“This is a day,” Commander said, pausing momentarily as if he was too moved for words, “A day I never foresaw coming. You, I, us as a people- we have done something incredible. Incredible, I tell you! Never did I think an accomplishment of this magnitude would ever be reached. We've been alone for so long. So, so long. Each of us had a hole in our hearts that we didn’t know how to fill. A void in our minds, yearning to be filled with new life. New love. Companionship.”

There were thousands in the audience, but not a noise could be heard. Even the young, sitting on the knees of parents who were seated and on shoulders and in the arms of those standing, could not bring themselves to ruin the deep quiet that had set over the pavilion. Even they knew that drastic changes were taking place.

“My people, my friends, my family. We’ve made it. We’ve really made it. We’ve found them. That new life, new love. That sense of companionship. We’ve found it! We’ve found a planet capable of sustaining life! We’re not alone here!  We can’t be alone here! We’ve been sharing this universe with someone, and we can finally get to them. We can finally reach out with open arms and make an alliance that will be one for the Gods. Let us celebrate. Let us rejoice in the fact that we are not alone.”

ONE

The journey was long. Longer than expected, actually. The scientists, the civilians, the governors; we all knew the trip would be a rough one. We knew that intergalactic travel, something we had explored but not totally mastered, would take a toll on us, on our minds. No one expected the tole to be as great as it was, though.

First, the people became restless. That’s what a twenty-year trip will do a population. Yes, our source of transportation was the size of a large city. This didn’t keep civilians from going a bit stir-crazy. Going from having an entire planet at your disposal to simply having a single town didn’t sit well with most.

The idea of our approaching permanent home is what kept most people going. The dreams of new people, new faces. The fantasies of meeting someone that would blow our minds and make us new ones out of their foreign cultures, traditions and morals. We always knew there was something more than what our simple-minded people had managed to develop.

But years went by. Lifetimes. People died on board and were given galactic sendoffs far from their home, where they should have been put to rest. Children were born, and food supplies weren’t lasting as long as estimated. Even Commander, once inspired and ready to take on the challenge of creating interplanetary relations with new peoples, was smiling less. Not taking the time to make his city-wide rounds each day. He sat in the Governors’ building pouring over papers, numbers, statistics. Sixty-eight percent of the population has admitted to depression. Thirty-four percent has said they regret making the trip.

“Just a little while longer,” he’d tell the masses on Speech days, “We will meet our new friends. We just have to wait.”

And wait we did.

TWO

Most of us were sleeping when the announcement was called. The intercoms in our homes beeped thrice and Commander’s voice flushed into our ears. He sounded different. Less grave. More hopeful.

“My friends, I’m sorry to wake you, but I have life changing news.”

The line was silent. Everyone seemed to hold their breath at once.

“The Blue Planet is in our sights. We are close, friends. One month. You must hold on for just one more month. Then, we will be free.”

~

Inspiration swept through the masses. The young who’d been born abroad and knew nothing but metal walls began illustrating what they thought our new home would be like. Their drawings contained fanciful beasts; creatures and people of all different shapes, sizes and colors frolicking across flower-sprinkled fields. Ships of gargantuan size sailing across dazzling oceans.  These illustrations didn’t just put hope in the heart of the children but in the minds of the adults as well. Those of us who’d reached adulthood on the ship; those of us who’d known what they were missing out on back home, how many starsets and moonrises had passed since we’d seen a blade of grass or a real sky; we were once again smiling.

We were imagining the Blue Planet’s wind tousling our hair. We could almost taste the exotic foods we would try when the native people taught us how to prepare them. The offspring of misery and boredom, of never knowing the scent of the outdoors, were no longer that. They were our future diplomats. They would be there when we passed away on this new planet. Their eyes may have never seen our home place, but their hearts would know the importance of their existence on that strange planet.

We would teach them the importance of learning everything there was to learn. We’d tell them to soak up the Blue Planet’s star and to enjoy the rising of its moon. But we would also make sure they knew that the spirits of all of us from the home place would not be sent away without our stories told.

THREE

In the month it took our ship to finish its trip to the Blue Planet, the Commander breathed his last breath. Old age had snuck up on him and he welcomed it like an old friend.

“I started this journey with a heart yearning for adventure,” he told us during his final speech, “but please do not take me as a man blind to the truth. I took my age into account when I saw the estimated travel time. There was a small piece of me that knew the odds of living long enough to see our new home were not, and would never be, in my favor. I had an obligation to work with you, my people, and help you travel among the stars. While I do not regret my time studying them from the windows of this ship, I do not wish to be put to rest among them. So, selfishly, I would like to ask you all for one last favor. My time is short, as is our time left on this vessel. I wish for my body to be put to rest within solid ground. I wish for my burial to be under the Blue Planet’s great star, just as it leaves the sky in time for the darkness to come. My soul yearns to know what life will be like among those you all are yet to meet.”

So, when Commander's last breath was released and his eyes closed and did not reopen, the Governors blessed his soul. They asked the Gods to help him find his way among those of the Blue Planet. They asked the Gods to have mercy on his physical body until we could provide him with the sendoff he asked for and so rightfully deserved.

~

Commander's body was cold for fourteen days and fourteen nights, according to the ship’s calculations, before we received the final call.

“Ladies and Gentlemen,” a smooth voice, the voice of the Commander’s secretary, said over the intercoms, “please prepare yourselves for landing.” A moment of silence. “Let us prepare to meet our new brothers and sisters.”

FOUR

Fire engulfed the vessel as we broke the blue planet’s atmosphere, but we were not afraid. It simply reminded us that we’d arrived. We’d arrived. After decades of waiting, after lives were lost and new ones were created, after hundreds of illustrations were ripped to shreds out of anger then redrawn when hope was found, we’d made it. The Blue Planet was ripe for the picking.

Our ship touched ground and most squealed with joy. The young were out of their seats before the safety briefing was completed, but so were their guardians. The ground was solid. The sky was not metal. This was cause for the greatest kind of celebration.

Not all was well, though, when we stepped off of the vessel. The children complained of invisible weights being tied to their limbs. They were sure the Gods were punishing them, causing them pain for not appreciating the lives they’d lived in their metal home that roamed the depths of space.

“We’re sorry!” They shouted through their tears. “W-we’re so sorry! Please, have mercy!”

Many of the young fell to the ground and their bones snapped like branches of the most fragile trees. The grass tickling their cheeks and wiping away their tears distracted them, but not enough to take away their suffering. They had not been exposed to the sky’s pressure thanks to life on the vessel, where air was artificial and sky weight was not factored into the ship’s programmed living conditions.

“Your body must adjust,” their guardians told them, “you must get used to bearing the weight of the sky. For if we are to stay, this weight will remain upon you.”

The children did not continue crying. The adults also felt the sky’s weight, but life on the home planet has made their bones strong enough to withstand it.

“I know we have much to learn and much to experience,” the Commander’s secretary said in her smooth voice, “ And I know some are still adjusting to the Blue Planet’s conditions. But, I believe…” Her hand ran down the cool metal of the burial capsule being carried by four of the Governors and herself. “We have matters to attend to.”

~

Commander’s burial was a magnificent one. The blue planet’s star was just above the horizon when the burial site was prepared. The sky took on hues of pink and purple, something our people had never thought possible. The children, becoming more or less accustomed to the sky’s weight, were allowed to examine the planet’s ground. It came up in small brown chunks, not at all like the hard cold floors of the transport vessel that did not move at all. Little pink beings wriggled within the Earth’s chunks, and the children guffawed and giggled as the creatures made their way across their palms. Even smaller beings, ones that flittered through the air and flickered like little lights, landed in the childrens’ hair.

“Commander could not have chosen a more beautiful way to be put to rest,” said the secretary. “Let us give his body to this planet as a gift of our gratitude. It’s beauty and promises of hope and new beginnings have kept our hearts beating.”

~

The young were adamant that sleeping in the outdoors opposed to their rooms aboard the ship was the best idea. They hadn’t gotten to explore as much as they’d liked, for by the time Commander’s burial was concluded the sky was dark and the stars had come out to play.  

“Those ones make a shape,” a small boy said, his little index finger aimed toward the sky, his other arm folded beneath his head. He was covered in the planet’s ground, just like the other children, but he didn’t seem to mind. “They look like a man dancing across the cosmos. He seems to be welcoming us.”

~

The second the blue planet’s star took the place of the darkness, the entire population was awake.

No plans were made aboard the ship for what the people were to do after arriving on the Blue Planet. Everyone simply assumed the Blue Planet’s natives would be around to say hello, to help them settle in.

“But I see no natives,” someone said.

“So we search,” said one of the Governors.

“Search we shall!” The people replied.

FIVE

The blue planet was more beautiful than any of the travelers could have imagined. True to its name, the planet’s sky was a dazzling blue. Large fluffy clouds made their way above the people's’ heads. Rolling fields of green and purple and yellow and white and gold and every other color that could be imagined spread across the land. Creatures of every shape and size popped in and out of sight.

But not a human soul was seen. The land seemed to be untouched by man. Travelers began panicking.

“Commander couldn’t have lied to us, could he?”

“He seemed so sure that there was life here.”

“There is life here,” someone pointed out, motioning to a four legged creature that had galloped into the traveler's path. Its large dark eyes gazed upon them, branches seemingly made of ivory protruding from its skull. It was a beautiful thing, blessed with graceful movements and a gorgeous light-brown coat.

The creature was spooked by the peoples’ movements and pranced away quickly.

“That can’t be the life commander was talking about. It simply can’t.”

“He promised interaction. Intelligent minds. People like us.”

“He said we’d be meeting new people.”

“Eating new foods.”

“Experiencing new cultures.”

“He said nothing about that!” Someone yelped, waving frantically toward the horizon. An object, moving too smoothly and swiftly to be an animal, was approaching quickly.
“A human?” someone from the back of the group asked.

“Certainly not.”

No one moved a muscle. They simply let the object approach. It skimmed over the plants in the fields like nothing, speedily making its way toward them and stopping a bit in front of the group.

“It-it looks like the ship.” One of the children said.

The object was more or less human shaped up until where the legs should have been. The newcomer’s head and torso were made to carry the general shape of a human male. Below that were several sets of treaded belts, which must have been how the thing could travel over the fields so easily.

“Who are you?” we all asked.

“Please provide proof of life.” the machine said.

“Who are you?” we asked again.

“Please provide proof of life,” It repeated.

A small arm protruded from an opening in the machine’s chest. A young girl from the group stepped forward before her guardian could stop her. Her little arm stretched toward the machine, and she wrapped her fingers around its end.

“Heart Rate detected. Please provide your species.”

The child cleared her throat. “Um, human.”

The machine’s arm retracted and the door to its chest cavity closed.  Its head lowered.

“Is that it?” the girl asked.

SIX

“Is what it?” someone asked excitedly.

The child yelped and leapt into the arms of her guardian.

“Are all of you okay? Is anyone hurt?”

No one spoke; each group member simply shook their head. They were much too stunned for words.

“I am here to help, not hurt.” the machine said clearly. Its voice was most definitely human, but had an odd sort of twist to its words. It spoke like no one from the home planet.

“Where are your people?” we asked.

The machine put its head down in something that almost appeared to be grief.

“You are not from this planet?” It asked in a questioning voice.

One of the guardians spoke up. “We just finished a long journey. The people of our planet discovered your planet many years ago and believed we could lead new lives here.”

“How long ago did you arrive?”

“Just the length of one of your nights.”

“Your travels have left you weary, I assume. ”

“That would be an understatement. Have you any place we could get some proper rest? I think my friends here can all agree that we have grown tired of metal barracks-”
“Why have we seen none of your people?” The small girl who had originally activated the robot had approached it once again, head tilted and eyes wide, expecting an answer.

“My child, I am what is left. Me, and the others around this planet just like me. We embody what this beautiful world used to be.”

“You used to be machines?”

“We used to be creation. We were believers. We took risks and traveled to daring places, just like you newcomers. But later in the history of this place, my people did not make smart choices. They fought one another. They created pain and misery and starvation and hopelessness. They littered this place with their chemicals. They left nothing for future generations, so future generations did not flourish. They unintentionally ended themselves trying to fix the damage they’d done. “

“But this place,” someone from the crowd croaked, tears running down their face, “This place is beautiful! It is magnificent! I see no trash! I see no pain and suffering!”

The robot nodded. “You see no suffering because there are no people to cause it. This place has flourished with no humans to hold it back. According to my calculations,”

“I don’t give a damn about your calculations! We have spent our lives coming to this place! We wanted to know your people! Know the lives they lived, the good things they did! Please, I beg you, please do not tell me our trip was in vain.”

Despite the peoples’ panic, the machine did not speak. It waited for the commotion to settle, and it rolled itself closer to the group.

“No, friends, your trip was not in vain. While my people destroyed themselves, they left me behind. They made me able to withstand whatever I needed to until someone like you came along. They wanted to be here to meet you. They really did. They always wondered when new life would visit. So, on behalf of those who lived on this planet and those who worked to preserve its history, I would like to properly introduce you to your new home. That is, if you choose to take care of it. Hello, and Welcome to Earth. Ask me anything you would like to know.”