Everyone else has left.
The ships have carried humanity to brighter systems and temperate worlds, and Earth — overheated, depleted, and far from the new center of civilization — has been declared a relic. One man chooses not to board the final transport. Not out of nostalgia. Not out of duty. He simply wants to stay.
As the last commander urges him to reconsider, arguments are made about efficiency, expense, and progress. The old world is no longer practical. Resources are thin. The future lies elsewhere. Yet when the silver hull lifts into the sky and vanishes, the choice becomes real. He is alone on an entire planet. The cities are empty. The bridges stand silent. Cats prowl the avenues that once roared with traffic. Central Park strains against its boundaries. The library belongs to him now. So does every street, every shoreline, every horizon.
What begins as a gesture of defiance turns into something stranger. He must build a life without witnesses. He must live without judgment, without rules, without noise. He can roam where he pleases, claim what he wants, sleep when he chooses. But he must also face the weight of endless quiet and the knowledge that no rescue is coming. As the wilderness creeps back and the structures of civilization begin their slow surrender, he asks himself a single question: has he been left behind — or has he finally been given exactly what he always wanted?
Evelyn E. Smith built her reputation on sharp, ironic science fiction that examined people rather than machines. Her stories appeared in magazines such as Galaxy Science Fiction, The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, and Fantastic Universe, and she later wrote the popular Miss Melville mystery novels. “The Most Sentimental Man” showcases her distinctive blend of wit and speculative insight, presenting a cosmic-scale premise through the lens of one very human decision.
