I reached out and placed a hand on his shoulder.

His muscles were incredibly tense, like a spring wound too tight.

“Derek,” I said softly.

He didn’t look at me, but I could feel him drawing strength from the contact.

He looked directly into our mother’s eyes.

He took a deep breath, his chest rising under the blue cotton of his shirt.

At that exact moment, the red light on the primary load bank began to flash.

A high-pitched warning tone began to beep from the control panel near Priya.

“Sarah,” Priya called out, her voice urgent.

“We have an unexpected pressure drop in the cooling line.”

“The system is going to auto-shutdown in thirty seconds if we don’t bypass it.”

I looked from my mother to the blinking red light.

The board members all leaned forward in their seats.

My mother did not move an inch, her eyes still locked on Derek, waiting for his answer.

The warning tone beeped again, louder this time.

I took three quick steps to the left, my sneakers squeaking against the dusty concrete of the courtyard.