The childhood of human civilization is ending. The united state of people - the Confederation - is at the peak of its prosperity. Of the nearly thirty-nine billion people, thirty still live in the Solar System, seven live in the fifty star systems of the Province Sphere within thirty light years of it. Just over a billion live on hundreds of planets in the Sphere of the Periphery, located at distances from thirty to ninety-five light years. Only tens of millions inhabit the Wilderness and Wild Lands. There are no signs of future changes...