Junior School Magazine - Edition 5 (June 2018)

R ed Red was all I could see. Carefully I stepped out of the space craft followed by Izzy and Biff my partners and fellow astronauts. “Mark,” Izzy said to me. “Are you certain we should do this, it could be dangerous with this new atmosphere,” she exclaimed scientifically. “We’ll be fine,” I assured her as I took a step I felt extremely light like I could soar through the infinity of the Universe. We walked further and further until we noticed something - it was a boy! “A boy?” Biff inquired as I slowly stepped towards the young boy. He saw me and rushed towards me. “Hello,” he exclaimed anxiously. “What is your name?” I asked slowly. “I don’t have one,” he replied. He looked tough and strong like a warrior. We followed him into a large dusty crater which astonishingly lead into a beautiful green valley. As I ran my fingers through the lush emerald bushes, they illuminated like a million fireflies. “Take off your helmets,” the boy asked us. He was a fighter and alone so I decided to call him Ronin. In Japanese Ronin means wanderer or a Samurai who had lost his master and was alone. I thought about taking my helmet off but then I knew I couldn’t because if I did I wouldn’t be able to breathe. “Trust me,” he said. “I can read minds,” he added. I looked at him, he had a sense of longing and certainly in his eyes, so I slowly pressed the button on my helmet… I lifted my space helmet off my head and took a single breath. It was like nothing I had ever experienced. The air was so fragrant and pure that I wanted to keep sniffing all day. As I gulped down one last long breath, I felt like I had never breathed in my life. “Here on Mars we used to have the purest air in the universe,” Ronin said. “Until my fellow Martians polluted this paradise – all expect this place, my happy place.” “Are there any more Martians here?” Biff asked. “No,” he replied sadly. “The rest evacuated Mars to go find other planets and forgot me.” A single tear slowly drifted down his dust covered face. He wiped it away and smiled, “come look at this,” he cried. He spoke something strange to a plant and it turned into an animal. “It’s a willow hog,” he exclaimed as Izzy wrote it down in her note book. He showed us more amazing things, he was like a kid in a candy store. “I can talk to animals and every other language in fact,” Ronin said. “I’m afraid we have to depart,” I told Ronin. “No, no I have food here, you can stay with me - please?” Ronin trailed off. I looked at Izzy and Biff who nodded back at me. “Okay,” I smiled and so did Ronin.

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JSM Edition 5