Long Journey Begins

With the basic institutional infrastructure of the new society in place, it was time to plan the almost ten-thousand mile journey to the long previously identified humex rendezvous point of Nexra. It was expected to be a multi-generational odyssey to the planned center of empire. Even before the Xrans had conceived of a method to descend safely to the orb, Xran astronomers from orbit had concluded that Nexra, for many reasons, including the eventual establishment of the probable landing locations of four Xran descent groups, would be the best place on the orb from which to develop their new empire. In addition to the proximate landing site estimates, Nexra was situated at the junction with or had access to most of the orb's northern hemisphere’s  seas, lakes, rivers and one of the orb’s great oceans. It would turn out that, in a hundred years or so, the second, third and fourth Xran descent groups would land far afield from the original estimates. Nevertheless, the locational divergence of later descent groups would not be known for nearly a century.

Meanwhile, a representative humex team from the original landing group began the journey west to Nexra. They planned to follow a great river that would lead them about half way to their destination. The first half of the river journey would be facilitated by multiple rafts. This part of the journey would take the expeditionary team through the relatively flatlands of savannahs and prairies. At the termination of the flatlands, rapidly rising mountains and resulting river white water and waterfalls put an end to the rafting. It was there, at the beginning of what would seem like endless ranges of mountains, that the first humex outpost was established. The expeditionary team had been traveling for nearly two years and yearned to settle down at least temporarily, and so the first humex outpost city, Two Rivers Outpost was established. The development of the outpost was embedded in the original plan by humex psychologists. The respite would be important to the group's mental health. The outpost would continue to serve as a respite for weary travelers for the next five centuries. It would eventually rival The Grove, the first humex city in both size and in the sophistication of its institutions.

Because of the hard work of copious note taking by the pioneer river rafters, later rafting groups found it increasingly easy to make the river journey. Besides publishing treatises on the currents of the river, food animals, fruits and vegtables found along the banks and weather, the sail was invented – rudimentary and almost wholly ineffectual at first - it became increasingly more sophisticated and was to be an important foundation to the humex sailing ships many decades later as they reached the seas surrounding Nexra.

As I wrote this section of the book, my mind continued to wander to the epic movie “How the West Was Won.” Here I wanted to paint a picture typical of the great migrations of man – a picture in which the reader could insert himself – to understand the small but important inventions and processes necessary to this heroic adventure.