They arrived one day in late September. They were unlike anything we’d thought they’d be. We knew they were coming, of course. Scientists noticed when their ship passed Mars. Leaders from nations around the globe spent the time bickering and arguing with nothing of substance accomplished, which if nothing else is consistent with past behavior.

That was five years ago. ten years since humanity met our new neighbors among the stars. Five years since countless souls left the safety of our big blue marble to spearhead new lives aboard a hulking alien spacecraft.

It has not been easy. Life off-planet has not been free of problems, or hardship, or suffering. But neither has the entirety of the human experience. That is the purpose of this collection: to show the past five years, candidly, in the words of those that lived them.

Here’s to the next five and beyond.

-Trans Sidera

Fernando Dulque

Center of Settlement Archives