Earth

So there I was, among the stars, watching everything I've ever known burn to ashes and float as dust before me. I, the sole survivor of the apocalypse, the last living child of the big bang, the conclusion. The final result of billions upon billions of years of evolution, the only human left. Earth was my home, and now I can never go back. All that's left to show of it are the images I hold in the camera around my neck, and without the DNA that decides what I am, there is no proof it ever existed at all, just word of mouth, rumours. And I suppose that's why I couldn't stay with it, and why I can't off myself even now. Space is my playground now, even if I can't as easily and comfortably climb it's colourful frames.

They knew this would happen, my parents, they knew. I was to be the last chunk of Earth left, and so that's what they named me. Earth. I'm the planet's leftovers. Somehow that makes me important, so I'm protected, right now, on a vessel made not of glass and metal, but something similar. It's cold and the steps I'm sitting on are hard, I want nothing more right now than to curl up in a ball like a cat and go to sleep. Oh, that's right... what are cats, any more? Just memories now, I guess. And are spherical shapes even known as balls here? Was my home just a ball?

I was thinking I might as well go, there's nothing to see through this 3 foot thick window anymore, just a space in the solar system where life used to be. But then just as I shift my legs, willing them into action, my friend comes and sits next to me, nudging my shoulder with their elbow, offering me some sort of weird alien food.

"I'm not hungry, thanks Hugo."
"Ah phew! This is as close I could get to what resembles Earth food, so I'm glad you can recognise what it's meant to be!"

Hugo is what I nicknamed them, since I can't pronounce their actual name, which they tried teaching me but after a while we realised I physically can't ever make such noises, but written down it looks like it starts with an H, so we started there. I don't know Hugo's gender, in fact I don't think there's even such a thing in their species, but I once said He instead of a neutral term, and he took a liking to it, his reasoning is that it came naturally to me and so must be right. He's rather insightful. But I do know that even though in Earth years Hugo is 20 years my senior and is 2 foot taller, he's still considered a child to his race, like I am to mine, and apparently Hugo's short for his species too, he likes to brag about his height to me, because I'm the only one his age who's ever been shorter. We met and bonded over annoying the crew members, and ended up getting kicked out of the control bay and permenantly banned from the cock pit. Ever since that happened a few days ago, we've met each "morning" by this window, now affectionately called "Earth's window", because it's where I spend most of my time. We waste away most hours just trying to understand eachothers language, and the rest is about ourselves, our planets, our families and way of life. We're never short of words.

The word 'Earth' is said a lot, because obviously it's a popular topic right now,what with the thing just being blown up and all. So naturally everyone gets confused about whether they're talking about me or my home, So half the time I am known as Child, or Child Earth, and home is Planet Earth, obviously. I know when Hugo wants me, because in the messages he sends that are spoken to me through my headset he regards me as Earth, not Child. Though I'm not even sure the word they use is Child, that's just what it translates to. See, with the technology they have, we can talk in our own languages, and it's translated for us, based on our tone and brain waves, we effectively hear each other speak our own tongues. Sometimes though I don't like wearing the headset, but I feel like Hugo knows sort of what I'm saying even when we take them off. It's nice to have a friend when you're pretty much alone.