Green

Green. It’s I all see. Green. The plants are green and the ground is green. I haven’t seen trees in a long time. Too long. Alov and I landed here 3 light cycles ago. Time is different here. Shorter. Our ship barely made it. The impact so deadly, the area around it has turned dark. Blackened by the fire and destruction that has followed us.

Alov and I have gotten to work emptying the ship of its contents. Taking out the things that will be able to aid us on this foreign planet. I’m both anxious to destroy the ship, and the records of our planet and people. The sooner I do, the sooner we can start over. We need to start over. To do that we can’t have any record of our planet and how we powered it. How we managed to build, discover, and invent the things we did.

Alov doesn’t agree. He wants our legacy to be remembered and he wants our stories to be told. He feels forgetting is disrespecting the dead and I can’t say I disagree. Yet, to keep them would be a larger disrespect to the fallen. There is no guarantee that the future people of this planet won’t fall victim to greed and power. What would that risk be for? For our own narcissism? So that when we die, we will know that for centuries forward, people will marvel at our greatness? Our buildings. Our discoveries. Our inventions. Our cultures and people. The story will be changed, twisted, and morphed until it becomes a legend. One about heros and undefeatable circumstances. About a great tragedy and two survivors on a brave journey.

Alov may be good at heart but he hasn’t opened his eyes to many things. He can’t see the hubris of our former world. The belief that certain lives are worth more than others. He can’t see how it started to go to hell. Which is why I have to lie. I can’t let my future people know about what corrupted our planet. The power source hidden deep within the planet. A source of energy that was created by death, caused death, and ended in death. I must be the start of something different. A selfless act for the good of everyone that will live on this new planet.

The planet we left behind had been corrupted. The grass died, the skies darkened with smoke, the temperature rose, and the seas blackened. That toxic wasteland is no longer my home. My home is here now and I have hope. Here, the rain is water, not acid. The air is breathable and I can walk outside freely. There is no rich or poor. No oppressed or oppressors. This is a new planet with the potential to be a better world, a safer world, a happier world and most importantly, an equal world. Storms will not tear up islands and there will be no private water supply. No one will have to pay thousands for clean air or water. There will be no landfills, no wars, no toxic atmosphere. The skies will stay clear, the trees will not be burned, and no form of life will face extinction. Not here. Not this planet. Not again. Not on Earth.

Photo by John Weinhardt on Unsplash