Eudaimonia

Eudaimonia. My dad said it meant happiness, thriving, and wellbeing. To me it was just a fancy Greek word that they’d named the planet that was Humanity’s first ‘true’ extrasolar colony. Sure, we’d charted plenty of other worlds in the seventeen years since cracking faster-than-light spaceflight, but the few we’d set up shop on until now could only be called outposts. Eudaimonia was the first that we’d truly settled a sizable population on, and whether I liked it or not, it was now my home too.

            I’d never been as scientifically minded as my zoologist dad and botanist mum had hoped. No prizes for guessing where they chose the name Charles from, though I’ve always preferred Charlie. Nothing against Mister Darwin and his monkeys, I just don’t want to sound like I’m royalty.

As for my parents, no one had been more excited to be here than them. For months all they could talk about at the dinner table was one exciting discovery after another, though a lot of it often went over my head.

            All I could think of was Earth. I missed the friends I’d left behind, the comfy inner-suburban setting of my childhood, and the conveniences right outside my door that I’d taken for granted. Even the smell of the air felt like I’d lost something important.

In hindsight, adolescence probably wasn’t the best time for me to be making this transition, but in looking back, my bitterness didn’t help, predictable as it may have been for a teenager who now lived in a prefab habitation unit in a frontier settlement.

            The colony’s school was similarly unfamiliar. Everyone who’d come to this planet was smart, hard-working, and enthusiastic, so naturally many of their kids were too. I was one of the exceptions. Even though my feet may have been planted firmly on Eudaimonia, it seemed ‘my mind was still back on Earth’, or so my teacher liked to say.

            Finding alone time was my escape, though sadly the colony’s perimeter was walled off, as much for our safety as for the sake of the local environment. The hills that surrounded the valley in which we’d dug in seemed like they’d offer enticing views for me to look out across and find some appreciation in my situation, but they were sadly out of reach. We needed to be ‘as careful as possible’, was what everyone said, despite nothing in the way of plant or animal life appearing all too threatening thus far. Heck, my parents never stopped talking about how similar it was to Earth’s biome, yet this didn’t make the planet feel any more like home to me.

            One day after school as I was standing with my hands on the rail of our unit’s rooftop sitting area, I found myself peering up at the sky. Even with the sun setting the sky was slightly mauver than it would’ve been on Earth at this time of day. The days here were shorter, which had taken some getting used to, but even more alien than this were the three moons in the sky that still didn’t have names. My mum had said they were going to let the colony vote on that once they’d selected appropriate options, but I was still too young to have a say.

            I wonder if the moons would be glad that Humans found them first, I thought to myself, knowing our species often chose boring or silly names. But if it hadn’t been us, then who? my mind then asked. Now that we’d travelled to the stars and found life on other worlds, how long would it be until we found some that we could have a conversation with?

            Eudaimonia’s colony still wasn’t even a year old when that fateful day finally came. A preliminary statement one morning over the settlement’s network declared that tonight the colony’s director would make a major announcement, one that no one could miss.

            People talked about it all day in the lead up. It’d been all over school and my parents’ work. A lot of people had wanted to believe that it was indeed the word on all our lips, but many were sceptical.

            That evening we all sat together in front of the telescreen, waiting for director O’Shea to speak.

            “My fellow colonists,” he began in the politician-like manner that’d by now become typical from him. Made sense, given he’d still want to keep his job when the time came for us to choose an elected leader. “For centuries our species has looked out into the universe to routinely ask this most profound question; are we alone? I stand here before you today to declare that the answer is indeed… no. Humanity has made first contact with another spacefaring species.”

            Aliens are real! I thought. Not just the lizards and bugs on this planet, but actual intelligent life.

I looked over to see my parents holding each other tightly, clearly excited but still listening intently. I was as well. It was clear from O’Shea’s tone that this was cause for celebration, but he’d still not said anything about who… they were.

            “Furthermore, I must declare that we have been in contact with this species prior to today’s announcement. Earth is aware and have approved further talks. In hopes of establishing friendly relations, our two species’ first meeting will take place here, on Eudaimonia, tomorrow.”

And suddenly, it seemed that all the malign I’d had for my new home since arriving here was greatly misplaced. I’d get to be there tomorrow, among the first Humans in history to meet a real alien. So soon as well.

            But the question still remained; who were they? All through that night I couldn’t sleep, too busy wondering what we’d meet. Little green men? Tentacle monsters? Bug people? Sexy blue women? Admittedly, my speculations were warped by the juvenile mind of a teenager.

            The next day saw the whole colony turn out for the event, naturally with security on high alert, keeping everyone behind the barricades. Massive screens were displayed around the main square, yet I was luckily close enough to see the platform where it’d all take place. Looking back on that day, it still amazes me that it was conducted so, given the risks.

            Until then, Human spacecrafts had seemed like the most futuristic thing I’d ever seen, but when that silver and black alien shuttle landed, there was a humbling aspect to it. Everything we had almost looked like it was made out of wood by comparison.

            You could have heard a pin drop as the crowd waited for its hatch to open, all of us wondering what would emerge. I’d say we were all surprised when it did.

            A single individual emerged, and shockingly, they looked very Human-like. What set them apart though was their grey, hairless skin and the nine backward-pointing horns protruding from the top of their scalp in three rows, with those at the back being longer. He looked male, perhaps an unsafe assumption at the time, but ultimately not a wrong one.

            O’Shea tentatively stepped forward to meet him. I could see the nerves in his movement and expression.

            The alien glanced at him briefly before finally saying the words I’ll never not smile at whenever I remember them. “I believe you’re expecting me to say… take me to your leader… please.”

            Whether it was gasps, giggles, or expressions of ‘huh?’, the crowd mostly seemed to be trying to keep quiet still.

            O’Shea smiled. “That would be… me,” he said, putting his hand out.

            The alien shook it without confusion or hesitation. It seemed they’d done their homework on us in advance. Heck, they’d even made the effort to learn our language.

            As two more of them emerged from their ship, O’Shea stepped aside with an open-palmed gesture.

            “My name is Vizzarian Tynus, ambassador of the Etrian race,” he began “We are pleased to finally meet you, the Human race. In the spirit of openness, let me first declare that we learned of your people’s colony here many months ago, but it was our intent to learn about you discreetly so as to prepare and plan for this moment.”

            In the days that followed, more Etrians began to visit. We’d been told that those who’d made the trip were specially prepared, yet I couldn’t help but feel suspicious at how much effort they seemed to be making for our sake, and I wasn’t the only one.

The ‘aliens’ were the only thing being talked about at school, and it hadn’t taken long for me to overhear a fairly inevitable conversation.

            “Hey, they look like us. You know what that means?” the person in question said. “It won’t be long before we start trying to get frisky.”

            As low-brow as these comments were, they still tied into the bigger questions people were asking, including my parents.

            “There’s no way the level of similarity they have to us is coincidental,” my mum said during dinner one night.

            “Yeah, everyone I work with is saying the same,” my dad replied. “For some reason though, the Etrians don’t seem as amazed by this as us, but if they’re being honest, they’re just as dumbfounded as to why.”

            “What are they like?” I eagerly asked, knowing my parents had been lucky enough to speak to some of them.

            My dad leant back in his chair with a look as though he didn’t know quite what to say, as if amazed. “Honesty… humbling,” he replied.

            “I know, right?” my mum added. “They’re… just so polite. They’ve got this air of prim and properness about them that almost feels… old-fashioned. My co-worker’s husband who works in communications has been spending a lot of time working with them. He says they’re all about discipline and formality.”

            “Yeah, kind of makes us feel like, as Humans, we could seriously be doing a lot better,” my dad added.

            I raised my eyebrow curiously. “Are they trying to present a good front, or is their civilisation just more evolved than ours?” I asked. “What have they shared about it?”

            “Everyone I talk to, Human or Etrian, keeps saying the same thing,” my mum replied. “We’re all being careful about what we share with each other for now.”

            I couldn’t say I was surprised. I’d already connected a few dots to guess that the Etrians had been flying around space longer than we had. How much had they seen, and what had they learned that we didn’t yet know? Maybe we weren’t the first race that they’d met. Everything they’d done thus far did seem as though they knew what they were doing, as if from experience.

            A week later, an exciting announcement came at school. Some of them would be coming here to meet us. Sharing our lessons made sense of course. Where better to learn about Humans than a Human school.

            Even when the day came though, it wasn’t until afterwards that things got interesting.

            “Greetings,” said an Etrian girl who’d approached me during lunchtime. Many of the others who’d sat in with us were tentatively mingling with the Human students by now, but most of them looked to be adolescents in groups of three or four, shadowed by a number of adults.

            “Hello,” I replied, noticing she wasn’t using one of the translation headsets I’d seen other Etrians wearing. She’d been one of the ones who’d actually learnt our language. If their education system is anything like ours, she must be a real top student, I guessed to myself.

            “My name is Ryleen,” she continued. “You’re Charles, yes? I must apologise for the breach of privacy, but your teacher said you may be… insightful.”

            I tilted my head with a puzzled look. “Why?” I said, not sure if my tone conveyed curiosity or dejection.

            “He said you don’t share your peers’ enthusiasm for the new home you’ve built here,” she went on. “Many of the Humans I’ve spoken to are more interested in learning more about the wider galaxy rather than talking about your homeworld and its peoples.”

            “I see,” I answered. “Yeah, it’s no secret I miss Earth, but every time I say so, everyone tells me how amazing this opportunity is and how we’d been stuck there for too long and needed to move on. It’s not that I disagree, I just didn’t like being forced to without any say in the matter.”

            Ryleen looked at me with a thoughtful expression. Despite my being somewhat intimidated by her, it was nice to feel like someone was listening to me. “You’re unhappy at feeling that your circumstances are outside your control,” she said.

            “And what does that tell you?” I replied, trying to gauge her angle. “What are you hoping to learn about us Humans here?”

            Ryleen bowed her head, her horns seeming to accentuate the motion of it. “I’ve noted that your species seem very strong willed and determined. You refuse to let barriers or restrictions stand in your way. You make no secret of how much you value freedom. Admittedly, I find it both inspiring and slightly intimidating.”

            Something about her tone seemed to bother me. “Your people probably know a lot more than we do,” I said, my brow furrowing slightly. “But you seem courteous enough to not start lecturing us. Consider this an invitation though. What wisdom would your species offer mine?”

            “Things are likely going to change a lot, Charles,” she replied. “For you, for me, for both our species, and others. I’m permitted to share this now, but yours isn’t the first spacefaring species we’ve met. We’re hoping that we can successfully implement the lessons we’ve learned from previous first contacts, or so we’re told.”

            My eyes widened. “Who are these other species?” I asked with newly elevated curiosity.

            “That’s best saved for when they have the chance to introduce themselves,” Ryleen said. “It’s not for us to be doing so. We already have our own perceptions and experiences that would skew the information. But we’ve learned lessons from our experiences, and we’re hoping to prevent suspicion and distrust from developing between our races.”

            “Not to sound rude, but you sound like a politician,” I answered. “Us Humans still have enough problems with division, distrust, and prejudice among ourselves, never mind with aliens.”

            “That will change, and faster than you’d think,” Ryleen stated.

            She was right of course, though I didn’t know it at the time. In the years since, it seemed that meeting aliens worked wonders in solving Humanity’s many internal divisions, albeit for sadder reasons than we’d like. I guess fear of the unknow was a big enough motivation for all of us in the end.

            As weeks turned into months, we began to learn more about the wider galaxy that our species had now become citizens of. Every night on the news there seemed to be a story about the diplomatic efforts that were going on.

            Of course, all of this soon started to feel pretty routine, at least to me. My attention was more greatly eaten up by the number of people flocking to Eudaimonia, Human and alien, as well as the surge in construction projects.

            With the passage of time, the colony began to feel like home. Through knowing my parents, the family of one of my friends from back on Earth had even decided to make the trip, permanently. That wasn’t to say that I hadn’t made new friends too, some of whom were Etrian.

            As the sun went down across the valley one evening, I was finally able to take in the view I’d coveted since we’d settled here. From the hillside where we sat, what had not so long ago been a frontier town was fast growing into a city. New Athens, we’d predictably named it.

            Sitting next to me was Ryleen, the same Etrian girl who I’d met months earlier. We’d grown close since then, though by this point I’d sensed we were both questioning whether we were attracted to one another, yet it seemed neither of us wanted to ask the question. Plenty of other people already had been though, and some seemed concerned about the propriety of cross-species relationships. Still, my being a teenager meant that being told not to do something only served as encouragement.

            With the last rays of daylight casting their dying glow over New Athens as the three moons, Elysium, Asphodel, and Tartarus, rose in the sky, a strange feeling hit me. I felt like a different person. Who I’d been when I’d arrived felt unrecognizable now. Everything I’d known had changed multiple times over in such a short span of time, and I felt frighteningly small in what seemed like an ever-enlarging galaxy.

            “What is it, Charlie?” Ryleen asked, her tone laced with intuition.

            I turned toward her, not sure what to say. “Well,” I hesitantly began. “I just… feel like I don’t know what’s real anymore. Everything I’ve known has be upended repeatedly. I’ve changed, who I thought I was and what I thought my life was. I don’t know what to expect now. Everything around me feels massive and chaotic, like a flooding river.”

            Ryleen looked at me with a piercing yet empathetic gaze. “It’s hard for me to imagine how you’re feeling. I was born into a world where all these things had already happened. Change is inevitable, but it also enables us to grow. You may feel small in the face of everything that’s new, but you’re part of something bigger now. Your species, mine, and all the others who I dare say we’re likely to meet.”

            What she said was comforting. Despite the enormity of the galaxy, we knew it was populated with beings who were not so different from us. Ryleen didn’t seem quite so alien to me with this in mind, despite the obvious superficial aspects.

            “You’re right,” I said. “Change and uncertainty are inevitable, and things are only going to stay that way from here. We’re all in that same boat though.”

            Ryleen tilted her head with a puzzled look. “Why would we be in a boat?” she asked.

            “Human saying,” I chuckled. “We’re all it the same… situation. It’s something we have in common, that we share, and… I guess, we might see as something that brings us closer together.”

            Ryleen smiled, putting her hand in mine as she leant her head against my shoulder. As much as I wanted to lean mine against hers, her horned scalp was making me think twice.

            “I’m glad that Humans and Etrians can agree on that,” she said. “Two of us, at least.”

            “I guess that’s a start,” I smiled, putting my arm around her.

            As we watched the sky continue to darken, the stars shone. There were still so many that we hadn’t yet visited. We’d only just dipped our toes into the enormous ocean that awaited us, but I wasn’t nearly as frightened or resistant to the change it would come with anymore. I was hopeful. If first contact with the Etrians and my meeting Ryleen were anything to go by, the future of this universe held a lot to look forward to.