Human Sister

me.”
    “Yes, of course I will. I’m just tired now. Would you please finish preparing dinner? I’ll be up in a bit, when Elio comes home.”
    Even dinner, at a time like this, had to appear to proceed normally.
    When Elio arrived about a half-hour later, he said he thought he’d done well on his chemistry exam. I tried not to let on that anything was wrong. I had to be extra careful now—when out in the cage of the world. After congratulating Elio on his exam, I told him that Grandpa wanted to speak with him in our study.
    The table was set, the food was being kept warm, and Grandma and I were sitting silently together when Elio came back into the kitchen. His eyes were pink and puffy, but he moved with strength and purpose. I guessed that Grandpa had told him he had to be the man of the family now. Like Grandpa, Elio seemed to know what had to be done and adjusted his emotions accordingly.
    Grandpa soon followed, appearing chipper and stating that he was hungry. Over our last dinner together, while Grandma and I tearfully attempted to choke down some food, Grandpa told of recent advances in the storage of antimatter and talked with Elio about some of the questions on his combinatorial chemistry exam.
    Back in our study after dinner, Grandpa was all business, compressing into a few minutes everything regarding Anzen that he hadn’t yet covered. When his time to go arrived, he said he’d already told Michael that he might have to make his life permanently under the sea because Grandpa would no longer be around to protect him.
    Grandpa handed Michael the chips to pilot the submersibles to Anzen. “You might have the burden of a great responsibility. I have faith in you, and I love you dearly. Good-bye.”
    “Good-bye, Grandpa,” Michael said. “I love you.”
    Then Grandpa hugged Elio and said, “I’m proud of you and love you with all my heart. Please take good care of Sara and Michael.”
    “I will, Grandpa. I love you, too. I’ll take good care of them. I promise.”
    “And please forgive me. I’ve told many lies, made many mistakes.”
    Elio nodded. I could see that he was fighting back tears.
    “Thank you,” Grandpa said.
    Then Grandpa turned to me. I thought he would say something to me, too, but he just smiled lovingly and embraced me. My lips touched, then kissed his cheek. This is the last time I’ll ever kiss your soft, wrinkled face, I thought. And I cried.
    Grandpa took a deep breath, held both of my arms in his hands, and pushed away. Silently, he turned and walked toward Gatekeeper, then disappeared forever behind the antechamber wall.

Sara

    B efore he left, Grandpa programmed Gatekeeper 3 to permit entrance into Michael’s area of the supplies we had procured for Anzen and the cables we needed to power our laser cutter. We hadn’t even begun cutting through the bedroom wall when we realized that in the emotional turmoil of Grandpa’s leaving, we had overlooked an important link in our new plan: How were we going to get from the vineyard above the house to Bodega Bay unnoticed? The only vehicles we had access to were Grandpa and Grandma’s car, Elio’s car, and the winery’s pickup. Both of the cars were in the garage and a guard was stationed right outside the house, so there was no way we could get to either of them unnoticed. We also felt that there was a very good chance we would be noticed if we tried to take the pickup, which was usually parked behind the wine tasting room.
    We decided that we would cut through the wall first and then try to sleep. The next morning, unless I was stopped, I would take Lily for a ride in the pickup. My story for the guard would be that I wanted to take her for a walk along a back road bordering our vineyard. Assuming the guard didn’t object, I would park the pickup on the back road and start walking toward home with Lily. When we neared the winery, I would call Elio and say that Lily appeared too tired to walk back to the pickup, so she and I would walk the rest of the way home. He would offer to take Grandma to go get the pickup, but I would say that Lily had enjoyed the scenery along this new walk, so she and I would take it again that evening, retracing our path back to the pickup.
    We made it through the wall shortly after midnight and then lay down to rest. My mind swirled with memories of Grandpa. It also began questioning and searching for answers. Was there no other way? How had we ended up in such a mess? Had Grandpa made a