"Well, no," Simon hurried to correct him. "Most people live on planets or moons that have been terraformed. Made to be like Earth. The same sort of terrain and atmosphere, and then people are moved to the new planet. Usually voluntary ... there are calls put out for that when they start the process. But I was ... my sister and I ... it's complicated," he finally decided. He didn't want to get into his status as a fugitive and explain why they'd wanted River, because that would get into Miranda and reavers, and he just really didn't want to visit that right now.
"But yes, Earth was ... eventually depleted. Highly over-populated, and the resources used up, so they had no recourse but to look for other places to live."
He smiled slightly before he shrugged. "We did have classes on Earth-that-Was history," Simon assured him. "I can't speak for how accurate it all was, but ... it wasn't a great picture that it painted."
He shrugged again to the last set of questions. "I'd rather be home. It's nice enough here, but I ... River -- my sister -- is home. I would like to get back there to her." Having Kaylee here was nice, he wasn't going to argue against that, but River needed him.