rray of issues open for further review.

After hours of debate the Draft Declaration of
Principles was approved by the Leaders of the Solar
Community. (See Appendix.)

All agreed that the First UIPS-INOR Conference
augured well for the future of humankind.

Epilogue

The networks of mass attractors that tethered
the Extractor to Planet Pluto disengaged nine
Earth centuries after construction began. Pluto
contributed its orbital momentum to the launch.
In time the integrated drives of the most advanced
propulsion thrusters took on the full load, and the
dream of humankind was on its way to the Alpha
Centauri star system, on schedule.

Scientists and technicians on The Solar System's
Slingshot Control Center maintained constant
real-time oversight of the Extractor's subsystems
and structures through spunnel monitors. A
convoy of robot deflectors and screens cleared
the Extractor fleet's path of meteoroids, sand and
rock swarms and space debris. Hundreds of logistics
robots crammed the station's cavernous bays,
self-sustaining and programmed to activate
sub-systems on schedule, deploy robotic specialists
and service the machine during its voyage, and in
perpetuity thereafter.

Maximum acceleration for almost two Earth decades
increased the fleet's velocity to five percent
speed-of-light, which it maintained for more than
a Solar System Standard Century. Deceleration and
vector adjustments took another three decades.
Alignment to major concentrations of potential
sources, selection of a 'first phase' work site,
calibration of instrumentation and activating its
spunnel channels and monitors required still more.

Back along the Solar rim, the Collector remained
linked to Planet Pluto for two decades following
the Extractor's departure. Its schedule along
Pluto's orbit provided sufficient time for the
Collector's transit to its permanent station
along the rim, to track the Extractor's position
via spunnel to refine details for integrated
operations, and for positioning and calibrating the
thousands of networks that coordinate the solar
and interstellar arrays.

The citizens of the Solar community tuned in to
witness the release of the Interstellar Spunnel
Signal from the hand of the President of the newly
formed United Nations of the Solar System. It would
be the final signal to synchronize and activate the
collective controls of the Extractor and Collector.

The President keyed the Signal.