Here we stood, watching over the desolate planet of Earth. I could already tell life scans would reveal nothing. “Where did they go?” someone whispered. They hadn’t gone anywhere. If they’d gone somewhere we would have found a trace of their leaving. I could already imagine the headlines back at home. “Earth’s Population Gone,” or something like that. The only thing I couldn’t know for sure was how they were wiped out. As we descended onto the planet we stared at the monuments. Raised everywhere were hundreds of towering skyscrapers that opposed the word small. “Who would leave this?” another asked. They were right: Who would’ve left such a city, and what came next? Once we left, we’d probably come across another ruined planet to explore with no explanations to their disappearance. If only species would stop making the same mistakes, they could thrive.