Irish
Irish
19. No matter how great the war, peace always comes in the end.
Friends, Dónall here again and I have good news for you tonight. This journey is coming to an end. I am not sad about this, the opposite in fact. I am happy. I am glad. Yes, I will use a cliché: I feel the gladness of the world. Gladness of the world. Our ancestors understood the planet well. Gladness of the world. That’s exactly what I feel.
This journey is coming to an end. No matter how great the war, peace always comes in the end. The air, food and water I had are almost done but I don’t care about that. I had a victory even so. My work showed what we could achieve. This journey showed that I was not powerless. The help you gave me showed that we were not powerless. We undertook a big project and we completed it and I am so grateful to you for that.
People told us that we couldn’t achieve what we wanted. They said we weren’t knowledgeable. They said we weren’t capable. But we were knowledgeable and capable. Night after night, we continued with the work. I asked you questions about the spaceship and you answered me. You gave me help. You were generous to me.
I learnt a lot from your help. I hope that you learned something from me. I couldn’t have undertaken this journey without your help. Indeed, I wouldn’t want to make this journey without your company. We are internet comrades and we are comrades. Maybe you don’t know me to see and I don’t know you to see but we are friends.
You hear my voice every single night and I read your messages every single night. There is no time when I go round this planet that I don’t think of the good friends who helped me. I have been looking down on the earth for a couple of days and nights. I saw almost every country in the world below. I saw the ocean, rivers and woods. I saw all the man-made wonders. For the first time ever, perhaps, I understood the ability of the community with whom I share this planet. I understood the beauty of looking at a sky full of stars rather than studying it. Isn’t life strange?
I read internet messages which raised my spirits and others which depressed me. It’s not long now until I will be back on the planet. But I am not depressed. I have done my work. You inspired me and I hope that I inspired you. It was a great pleasure to have your company on this journey. The information we collected together was a great boost. I got great enjoyment from the conversation we had during this time.
But this journey is coming to an end. It won’t be long until I have to say goodbye to the moon and the stars. It won’t be long until I have to surrender to gravity again. It won’t be long until I make my final journey round this little world of ours. Believe it or not, I am homesick. Isn’t that strange? I haven’t been gone from the earth that long but I am homesick. I miss the land and the sky above me. I will be relieved to see clouds above me and not below me! I must admit it’s a bit strange the clouds being upside down!
Here, I don’t have much time left. It won’t be long until I have to end this broadcast. I will speak to you again tomorrow – if I am spared – and I will say goodbye to you properly. Listen to me. The final word hasn’t been said yet about this wonderful trip of ours.
