The Isle (TOME 7 of the TIAMAT'S WARS SERIE)

Chews

"Commander, Commander," the second Zdiek screamed as he ran up and down...

The ship's captain was watching his giant screen with the live images from the probes. But he wasn't looking at the images from the old base.

His daydream interrupted, he turned to Zdiek...

Breathless, "Commander, don't you think it's strange, torches lit around the base... fire... and the torches are new.

Raptors were hidden, yet the animals weren't unnaturally frightened by the probes which are inaudible, the scans all the time ignored by the animals. Their reaction was bizarre, like a tribe.

It's as if they own the whole territory, no other species.

Which is abnormal..."

Yamato: "You're not second best for nothing I see. Good deduction. "He took a pause and then resumed: "The planet is inhabited. We don't know anything and obviously the only evidence is here. Survivors maybe... we'll send in the settlers and instruct them to look for any trace of civilisation and a rescue mission is in order. If there are survivors, we'll rehabilitate them. If they're natives, we'll limit contact so we can analyze their civilization or culture.

If they are isolated individuals, they will be treated as shipwrecked.

We'll see once we have more information."

The captain withdrew from the deck to go to his office and update his logbook.

A day passed.

My females began to hunt and I inspected my territory. I loved the little ones and wanted to play with them all the time. They were scared but would quickly form groups to hunt prey larger than themselves.

I watched two cubs that had captured a small herbivore. A psittacosaurus, I think...

In an instant it was torn to pieces

From an early age, they knew how to hunt by instinct. Small but formidable.

Seeing what the little ones were capable of, I didn't dare imagine the adults.

After Vicky and I walked around the base, we went for a swim at the beach.

I was happy, but inside me, there was a touch of anxiety.

I feel like I'm forgetting something important, but what?

I think I'm hurting. But what?

Then, suddenly, the birds fell silent and flew away.

The insects shut up and all the little animals living in the tunnels ran away.

A few seconds later there was a tremor, small and inconspicuous, followed immediately afterwards by a huge shaking.

The ground shook and the mountain seemed to swell.

Then the silence and the pain in our heads. We couldn't hear anything anymore.

Nothing more, only the excruciating pain that threw us all to the ground.

The next moment, a terrible explosion...

The top of the mountain had just exploded, followed immediately by a pyroclastic cloud.

"Iiiiiiiiiii"

Fled the rocks that rained like bombs. Luckily the rocks didn't reach the base.

Like a cone, sheaves of washing were sent up to the sky. A pyroclastic and fiery flow of fire descended from the slopes of the mountain. All the vegetation disappeared, leaving only rocks and boulders in place.