I am outside my space craft dying of ... But let me start at the beginning. As a high-ranking member of the Corps, I was sent on this mission, to Mercury. I am the first man to touch the barren soil of this cursed planet.
I am, of course, on its dark side. You on earth can never imagine how desolate utter darkness can be. And the cold ... you could not even begin to understand.
I apologise, I am beginning to lose the thread of my story. But there is not much more to tell.
By a freakish accident I have become lost, completely separated, from my ship. My only contact with it is through my microphone.
Every agonized breath of mine, very spoken gasp is recorded electronically in the ship's computer. And these are my last words.
I do not think I can go on much longer; somehow hope endures; if it did not I would long ago have swallowed my suicide capsule; but somehow I cannot bring myself to do that yet.
Let me tell you about the cold. It is everywhere - there is no refuge. When the darkness becomes too much I can switch on my torch for a few minutes. There is no such escape from the cold.
The cold is numbing - I can no longer feel anything except my heart beating. I do not think I could put the capsule to my mouth. My fingers are knotted with the numbness. The cold has penetrated my mind. I cannot think.
My heartbeat seems so loud. Have I been here days or hours? Boom-boom. It is only my heart. There is no other noise.
I tried to move some time - a long time - ago, and I almost screamed with pain.
Will I be like this untouched, lying on the ground, in a million years?
I think my heartbeat is slowing. Boom-boom. But it is still there. I think I must have died a long time ago. Am I in hell?
I made a mistake in not killing myself. But if I am already dead ...
Why doesn't someone light the fire? I am so cold. I didn't mean to run away mummy. It was so cold in the fields.
No! I must not lose my grip. Why don't I die? My chest is very tight. My nose, my arms, my legs, my brain are all dead.
Why does my heart go on? The pain, I cannot stand the pain in the deepest marrow of my bones.
I hear it again. Boom-boom. My heart. My chest is very tight."
Boom-boom-boom-boom-boom-boom-BOOM!
Michael Baptiste 5A