Why Did We Leave Earth?

Note: This was inspired by @AdmiralFoxx 's challenge by the same name.

It was simple, really. They offered us a win-win situation. Come live with and work for Them while They took care of our planet and cleaned up the royal mess we'd made. We only had a select list of jobs to choose from, and we couldn't increase our population beyond the current number. But what did that matter? Finally, a safe, stable society where you could make a living and raise a family. It had seemed like ages since that had been a possibility. The applications flooded in. They actually had to refuse entry to anyone for a period of time while They built more transports to handle the influx. Of course, by the time They were done, the number of applicants had increased by staggering proportions.

The best part was that, after a few centuries of careful tending and rehabilitation, our planet would be returned to us a blank slate. All our mistakes could be erased in a guilt free, painless business deal. The common people had always seemed to carry most of the guilt about humanity's failures and were happy to leave their land to their saviours, preserving their lives, their futures, and their consciences instead. At first, governments and large corporations counted this a blessing, reclaiming the abandoned property and pulling in enormous profits. Eventually, though, as countries emptied themselves of people, companies had no one to sell to and governments had no one to rule. Within a relatively small number of years, our planet was virtually empty. Some of the people in the wealthier parts of the world opted to stay. They divided into sects and nations. For a while, the remaining human civilization devolved into chaos as people fought for control of the earth. That ended when They began the rehabilitation of the earth. The remaining humans on earth simply disappeared. The humans who had moved to another planet, to start a new life with virtually no repercussions, discovered that there was truly no such thing as a free lunch.

Isolated and self-centred, humanity never learned about the laws that governed our universe. Little did we know that those without a planet had no rights, no influence, and no authority. We had, in essence, sold our birthright for a bowl of soup. They had our planet; They could do whatever they liked with it. They honoured the agreement every human had signed with them and continued cleaning the earth while giving us jobs in their society. However, we ended up with the uncomfortable, messy jobs, and since there was no time limit to how long They could take fixing the earth, They were under no obligation to give it back to us anytime soon. We soon lost all hope that they ever would. Our lives weren't that bad: everyone was guaranteed a job with a reasonable wage, and those who couldn't work were provided for. But we had lost our pride. We owned nothing, we had authority over nothing, we belonged nowhere. It was heartbreaking. For some, it was too much to handle. The question in everyone's minds was: Why did we ever leave?

Why? Because it was easy.

Finit.

Leslie Kessler.