Planet Earth

On Antarctica, a man was listening to his radio before the daughter was yelling. He was frustrated with no place of quiet to himself. The place was a chamber and his entire family lived there. Sure, it was cold out there, and it became very boring for his wife and the kids on some days but his job paid well. He was getting five-hundreds thousand for a year in Antarctica on research. 

“Dad, look at this!” Andalusia said, wiping the frost off the window. 

Outside, they saw the snowland, and the penguins sliding down some plains. 

“Yeah, I see it. They’re having fun out there.”

“No, no not that. Look here, to your right.” She said. 

“The melting ice?” 

She went past him and pulled up the thermistor. “Look at this! It’s thirteen degrees warmer than before. So, it’s real. All of this global warming thing is! Please, dad.”

She wouldn’t quit. “Kid, listen to me. I know it is real, okay? It’s not what I’m here for, though. I’m just the penguin guy. You know that.” 

She widened her eyes, “Dad, why can’t you listen to me? We got to do something. There’s so much carbon emission that the levels are rising. Fast.” 

“Sweetie, stop. It’s enough. I know this is bad, but what can we do, really?” 

She leaned forward, “Are you serious? We can plant trees, cut the economy on factories, and try to convert most of the electronics used to solar energy. This solar energy could make some big differences in how we live.” 

“I love that you care about the environment, but I really have to work, okay?” 

“Forget it. Enjoy your papers.” She scoffed and went to her bed, picking up a hardback. 

Dad slumped in his desk and went through some files. The one on the penguin's tag was missing… He pushed the chair apart, looked under the desk. Dad tried the drawers, and another drawer on the bottom that was stuck out jammed. He fiddled with it, pushing it shut. Something glowed caught his eyes. 

What was that? He knelt down and lowered his head. 

There was a small circle of swirling colors. It is loose, taking a little space as possible on the floor. “What the heck?” He murmured quietly to himself. 

His hands trembled, and he slowly reached for it. His index finger felt the cool air whooshed before it touched the thing. Immediately, all of his life forms vanished, leaving the pen that was behind his ear on the floor. He felt the sweats dripping on his forehead, becoming dizzy and dizzier. His hands couldn’t take grasp of anything, losing himself unbalanced, in this- A gray room? 

Dad took a deep breath, nervously beating his heart rapidly. He looked at the glass wall that looked like a movie was playing. Some kind of space film. He pushed himself off the ground, leveled with the movie. “Wow. Is this high definition? Amazing.” 

The movie showed the Moon insight, along with millions of stars. It didn’t play anything else, just this clip. The door clicked, and a little boy came in. He gasped, “Who are you? What are you doing in my room?” He looked scared, but his face scrunched up, “What are you using?” 

“I- 'm Dave. I really don’t know what happened… I was at my desk but then now I’m here. I really don’t know. Could I talk to someone, your dad, maybe?” 

“They all are gone. Where have you been all along! I thought there was no one left.” 

“What do you mean, gone?” 

“Gone, that’s what I mean. It’s only me here. It was three of us for seven years. Before that, there were about three hundred of us.” 

“Please, kid, can you take me to your mom?” He pleaded. 

“You’re not listening to me. They’re gone.” 

Dave sighed, and shuffled his way past the kid, out of the room. “What the hell? Where are we? Those look a lot like a spaceship hallway in the movies, all gray and beeping lights, and all that stuff.” He addressed the kid, “Wait, is that your window in the room? Are we in space?” He stammered. 

“Yes, why?” 

“So we are in space? Oh God, I must be dreaming. How is this possible?” 

“I want to know where you hid. Why didn’t you come to me? I was tired of making food myself! Mom said nobody would.” 

“How old are you?” 

“I’m twelve. Thirteen three months from now!” 

“Oh, I thought you were like nine.” He observed the kid, in his tight suit who seemed to be thin to the bone. 

“Twelve. Now tell me who you are.” 

Dave ignored him, running away in the hall. “Where are everyone!!” He screamed. “Tell me now, please! I can’t be here. I can’t… this is crazy.” 

“Calm down, I got food that can last us a lifetime. Then there would be nothing left. It’s all right. Mom said she’s proud of me. I’m the last boy there is. Maybe not, if you’re here.” 

Dave rubbed his eyes, “Last boy… Jesus, I don’t understand… What- Could you explain it to me? All of this?” He teared up a little. 

“How do you not know? Did they not teach this to you in history class?” 

“The space stuff? I knew Neil Armstrong was the first one to Moon.”

“Who’s Neil? No. I’m talking about the place called Earth? You have heard of it before, right?” 

Dave chuckled, “Yes, I live there.” 

The boy frowned, “Haha you can’t fool me with that joke! Earth has been gone for almost eight hundred years. Something like that, I think.” 

“Don’t play with me.” Dave was pissed off. “Tell me the truth. Not this nonsense.” 

“I can’t tell you if you don’t listen! Stop yelling! Come on, here.” The boy went back to his room and showed Dave the stack of papers. “This is today.” 

There were tallies, the number of days he assumed. “And what is today?” 

The boy was quiet, looking at the paper then replied, “2109.” 

“What month? Day?” 

“No use of that here. We do it yearly because time goes by slowly. But if you want to know… three.. Five, it’s July Fourth.” 

“No, no. 2109? That’s like nine hundred years in the future!” 

“Are you dumb? No, it’s today.” 

Dave realized, the boy might be serious and all of this was real. He never felt more scared than at this moment than ever. “Okay, could you explain?” 

“Alright. People said Earth died because people didn’t take care of it very well. That’s why all of us went into space. Then some ships broke down. Some were destroyed, and some others… I don’t know where. This is the last ship still running. My mom taught me everything I had to know. There’s a little garden here, and I check the engines daily. Mostly, it’s automatic stuff but mom said to check every day.” 

“So, have been you here for a while? Alone?” 

“Yes. I asked my mom why she was explaining all of this to me- she didn’t say. I just found her dead one day. It’s me now. Why don’t you know all this?”

“I know this might be hard to believe but I’m from the year 2020. I don’t know what happened.” 

“That’s okay.” The kid gave Dave his hand and brought him to the long window. “That” he pointed, “Is the Planet Earth.” 

Earth he knew through the satellite photos, through NASA websites doesn’t look like this. It was brown, and there was barely any water to be seen. Most of it was just dirt. “This is Earth?” Dave asked, speechless. 

“Yes. Was this your home?” 

“Yes. My home. Andalusia was right.” 

The kid looked up, “Who’s that?” 

“My daughter. She said we got to do something about this… I didn’t listen.” 

He turned around, pressed himself against the wall, and sat down. “Oh god, what have we done? God help us all.”