert G. Williscroft
All rights reserved
Fresh Ink Group
An Imprint of:
The Fresh Ink Group, LLC
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FreshInkGroup.com
Edition 1.0 2021
Artwork by Anik / FIG
Cover design by Stephen Geez / FIG
Book design by Amit Dey / FIG
Associate publisher Lauren A. Smith / FIG
Names, characters, and incidents in this story are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locations, names, and people, living or dead, is entirely coincidental and beyond the intent of the author and publisher.
Except as permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976 and except for brief quotations in critical reviews or articles, no portion of this book’s content may be stored in any medium, transmitted in any form, used in whole or part, or sourced for derivative works such as videos, television, and motion pictures, without prior written permission from the publisher.
Cataloging-in-Publication Recommendations:
FICO28020 FICTION / Science Fiction / Hard Science Fiction
FIC002000 FICTION / Action & Adventure
FICO28010 FICTION / Science Fiction / Action & Adventure
Library of Congress Control Number: 2021922044
ISBN-13: 978-1-947893-30-6 Papercover
ISBN-13: 978-1-947893-31-3 Hardcover
ISBN-13: 978-1-947893-32-0 Ebooks
ISBN-13: 978-1-947893-34-4 Audiobook
Ebook Readers: All ebook editions (Kindle, Nook, Kobo, GooglePlay, iBooks, etc.) have the Cast of Characters, Dedication, and Acknowledgements moved to the end of the story where you will find a Glossary and a lot more.
Table of Contents
Praise For The Oort Federation
Table of Contents
Prolog
Interstellar Space—Lone Surviving Asterian Starship
Interstellar Space—Braxton’s Starship
Part One The Federation
Chapter One
Oort Station Prime—Oort Federation Council
Denver—Phoenix Complex
Kuiper Belt—Ogden Enterprises
Earth—Los Angeles
Oort Station Prime—Detention Facility
Chapter Two
Oort Station Prime—Chairman John Butler’s Office
Denver—Phoenix Complex
Kuiper Belt—Ogden Enterprises
The Moon—Udachny
Oort Station Prime—Detention Facility
Chapter Three
Oort Station Prime—Chairman John Butler’s Office
Denver—Phoenix Complex
Kuiper Belt—Ogden Enterprises
Moon & Mars-Sun L4—Udachny
Oort Station Prime—Detention Facility
Chapter Four
Oort Station Prime—Chairman John Butler’s Office
Denver—Phoenix Complex
Kuiper Belt—Ogden Enterprises
Mars-Sun L4—Udachny
Earth—Various Locations
Chapter Five
Oort Station Prime—Chairman John Butler’s Office
Denver—Phoenix Complex
Kuiper Belt—Ogden Enterprises
Mars-Sun L4—Udachny
Oort Station Prime—Chairman John Butler’s Office
Chapter Six
Oort Cloud—Braxton’s Personal Swarm
Denver—Phoenix Complex
Kuiper Belt—Ogden Enterprises
Mars—Mars Station
Solar System—The Phoenix Portal System Network
Chapter Seven
Oort Station Prime—Chairman John Butler’s Office
Denver—Phoenix Complex
Kuiper Belt—Ogden Enterprises
Mars-Sun L4—Udachny
Oort Cloud—Johnny Oort
Chapter Eight
Denver—Phoenix Complex
Kuiper Belt—Ogden Enterprises
Kuiper Belt—Ogden Enterprises
Earth—Planetwide
Part Two Johnny Oort
Chapter Nine
Earth—Los Angeles
Kuiper Belt—Ogden Enterprises
Oort Station Prime—Chairman John Butler’s Office
Mars-Sun L4—Udachny
Kuiper Belt—Ogden Enterprises
Chapter Ten
Earth—Los Angeles
Kuiper Belt—Ogden Enterprises
Mars—Nanedi Valles Plateau
Mars—Nanedi City
Oort Station Prime—Chairman John Butler’s Office
Chapter Eleven
Earth—Los Angeles
Mars-Sun L4—Udachny
Mars—Nanedi Valles Plateau
Mars—Nanedi Valles Plateau
Mars-Sun L4—Udachny
Chapter Twelve
Oort Station Prime—Adm. Jerry Culp’s Office
Mars-Sun L1—Soletta
Mars—Geosynchronous Orbit
Mars—Polar Orbit
Mars-Sun L4—Udachny
Kuiper Belt—Kuiper Joint Station
Chapter Thirteen
Oort Cloud—eThorpe & eBraxton
Oort Station Prime—Chairman John Butler’s Office
Solar System—Various Locations
Mars—Various Locations
Mars—The Basins
Chapter Fourteen
Mars-Sun L4—Udachny
Oort Station Prime—Chairman John Butler’s Office
Kuiper Belt—Ogden Enterprises
Kuiper Belt—Phoenix Complex
Mars-Sun L4—Udachny
Chapter Fifteen
Kuiper Belt—Phoenix Complex
Kuiper Belt—Phoenix Complex
Proxima Centauri—PS Ad Astra & PS Neil Armstrong
Proxima Centauri—UZ Uri Gagarin
Proxima Centauri—PS Ad Astra & PS Neil Armstrong
Part Three Breakout
Chapter Sixteen
Kuiper Belt—New Kuiper Joint Station
Mars-Sun L4—Udachny
Kuiper Belt—New Kuiper Joint Station
Mars-Sun L4—Udachny
Mars-Sun L4—Phoenix Force
Chapter Seventeen
Kuiper Belt—New Kuiper Joint Station— Ogden Complex
Proxima Centauri—UZ Gherman Titov & UZ Uri Gagarin
Kuiper Belt—Udachny
Interstellar Space—One Lightyear Beyond OS Prime
Kuiper Belt—New Kuiper Joint Station
Chapter Eighteen
Interstellar Space—Between the Solar System and Aster
Kuiper Belt—New Kuiper Joint St
Interstellar Space—One AU beyond OS Prime
Oort Station Prime—Chairman John Butler’s Office
Kuiper Belt—New Kuiper Joint Station— Phoenix Complex
Chapter Nineteen
Aster System—Rogan
Aster System—Frohlic
Kuiper Belt—Udachny
Solar System—Various Locations
Kuiper Belt—New Kuiper Joint Station
Chapter Twenty
Interstellar Space—PS Neil Armstrong
Aster System—1.5 AUs North of Aster and Damvet Space Station
Aster System—Frohlic Cislunar Space
Aster System—Near Damvet Space Station
Aster System—Rogan L4 & L5
Chapter Twenty-One
Rogan—Damvet Space Station
Aster System—Inner Edge of the Asteroid Belt
Aster System—Frohlic Cislunar Space & Frohlic
Aster System—Generally
Oort Station Prime—Chairman John Butler’s Office
Frohlic—Office of the Boss
Chapter Twenty-Two
Rogan—Generally
Rogan—Technology Exchange
Kuiper Belt—New Kuiper Joint Station & Udachny
Aster System—Generally
Aster System—Conflict on Rogan & Frohlic
Epilog
Kuiper Belt—New Kuiper Joint Station
Aster System—Asteroid Belt
Aster System—Frohlic
Interstellar Space—IS Andromeda
Post a Review
Cast of Characters
Dedication
Acknowledgments
Excerpt From Slingshot
About the Author
Other Works by Robert G. Williscroft
Connect with Robert G. Williscroft
Glossary for The Oort Federation
Prolog
INTERSTELLAR SPACE—LONE SURVIVING ASTERIAN STARSHIP
His starship stopped—day two, hour thirteen, minute fifty-nine, seconds thirty-one of his escape from Sol to Aster.
With artificial gravity gone as well, Prozell Squzon floated before his drive console, his twelve fingers splayed over the controls. He did a quick calculation. He was still seventy-nine lightyears and change from Aster.
“A bit far to walk,” he muttered, rotating his ears back to better hear a scraping sound coming from the airlock.
Squzon activated the airlock monitor, but it was dead, the screen blank. The inner lock hatch opened with a rush of cold air. Before he could react, a spacesuited figure disabled him with some kind of Electro-Muscular-Disruption stun weapon.
INTERSTELLAR SPACE—BRAXTON’S STARSHIP
Prozell Squzon opened his eyes slowly. He hurt all over, even in places he had forgotten he had. He was on the deck of some kind of operations center filled with monitors and control consoles. A strange-looking humanoid stood before him, five-fingered hands on its hips. It was oddly thin and tall with puffy lips and a pointed nose. Its head was covered with brown hair, much like his. Clearly, some kind of mammalian ancestry, Squzon deduced. Several similar creatures stood around the chamber.
The strange creature addressed Squzon in his native language, Frohlican. “I am a human,” (it used the same word that Squzon used for himself), “from the star system your fleet just attacked, and from which you escaped as the only survivor. We are on our way to your home world and will arrive,” it checked an instrument, “in about four-and-a-half Frohlican days.” It used Frohlican duodecimal numbers, although probably, the creature normally calculated in base ten. “Unlike your relativistic craft,” it said, “this ship is superluminal.”
FTL—I should be frightened for me and my race, Squzon thought, but right now, I’m more curious.
“If you promise not to touch anything, I will not restrain you.” The creature’s mouth curved upward, and it showed its teeth.
I’ve got nothing to lose, Squzon thought. “I promise,” he said, meaning it.
PART ONE
THE FEDERATION
Chapter One
OORT STATION PRIME—OORT FEDERATION COUNCIL
The Oort Federation Council was gathered in the assembly room under the Oort Station Prime dome. Delegates came from most Earth nations, Mars, Phoenix, Ogden, Udachny (on Earth’s Moon), and several colonies scattered throughout the Asteroid Belt—the Belters.
Thorpe chaired the meeting. He was one of two electronic uploads that came from the Icicle, Braxton Thorpe. His holoimage appeared to be seated at a podium on a raised dais facing the collected delegates. The other upload, Braxton, occupied the Phoenix desk. Daphne O’Bryan and Kimberly Deveraux occupied the Ogden Enterprises desk, and Norman Bork, the Mars Station Manager, was at the Mars desk. He chatted quietly with Kimberly. A scowling Isidor Orlov sat at the Udachny desk representing both his company, Udachny Enterprises, and Earth’s Moon.
Outgoing United States President John Butler and his replacement, George Fulton, occupied the U.S. desk, and President Gregori Yeltsin sat at the Federated Russian Republics desk. Other Earth nation delegates occupied scattered desks throughout the chamber, sometimes representing more than one nation. The China desk was conspicuously vacant.
Thorpe gaveled the meeting to order. His voice reached the personal Links of each delegate in whatever language that person desired.
“I called this meeting to inform all of you of the outcome of our Solar System-wide encounter with the Asterian fleet.”
eMax’s holoimage appeared on the dais, where he curled up, purring softly, as Thorpe’s holoimage appeared to stroke him. Thorpe then detailed the nature of the encounter with the 5,000 armed spacecraft, the Federation losses, and the capture of two Asterians and one of their spacecraft.
“Federation forces destroyed all five thousand Asterian spacecraft. One escaped and is, we presume, returning to the Aster system.” Thorpe concluded his presentation with, “We expect to intercept the lone survivor long before he reaches Aster.”
The delegates broke out in spontaneous applause. Thorpe let it continue for a while and then raised his hand. When the group quieted, he said, “I have held this chair for the past five years. I orchestrated the expansion of humans to the very edge of our Solar System and guided our defense against the invaders. Now, I want to focus on what lies beyond the Oort Cloud, beyond our Solar System, even beyond the Aster system.
“I have worked closely these five years with John Butler, the outgoing president of the United States. Following the procedures outlined in the Oort Federation Charter, I am stepping down as Chairman of the Oort Federation. I have asked, and John has agreed, to step into my shoes to carry forward the work of this body. I will be focusing outward, while John will look to the needs of our Solar System with its human and Oort citizens and to its defense.”
Thorpe’s holoimage beckoned to Butler, who stood and approached the dais. Thorpe gestured to the gavel on the podium. As Butler picked it up, both Thorpe’s and eMax’s holoimages vanished.
DENVER—PHOENIX COMPLEX
Phoenix occupied a complex in the Denver Tech Center just east of Interstate-25. Originally called Revive Labs in Los Angeles, it is where Braxton Thorpe, the Icicle, was revived and uploaded as an electronic entity—a Tensor Matrix. Upon moving to Denver, it was renamed Phoenix Labs, and as operations extended throughout the Solar System, it became just Phoenix.
Drs. Brad Kominsky and Sally Nguyen, with their uploads eBrad and eSally, working at Phoenix, invented the MERT Portal, a wormhole portal derived from the Einstein-Rosen Bridge as modified by Thorne and Morris—hence Morris-Einstein-Rosen-Thorne or MERT. With the MERT Portal as a basis, they developed the MERT Drive that they describe as a leapfrogging pair of MERT Portals.
Federation Chairman John Butler and newly installed U.S. President George Fulton walked with Dr. Brad Kominsky down a passageway toward the Greater Hall in the Denver Phoenix Complex. Max strolled with them, tail straight in the air. They were accompanied by two Secret Service agents, and more were spread throughout the complex and the surrounding streets. Brad was speaking.
“MERT Portals come in two flavors, a permanent portal between two points, and a MERT Portal locus paired with a hyper-disk.” He pulled one from his lab smock pocket and held it up. “A MERT Portal locus creates a Casimir field that generates a wormhole. The locus produces a hyper-disk that can be carried to any location within range. When the hyper-disk is activated, a MERT Portal is established. It’s also possible to transport a hyper-disk through a portal to establish another portal. The locus for that hyper-disk can be anywhere within range. The multiple wormholes don’t tangle or interact in any way.”
