They told me it would have been morning on Earth when I finally saw that blueish-green ball. Looking out of the huge window in my room, I realised that this was the new beginning we had all been waiting for, a new planet, a new society, a new life.

Exactly 365 days before we were supposed to land on this new planet, we had been woken up by robots. The plan was to get us all updated on what had happened: Earth had been destroyed, humans had to flee and some creatures - that I refused to call aliens - had been kind enough to offer us their planet as a new home. Honestly, that was no surprise. When I had decided to “go to sleep”, our planet had already been in a terrible state. A few centuries had passed and the last people that had been alive and conscious had decided to send the unconscious ones to space. Apparently, that had been their last option and a desperate attempt at keeping our species alive.

I hadn’t actually signed up for this whole adventure. It had been more like one of those things you do because you think a certain situation will never occur - like those people who spend all their money one day because they believe the world ends the next day and the future will never happen. I had seen a flyer advertising the chance to pause your life and continue at a later time. Nobody had warned us about waking up in space and having to endure training by robots while our limbs had felt like gummy worms but I think we had done a good job at becoming a functioning community. There had been no time to remember the world we had left behind, especially after they had told us that everyone we had known had already died centuries ago. My initial reasons for joining this program were buried under a mountain of new information.

Seeing the new planet for the first time was exciting to some of us while others stayed calm and collected. I fit into neither of those categories. Nervousness, maybe even fear, clouded my mind. The closer we got, the more I could see what our new home looked like. We were told that it would look very similar to Earth but with more untouched nature. It gave the world its green appearance along with the blue of the water.

Leaving the spaceship felt like being the main attraction at a zoo to me. There were many creatures, different species I assumed, that cheered, yelled and stared at us. I didn’t have much time to take in their appearances but they looked quite human to me - well, apart from the colourful skin. We were handed sandwiches and other welcome gifts by people in fancy-looking suits while some others made space for us to walk towards a skyscraper. It all looked like an official state visit which was exactly what they wanted. We were meant to trust and respect the people wearing suits just like we would have on Earth. The yelling and staring creatures were guided out of the way in a language that I didn’t understand. All the new impressions were too much for me and the mixture of stress and anxiety burnt a hole into my memories.

The next thing I do remember is standing on a stage with one of many groups of humans and waiting to be paired up with one of the natives of that planet. The idea wasn’t ours but we definitely wouldn’t reject some help to adjust. Each one of us got a partner whom we were supposed to live with until we had found our place in this world. All humans stayed in the same area, so I just assumed that some volunteers of this town or village offered us their homes to stay in for a while. Nobody told us that the houses we moved into were new and built just for us. This town hadn’t existed before our ancestors had come to this agreement with the natives.

Someone new came towards the stage and one of the officials called out their name, “Tryox.” It was the first time I actually paid attention to the names and the people they belonged to. Tryox had dark blue skin and black hair. The frown on their face stood out among all the brightly smiling people. “You’re the guide of the young lady hiding behind her companions.” Of course, the official meant me. Some habits stick to you forever. Tryox made their way to me and stood behind me, not even sparing me a look. I tried to mumble a greeting but the way they glared at the crowd in front of us made the words get stuck in my throat. The others around me gave me empathetic looks but nobody commented on the intimidating person behind me.

Another official handed me a card which not only informed me about the place I’d be staying at but also gave me much-needed details on Tryox. “Pronouns: he/they” - finally a progressive society.