Human Sister

depends on your never revealing this secret. I didn’t tell you before because, when I was eight and this secret began, I promised Grandpa I wouldn’t. He asked me to wait until you went to university to tell you, but if you’re coming to live with us, I can’t wait any longer.”
    I withdrew my hand from the dome and said, “Okay, let’s see whether you can figure this out.”
    He put his face close to the dome’s opening and read. Then, appearing somewhat annoyed, he snatched the pen out of my hand, stuck his hand in the dome, and began writing. Finished, he handed the pen back to me. I peered into the dome and read his hurried script: “You can tell your grandpa his secret is absolutely safe with me.”
    I wrote: “The problem is that having Michael—that’s his name—is considered a serious crime in America, a crime you’ll become an accomplice to if you come live with us.”
    As I wrote this I felt slightly sick with apprehension. I couldn’t—wouldn’t ever—abandon Michael. But I couldn’t live without Elio, either. What if Elio didn’t like Michael? What if he didn’t want to live with Michael? Or Michael with him?
    Elio wrote: “If being with someone you love is a crime in America, then I’ll be proud to be a criminal.”
    After I read this, Elio wrote several questions, which I answered in turn, about the security in Michael’s area of the house, including my bedroom, and about how Michael compared with my brothers in Canada.
    Then he wrote: “You call them your brothers, but how conscious are they? Are they more like us or like robots blindly following clever rules that humans program into them?”
    I wrote: “The question as to whether androids are conscious or are cleverly-responding zombies is a philosophic debate on the level of the debate over solipsism. Grandpa says that even if the world is our dream, it is a dream in which there are those who must be practical. Accordingly, about a decade before my brothers were created, the U.S. Defense Department commissioned Stanford University to develop a new consciousness scale.
    “The Stanford scale has many critics, but undeniably it has been of great value in raising our awareness that consciousness exists along a broad spectrum. The issue has become how conscious is a bird or a chimpanzee or an android or a human, not whether the being is conscious. The median score for humans 18 years and older is 95 on the 100 point scale; 90 is considered the human threshold. Except for Michael, who scored 97 about six months ago, Grandpa is not aware of any android scoring above 91. He believes that one of the reasons for Michael’s outstanding performance is that Michael has become able to think my thoughts and feel my feelings in a very literal and direct way.
    “When I was eight, some of my brain cells, as well as cells for support organs, were extracted to grow a few of Michael’s parts, such as part of his brain. During that operation, a pair of neural junctions was implanted in my cribriform plate. While Michael was gestating, neural pathways emanating from those junctions were sent to all areas of my brain. The bottom line is that Michael and I are able to connect with each other’s brain through what we call a braincord.”
    As Elio read, he occasionally glanced up and gave me an astonished look. Then he wrote: “Now I’m jealous. (Just joking.) But seriously, what happens if Michael overwhelms your thoughts? Is there any danger of him taking over your body?”
    I wrote: “No. I have to completely relax and clear my mind before he can enter to the extent necessary to take over my body, and I can intervene anytime I wish.”
    Elio wrote: “What about your private thoughts? Can you keep them private from him?”
    I wrote: “My memories, thoughts, and feelings are available to Michael when we’re connected. But I don’t mind. I’ve grown accustomed to his presence inside my mind.”
    Elio rolled over onto his side. I held him, nestling my head against his chest. I wanted to give him more time to think and ask questions. After a few minutes, he kissed the top of my head and said, “Let me try one last guess.” He picked up the pen and wrote: “I’m going to take courses at Berkeley to help me help you with Michael. I want to be a part of Michael, too. I want to be a part of everything that matters to you.”

    We burned the overwritten pages plus the ten pages immediately below, which might have retained a faint impression