“The Impossible Planet” (“Legend”) February 1953

The impossible planet is … Earth. A 350-year-old woman approaches Captain Andrews and his mate Norton with the request to buy a ticket to travel to Earth. Irma Vincent Gordon, who is deaf despite being “sustained ” artificially for many years, is assured that Earth is a myth—the fabled birthplace of humanity, not an actual place. The scientists of the society of the distant future all agree that Earth never existed. But the old woman has a great deal of money, and she is willing to spend it on a ticket. Captain Andrews cannot resist the temptation of an easy “thousand positives.” He consults the ship's information library and reviews competing reports of Earth. The dominant account of Earth describes it as a small planet with one moon, the third planet from the sun in a nine-planet system. There are 90 such systems according to the captain. The Emphor System is the closest, so Emphor III is their destination; if Earth is merely a legend, it doesn't really matter to which similar system they take the old woman. They arrive at the barren ruin of a planet. War, mining, and pollution have destroyed Emphor III. The old woman is upset. Earth should be green and alive. She had heard stories from her grandfather, who purported to come from Earth. The captain explains that the planet was “exhausted,” but the old woman continues to complain that Earth is not supposed to be this way. She makes the captain promise this barren ruin is really earth. He does so emphatically. Norton takes the woman to see the ocean. After looking upon the watery ruin, she collapses. Her robot servant goes to her aid. It picks her up, carries her into the filthy sea and vanishes. A shaken Norton puts in for a transfer and refuses his share of the old woman’s money, leaving Andrews to consider his culpability in what has happened. He refuses to admit any fault. The woman was old, and conditions were harsh on Emphor III. So she died. He sidesteps his lack of belief in the reality of Earth. He finds a coin back on the ship and cleans and examines it. It is covered with an ancient script, meaningless to Andrews. E PLURIBUS UNUM. He throws it in the trash and returns to his star charts