Wortham krimmer biography of donald

An interstellar team of scientists come to Earth after centuries of living elsewhere, to see if it can sustain life again.  If it cannot, they will mine it for what it has left and leave it derelict.  Donald, one of the older scientists, wants to believe it can support life.  He begins hearing voices, but no one else does.  He puts a centuries-old CD into a player just as old, and miraculously it plays.  As the music fills the room, he hears the voices again and turns around, amazed to see shadowy figures behind him.  One of them appear right in front of him and pleads for help.  He thinks he's seeing things.
Back at the ship, he tries to convince the commander that it can be saved, but she insists the Earth is dead.  As Donald sits in the control room, a figure appears on the screen, and asks if he remembers them now.  He goes outside again, and sees the shadowy figures of the people who once inhabited Earth coming toward him.  The figures ask him if more will be coming.  They are the ones left behind, the souls of all the people who had been alive on the Earth.  They are looking for their past and their future.  They can't follow the ship, so if Earth is to be left derelict, so will they.  They entreat Donald to explain that the Earth does still have life, and not to take it away from them. 

Donald takes the commander out for a walk, but she doesn't believe him.  He asks that they show themselves, but they don't.  The commander thinks he's crazy, and apologizes for bringing him to this planet, the one that meant so much to him.  After they leave, the people appear.  That night, they seem to possess Donald and cause him to try to destroy the equipment.  They stop him, and he doesn't remember anything.  The commander is going to send Donald back to headquarters, because he's obviously having mental issues, and then she's going to give the command to mine the planet.  Donald tries one last time to reason with the shadowy people.  They want to possess his body to try and get to the planet they're living on now, but don't know what would happen.  Donald calls them cowards, but also tells them that they can still influence the Earth, and cause it to heal. 

Donald thinks he's going to be possessed by one of the shadow people for the return to their new home, so the rest can follow.  But as he's talking to the commander, they hear thunder and don't believe it.  It begins to rain, and they are astonished.  Life has returned to Earth, at an accelerated rate.  Donald is thrilled, because it means that the Earth will be saved.  He goes outside, where there is now oxygen, and thanks the shadows for what they did.  They sacrificed themselves, and gave life to Earth again.