ORIGINAL FICTION: "And We Were Grey", Part 1

And we were grey
            I sat in the rosy sunset with the love of my life. My lukewarm tea sat forgotten on the table as I gazed at her for the millionth and last time. She was grey, and the lines on her face reflected the years we had spent together, the laughter and the pain of our lives on this dying planet.
            "The tea is very tasty, love."
I stirred from my reverie as she stirred the liquid with her little finger. "Thank you. I wanted something special for tonight." I began to list the herbs that I had grown and the processes used until I saw the familiar twinkle in her eye.
            "I’m lecturing again, aren’t I?"
            "I know that you love what you do. Your passion is showing."
I embraced her and from my trembling grip on her frail body I realized that indeed, my terror was showing as well.
The sleepless red night lasted forever, and that wasn’t long enough. Before dawn, they came for me, and I picked up my bags and followed. They had parked the suborbital on my lawn, and I’m afraid my displeasure showed. Inwardly, I marveled that they had sent such hardware after me. I could’ve just as easily taken the beanstalk to orbit.
"Was that real grass?" The senior officer sounded awestruck. I assumed she was senior. Her shoulder carried more decoration than her partner’s. As we lifted off, I groaned inwardly. There, in my precious Bermuda, these-- these children-- carved huge gouges in my lawn!
Yes, you junior league vandal, that was real grass!  I couldn't answer.  I just sputtered.
The senior officer chose the better part of valor and the ride to the transfer station sped by silently. The officers helped me out into the lower gravity of the spaceport and saluted. I squinted at them and realized just how green my escort was. I returned the salute in true civilian fashion, turned and called up my itinerary. A guide arrow appeared and I followed it toward the high speed docking platforms. I had skip-walked about twenty meters when two more green officer types materialized beside me.
"This way, sir", Tweedledee intoned. Tweedledum just motioned in the direction that my guide arrow was already indicating. I rolled my eyes and allowed them to usher me to the Velocitor lounge. Neither of them thought it appropriate to carry my luggage. We sat (or what passed for sitting here) for five minutes when I realized, to my horror, that the Tweedles were to be my escort all the way to Uranus Wheel. With these flowers of human evolution as company, the journey out would seem positively endless. I wanted to cry.
After a few hundred years of years of waiting, my guide arrow started to pulse. I got up,