I Wasn’t Born on Earth, But I Dream About It Every Night

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People say you can’t miss a place you’ve never been to. I don’t think that’s true. I’ve never set foot on Earth, but somehow… I miss it every day.

I was grown in Pod Bay 9 on Orbital Colony 4. Like most of us clones, I was made to do a job in my case owns ideas, maintenance on the outer panels. Every morning, I suit up, float out there, and tighten screws while space hums in the background. It’s quiet. Too quiet, sometimes to be.

We’re not supposed to think much. Just work, eat, recharge, repeat. But I started having these dreams.

Dreams of green hills. Of blue skies, not the thick, recycled air of the colony. I see animals I’ve never met something called a “dog” chasing something and running I see oceans, sunsets, and laughter around firelight.

I’ve never read about these things in any colony data chip. No one taught me this. But they feel real.

The worst part? I’m not allowed to talk about it.

Clones aren’t supposed to dream. It’s in the rules "mental drifting" leads to instability. But how do I ignore something that feels more real than this metal cage I live in? That got me thinking.

One night I whispered to another worker, “Do you ever see trees when you sleep?”

He looked at me like I was broken. He didn’t say anything, just reported me. The next day, I was scheduled for recalibration. They tried to erase the dreams. No what?

It didn’t work.

Now, I keep quiet. I act like everything’s normal. I do my work, I smile when I’m supposed to. But in my head, Earth is always there calling to me, like a forgotten song I somehow remember.

I don’t know if I was made wrong, or if I’m the only one made right.

Maybe somewhere deep in our code, there’s a memory of Earth. A feeling of sunlight on skin, of wind through hair. Maybe it’s in all of us, just buried too deep or part of what made me.

Or maybe I’m just a clone who dreams too much.

Either way, I’ll keep dreaming even if it’s the only part of me that still feels human I love it.