Page 19 of Stolen By Her Alien Mate

“Any ideas what it is?” I ask.

“It is similar in size and intensity to the signature produced by the amulet you wear. In fact, the signature of the amulets are stronger than either of your signatures.”

I huff out a breath. Okay. So, she still has her amulet. Well, that’s something at least.

If Joey had more information, she might be able to tell me what happened to the other princesses. Since she doesn’t, I’m just going to have to piece together what I can.

“Can you broaden your search?” I ask. “Can you look for the signature beyond Hat Creek?”

“From the current location of the shuttle, my sensors extend to cover approximately one hundred square of earth’s miles.”

“Why do you keep giving me the distance in earth measurements?”

“It seemed appropriate given our location.”

I swear to the prophets, sometimes I think this thing is a smart ass.

“But I don’t know what the hell a mile is. Why don’t you tell me your range in vohede?”

“The measure would be meaningless to you either way, since you do not know how many square vohede of livable terrain there is on this planet.”

You know, it’s a shame the fracking Adjunct doesn’t have a lynditsh nerve I can pinch.

I blow out a breath. “Okay. Give it to me as a percentage. How much of Earth’s livable terrain can you search from here?”

“There are approximately sixty-million square miles of terrain on this planet. Approximate thirty percent of which is inhospitable to–”

“Just give me a percentage.”

“From our current location, my sensors can scan zero point zero, zero, zero, three percent of–”

“Great. That’s just fracking great.”

“Would you like me to–”

“Yes. Just scan as much as you can. And figure out a way to scan the rest of the damn planet while you’re at it.”

“Done. Other than you and the princess Joey Kincaid, there are no other living creatures of significant size bearing a Persæn signature.”

“Why am I not surprised?” I throw myself into the nearest chair, toss the towel onto the table, and scrub a hand down my face.

“I am not familiar enough with the emotions of organic creatures to answer that question.”

“Thanks. That was very helpful.”

“You are welcome.” The Adjunct waits a beat and then asks, “Would you like to review my suggestions for scanning the rest of the planet?”

I sit up, slowly opening my eyes. “Yes. That would be nice.”

Turns out the Adjunct’s ideas aren’t half bad. While I was in town, he figured out how to interface with the network of computers on earth. He outlines a plan, and, working together, he talks me through how to hack into the primitive human technology and piggyback a signal through their satellites to search for more Persæn signatures.

If the other princesses still have their amulets, we’ll find them.

Hopefully, they do.

By the time we’re done, it’s nearly dawn. As eager as I am to find Joey again and persuade her to come home to Perse with me, I need sleep.

I shuffle off to the crew quarters that I claimed and throw myself onto the bed. Only I can’t sleep, even after I turn off the Adjunct’s auditory routines for the night.