Pianeta d’erba

Abstract

In “Pianeta d’erba”, Nino Martino follows a lone space explorer and his AI companion, Irene, who discover a distant world inexplicably covered in terrestrial grass. Beneath the surface lies the lost starship Umanity I, sent by the ideological movement Luce Umana to “seed” Earth life across the cosmos. The crew, disillusioned, transformed the planet into a sterile monoculture before choosing death, leaving behind a haunting artistic and ethical statement. Blending hard science fiction with philosophical inquiry, the story questions anthropocentrism, immortality, and the fragile boundary between creation and annihilation.