L.I.E. (Learn, Improve, Educate)

Learn, Improve, Educate

"I wouldn't expect anything less from you actually." Edath joked. Lael found interesting how they weren't thinking all in big things they'd wish to do the most. The only big and difficult thing to happen, Lael thought, was the island conquers and society change, plus the fact that they were still alive in case that would happen.

"I-I'd want to be a m-mother one day." Aruna said as she tried to smile. She wasn't just holding her knees and balancing herself like she used to do anymore, which made Edath proud of her progresses.

"Interesting." Miguel smiled and looked away, puffing his cigarette. "I'd like to be a father someday too." He admitted. Aruna looked away, blushing, making Miguel uncomfortable. "It's not like I'm suggesting anything." He rubbed his beard looking as innocent as he was.

"What about you Lael?" Patroklos asked, trying to get the attention away from those two.

"My wish, huh? I never really had any future projections, especially since I arrive here, so I don't really know." Lael replied, shrugging and giving an apologetic smile.

"Ohh... but maybe right now you could think of something." He insisted. Lael sighed and scratched the back of his head, thinking.

"I don't know... I guess a bit like all of you guys. I'd like to learn more about subjects I'm interested... I'd like to keep helping with society's safety and with whatever was needed... maybe even start a family, I don't know." He looked at Edath. "I guess you're the last one, then."

"Well, for me it's simple." Edath cleared her throat. "My goal is your goals. So whatever you seek, I'll be there to help you achieve it." She smiled fiercely. Everyone looked at her, expecting her to say more stuff.

"What about your personal dreams, then?" Sarah asked, tilting her head.

"I'll be happy as long as I can make everyone happy so, that's it." Edath shrugged, finishing assertively. Lael smiled.

He noticed she was trying to learn from Simon and invest more in others and less in her. He couldn't say he didn't admire that, but he was concerned she would be hurt later on with that decision. Nonetheless, he hoped she and Nale developed some concrete dreams with time.

«Learn, Improve, Educate» in its finest, huh? Simon, you were a fucking genious. Lael shook his head and smiled.

"Alright everyone, we should rest for now. Miguel and Aruna, I'm guessing it's your turn to be on the first night shift, right? Please don't start procreating right now, alright?" She smirked by their embarrassment. "Patroklos and Lael are on the second shift." The two of them nodded. "Good. The remaining should go to sleep, tomorrow I'll be back to torment your souls." She smirked again, leaving everyone sighing out loud theatrically, making Edath laugh mischievously.

...

"Hey Lael, it's your turn now." Miguel murmured, shaking softly Lael's arm. Lael opened his eyes and nodded. He got used to sleep sitting against a wall since they were much more than in the beginning and there weren't enough mattresses anymore. Patroklos was already outside when Lael appeared, yawning.

"I was dreaming about a missile attack and, man, that felt so real!" Patroklos exclaimed, stretching his arms above his head. Lael laughed and sat on the bench, stretching from there.

"Gez, that sounds troubling. There's no such thing around, so you can rest." Lael reassured. Patroklos looked at him, sitting beside him.

"How can you be really sure?" He asked, seriously. Lael looked at him with the same serious expression.

"Well, if that was to happen, it would be needed a big airplane to carry out missiles or a big boat or tank or whatever. And we don't see any of that here. And something like that would be seen, believe me." He patted his shoulder, making him less stiff.

"Yeah, you're right." He laid back and yawned again. The raining was slowly beginning to fall down, although they didn't need to worry since they were taking shelter. "Ohhhh, now it's raining! It's harder to see anything like this." He complained.

"Unfortunately you're right." Lael sighed and stood up. They had to circle the house now since the traps original set up by Simon needed fixing and didn't work, which was one of the things they were trying to do.

Lael walked around the house and got back to Patroklos, not seeing – as he expected – a weird movement around.

"How are things going with Simon stuff?" He asked. Patroklos put a disappointed and sad expression before talking.

"Slow, very slow. Even if we followed him closely for two months or so since you guys took us in, it's still pretty hard to understand everything that was in his head. The vision memories in the glass eye truly helped us understand some stuff and improve other we knew, but I don't think we're good to create stuff out of scratch and create stuff like he did." He sighed, resting his head in his hand. Lael was twirling a colt on his finger, with the security on, in case he needed it.

"You don't need to worry Patroklos, we understand. It's hard to substitute a damn genius inventor like that unless you're a natural like him. As long as you can keep doing that, it's fine." Lael smiled. Patroklos nodded and smiled too.

"Oh, by the way you can call me Patro, it's easier to say and I found it was cool to shorten the name anyway. Can I call you Lae?"

"Fine by me Patro." Lael laughed and looked around again. He went quiet as he was seeing a light in the dark sky.

"Huh, what's that? A shooting star?" Patroklos exclaimed smiling. "I've only heard about it, but never seen one."

Lael frowned, narrowing his eyes to try to see better with all that rain. He found a binocular near them and used it to see it better.

"Shooting stars usually are quite fast and take half a second to appear and disappear... but this one is sure taking a while..." His eyes opened wide as he saw the "star" features. "You don't say..."

Before he could think further, he ran towards the house and shook Edath softly until she woke up.

"What the hell happened?" She asked, sitting and massaging her temples as she looked at him. He signed so she'd follow outside, which she did in a hurry. Lael pointed to the light which was closer to the island now and handed the binocular.

"Is it possible that you've seen airplanes dropping people around here?" Lael asked. Edath opened her eyes wide too, slowly shaking her head. The sound of the airplane was getting higher as it got close.

"N-No... I've never seen airplanes around here... No airplane trajectory is supposed to even come near, since they're blocking any possibility for this island to be known." She looked at him and gulped. "Do you think somebody lost their track?"

"Hard to tell from sight, they're still far away, I can't really see what kind of airplane it is. It doesn't seem falling either, which might be a relief." Lael continued. Patro looked at them with a worried expression, not sure what they were talking about. He then exclaimed again.

"Uh, I see more of those airplanes way behind this one. I think they are two more or three?"

Lael took a step back. He had a bad feeling about that.

"Edath, we should move everyone inside the bunker." He urged, grabbing her shoulders. Edath's eyes were scared. She wasn't sure about what she was dealing with but had the feeling she couldn't fight, so the last resort would have to be flee. She nodded.

"I'm glad we were prepared." She then ran towards the house, followed by Patroklos, and start screaming to wake up everyone, leading them to the bunker.

Lael looked at the airplanes. As they got closer, there was no doubt they were going to the island. Three Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II airplanes were coming for all of them.