Kepi had not yet been to the forest. She set in motion the requests
for supplies and transports and grabbed a shuttle to the forest. She was
excited to see the alien forest, and the giant ship tree they were growing.
When she arrived she was disappointed to find that most of the
forest was covered by the darkness that Eamon had told her about. She landed
her shuttle next Eamon’s and was greeted by two Starseeds. They summoned vines
from the canopy above which carried them to the tree ships clearing.
Eamon had had incredible success teaching the Starseeds the purpose
of and how to make books. They had already needed them as it was clear they had
been forced to cut back the collective consciousness away from the shiptree’s
clearing. When the vines set Kepi and her companions down at the edge of the
clearing her jaw hit the floor.
The ship tree had grown an incredible amount in such a short time.
It now easily dwarfed the rest of the forest and was taking up more than half
of the clearing. She found Eamon and Rootan working on books that were in
different stages of assembly. Other Starseeds were filling completed books with
the knowledge they could not afford to loose. They already had a large
bookshelf full of completed volumes.
Kepi was stunned. “How have you gotten so many done?” She asked in
awe.
Eamon turned and stood to embrace her. “Kepi! Time flies I could
have sworn we only spoke a few moments ago.” He looked at the books they had
completed. “The Starseeds don’t sleep and once I showed Rootan how to make a
book they all took to the process like addicted bibliophiles. They haven’t
stopped building or writing since.” He said with a great smile. “How goes the
council meetings?” He asked.
Kepi smiled. “Better than I would have hoped.” She grabbed his
hand and they began to walk together. “They aren’t stupid people. You just
never learned to talk to them the way they liked to be talked to. Once they saw
reason the vote was a simple matter.” She explained.
He patted her arm in excitement. “You were always more cut out for
that work than I was.” He complimented.
She nodded. “Perhaps, but there are more than a few ways for a
person to be useful and there is no shame in it not being through public
service.” She pardoned him. “All the districts are going to start gathering
supplies and ships in the next twenty four hours.” She explained.
He nodded. “Not a moment too soon, and possible too little to late”
He said with a furrowed brow.
She shook her head. “What will be, will be.” She said looking up
beyond the canopy in a second of silent prayer. “Will you be coming back to the
capitol or staying here a while longer?” She asked him.
He stopped walking and she stopped with him. “I am making sure these people don’t lose everything because they came to help us. What in the capitol could possibly be important enough to take me away from this?” He asked.
She smiled sadly. “I’ll contact your sister and father and make
sure their ready to leave then.” She looked back to the clearing behind them. “Can
you even ride in that thing with them?” She asked.
He laughed. “Humans to their ships, Starseeds to theirs. I want to
be left here for a while, not left behind.” He said with a smile. “Come on, let
me introduce you to Rootan.” He pulled her back to the edge of the clearing
where the Starseeds were working on books.
