Brad Nixon’s exposure was from a scratch or bite … I don’t know if we’ll ever know. She and Mavin are meeting with the Ashen to see if she’s still contagious.”
I shiver involuntarily. I don’t envy them. The Ashen are small, grey aliens. While they look harmless, they’re one of the most advanced beings in the Coalition, the alliance of advanced sentient life that travels space . The Ashen can control the way one feels and acts just by being in the same room. They don’t even do it on purpose. It’s just a side effect of their physiology.
Six Earth rotations ago—or days as they’re called in the Human language—Payak, Desin, and I were summoned by the Ashen when the Wen virus was discovered on the planet. Those were three long rotations, quarantined with the Ashen! And I didn’t even have to spend time conversing with them like Payak did .
Though the three days since then have been tedious, I can’t imagine doing it again. “Do you need Alisha to get on a transport back?” I’m already mentally putting my things together. The last daily rotations have been redundant and thankless. Visiting the Wen-exposed families has caused a lot of evasive conversations. We aren’t supposed to share what we know or let on whether the transitioned are clinically dead or not. Some are, but others aren’t. Instead, the transitioned who weren’t totally put down have been moved into special holding facilities while the Ashen investigate a cure. They’ll likely be used as test subjects.
“Aren’t you interested in how it got there?” By there, Payak means Kopavogur, Iceland, I’m sure. Honestly, no, I’m not interested.
Two days ago, we’d thought we had the source when Desin rounded up a hunter in a field. He didn’t have any noticeable scratches or bites, but within the last day, they’d found his exposure point. It was in his hair and looked like it may have happened by an exposed scratching his head.
Alisha is shaking her head as she drops onto the bed next to me, her towel coming undone. “Sure.” Because Alisha is AI, she can’t phase, and it’s against protocol to phase them from one point to another. It’s been known to mindwipe them due to their lack of access to our central hub. She’ll need to fly back to the base where Payak and Desin are situated.
“Amy’s friend Brad Nixon took a job from a new company, Mannvit. His first assignment was in Kitimat, Canada, where he would be stationed for at least six months. But first, he had to undergo training in Kópavogur , Iceland. After Brad left Amy and the area after their altercation, he stopped in Kitimat before heading to Iceland. He never came back. I need you to meet up with the local authorities tomorrow to follow up. A missing person specialist should accompany you to Mannvit. I’ve been in contact with the company, and they’ll be expecting you.”
“Excellent.” Grinding my teeth, I wonder about Jaxtyn and what he’s doing right now. From what I can tell, he had the right idea. “So, this Brad Nixon came here how many days before the outbreak?”
There’s a pause on the line. “Maybe two rotations … days.” Another long pause during which I wonder why we haven’t run across him yet. Brad Nixon … I don’t recognize the name from the list of people I’m meant to follow-up on. There was a group of Humans who were infected at a golf course here, and he wasn’t one of them.
“Anything from Jaxtyn?” Payak changes the subject, his concern clear.
I look at Alisha who’s still frozen across from me, and I answer quietly. “No. And I keep trying to reach him, hoping I’ll be in range at some point. Why would he do this on a strange planet in the middle of an investigation?”
I’m frustrated with him. Mostly because this assignment was supposed to be split between us. At least now that we’ve found this out about Mavin, Amy and Brad, the assignment has been shortened—hopefully. But it could’ve been way worse.
“Maybe he’s found his mate.” Payak’s guess catches me off-guard.
“Really?” That seems like stretching it a bit. Sure, Mavin did, but isn’t finding a mate almost like finding a habitable planet in a universe? Almost impossible …
“Yes. Desin and I have both mated in the last couple rotations.”
What? Now this is new and interesting. Listening to Payak explain what he felt and experienced leading up to his discovery of his mate and confirmation