One hundred and twenty years. Give or take a few. That's how long it took for us to come here. Accelerating and decelerating through a void of stars, asleep, frozen, no dreams for us within the ice. Then twelve years more before they woke us, with the planet already prepared, the city built, so many already there. We woke up in a world new to us, with a culture already in place and us as outsiders. And then, they unleashed us into the wild.
We brought our shipping containers, holding our possessions, our dreams, but also serving as our first and final shelter. We knew we'd need them, as they already knew the wildlife out there, knew at least some of the threats we would be facing. They gave us what they reasonably could, in weapons, tools, preparations. And then off we went, as always was part of the deal. Their guinea pigs, to see whether life outside the city was even an option.
We managed. Not as well as we would have liked. After all, we didn't do this because it was hard, we did it because we thought it'd be easy. Despite the stringent selection process, there still were many that were in over their head. And despite all the help we could share, there was just no helping some people. They were forced to abandon their 'steads, return to the First City and make a living there that they had never expected.
And there were deaths. Some simple tragedies, but also frustrating ones, those that could have been prevented. Each death a scar on the communities we were trying to build. There are some we may never even know of properly, on account of the secrecy and privacy offered to us all. We all agreed to that stipulation, yet none expected this to be the price we would pay for such protection.
So here we are, almost two decades later. We were optimistic, more than was really warranted. We lost and struggled far more than we anticipated. And we paid the price for our hubris. There are names sketched into my soul, the preventable ones. Honestly, I cannot blame the ones that forfeited, having lost their heart to the struggle.
Yet here we are. We are. Our numbers are growing. Families are adding their extra claims, preparing their heirs for a life on their own. And despite how we all came out to be on our own, we do have our communities. We laugh together, cry together. Build together. We have connections with the cityfolk, through hired hands, families, the soldiers that help defend us, the scientists that work with us. There are even some of us that have joined the ranks of the Spears, venturing forth and exploring to help us build a better tomorrow.
And we are, in fact, a successful experiment. Because they asked us to build a life, not within safeguarded walls but out here, integrated with all the life around us. And we have, we are here. Creatures came to us, walking amongst our cattle, seeking safety in numbers and repaying us with their physical strength. Birds warn us of threats and we repay them for their kindness. We form friendships with not just our fellow humans, but with all kinds of animals. Our dogs befriend beings so much like but also unlike them, as do the birds of prey that came with us. We are no longer purely invaders of this planet, we are actually becoming part of it.
There are hard days, where I struggle with what we've gone through. But there are days that I look at this canine by my side, hear the friendly greeting call from a local bird, see the tracks from nearby herds that respect my territory but still like being close to me. And then I feel hope, hope for what is to come. And I am glad I came here.
— An old one
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