[ WP ] Write the story of the first human child born on a settlement on an alien planet , wondering about what the Earth is like .

“ I don ’ t see what ’ s so great about it. ” 
 
 Dmitri threw another rock. It skipped on the surface of the lake three times, before it submerged into the depths of the lake. Instantly, a fish, with pale green scales and murky white eyes, jumped out of the lake and spit out a pearl back at Dmitri. “ Good boy! ” exclaimed the child. 
 
 “ We ’ ve been over this, ” said Mrs. Greene. “ Earth is where your parents were born. It ’ s where all humans were born, before we went here, and before you were born. That ’ s why your parents speak so fondly of it. ” Mrs. Greene was Dmitri ’ s kindergarten teacher, as well as the first kindergarten teacher on the planet. Currently, it was just Dmitri she had to teach, but each day, another transport ship cuts through the skies, like a red comet soaring through. And with each transport ship, new settlers and new families. 
 
 “ But I heard from my parents that Earth doesn ’ t have firelarks or velvet stones or gingerlillies or pearlfish or- ” 
 
 “ It doesn ’ t, ” the teacher cut off. “ But Earth has… ” she stopped for a moment. What did Earth have again? It ’ s only been a few years, but already it seemed like a distant memory. And all the fruits and vegetables and livestock that were found on Earth already domesticated here. She couldn ’ t remember what was there and what wasn ’ t anymore. She changed the subject. “ What do you think Earth has? ” 
 
 Dmitri paused. For a few seconds, he played with his curly brown hair, then skipped another rock into the lake. The pearlfish jumped up again, and spat another pearl into Dmitri ’ s hands. Then he spoke again. “ Um, well, if everyone ’ s leaving Earth, then I think Earth ’ s this scary place with all these bad people! And they ’ re bad people cuz they ’ re poor. And they ’ re poor cuz there ’ s no money n stuff. And there ’ s no money because… there ’ s no trees? ” 
 
 Mrs. Greene smiled. “ Well, there ’ s still some trees. But there ’ s certainly a lot of bad people still there. But there are some good people, too. ” 
 
 “ But aren ’ t all the good people coming here? ” 
 
 “ Hopefully. ” 
 
 The conversation ended there. Dmitri continue to skip rocks and continued to imagine Earth. He imagined the sea, and it was black. Polluted by garbage and oil. Every day the beaches would be littered with plastic bags and aluminum cans, and every day the waves would wash ashore corpses of fish and jellyfish and whales and sea lions. He imagined the forests, and they were dead. The trees and the grass were all withered up and dry. And it was silent, the cicadas and the birds and the squirrels and everything were all long gone, and all that remained would be bacteria, slowly eating what was left. He imagined the cities, spewing smoke and poison into the air. The people fighting to survive, fighting over stale bread and fresh water. Everyone was so thin and pale. 
 
 Oh, and there would be dragons, too, right? Yeah, that ’ d be super scary. 
 
 Dmitri asked Mrs. Greene, “ Are we gon na do whatever we did to Earth here? ” And Mrs. Greene said said, “ Hopefully, we learned our lesson. ” Dmitri looked around at the alien forest. He was used to the large insects and the colorful plants. He was used to the fish in the lake that were giving him pearls. Once he collected enough, he would string the pearls into a necklace and give them to his teacher. If any of the life here was gone, he would miss it. 
 
 And then Dmitri asked Mrs. Greene, “ Do you miss anything back on Earth? ” Mrs. Greene replied to him, “ Yes, there ’ s someone there that I ’ m working very hard for. ” And then she thought of her husband, and how he used to make her breakfast in bed, and how he used to say the corniest jokes and laugh at them, and honestly, that ’ s pretty lame, who laughs at their own jokes? She smiled. After what happened back on Earth, he used all the money they had and bought her a ticket. 
 
 Mrs. Greene asked Dmitri, “ What do you wan na name your fish? ” 
 
 “ Dmitri. ” 
 
 “ You can ’ t name fish after yourself, you ’ ll look vain. ” 
 
 “ What does vain mean? ”
