16
“Devi, why haven't you returned my calls?”
As she talked to her mother, Devi sat in a shadowed nook of the rescue ship, with a curved window to her back. Hyperspace blazed outside, and its purplish glow was like a haze of oil floating on water.
She rested her phone on her ear and sighed quietly.
“I'm sorry.”
“Where have you been?” Mary asked.
“On a mission,” Devika said. “I can't talk about it. But I'm okay.”
Mary was quiet for a moment.
“Well, good.”
“How have you been?” Devika asked, her voice brightening as she tried to change the conversation.
“Don't change the subject,” Mary said. “You're not in any danger, are you?”
“Of course not.”
“When are you coming home?” Mary asked. “I sent you a card, but the address came back invalid.”
Her mother loved to send physical cards.
