to the next phase of the sequence. He hadn’t expected this. Hadn’t calculated for this. He’d thought of himself as having lost all ties, but he’d selfishly thought only of his own generation. No, he hadn’t forgotten his own kids, of course not—but he thought they’d see it as his story having already ended. He hadn’t considered what it might do to them to lose him, under mysterious circumstances, so soon after their mother.
He almost reconsidered his plan then and there, but he shook his head and forced himself to continue. All the same, he decided to leave things as less mysterious than he had planned. After programming in the last sequence, he loaded up the holo-projector again and recorded a short reply to Mylee’s message. “Hello Mylee. Hello Jill, hello G-squared and Eric and everyone.” Eric, Jill’s husband, was a Backwash, but he couldn’t help it. “This is your Dad, your Uncle Seth—it’s me.” He sighed. “Yes, you’ve figured it out. I love you all, and you were the best son and daughter, and the best in-laws, a man could ever hope to have. But you know where I need to go now. This is the end, and you won’t see me again. This is your story now; make sure it has an ending worth reading. I’m going. GOOD-BYE!” He hit the ‘send’ button.
He leaned back in his chair for a long moment—though the action wasn’t the same without gravity—and pondered his thoughts. Then, finally, he smiled.
Mylee was a bright girl—bright woman in her sixties, he corrected himself dryly. But, unless she was holding her cards even closer to her chest than he thought, she hadn’t penetrated his illusions. This was his favourite rumour, the one he’d sta