Flash Friday Fiction: “We Were”

For today’s Flash! Friday Challenge, we were given the nuclear photo below, 150 words, and were advised to write about patience.  The game is afoot!

Nuclear Winter Recon. CC photo by Paul Hocksenar.

We Were

Captain’s Log: 3065 AD

The Intrepid IX arrived on the planetoid called Pluto three months ago.  Only eight survived the 32-year space voyage, and upon arriving we discovered that just as we feared, the sun has begun to overheat. Nobody on Earth could survive such broiling temperatures.

We wear thermal suits and weighted boots to protect us from the extreme cold (375 degrees below zero) and the weak gravitational pull. We thought the suits would also protect us from space radiation. Then our hair started falling out.

I advised my crew to hold on – that others would come. They maintained hope. And one by one, I watched them die.

Now I’m alone.  I write this now so there might be some evidence of humanity. What shall I say of us? We lived boldly and loved well, but in the end, the universe grew weary of us.

Oxygen…failing…world ……cold………

unyielding……but we………

were……………….

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