Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

As Drs Schuster and Oxley, they have set out to address several subjects that have been over-intellectualised, complicated, misdiagnosed, or outdated. With a whimsical eye and deep belief in humanity's strength to prevail against the absurdity of aspects of modern society, they are committed to presenting helpful business and leadership concepts for the next generation.

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THE Enlightenment of INFERON

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Contents

Preface.............................................viiPrologue: Children Of The Sky.......................xiiiCh 1: Thirteen billion years........................1Ch 2: Anasec........................................12Ch 3: Membership....................................18Ch 4: Queen Arean...................................27Ch 5: The tip of the spear..........................35Ch 6: Coffee........................................47Ch 7: Mr. Iss.......................................52Ch 8: The science of supernovae.....................62Ch 9: Left reflections..............................67Ch 10: Reflections right............................71Ch 11: Reflections in time..........................74Ch 12: The search for meaning.......................80Ch 13: Urianaz......................................85Ch 14: Polyemetic memories..........................89Ch 15: Tribal watch.................................98Ch 16: Sands of emptiness...........................105Ch 17: Contact......................................110Ch 18: The visitor..................................115Ch 19: Programmed incentive.........................119Ch 20: Faith........................................123Ch 21: CIMDI........................................127Ch 22: Guardians discourse..........................131Ch 23: Computational emotion........................138Ch 24: Old federation...............................143Ch 25: The path.....................................147Ch 26: Family.......................................152Ch 27: Predatory things.............................160Ch 28: Days of Urian................................166Ch 29: Solemn ground................................171Ch 30: New federation...............................177Ch 31: The stars....................................180Ch 32: Future history...............................184About the Author....................................187

Chapter One

"Since wars begin in the minds of men, it is in the minds of men that the defenses of peace must be constructed." Unesco

In the captains chair aboard the flagship Paquet Commander Iss took a rare moment to relax. The exercises were over. The Paquet and its fleet of support vessels completed yet another training mission where they successfully located and eliminated several simulated rouge pirate frigates. Once the assessment and debriefing of the exercise was complete and the appropriate reports filed, they would move on to their next assignment.

Before he could let his mind wander too far from his duty as the ships captain the information console chimed. He leaned a bit closer to the device.

With a sigh he spoke, "accept transmission."

Moments later the new message appeared. He knew its general content before he read it. His mind drifted for a moment to all that transpired to put this message on his monitor. He knew changes as big as the ones sure to come were a long time in the making, but now they were upon him. He'd been apprehensive about his world joining the federation since the first debate on the subject years ago. During the political process that ensued, he attended numerous meetings on the subject of joining the United Federation of Worlds and participated with both comment and opinion for the record. His opinion differed from that of the political leaders though. Their motivation centered on political and economic matters. His was more concerned with preserving peace and defending his world from the aggressive acts of others. As far as he was concerned, his world managed to remain free without any outside help.

Commander Iss's priorities formed early in his life. Having grown up with a father and a grandfather who were both generals in their time, Asun Iss adopted many of their attitudes and opinions at an early age. All through his time at the academy and the service to his world that followed, he believed simple adherence to a defined set of laws and the application of military strategies were enough. It wasn't as though politics were unknown or unimportant to him, in fact he understood them quite well. It was just that they were secondary to the greater value he found in practical and simple logic. Acts of aggression were just that, acts of aggression. No amount of political maneuvering would ever revive the dead or evaporate a single drop of spilled blood.

His "keep politics and emotion out of the mission objective" attitude had served him well through two wars, several military police actions, and numerous negotiations. As a result, a career that began as an inexperienced navigation lieutenant matured into that of the seasoned military commander who was now Lead Commander of the Anasec space defense contingent.

Nevertheless, his military point of view was only one of many. His government and his world had its own list. High on that list was the fact that over the last few decades several of the worlds Anasec traded with became members of the United Federation of Worlds. With their alliance came lopsided trade agreements and preferences resulting from higher taxes and tariffs on non-member worlds such as Anasec. It wasn't as though the federation intended to manipulate or pressure outside worlds like his into their coalition but the cost of doing business as a non member was nonetheless expensive.

Another factor they considered was the fact that the Anasec system was located on the fringe of a very large volume of space controlled by it. With federation worlds on one side and the vast unknown on the other Anasec finally made its choice. As Commander Iss prepared to read the transmission, his world was in the last stages of a lengthy and complex agreement. He couldn't quite put a finger on what it was that made him uneasy. "After all the federation had no history of violence other than to defend itself. Maybe it was simply `change' that made him feel that way," he thought. He trusted, no, he hoped the high council understood what they were doing. Because history was filled with examples of political decisions both good and bad. Unfortunately, the bad ones often tended to drag the military into senseless and bloody conflicts.

The transmission on his monitor was a response to questions the Anasec Central Government Council posed regarding the mysterious "superships" the federation claimed guaranteed peace. He'd heard rumors and unofficial reports regarding them but had never seen one, not even a holographic image of one. With them, the federation promised protection allegedly from any aggressor. Considering them from the standpoint of a career military mind Commander Iss wanted a copy of the report, not just to satisfy his curiosity but also to assess their military implication.

He reclined in his command chair scanning the stars through the windows. "Peaceful," he thought. "Quiet, just as it should be." Around the bridge, his command crew went about their duties. To his left were the scanning and science teams. To his right the weapon systems officers, communications, and environmental monitors. Just below his forward view were the navigation and tactical analysis crew. Beyond them, the transparent beryllium windows provided a magnificent view of space. The thousands of others busily doing their assigned tasks aboard his ship also crossed his mind. For a while, he could afford the luxury of some time to read the report. Eyeing the cup of purple liquid sitting on his console, he reached out and took it feeling its...