Eamon woke up to a revelation. He hated his job. He had always been a do'er, most comfortable with dirty hands actively finishing jobs. He liked to see the improvements in the lives of the people he helped. Somewhere along the way he had convinced himself that running for office would be the best and most efficient way to help as many people as possible. He quickly learned that he could not have been more wrong.
In the year and a half since he had won his seat he had spent sixteen months in meetings. He barely had time to speak with his staff, much less approach a problem to solve. Eighteen months of completely wasted time, which he had to admit was largely his own fault. He had no training in governmental management, no family history of leadership or power, no useful connections and thus no place in the upper echelons of representative government.
Kepi had everything he didn't. She had appeared one morning early on and practically took over his office. She introduced him to the economy of favors, taught him the languages of double speak and empty words. Over the last eighteen months he had learned to speak sentences and make promises that meant nothing but bought everything, and he hated every minute of it. With Kepi behind him he had accomplished more in eighteen months than he could have done in a life time without her. And this morning he had realized that he was holding her back. The only thing he had that she didn't was a seat at the table and it was well within his authority to give it to her.
Lost in his thoughts Eamon got out of bed and left the shuttle without waking Mew. He wandered into the forest as he considered where his life might take him next and found himself at the clearing where the Starseeds were growing their new ship.
There was a lone Starseed tending the tiny Tree growing in the center of the clearing. It waved at Eamon as he approached. Eamon waved back and then watched silently as the Starseed poked and prodded the new growth. "If you all just share one mind, what should I call you?" He asked awkwardly.
The Starseed continued his work as he replied. "What was your name before you were born?" It asked.
Eamon raised an eyebrow. "Excuse me?" he stuttered in confusion.
The Starseed pulled some fresh moss off the Bark of the tree. "You are Eamon now, with all your traits and quirks, that mind in that body, electrical impulses bound to specific pathways for a length of time yet to be determined. But everything that you are, from hair to toes and every thought in between, used to be something or someone else. The body is easy, but the mind begs the question, what was your name before 'you' were Eamon?" The Starseed looked at Eamon and flashed him a psychic smile. "You can call me Tremar." He said.
Eamon nodded and sat down to think about the idea he had just been presented with, Another part of his mind asked a question that had been bouncing around his skull. "I know you guys went out of your way to help us, but just out of curiosity, how are you going to get your mind matter, darkness stuff back safely across the barrier?" He asked.
Tremar finally stopped tending to the tree and shook his head. Sadness spread across his face. "We have never transitioned through space that way before. Transporting our conscious matter in physical space is a problem we have never had to solve. We are, worried that what has come through to this place will stay here and when the wave undoes this planet we will forget everything we have done here." Tremar sat next to Eamon. "Still it is a price worth paying to save your people." He finished.
Eamon looked at the morning sky through the gap in the tree canopy. It was getting brighter as the sun rose higher in the sky. "I will remember for you. If I have to write the books myself, your people will have a record of what you did here, of what you sacrificed, for us." He promised.
The pair sat in silence for a moment before Tremar asked. "What are books?" He said with intense curiosity.
