The Oort Federation: To the Stars

Denver-Phoenix Complex

DENVER—PHOENIX COMPLEXPhoenix 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.”

President Fulton spoke up. “What kind of range does the locus/hyper-disk pair have?”

“Any portal’s range,” Brad answered, “is a complicated function of distance and the physical size of the portal on the one hand, and the power supplied to the locus on the other.”

The three men entered the Greater Hall. The walls on all sides were lined with labeled doors.

“This is a MERT Portal hub,” Brad told the men. “Chairman Butler, you, Sir, are completely familiar with this. I suspect that you, Mr. President,” he nodded at Fulton, “are less familiar.”

“Actually,” Fulton said, “I know very little about the portal network.”

“As I mentioned earlier, long-distance portals require huge amounts of power. Phoenix installed thinsat swarms behind the Moon, near Mercury, in Earth’s orbit on Sol’s other side, and farther out in the Solar System to provide this power. The power from these swarms is delivered by portal to the power room in this complex. From there, power flows to all portal locuses here,” he swung his arms in a circle, “and is vectored to other hubs around the Solar System.”

“Who pays for all this?” Fulton asked.

“Phoenix has been carrying the cost thus far,” Brad said. “The initial infrastructure, the swarms and portal locuses, were very costly. But Phoenix has vast reserves and chose to foot the bill. Phoenix will be negotiating with the Federation to set a minimal fee structure where a tiny amount will be debited from a user’s blockchain at each passage. The cost to individual citizens will generally be inside their budget noise level, hardly worth considering. The revenue flow to Phoenix will cover system maintenance and, over time, reimburse Phoenix for the initial infrastructure cost.”

“I had no idea,” Fulton said, shaking his head.

Brad handed him three disks. “These are E-disks. If you tap one firmly here,” Brad indicated a depression in one of the disks, “you will be instantly transported to this room, the Greater Hall. The disk senses your immediate environment. Should that change dramatically, for example, if a spacecraft you are riding loses pressure or if you were to fall out a window, the E-disk will automatically bring you here. The other two disks are for the two Secret Service agents nearest you, so they can follow should you suddenly disappear.” Brad grinned and walked them to a door labeled Oval Office.

“This portal has been used by Kimberly Deveraux in her role as liaison between the Federation and the U.S. president. It is deactivated until you,” Brad looked at Fulton, “decide to continue the arrangement.”

While they talked, Max turned and ran to a door marked Chairman and darted through a pet opening at the bottom. A few moments later, he reappeared through the door, strolled up to Butler, and began stroking his leg.

Butler stooped down to stroke Max along his back and up his stiff tail. He grinned and said, “Max likes to hang out with Thorpe when Thorpe is in the Chairman’s Office. Since Thorpe isn’t there, I guess he came back to console himself with me.”

“You’re serious, aren’t you?” Fulton asked. “If I understand this correctly, Max just made a one-and-a-half lightyear round trip in the few moments he was absent?”

Brad and Butler nodded, smiling.

“You’ll get used to it,” Butler said.