Sam had pretty much given up hope of ever seeing another human when the screen on the left side of his bunk slid upward, and there were his parents, laughing and crying and talking nonsensically.

Dad looked like he wanted to give Sam one of his crushing hugs, but Sam was glad he didn’t. Sam probably couldn’t have survived it.

“You got my messages.” Sam said, hoping to stop the incomprehensible flow of words for a moment.

“Well…” his mom said.

“Well, what?”

“We’re so sorry we didn’t catch on right away,” his dad said, “but once that young lady showed us your code, we got here as quick as we could.”

That young lady? Sam would have to ask Kali what they meant later because his parent...

Please subscribe to keep reading.