8 {SS} Isle

The wind's howl was endlessly loud. But that didn't seem to make a difference when mere feet from a drop-ship in the process of landing.

To Isle, it was as if a sandstorm was in the making. He blocked the small particles flying about from entering his eyes, with his hands. Another shorter figure by his side mimicked his actions. It was his younger sister, Ilde.

She looked quite nervous and had a right to be. Dozens of armed men surrounded the group of children, moving crates of unknown materials around as if in the most hurried states of their lives. The resounding sounds of bangs, yells, screams, and thunderous cracks of gunfire were a testament as to why.

One man stood beside them, however. A tall man, with a long white lab coat, which when compared to his and Ilde's rags, remained spectacularly clean in the gusting sands.

Although his wear was spectacular; a tie, black formal pants, and shoes that gave off a presence of authority, the man had a rather plain face with glasses resting on a long nose. His hair was short and his expression grim.

Unlike the vast amount of people surrounding him, he was unnaturally calm.

Isle had come to know the man as Mr. Seroi. While Isle and his sister were being escorted along with other people to be taken off planet by the soldiers in tan, Mr. Seroi came along with even bigger armored men in black, and began picking children like Isle and Ilde out of line and told them that they should wait for a special transport.

What confused Isle was that he had seen kids his age in line with families, that weren't even touched.

---

When the drop-ship's engines came to a halt, a ramp lowered, revealing a brightly lit, spacey interior... with a woman standing in the middle of it all.

She, much like Mr. Seroi, wore a white lab coat and formal wear, But, opposing his grim mask, she wore a small gentle smile that Isle and the other kids were instantly attracted to. It had a way of displaying her Asian-in origin features.

"Dr. Seroi," she called out, walking forwards and down the ramp.

Isle and the other kids were momentarily shocked at what she had spoken.

Doctors were extremely rare existences on planets such as Sava V. There were very few facilities that could even train such a profession, that had grown alongside the new and highly developed technologies and information of the space age. To the residents of such planets, people with abilities like those were deemed and treated like saints.

And in discovering that Mr.Seroi was one of those people, they couldn't help but view him in awe.

Following the woman's greeting, Mr.Seroi - now Dr. Seroi calmly strode forward to confront her as well.

"Dr. Tang, I'm happy to see you could intercept us here, like this."

Isle noticed not only that the woman was also a doctor, taking in a breath of awe, but also that Dr. Seroi didn't appear necessarily happy that she was here.

The woman, Dr. Tang, glanced past Dr. Seroi, peering at - and eyeing the children behind him.

"Are those the children?"

Dr. Seroi didn't spare a glance at Isle or any of the children as he replied.

"Yes".

That was all of the conversations Isle could pay attention to, as he felt a pull on his ragged clothes.

Looking over, he found that it was Ilde, appearing worried like never before.

"Isle, shouldn't we look for Big Sis Innoe? She's probably out there! Shouldn't we look for her? It feels like I can hear her crying!"

She looked ready to burst into tears, her hands were trembling violently as well.

Isle, himself, refused to re-envision the image of their elder sister out in the now unknown landscape, by themselves, probably tirelessly searching desperately for them. His youths resolve was the only thing, keeping the overwhelming dread of the situation from distorting his face to be like her's.

He recognized that their sister was likely no more with all that was happening, It took all his heart and mind as a 9-year-old to accept such an idea.

"Ilde, listen to me, Innoe is gone, like ma, Ruvert, Miky, and maybe even pa... we're all that's left..."

His voice began to crack halfway through the dialogue.

Ilde just stared at him as if she had heard none of it, then slowly began shaking her head.

"No. That's a lie. Ma told you not to tell lies" She began ferociously shaking her head even more. Her hazel eyes showed the first signs of tears, they were red, really red.

"But its true" Isle continued with resolve, "So me and you've got to stay safe... for their sake"

But, unexpectedly to Isle, she lashed out, and tears sprung loose. Her voice rose several pitches, attracting the attention of the other kids, and some other people working nearby.

"That's not true! Stop Lying! That's NOT TRUE ISLE!"

She ran away or at least tried to. Unbeknownst to the boy, Doctors Seroi and Tang had parted from their conversation, each headed in different directions. And Ilde, in her fit, ran head-long into Dr. Tang.

Ilde stopped and looked up at the doctor, retaining all of the features of a crying child.

Isle watched as the doctor smiled, bent over, and spoke in Ilde's ear, words he could only guess.

But a massive tremor in the earth shifted his attention and threw his mind into fear. He could hear the wails and surprised screams of the people and children around him adding to it.

The tremors lasted for a few more seconds before all returned to as it was.

An authoritative voice, that Isle recognized as Dr. Seroi's spoke out.

"What just happened?"

Seconds later, a tan soldier burst from the crowd of men, who were now even more hurriedly stuffing the drop-ship full of equipment and crates.

"Sir, that's the third one, the third cruiser we've lost. We've managed to push those double-A bastards into retreat, but we're still taking heavy casualties."

Dr. Seroi seemed satisfied with the response, that was, until one of the black armored soldiers Isle had seen with him before, came up and spoke in hushed tones with him.

The doctor's face seemed to stiffen and hurriedly shouted;

"Everyone, on the drop-ship NOW! Everything you cannot load in less than a minute, burn it! Leave nothing!"

He turned to the black armored soldier.

"Get them on board, they are the priority"

Isle realized that he was pointing at the group of children. Confusion erupted in his mind.

The next minute was a blur of him looking around for Ilde or Dr. Tang as he was being shoved aboard the drop-ship by the black armored men.

In the end... he never caught a glimpse of either of them... and never would again.