Kepi’s communicator had begun to light up during the third hour of
discussions about repercussions and legitimate process behind fire-bombing the
forest to the ground. The senate chairman broke the group for lunch and Kepi
made her way to the nearest private side room, passing several other senators
and assuring then that Eamon would be back by the end of the day.
She sat down at the first chair and pulled her communications unit
out of her pocket. The annoyingly demanding sentence turned out the be both
more and less interesting that she had hoped. “Do you trust me?” The text asked.
She immediately typed her reply. “The only people who feel comfortable in the political arena are liars,
cheaters, or con men. You happen to be one of the most uncomfortable people I’ve
ever met.”
It took less than a minute for the reply to appear. “You always had a way with words, I’m glad
you are the one who gets to announce this.”
“Announce what?” she asked,
Senators flooded back into the main chamber as the bell signaling
the end of the recess rang. Kepi returned to Eamon’s chair and flipped up the
emergency floor request switch. She looked down at the front end of the chamber
and watched as the heads of the senate discussed her request. One by one each
of the five looked her direction and saw her instead of Eamon. She knew that
his absence was the only reason the request had not already been turned down. Finally
the leaders broke and returned to their own seats. The Senate leader gaveled
the room to silence and then gestured to Kepi.
“The, representative from the twenty seventh district has made an
emergency request for the floor and it has been granted.” The Senate leader sat and waited along with
the others to speak.
The light above the chair lit up so everyone could see her. She gripped
her phone tightly and hoped that she wasn’t ending both her bosses and her own
career as she spoke. “Ladies and Gentlemen of the Colony Senate.” She started,
her voice caught and she cleared it with a quick cough. “Three hundred and
seventy one years ago our ancestors left their home on an ancient colony ship.
Most of our oldest ancestors never saw this planet, they were people of the
stars. They spent their lives traveling through and mastering the empty
vastness of space. I used to think about how hard it must have been to colonize
this planet with nothing more than the supplies and people that came aboard
that ancient vessel. How cold and unforgiving this planet must have been at
first.” She looked around the room at the nearly three hundred faces. “But now
I know that our ancestors were uncommonly lucky, because if they had landed on
the planet today they would be facing extermination.” She paused as the men and
women in the room grumbled their displeasure at the accusation of her
statement. The senate leader gaveled twice and the room begrudgingly went quiet
again, allowing Kepi to continue. “Eamon, the actual representative for the
twenty seventh district had enough of your distrust, and your fear, and your
callous shortsightedness and did something only slightly less selfish than we
have been discussing for days now. He went to meet with the alien species.” She
stopped as the room exploded in hundreds of yelling voices. Her light stayed
lit and the senate heads gathered together to discuss Kepi’s admission. She
watched this all in silence without sitting down.
She watched as the senate leader gaveled several more times to
quiet the room down before he spoke. “Has he made contact?” The leader asked.
Kepi nodded. “He has.”
The senate leader nodded. “And I take it that he is still alive.”
The leader asked.
Kepi nodded again. “He is. And He says the aliens have come to
help us escape the fate of our colony, and he sent me proof so that you could
convince yourselves that the threat you see is nothing compared to the one you
have yet to notice.”
