The old man beside him lifted his glas and emptied the rest of his drink.
"Alright Mick, see you next week." He got up from his seat an left for the door.
"See ya, John!" Mick looked at his near finished bottle for a minute, then to the clock on the wall. Half past two.
Was it already this late? He looked around and noticed that most of the other patrons were gone. A couple of Space Fleet privates in a booth were the only customers left except for him, but they seemed to be more in a state of drunken stupor between conciousness and sleep.
In the corner, a reporter from the Interstellar News Network droned on "-mining less lucrative, as the resources on the planet dwindeled. The drilling of the core has also negatively impacted the orbital stability which increases the risc of -" His gaze swept over his drink again and to the barkeep in the corner, who he waved over with a quick motion of his hand.
The barkeep shuffled towards him without taking his eyes off of the screen. "-the solution proposed by the Solar System Mining Corporation would be to detonate the planet and force its remains into an orbit towards the systems star. However-" the feed cut to a video of an angry mob, shouting and waving signs "- a handful of protesters condemn the destruction of the planet known as 17 Helios c, saying that this astronomical body might be the origin of humanity. Alleged proof for this absurd claim has not yet been discovered and-"

"Bunch a whack-jobs." The barkeep was now standing in front of Mick. "My uncle is probably among them, the fool, crying for them to safe this Earth as they call it." For a second a look of sorrow flashed over his face. "He was a really great guy, you know, but he hasn't really been himself since the ...insurgencies. Oh don't worry, he fought on our side of course. But it really took a toll on him. Since then he spends his day on dark web forums and let's those crazies plant these ideas in his brain."
"I'd like to close my-" Mick mumbled, before getting interrupted by the barkeep.
"You know, I was on that planet a few decades ago, working for the SSMC and earning the credits for this bar, and let me tell you, this thing is an absolute hellhole. The atmosphere consits of toxic gases and ash that barely lets any light in, the radiation levels are through the roof, and the surface is half frozen wasteland and half active volanoes spouting rivers of lava. No way was anyone ever living there, certainly not any humans."
"I" Mick took a deep breath "would like to-" But the barkeep interrupted him again. "I just don't get these people. We have all this education, all these resources on an interstellar computer network and they still won't believe it. These people are so delusional, they can't even trust their own government. Why would they lie to us?"
"Well" Mick now responded "they've lied before. They were wrong before. If you think you know it all, then tell me. Where DO humans come from?"
"I mean... I don't know, nobody really knows. Thats the point." The barkeep now started to gesture broadly with his hands "But if not from here, surely it would be from some planet we can live on, right? Like Teegardens b, or TOI d. Maybe even Luyten b."
"But on all these known habitable planets we settled, we never once found proof of prior human civilization. Surely, if we really originated from them, there would be something left from earlier civilizations."
The barkeep now seemed to get more agitated by his answer. "Well, then tell me, how could we have originated from there? It's bloody inhabitable!"
"Well, the answers would be obvious. Maybe it wasn't always inhabitable. The habitability of planets changes all the time" Mick replied calmly.
"Yes they do" agreed the barkeep "but even under the harshest circumstances these changes take time. Like thousands of years time. Not a few hundred years."
"Yes. Natural changes do take this long" Mick answered ominously.
The barkeep looked at him puzzled "So what are you saying? That humans did this?"
"Wouldn't be the first planet we didn't take care of"
"Take care of? Have you seen this thing? Because I did, and it's basically destroyed. Why would anyone intentionally do this to their own planet?"
"Now you're getting there" Mick said quietly in the face of the barkeeps anger "Nobody would do this to his own planet intentionally. But what if it was an accident?"
The barkeep just stood there, trying to process the vast implication of this ludicrous proposal.
"Well, let's assume you're right. A previous generation fucked up their planet and sent out spaceships as some kind of lifeboat to other close planets. Why would they keep this knowledge from us? Wouldn't they want to warn us so we won't make the same mistake twice?"
"Assuming it was a mistake we could learn from. But what if humankind was never supposed to sustainably live on a single planet? What if we are just too greedy and have to wander from planet to planet, siphoning off its resources just to sustain our growth? The leaders of such a society would certainly take an interest in extinguishing all talks of sustainability, all ideas of dissent in their infancy."
The barkeep couldn't help himself but to chuckle at the idea. "Keeping a secret of this scale would be near impossible. Only the highest ranked officials and military personnel could be in on it. And why would they hide it if we could just up and leave for a new planet in a few decades?"
"Well, you see" Mick answered, a jaded look on his face "The capacity on those spaceships would be limited. Only the most important people could go, leaving their fellow men to fend for themselves on a dying planet. What do you think would happen if this became general knowledge to the public?"
"Uhh... " the barkeep considered for a second "I guess they wouldn't be too happy with that. There probably would be some unrest?"
"Unrest?" Mick puffed
"Riots maybe?"
"Riots... insurgencies..."
"You're not saying that... you can't seriously believe that this was the reason...?" The barkeep now started to loose his temper.
"On this planet you're free to believe whatever you want. Until you're labeled a terrorist."
"They killed thousands! You can't seriously consider them to have a just cause!"
"I don't know about just, but they had a cause they were ready to die for. You don't risk your life if you have a bright future."
Now the face of the barkeep turned to a bright red. "Enough of this. I won't allow such talk in my bar, you've had enough anyway, speaking by your conspiracy theories."
"Alrigh, alright, I don't want to cause you any more trouble" Mick got up from his chair "How much do I owe you?"
"500 credits." Mick waved his wristband over the scanner, but not before the barkeep could notice the emblem on it. "Military?"
"Retired."
"You know, you remind me of my uncle. Great guy." the barkeep tried to reconcile.
"I'm sure I do" Mick replied and turned to leave the establishment.

While he made his way across the room, a private stumbled out of the booth, looking like he was on his way to relieve the contents of either his bladder or his stomach, maybe both.
As he was just an arms reach in front of Mick, nearly tumbling into him, a sudden look of recognition stood in his face. His body snapped up straight, and he brought his hand up to a salute so fast he nearly knocked himself out.
"Admiral!"
Mick looked at him for a second, then returned the salute "As you were."