All the gnomes working on the dinosaur experiment thought it was going so well: the dinosaurs’ sleek body designs and the tropical Earth environment were perfectly synced. The biosphere systems were running smoothly. I thought we were going to be shepherding the dinosaurs from being successful experiments to being successful permanent residents of Earth.

Imagine how shocked we were when the creator gods ended that experiment. And the way they did it, with a big asteroid hitting the Earth and no advance notice to anyone. Can you believe the arrogance? One minute Earth was beautiful, the next minute it was blasted by a huge rock from outer space that destroyed almost everything.

The gods did not even tell our gnome workgroup that it was going to happen. I sensed the huge rock coming at the final moment, and in a fraction of a second, I had transported myself out of there. There wasn’t even time to warn anybody else.

There were dozens of gnomes working all over Earth. Of course, my first thought was where was Jaal? We quickly communicated telepathically. Fortunately, my beloved fiancée Jaal had transported out in time and gone to her home planet.

It took me a while to catch up with everybody telepathically or in person, to see who made it and who didn’t. We had no central meeting spot picked out ahead of time since Earth was considered a low-risk planet. Our surviving group was confused and in disarray when we finally met.

Ultimately, the news was grim. Only about half of the gnomes made it out alive. Forty gnomes got caught by the blast and its resulting shock waves and plasma fire. Even the surrounding atmosphere was partially vaporized.

In my grief, I needed to see exactly what had happened. I borrowed a small runabout spaceship and went back to view the remains of Earth from orbit.

I saw that the tropical regions where most of the dinosaurs had lived was completely gone. The lovely and tranquil meadow where I proposed to Jaal, was gone. A huge, smoking blast crater covered the entire area now.

I couldn’t see that any of the large dinosaurs remained on Earth. Ship sensors didn’t pick them up either, although readings verified that some of the small winged dinosaurs still survived.

Trees and greenery were still alive in the untouched parts of the planet, so it looked like the biosphere would heal. There was still oxygen in the atmosphere, meaning at least some animals would recover. These encouraging indications meant that Earth could regenerate itself eventually. Already the ocean had flowed in to cover most of the huge crater.

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After the heartbreaking experience of losing so many of my friends, I decided to stay with my parents for a while on their home planet. I was quite angry and inconsolable. Jaal and my family were worried about me. They spent as much time with me as they could to give their support.

Jaal helped me to file a formal complaint with the local star system federation. Of course, nothing came of it. There is rarely a way to hold the creator gods to account when they cause a catastrophe.

I did get an insincere bureaucratic apology for the “misfortune” that the gods caused. The planetary federation also apologized for the Earth catastrophe. The apologies were so meaningless that if they had been written on paper instead of being electronic, I would have burned them in a bonfire.

Although gnomes are aware that we reincarnate, having to recycle into a new life is a huge event. Since every lifetime is supposed to add to a soul’s experiences and therefore progress a soul spiritually, a being can’t just step into a new life. Rebirth requires a great deal of thought and weighing of options. And of course, the still-living families will badly miss the presence of their son or daughter or relative. There’s no guarantee the departing soul would even come back to a new gnome lifetime, or when it would happen. It is highly traumatic for everyone.

Shockingly, we never got an official explanation as to why Earth was destroyed. I have heard that the creator gods felt the dinosaurs were at an end. They had evolved to be huge, which was the goal of the research project. There wasn’t anything scheduled for them after that so their usefulness had ended.

Eventually, we heard that the Creator of All had specifically ordered its pantheon of creator gods to begin an experiment inspired by the cleverness of Earth’s early monkeys. Monkeys were seen as interesting to watch, but not quite upgradeable into complex beings. Prototype early humans were given a new highly advanced design. A larger brain, better hand coordination and more refined body shape were the most significant changes.

The creator gods called their new humanoid manipulation project the “Garden of Eden”. They were quite enthused about its possibilities.

I guess to the gods it was worth brutally removing dinosaurs for a chance to develop the more interesting human beings. They quickly forgot the dinosaur research project and hugely enjoyed planning this more intricate experiment.

I shouldn’t make it sound like the dinosaur research was all catastrophe and disaster for me, although it seemed so at the time. I had to remind myself that I met Jaal there. I still had many friends who had survived. I became closer to my family as they helped me mourn my beloved dinosaur world. They helped turn me away from grief so I could anticipate the good things in my future.

I had also gained a huge amount of practical terraforming experience, which would help me move into new and interesting work opportunities. In fact, after an extended rest to recover from my trauma and sadness, I ended up moving in a surprising new direction.