Dear Diary,

When I was a child, I used to look up at the stars and wonder. Were all those beautiful things they said about them true? Had they really discovered new, habitable planets? Barring that, could we live in spaceships with artificial gravity and never need to touch ground again?

I was thrilled when they discovered the first of the gold deposits, though I admit at the time I thought of gold as money with no care for its heat resistance. I learned as I grew older, of course. Now, with spaces travel grown so typical, and me so far from home in both time and space…

Now I look down at the planet and wonder. Did we really used to live there? Were there lush fields and deep, dark forests, or was that something I only conjured in my imagination?