Nithya received her cup of hot, milky tea and two coils of spicy murukku and kept walking. The snacks were still warm from the fryer. She finished them as she arrived at the temple and dropped the cup and bowl in a recycler. Her chappals joined a disorderly pile by the temple entrance. The interior’s stone floor cooled the soles of her feet. Camphor and rose and sandalwood incense scented the air.

She walked four times around Vishnu’s sanctum, clockwise, then knelt to pray. Please let Zeli and her family be safe. Let her reply to me soon and put my mind at ease. And let my husband’s God forgive me for my sin in their eyes. She touched her forehead to the ancient granite and rested there for a minute, breathing deep as footsteps and voices flowed past.

When a measure of peace stilled her inner turmoil, she moved to the crowded line that jostled its way to the inner sanctum. There, under the weight of unseen stone, surrounded by the odor of humanity and the crush of bodies, Nithya could forget the world of technology and agents and drugs and bots. With ancient Sanskrit verses rising and falling, smoke filling her lungs, the peal of brass bells in her ears, she was transported to another time. A knot of tension within her released itself, and she found her center.

After half an hour and a blessing received, she exited. The light and sound of the real world surrounded her once more—street sellers calling, horns singing, swarms buzzing overhead. A few scattered drops fell from the sky. Wind bent the trees and urged her home.

“Incoming call from Carma,” Sita said.

“Accept.”

Nithya walked home with half her attention on their family channel in her visual.

“Amma, they took my origami frog! It was light enough that they allowed it. The rocket will launch soon. Will you watch?” Carma’s eyes shone with excitement. She bounced on her toes and pointed to the pad.

The massive cement platform rose above the swell of the Indian Ocean. Perhaps twenty people stood on the observation float, two of them at the control panel. Luis had his hand on their daughter’s shoulder. Nithya found a different view that showed the full height of the rocket. Luis, Carma, and the others shrank to toy size in comparison. The tricolor flag of India decorated the top section, while their club logo—an arc of stars over the face of Lord Ganesha—sat on the main column.

“Here it goes!” Carma said, her voice as loud and clear as if she stood next to Nithya.