It was not one technology, but several, that proved to be the solution. The quantum computer and the AI provided the control system. Antimatter engines propelled it through space and provided energy. Shield technology protected the ship from stress caused by the jump rail that would hurl the ship across the vast distances of space. All these and more were joined in the Odysseus project.

The Odysseus project was one of the great monuments of Mankind. Seven giant vessels, the Odysseus probes, were constructed in orbit and launched towards carefully selected distant stars. Their mission was to find resources and use them to launch new probes to other stars, and to find planets capable of sustaining human life and terraform them and prepare the necessary infra-structure and communications network for the future human settlers.

As the probe reached its destination, it would launch drones to make a survey of nearby objects and search for resources. The probe would select a good site on a potential planet and send a base matrix down to that site, where robots were to be constructed in order to mine and process the resources expanding the base. When the base was self-sufficient and expanding, the Odysseus probe would leave orbit and continue towards a new destination. The base would continue to develop and expand, and eventually launch a new generation of Odysseus probes to continue the mission.

This was the grand plan of the Odysseus project. Within a decade, seven Odysseus probes were built and launched. It combined the best of science and engineering that Man had to offer, it was brought into being by leading forces in politics and market, and it unified humanity in the Global Alliance.