On the seventy-fifth anniversary of the first Xran descent from orbit a census was taken. The empire, such as it was, included the population centers of The Grove, Two Rivers Outpost and Canyon Valley Outpost. The majority of the population could be found in one or the other of these humex cities, but there were also citizens on any number of wagon trains between Two Rivers and Canyon Valley conducting commerce mainly, and, otherwise traveling to visit friends and relatives. The same applied to the river rafters between The Grove and Two Rivers. Finally to complete the census, a tally was made of the trail constructors and the forward planners working to chart and construct the endless trail to Nexra.
The census was broken down into (1) location (total, 80,000) and (2) intelligence factors. Intelligence factors were subtitled (a) Pure humex (2,000), which was to say, citizens undiluted by non-pure humex blood. These included biologically assimilated humex and children of pure humex parents. (b) Para-humex (9,000). These were children of cross humex/human births who showed that they inherited more intelligence from the humex parent. (c) Pre-humex (27,000). These were also children of cross humex/human births who demonstrated less intelligence from their humex parent. And finally (d) the census categorized immigrant humans (42,000) who were or in the process of becoming culturally assimilated into humex society. Aside from the need to identify and specially train the most intelligent pure-humex as leaders, the other categories also had specific and complete training up to each citizen's capacity. This effort by humex institutions continued throughout the life of the citizen. As a result, the society as a whole was happy and productive. This social compact resulted in virtually no crime, and, societal efforts that would have been spent on corrective and incarceritive measures were directed to training its citizens to their highest and best use – to be the best they could be.
During the census, Brin and Lun who had been on the first expeditionary force twenty-five years before were returning to The Grove for the first time since then. They were going back to visit their grandfather, Amda, the first of the humans to be biologically assimilated so many years before. He had been the leader of The Grove for many years but had recently retired from an active leadership role and assumed an elder statesman role. He had been ill for some time and his grandchildren were coming back to look in on him – perhaps for the last time. Amda, though, made a full recovery while his grandchildren were with him, and decided to join them on the way back up river to see the progress that had been made in twenty-five years. He was anxious to see what preparations had been made to continue, with all the necessary due urgency, the journey to Nexra. He would be disappointed with the complacency he would find as well as the alarmingly small percentage of total population that the pure humex represented. As the 'father of this society,' he set out to effect radical changes in the attitude of the settlers - both civic and marital.
