[AUDIO) We begin on a space station, hearing the hum of the slow turning engine. The room is large and nearly empty.

ARCHIVIST: Welcome to the Archives. Our record for review today will be from section 27: Historical Worlds. Today’s sample is from Hune, once one of the most successful trade centers of the sector.

Please note that any opinions expressed in these samples belong solely to the speaker on record and do not reflect the views of this station, the archival union, or the Collected Archives itself. If anything in this review causes listener distress or confusion please report to the nearest attendant for assistance. Possible sources of distress include mention of an election. Please also note there will be time for questions and observations once the sample has concluded.

[AUDIO] [At the sound of an electronic swoop, the sounds of the space station fade away. They are replaced by the muttering and rustling of a crowded room.

KAVLIN clears his throat and the muttering and movement quickly fades to silence.

KAVLIN DO: Citizens, my friends.

To all who have supported me on this long journey, let me start with thank you. We have spent what feels like a lifetime trying to change the world, trying to hold the hearts and minds of a people whose options have felt closed for so long they have forgotten to dream. We have weathered the disdain, disbelief, and discord our opponents have aimed at us. We have risen to every challenge, and we have done so with fire in our bellies and courage in our hearts.

What we began two years ago in a common room, our spark of passion, belief, and duty may be paused today but it is not ended. The voters had a choice, and they chose against us. We now have a choice of our own.

[AUDIO] the crowd grows briefly restless with a few coughs and the sound of people shifting in their seats

I choose them, and I ask you to join me.

KAVLIN DO: I choose them because I believe that beneath the fear, beneath the worn and weary eyes and hands around us are the spirits of people who would choose hope if they could reach it. I ask you to join me in bringing that hope just a few spans closer, so that the next time they have a chance it won’t feel too far away to be real.

I choose them because I know that the hateful, divisive words they shout and whisper about us every day are born in fear, that they see our joy and our community and it stirs them to anger, but that somewhere within them they’re longing to join us. I ask you to join me in showing them our faces every day. Some of them will never turn to us, but for those few who will, I intend an open door.

I choose them because without them we are too few, and without us they are too downcast, but if we can come together we still have the power to change this world before it is too late. I ask you to join me, and to remain steadfast, because it is not too late.

Not quite.

Today’s defeat means that our world will most likely send them our answer soon, and then, within a blink we’ll be one of their outer worlds. The changes coming within the next few years will be vast, and so quick that they might seem unstoppable.

But we have time.

If we regain the throat of this world, if we can cry out against the fate of our neighbors just once before being consigned to the dust and darkness, before being asked to leave, to become, to join, then we can remain whole.

KAVLIN DO: To those who chose against us, please, listen to what we have been saying. There is no power at stake now. You’ve given that away but hear our voices still repeating our plea for time, for sense, and for care. It is easy to choose fear. It is easy to give away your power and let someone else make the decisions, to watch and to wait. But what begins as easy will end in tears if we let it. We all love our world. It’s home. It’s our history and our future, unless we surrender it to the hunger and might of the great galactic giant.

To those who celebrate tonight, the victors, the newly elected committee, I ask three things. I ask first that you set aside time to listen to our cause before you answer them. Now we’re not opponents, but a group of citizens who want to express ourselves. Whether me, or some other speaker, please give us a day to be heard in rational conversation.

I ask second that you take steps to preserve our history, that if we become part of the Collected you work with us to ensure we still retain our world’s memory. We have come so far, learned so much, and for it to all be lost in the dust would be a tragedy.

Finally, I ask you to let anyone who wishes to leave before we join them do so. They have thousands of worlds with billions of people on them. The few thousands who would go are a speck of dust in the galaxy. Please, give them that choice, that chance to remain themselves.

KAVLIN DO: We, and our fate, are the sum of our choices. Today’s has been momentous, and has started a wave which will crash against the shores of our world until its end. May we stand together, hand in hand against the tide of change, and may whatever we become be something we can live with.

For your support, I thank you. For your belief, I admire you. For your faith in me, I stand humbly before you, and for your choices, I remember you.

Thank you, and good night.

[AUDIO] the thump of a mic being tapped and placed in a stand

[AUDIO] an electronic swoop again signals a change. The few sounds of the room fade away and the sound of the space station returns.

ARCHIVIST: The speaker in this sample, Kavlin Do, was a rising public official much like one of our Attendants. According to local accounts that speech, given hours after Hune signed the Articles of Membership was his last act before resigning. There is no record of him after, nor of any other political reaction or unrest in response to Hune’s joining.

This concludes today’s record. If you have any questions or wish to comment on today’s experience, please visit an attendant and they will happily record your response.

[AUDIO] With a softer swoop, the sounds of the hall fade out to be replaced by the sound of a smaller, softer room. An office.

FIRST ATTENDANT: You have ten seconds to explain yourself!

ARCHIVIST: You told me to show them something real.

FIRST ATTENDANT: Something real! Something convincing! Something stirring! NOT reckless, violent, dangerous dissent! I should have you removed!

ARCHIVIST: Do was a voice for peace and unity. There was nothing violen-

FIRST ATTENDANT: Enough!

ARCHIVIST: You can’t expect them to make a decision this important without looking at more than one si-

FIRST ATTENDANT: Be quiet!!! [takes a breath]. Fine. It’s done, but from now on, no farmers, and No Politicians!

ARCHIVIST: Just… truth, then.

FIRST ATTENDANT: You understand me then. No more… interesting choices.

ARCHIVIST: Yes, ma’am.

[MUSIC[ A sparse, lonely repeating motif with a sound like crystal, a shifting bed of strings underneath.

CREDITS: The Last Echoes is written by Trace Callahan with editing by Evan Tess Murray. Direction is by Evan Tess Murray. Sound design and music are by Trace Callahan. This episode features Evan Tess Murray, Chijioke Williams, and Trace Callahan. We are so glad you’re here to share these stories with us. You can, find us online at Lastechoespod, on Twitter, the Fediverse, and Tumblr or visit our website lastechoes.com. We’d love to hear from you.

Thank you to our season one supporters, including Maddie, Rebekah, Kate, Anne, Christopher, Holly, Tina, Stephanie, and Caroline.

Keep telling your story, the hard decisions and stirring words, the arguments and new moments of forgiveness. Together, our stories make our whole world. And when all that’s left is an echo, no one’s voice is small.