[ WP ] Earth has been destroyed in a war long forgotten . As you , a common spacer , fly above the atmosphere , you see a bit of a strange color stain on the surface . Your onboard computer calls it `` vegetation . ''

I could still feel hot, angry blood pumping through my neck as I eased into the Earthian atmosphere. I tried to remember how the fight with Deren had even started. It was something little or stupid like a fight about dog food brands or his mother's computer problems. Both issues -- still stupidly contentious -- came up multiple times in the fight, but I could n't remember which or if either had started it. 
 
 I could feel myself talking to him again in my head. He hated when I just left and went for a drive, and so that's exactly why I did it. But the drives were n't any good if I just kept yelling at him in my head. I started flipping through my viewing options as the big, oversalted ocean beneath me gave way to the gray, barren land. It was twisted, but I liked watching old earth shows as I flew over the skeletal remains of cities and the craters from unimaginable weapons. But as much as I liked watching old nature shows about a planet long dead, I decided to just put a talk show on so I could focus on the outside. 
 
 My car drifted casually into the basic Tour Route, and the heads-up display on my windshield began highlighting historical markers and geocache signals. I laughed at the talk show comedians as I passed over where the original Eiffel Tower had once stood -- now just a slightly higher bump along the ashy ground. 
 
 Deren loved modern Francofilm, and I felt dumb -- almost weak, like a mindless robot -- for having carelessly visited the both the one place on Earth Deren likes and the one place that would remind me of him. I swore under my breath and yanked the steering wheel up until I was out of the atmosphere again. I decided to pick a place deliberately this time, and I chose the Himalayas, which -- by any standard -- were still impressive ( albeit without much human history to look at ). 
 
 I lowered myself near southern foothills and -- had I not been able to see the mountains in the distance -- could have sworn it looked just like France. I could hear Deren in my head saying, `` See? It's all the same here. Why even come?'' 
 
 I slammed the accelerator until I was near the first snow-capped peaks. The computer made a soft ding and said, `` There are three tour routes of interest nearby. Would you like me to drive for a bit?'' 
 
 `` No,'' I said. 
 
 I tapped the console screen and the talk show went blank. Something about jamming on the accelerator had me feeling like flying dangerously through some forgotten canyons. I pressed hard on the accelerator again and aimed down toward the mountains below. I began weaving between peaks and along ridges. I dipped my starboard wing into placid acid pool and watched the liquid sizzle to life behind me. Several times I aimed for a turn a little above my skill level and the computer took over and jerked me away from a cliff face or a protruding boulder. 
 
 Before long, I was very dizzy and my computer was blinking a yellow error message: `` Signal lost. Raise above the clouds to regain GPS signal.'' 
 
 And then I saw it. 
 
 Right behind the blinking yellow light on my windshield, a patch of green grass. No that bright green landscaping fake stuff at the mall or in playgrounds on major satellites. It was a hardy, dark green. Almost blue. I lowered the car until it hovered some ten meters above the grass and then opened the bottom hatch. I could hear the car's computer beeping a warning about the air -- something about do n't stay outside longer then ten minutes ( which is bogus, by the way; or at least outdated info ). 
 
 I lowered my seat beneath the car and hopped onto the grass. It stretched about as far and wide as my bedroom -- *my* bedroom, I thought; not his bedroom anymore. I touched it was a gloved hand first, saw no acid melting or anything weird, and then touched it with my bare hand. It felt rough and springy. 
 
 There's no good reason to say why, but this reminded me of Deren's hair, and I suddenly felt awful and sorry and I really wanted to talk to him. I hated how everything went, and I wished he could see this -- this miracle. A little patch of green grass tucked away in the mountains, beyond the blink of ancient GPS signals, well off course from the nearest tour route. It could have been a special place for him and I to share. 
 
 I do n't know why, but I was very emotional then. I lowered the car, opened the trunk, grabbed my grand-dad's shovel, and began digging, right in the middle of the grass. I dug for about a half hour, obviously not very deep, but I think that's fine, and then I dragged Deren into the hole and covered him in the dirt. I did my best to put the grass back on top, nice and neat, but I'll admit I've never dug into grass before and I did n't expect it to be so scattered and broken. 
 
 So I buried him there, in a place he might have actually liked, and every now and then I think about it, and I kind of hope that grass grew back.
