Veronika Pilman

(aka HaidaGurl / Melanie Nedved / Sarah Grinko) A Canadian researcher hired for a top secret environmental operation by the British government in 2009. Veronika ends up being a key member of the team that goes through Tanis at the end of Season One. She is “the Runner.”

Veronika was a longtime student of the Haida tribe. She said the purpose of the 2009 expedition was to find “convergent points” or “nodes” – meeting points or crossings to a different place. Following the 2009 British led expedition, Veronika disappeared without a trace. However, over the next few years she began been posting messages and inquiries about Xanu on various internet bulletin boards.

Veronika worked at the Lamp Post and Colonel bookstore in Portland, Oregon. In Episode 109, Veronica pretends to be “Melanie Nedved,” and tells Nic that Veronica left a few months ago and did not return. She then takes Nic to see the Grackles. In Episode 111, Nic traces Pillman to another used bookstore in Bellingham, WA, where she went by the name Sarah Grinko. At the bookstore, he discovers that Pillman is actually Melanie Nedved.

When Veronika learns that Sam Reynolds has been hypnotized by the Cult of Tanis, she realizes that the only way he will return to his normal state is if he passed through Tanis. She acts as the Runner and leads Sam, Nic, and Morgan Miller on their five day journey to Tanis at the end of Season One.

After her escape from Tanis at the end of season one, Veronika claims to have no memory of what happened inside Tanis. Nic did not know she had made it out until her cell phone, which Meerkatnip was watching, pinged off a tower. Nic had one last phone conversation with her, after which she broke contact with Nic.

Veronika at some point in season 2 began working with Nathanial Carter, who she believed was The Navigator, and the Grackles with a plan to enter Tanis again with Nic. She tried to convince Nic to them by saying that it was their best chance to rescue Morgan Miller and Sam Reynolds who are still stuck inside Tanis. Nic eventually joins them. At the beginning of the journey the group is attacked by the shadowy creatures that haunt the Tanis area. Nathanial Carter is viciously attacked and most likely did not survive. Veronika screamed for the group to run and the group separated. As of episode 212 it is unknown if she survived or made it out of the Tanis area.

(From http://www.podcastenthusiast.com/tanis/)