Sinth Salvation - Pearl Tate Page 0,4
of my squad leader is a balm to my frazzled nerves. Nothing I’ve done so far has brought me any closer to discovering how the Wen virus ended up in this part of Earth they call Iceland. And that’s been my part of this mission. To discover how or who started it here.
Letting out a relieved breath, my head relaxes onto my pillow. “Payak. It’s great to hear from you.”
If I weren’t so exhausted every night, I’d phase back and spend more time with my squad. Payak and Desin, along with their Personal Assistant Lana, have spent a good portion of their time on Earth trying to find out if the virus was brought to this planet intentionally or not.
“Who is it?” The main reason I haven’t phased anywhere walks out of the bathroom with her hair wet and wrapped in a towel.
“Payak,” I announce, swinging my legs over the side of the bed to sit up. “How are you?” I ask, ignoring my Personal Assistant Alisha with whom I’m sharing the hotel room.
Alisha continues to interrupt. “Ask him about Lana.”
For the last few hours, Alisha has been very bothered by the fact that her communications to Lana have come back as undeliverable. The only way that should ever happen is if someone is no longer in range, which would be odd. Payak and Desin should have updated me if they’d been pulled from the planet.
“That’s one of the reasons I’m reaching out now. Lana’s completed.”
I see Alisha’s eyes widen, and I know she heard him. “How? What happened?” I can’t imagine they’ve been involved in something so dangerous she could have been destroyed. “Is this temporary?” Although highly unusual, it’s been known to happen. Artificial intelligence isn’t always needed, especially on long-term assignments like this. Two of our squad are in the re-educational process—or were—on Teleplay.
Payak lets out a sigh. “No. She’s really gone. Permanently completed. Desin and I were sent out today to follow up on what the Earth species call a ‘bigfoot’ sighting in one of their national parks nearby. The government supposedly thought it might be a Wen alien. Since we’re investigating everything—no matter how miniscule—we were sent out. While we were there, we were attacked and shot at by a missile. I’m sorry.”
“No, I’m sorry,” I answer automatically. My gaze flickers to Alisha who’s frozen in place, accessing information. As Artificial Intelligence, Lana and Alisha can’t phase into another dimension like we can as Sinth. That leaves them at the mercy of their environment, and it sounds like a missile put an end to Lana.
“Well, was there a Wen alien?” In other words, was this worth the life it cost? Although they aren’t born or cloned beings, our personal assistants are as real to us as we are to each other.
“No,” Payak says, his tone now hard and brittle. I know he cared about Lana as much as the rest of us, although Desin is the one who’s probably really suffering. It’s no secret he’d become inappropriately attached to the AI. “It looks like whoever was behind it must have been in the military running this base. Our first tip off were the humans who were sent with us to investigate the ‘bigfoot’ sighting. They didn’t even know we were Sinth Guardians! They’d brought climbing gear and thought they’d need to guide us through the mountains. When we phased far enough away to discuss the situation, we were looking out over the valley while Lana stayed back trying to sort out what was going on. The missile came in so fast! It obliterated the entire valley, killing everyone in it.”
There’s nothing I can say to that. Alisha and I stare at each other in shock. Payak’s tone of voice is factual as he tells us more. “There’s good news. Hard to believe, I know. But we ran into Mavin. He’s mated with an Earth woman as we suspected.”
“Really?” I start to laugh, almost drowning out the rest of what he says.
“Yes. For whatever reason, the Earth humans on Teleplay included a female, named Amy. But the main reason I’m calling you is to make sure you know we’ve discovered the source here of the Wen virus.”
“Great!” We can leave then. I’m ready to get back to my squad, although there’s a part of me that thinks there’s something I missed here. Something feels missing …
“It was Amy’s ex-boyfriend, whom she met up with after returning from Teleplay. She had an altercation with him, and whether