The Star Machine and Other Tales

The ORyans are an odd, restless lot. Generations of this enterprising Irish family find opportunity in America as an itinerant blacksmith, a resourceful tradesman, a college professor, an eccentric industrialist. The familys lifelong pursuits seem peculiar; likewise, the upshot of their ventures often alarms many. But, its the latter ORyans founding of a band of ingenious scientists, technicians and engineers, the Travelers, who cause the greatest unrest. Advancing 21st-century industry with fabulous and fearsome machines, the Travelers launch an entrepreneurial blitz on behalf of humanity but malicious rivals frustrate their efforts at nearly every turn. One in the band turns traitor and the ORyans must hide, unable to quell a rising tide of tyranny seeking control of the Travelers marvelous inventions for evils own advance. To thwart his foes, Ian Kilroy, a faithful though furtive friend of the ORyans, must discover what links a rash of devastating earthquakes, the startling destruction of a pilot fusion reactor, and the secret sabotage of the Travelers own trial starship. Time isnt on his side. A starry amulet, more accursed than lucky as ORyans family heirloom, seems the unlikely prize Kilroys enemies madly seek to keep the mystery unsolved and seize the Travelers legacy.