When the phone chimed, he looked up from his notes with relief and exasperation. He split the screen, saving the statistics on the left. His mother’s face appeared on the right beside rows of glowing orange digits.“Julian, have you seen Rick?”“Mom, I’m right in the middle of some heavy number crunching.”“This is important.”“So is my dissertation. Which I’ll never get done if I have to check up on my brother every five minutes.”“I’m not talking about every five minutes. I’m talking about now.” Her voice rose slightly on the last word.“Sorry. No, I haven’t heard from Rick.”“Your aunt Kelly saw him a couple of days ago.”“In Denver?”“Yes. Remember her Shuttle Corps reunion?”“Rick went?” Julian stared at her in surprise. “But he hates parties like that.”His mother nodded. “I know. Even more peculiar, he asked if he could come early. Kelly said he seemed nervous, almost as though he were trying to get away from something.”“I’ll bet.
