Lu thought watching Tori program her drones was like watching mold grow. She knew it was important work, that it would make them all safe and could affect the quality of life for thousands of people—and still she couldn’t work up any enthusiasm for it.

It didn’t help that she didn’t really understand the process. It looked mostly like Tori hunching over a console, fingers flying across the keyboard, or peering closely at a screen as she scrolled through line after line of code.

Lu would ask if Tori needed anything, but she knew from experience that questions like that only made Tori snarl about losing her concentration.

Lu yawned, checked that the missile icons were still where they ought to be, and checked her armband. Her four-hour shift of missile-babysitting was almo...

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