9
MELATI OBEYED Dr Chee’s orders and went to bed, but not without checking her PCD. Maybe Ari had heard something more from the hypertechs. But there weren’t any messages.
Still, she took a good amount of time to fall asleep. Her mind churned with worry. While she lay here in her safe bed, Uncle, Grandma and the Aunties might be fighting the battle of their lives. She kept seeing images of space battles and shoot-outs in smoky corridors. And Fatima trying to fix the electrical substation. A brave woman with less training and less equipment than Melati had. The image of Fatima filled her with shame. She had often called the hypertechs selfish, but right now she felt that she was the selfish one.
The room was still pitch dark when Melati woke up with a shock. Something was beeping with th
