Canadian soldiers in battle dress were crowding around me, Armstrong with them. I felt sick, my head spun, but I managed to tell him what to do about the drum and the ramp.
"Okay, Arnold. We'll get you to a hospital right away."
The world spiralled down out of sight down a cone of darkness until I woke up in this hospital bed hours later with these flaming embers inside me. It won't be long now. I can read it in Armstrong's eyes.
There's strength in the feel of that friendly hand now that the world inside me is going to pieces. Around me a soft blackness is settling....
EXTRACTS, HOSPITAL CASE HISTORY NO. 3007:
7:20 P.M. Patient relapsed into coma. Pulse almost imperceptible.... 7:32 P.M. Patient pronounced dead.