Sentient - by Michael Nayak (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

Extinction Horizon meets Contagion in this sequel to 2025's sci-fi thriller Symbiote, where the biological threat has escaped the South Pole and is now wreaking havoc upon humanity.

The survivors of the South Pole massacre will find that getting off the Antarctic continent may cost them their lives...

Months after the events of Symbiote, sunrise has come to the ice continent. At the coastal McMurdo Station (77 deg S), that means Winfly: an annual series of flights to lay the groundwork for the 1,500 summer visitors that will soon call "Mac" home. Among the Winfly crew are the architects of Have Viking, the classified CIA program that unleashed the microbes onto Dome-A. They are determined to discover what happened with their experiment, and harvest samples of the mutated microbes to turn into a biological weapon.

Their plan goes haywire when the microbe-symbiote Ben Jacobs shows up after an impossible walk from Pole. When Ben is reunited with an asymptomatic carrier of the symbiotic microbes (Penny), all hell breaks loose at McMurdo. The microbes have their origins in the icy waters of Antarctic lakes, and the sea ice surrounding the station becomes a fertile breeding ground for a new and more dangerous infestation. Rajan Chariya and his friends will have to join forces with the CIA to fight the onslaught of infected "sea people" roving the snowy streets of McMurdo. But as they dig in to make their new stand, when do they stop being useful to Langley, and start being targets who know too much?

Worse, Penny may not be the only asymptomatic carrier...

About the Author

Michael Nayak was born in Los Angeles and now lives in Washington, DC. By day, he is Doctor/Major Nayak, working for DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency). He is a USAF Test Pilot School graduate, Rotary National Award for Space Achievement recipient, and has 1,000+ hours of flight time in 40+ aircraft including the F-16, T-38, EA500 and BE-76. His real-world experience in the science and intelligence communities adds next-level authentic details and a touch of hyper-realism to his work.