"I'm sorry, Gramps," Anne said over their private communications link, "but I've already talked to those running your little compound there, and I've told them, too. You need to be gone like pronto, like yesterday." 

     "None of what happened today was our fault," Gramps said. "In fact, we're the ones who kept it from getting..." 

      "Don't. I've been arguing the subject all afternoon, and I am all argued out." 

     "This is much bigger than..." 

     "Dozens were killed today, Gramps. They fell from the sky and broke on the sidewalk." 

     "We saved Earth. That thing was..." 

​     "Irrelevant. This isn't negotiable." 

     "To expel us now would..." 

     "I love you, Gramps," Anne said, "but I hope that this is the last time I will ever see or talk to you." And, with that, Anne broke the connection.  

                                                        CONTINUE