Earth-chan and Friends

Chapter 16: Humans Realise the Truth

"You mean, you planets are alive?!" Neil got dumbfounded when heard about the Planetarium College and its inhabitants from Moon-kun. He still couldn't believe he wasn't dreaming and what he saw was true. "I guess I hit my head hard to some rock during that earthquake..."

"Hmph, of course, we're alive! We study to later graduate and get good jobs within the college. We strive hard with our social lives, but Earth-chan has problems – no planet or star wishes to hang out with her, all because you humans live in her hair!"

"Her... hair?"

"Yes. There she is, lying in the hospital, all because of your recklessness. You poison her, eat her resources, and have doomed her to death, yet she still refuses to use a Meteor Shampoo to get rid of you!"

"A... shampoo?" Neil got more confused. Moon turned him around and showed him Earth-chan – the beautiful young girl with blue-to-green hair, sleeping soundly in a bed, attached to an IV drip. "That is... Earth?!"

"Yes. You see Meteor Shampoos as meteors, and the material which the shampoo is made of is too dangerous for your lives. Earth-chan was forced to utilize it to get rid of parasitic dinosaurs before you."

"Huh? Dinosaurs? It's true – our scientists say that dinosaurs died out because of meteors that fell on the Earth surface!"

"Precisely, that is what I mean." Moon nodded. "However, Earth never wanted to get rid of those parasites either, and now, doesn't want to get rid of you. She considers you her little friends, so she often uses Water Shampoos that don't harm you. You see those Water Shampoos as rain, and its foam looks like snow to you. When she's drying her hair, you see winds and typhoons. When she scratches her head, it is earthquakes. In times of anger or extreme shyness, volcanoes tend to erupt in her hair. I've learned it all from my father – the college doctor – who's been studying you for quite some time now."

Neil's head went dizzy – damn, to just think planets could actually be alive, and resemble humans so much!

"So," he uttered, after reflecting upon all this information, "in your planetary society, we are regarded as... parasites?"

He felt ashamed – here they thought they were conquerors of the world and the most intelligent creatures that ever existed, and now he found out they were nothing but poisonous parasites killing their own planet. Yet, instead of coming up with ideas on how to save her, they were searching for new habitats to move on... Such a disgrace!

"Yes, you are regarded as parasites, and dangerous ones." Moon's frown deepened. "Everybody is afraid to get infected with you, so they tend to avoid Earth-chan. Earth refuses to do you any harm, yet you destroy her life in every sense! I can't really understand you guys. All because of you, this once-beautiful planet girl has turned so miserable, yet you think of running somewhere else, instead of behaving rightly and protecting the lands you already live in. How can you be so heartless? Instead of protecting the girl whose hair you already inhabit, you go searching for other healthy hair to kill... You are despicable!"

Neil glanced back at Earth-chan slumbering in the bed. He felt pity for her – poor girl, she indeed acted as a mother to them, yet they repaid her so shamelessly...

"I hadn't realised up until now, how grave the pollution problem was."

His vision went blurred again, and he blacked out.

***

Neil rubbed his eyes and opened them. He was back on the surface of the moon, and everything looked normal again – round-shaped planets and hot stars burning far away.

Huh? Was it perhaps... all a dream?

He stood up. He remembered how an earthquake had made him fall.

Maybe I indeed lost my consciousness when I fell and hit my head to the ground?

But as he turned around and looked at Planet Earth, he gasped in stupor and horror – it looked so dirty, sunken, and polluted, even from afar! Greenish parts had faded in so many places...

"That is Earth?! So, it really is dying."

Once he eyed it more attentively, he noticed the round planet indeed resembled that girl he had seen lying in the hospital ward some minutes ago. It looked as ill and miserable as that girl.

"So, Mother Earth is really dying..."

The giant Moon boy's words popped up in his mind, calling out like a reproachful echo:

"All because of you, this once-beautiful planet girl has turned so miserable, yet you think of running somewhere else, instead of behaving rightly and protecting the lands you already live in. How can you be so heartless? Instead of protecting the girl whose hair you already inhabit, you go searching for other healthy hair to kill... You are despicable!"

"We humans are indeed despicable..." he hung his head. "As a fellow human, I must report this to people immediately!"

He adjusted a camera on the surface of the moon and took pictures of the Earth.

After his spending some time on the surface of the moon, the rocket which moved around its orbit took Neil Gowan back to Earth.

***

On Earth, peoples of every country fussed before their TVs and radios – the breaking news was just that alarming:

"The astronaut from the operation 'New Home for Mankind' has recently returned from the moon. The NASA published photos of the current-day Earth and judging by these shots, we need to think more about our own planet's well-being, rather than of travelling to other planets for new habitats. 'Planet is dying', says the astronaut, Mr. Neil Gowan. Mr. Gowan, what can you say about your recent discoveries?"

"Hello, everyone!" Neil's voice sounded through radios while he spoke in an interview on TV, "The discoveries I've made are quite alarming. My first thought when I landed on the moon was that I had made a grand step for all humankind – I found a new habitat for us to live in. But then I looked back at our planet, and I realised – it is not the Earth that has problems, it is us. We are like parasites on this planet – Mother Earth nurtures us, and we instead pollute her. This is my shout-out to everyone out there who's listening to this – people, our planet is dying. We must all stand together and find the means to protect it. It is the planet that is the best for us to live in, so we must care for it. Please, hear me! This is not just another babbling of some researchers. I've seen it all with my eyes, and the photos prove it – the Earth is dying. Please, lend us a hand. Let's help our mother Earth. Let's help Earth-chan."

"You heard Mr. Gowan!" the reporter retook, now addressing to the public, "Many celebrities all around the world have started investing their money in the funds to protect Mother Earth. You too can aid us with the process – follow the rules of recycling; do not pollute the environment; 'help Earth regain her health', as Mr. Gowan says."

The entire population of the Earth fussed around – they had finally realised that the problem of pollution some researchers had long been talking about, was a far graver issue than they had previously thought, and it needed immediate actions. Neil Gowan invested money in various funds to protect the worldly environment, and soon many famous people followed his example.