Blake stepped on somebody's toes and was roundly cursed. But he kept on, clutching his bag. They'd be sorry. All this would change when he showed what he had.
"Imagine it, friends. By the 100th century, even the name 'Earth' had faded from collective memory. Most humans living and dying on the worlds of Arcturus, Vega, Pollux or any others didn't even know that the race had come from Earth originally. They almost thought themselves native life. We no longer called ourselves Earthmen by then. That term fell into discard too. We were Starmen. And so, for an age, lonely Earth was lost in space, unsung, unknown, unhallowed."
McKay went on by rote, thinking of dinner.
"It was not till the 130th century that the Galactic Historical Society decided to make a shrine of Mother Earth, original home of the Starmen, as turned up in a musty record. But where was Earth? Vague records helped nothing. Picture how aghast they were. Finally, they had to organize a galactic hunt for Earth that took a century."
Lem Blake sweated as he forged on through the packed crowd. If only his bag didn't bump against shins producing two noises, one metallic, the other human and angry. But later, when they heard, they wouldn't mind. Blake grinned. Maybe they'd tell of it proudly.
"The ships searched everywhere for unmarked Earth, known only to be a frozen world of a dead sun. It was not even known how many planets had circled Earth's sun. Some thought three, others nine, again thirteen. Nobody could submit proof one way or another, so it became a blind search in a cosmic haystack. A star search.
"The only real clue was that it must be in the vicinity of Sirius, since it was known that such star systems as Centauri, Barnard and Epsilon Eridani held the earliest colonies of Starmen. Earth had to be somewhere among this general group, since the Starmen expanded outward slowly, jumping from near stars to far stars.
"All frozen worlds among that narrowed-down group were visited, for any tell-tale signs as to which would be Earth itself. They often had to burn down with atomic torches through glacial ice to examine ancient ruins."
Blake glared back at an indignant glare. He grew bolder as his goal neared. Not far now, another hundred feet.
"Ultimately, the most likely evidence pointed to one certain planet: the one we stand on today. Under the ice and hoar frost was found this ancient city whose ruins now surround you. A few scraps of chiseled wording on cornerstones matched the earliest writings of Earth we know of, at least prior to the 30th century. And so, we had found the forgotten world, Mother Earth."