The Good Reaper

by Dennis J Butler

  My eyes were fixed on LeAnne but my mind was far away. I was remembering all the reactions Manny had to our conversations at the CIPE conference. I had a sudden vision of a laboratory setting in Chile where humans were being treated for cell diseases. “Luke?” LeAnne whispered loudly. But my vision morphed into another idea. It was more than an idea. I realized that LeAnne would have a better chance of mentally fighting her disease if she thought there was a chance for survival. I suddenly knew what I had to do. I had to tell LeAnne the truth, the truth about the Tseen Ke, the truth about me and finally, the truth about the new plan to cure her disease rather than ending her life.

  “Luke!” LeAnne tried to holler but it came out as a raspy whisper.

  I shifted my glance slightly and looked deep into LeAnne’s eyes. She knew something profound was about to happen. She knew I was about to reveal my secret. “LeAnne, are you ready for the truth, in whatever form it comes?” I whispered just loud enough for LeAnne to hear as I closed her room door.

  “You work for the CIA or the Russian KGB or something?”

  “No, it’s much stranger than that LeAnne.” I paused for a moment while I tried to gather my thoughts. I had broken one CIPE protocol by being involved in the Tseen Ke group and I was about to break another one by exposing my true identity. “Remember the UFO you told me about, the one that scanned you in your backyard?”

  “Yes, what does that have to do with anything?”

  “LeAnne, it has everything to do with it. Remember I told you that the alien scanning probably had no effect on you and when your illness accelerated, it was probably just a coincidence?” LeAnne nodded as her eyes widened.

  “What I told you was more than an observation or a guess. It was and is a fact.”

  “I am confused. I don’t understand,” LeAnne whispered.

  “The areal scans on humans are just images. It’s part of Phase One of our study of the human race. Phase One has been just areal observation and remote image scanning.” I let that sink in before continuing. LeAnne looked like she was in a state of shock. “I am part of Phase Two in which we assimilate into human society.”

  LeAnne was speechless and still appeared to be stunned. I could see she was mentally trying to comprehend it all. Finally she spoke. “I knew you were odd Luke and you know I like you very much anyway, but it never occurred to me that you were nuts.”

  “It’s true LeAnne. I’m not nuts. Well maybe I am a little nuts but what I’m telling you is the truth. I’m from the planet Ranjisan. On Ranjisan, we don’t let people spend their last days in this life enduring pain and suffering. When the time comes, we perform what we call Tseen Ke. It consists of the three injections I was going to give you.”

  “But, you look and act human. It’s still much easier to believe you are crazy. Is there something you can do to convince me? Right now I’m thinking you are making this whole thing up. I’m not sure why. It’s kind of mean. That makes me think the whole injection thing is also bullshit.”

  “It’s not bullshit. I could do it tonight. But I have another idea.”

  “This should be good. Let’s hear it,” LeAnne said sounding a little angry.

  “We have done the Tseen Ke here before. It’s relatively easy since it consists of only the three shots given at the same time. There is no follow-up. But what I have proposed to my little team of rebels has never been done here before, due to the difficulty in the logistics of it. On Ranjisan we eliminated cell diseases centuries ago. We have vaccinations that have about a 98% success rate for prevention. But there are people who refuse the vaccines and there are others who slip through the cracks. For them, we still develop the cell therapy which is administered in phases. That is why it would be difficult to do it here on Earth without humans finding out about it. However, my little group of rebels has agreed to smuggle the serums here. All we need to do is find a location to build a small lab and operating room somewhere where we can’t be exposed. Once that’s ready and the serums are here, we just need to get you to the lab.”

  “So, in a nutshell you are saying that you are an alien from another planet and you can cure my cancer?” LeAnne turned away and shook her head. I could see that she still didn’t believe me.

  “That is correct but it will be a difficult, uphill journey and it is a battle against time. The smuggling of the medicine is difficult and dangerous. Building the lab and keeping it secret is even more dangerous and getting you to the lab will be the most dangerous part of the whole operation. But most of all you need to keep fighting this. You need to stay as healthy as possible. You need to give us the time to get things in place.” I paused for a moment, smiled and delivered my closer, “So what do you say?”

  “I don’t know what to say. I wish I could believe you. I wish it were true but in my heart I still don’t believe you. Is there some way you could prove any part of this wild story to me? If you are from so far away in space there must be something different about you. You can’t be identical to humans.”

  “There are some internal differences you can’t see.”

  “It figures. That’s convenient. That’s why I can’t believe you.”

  “Well there is one thing. It’s the main difference between us. The gravity on Ranjisan is much lower than here on Earth. You may have noticed me getting short of breath just pushing your wheelchair. We are relatively weak compared to humans, especially in our legs.” I pulled my pants leg up to show LeAnne my weak, thin legs. “It’s nothing drastic, but a human of my height here would probably have considerably thicker legs.”

  LeAnne looked like she was beginning to believe me. “I can barely raise my knees to my chest,” I said as I tried to raise my right knee to my chest. I did it but the exertion it took was obvious in my face. “Imagine walking around with heavy weights attached to your ankles. That is what it feels like for us here on Earth.”

  “Also, we all look like cousins,” I said with a slight laugh. “On Earth, there are all these different races with distinct physical characteristics. Our race is millions of years older so those differences have melded together over the millennia.”

  “You mean you all look the same?” LeAnne asked.

  “No. It’s just that if you see a bunch of us together, you would immediately notice that we all look like we are related. We have the same basic characteristics in hair and eye color and we all have this same pointy nose and slightly different ear folds than you humans.”

  “This is too much to process. It can’t be true. You are kidding me aren’t you?”

  “I had hoped that you would understand based on the experience you had with the UFO.”

  LeAnne was quiet for a long time. I knew it was a normal reaction. It was probably the biggest adjustment any living high level organism would ever have to make. The realization that their race was not the highest form of intelligent life in the universe would take some getting used to. “Okay Luke. I’m not yet sure if I believe you but under the circumstances, I have nothing to lose. I’m in.”

  “I knew you would be. I know you are a fighter. You will need to fight this to give us the valuable time we need to get things in place. We have so much to do. I had a brainstorm while Mia was in here. We have someone in Chile who is sympathetic to our cause. I’m going to contact him and see if it is possible to set up the lab there in Chile. If he can make it happen, it won’t be easy getting you there but I am sure we can do it. We can and we will.”

  “Okay Luke. I just have one more question. You mentioned that your people are studying the human race in three phases. You are part of Phase Two. What is Phase Three? Are you going to take over the world and make all humans your slaves?” LeAnne was smiling like she was half kidding and half serious.

  “I’m happy to tell you LeAnne, that’s not who we are. We don’t need slaves or minerals and our planet isn’t dying. We solved all the environmental problems on Ranjisan centuries ago. Phase Three will begin when we believe humans have evolved to the point where they c
an be guided to the next level of life. At that time we will help the human race eliminate all known biological disease. I can’t say we will help you eliminate war and poverty. That should be done before we begin Phase Three. It is left to the human race and is part of how we will determine when and if humans are ready.”

  11 - Fugitives

  Again I was logged onto HealthChat long before anyone else from the group would arrive. The clock was ticking and I had to find out how to contact Manny from the CIPE conference. I thought I remembered Thomas exchanging secret contact information with him at our last CIPE breakfast. The laptop was set to beep when someone else logged into the chat room. The first beep sounded just after 9:45 PM. It was MsOakley. He lived in the Midwest somewhere so my mental image of him was of a young bearded man sitting in the kitchen of a farmhouse in Nebraska. I assumed he was busy doing something else while waiting for the others to log in. As luck would have it, Thomas (TBone) was the last one to log on. I didn’t waste any time getting started.

  “Question for TBone: There was a fellow named Manny who I met at the CIPE conference. He’s a doctor back home. I believe he is a hematologist so that would be perfect. He was sympathetic to Tseen Ke for humans. I was thinking we should find a way of contacting him to ask if he is interested in joining us. He sat with Cooper and I at dinner each night. Perhaps Cooper knows how to contact him. Maybe if he is willing, he can help set up something where we can treat humans.”

  “It is worth a try,” TBone said. “I’ll try to contact Cooper and maybe he can contact him. I’m going to sign off now and get started.”

  Two nights later Thomas told us that he had contacted Cooper and that he was moving forward with the plan to recruit Manny into the group. “Hello friends,” Cooper said as soon as I logged on the following evening. “I’ve had three lengthy conversations with Manny. By the end of our third conversation, the cat was pretty much out of the bag as they say. Although Manny is sympathetic to our cause, he seems afraid to commit. He said he needs time to think about it.”

  “We don’t have time,” I chimed in. “We need to begin immediately. I’m not sure how much time my patient has.”

  I stared at the blank screen for a long time. No one was typing. No one really knew what to say or how to solve our dilemma. Finally after about three minutes of looking at a blank screen, Cooper’s text began appearing. “I’ll contact Manny one more time, tomorrow. If I don’t get a commitment, I’m going to move forward with another idea. It’s going to sound a bit dangerous but I think we could do it at my home. I’m renting a house in Tanque Verde at the base of the mountains. The homes are spread out so there is plenty of privacy. I could begin getting all the equipment set up.”

  “You said you rent. Does your landlord ever come by?” I asked.

  “No. He lives on the east coast. I’ve never seen him. It’s just an investment to him so as long as I keep sending him money, he has no reason to come here.”

  “Let’s do it,” I said. “Let’s forget about Manny and just move forward with this.”

  “All in favor?”

  It was unanimous. Cooper would work on setting up the portable facility while Thomas was working on getting the serums. I would have to work out the logistics of getting LeAnne to Tucson where Cooper lived.

  “One more thing Cooper,” I said. “I know we’re dumping a lot of the responsibility on you, but I will need to know exactly where the patient will stay prior to and after the procedures. The thing is, the timing will need to be precise. I can’t move her out there until we are ready because she needs to continue with her chemo and blood infusions. So when we are ready I will need to move quickly to get her out there and begin the treatments immediately.”

  “Okay. Let’s work on getting the serums here while I set up the hospital room in the spare bedroom. I’m excited about this. It’s something I’ve been thinking about for a long time,” Cooper said. The rest of the conversation consisted of each member of the group officially agreeing to the plan.

  Two weeks passed before Thomas had a confirmed date for the arrival of the serum. LeAnne was somewhat stable probably due to the tiny glimmer of hope I had given her. I didn’t have the heart to tell her it would take another three weeks for the serums to arrive. I was at least able to tell here that someone had agreed to smuggle the serums from Ranjisan.

  I found that the best time to visit LeAnne was just after my shift or early in the morning. Her family arrived each night around 6:30 PM and stayed until 10:00. I had met and liked her family but I knew LeAnne preferred that I visited her when no one else was there so we could talk more about our future plans.

  “Luke, we haven’t talked much about the details of what we’re doing, that is, things like what I should tell my parents or how you will get me out of the hospital and onto a plane without anyone finding out.”

  “You know we can’t tell your parents or anyone else. It’s not a secret that normal people can keep. I was thinking we can get a message to your parents after we get to our destination. You won’t be able to explain much. You should probably just say that you are okay. I was thinking you could say that you are starting an experimental treatment outside of the US.”

  “What if it is successful?” LeAnne asked. “What will I do? Can I go home? How will I explain it to my parents and eventually the doctors?”

  “Well I’ve thought about it a lot but I’m still not sure. It is a dilemma but a good dilemma. Let’s hope we are actually faced with those questions in our real life of the future. I think it will be almost impossible for me to go back to my previous life and position at the hospital. I don’t think it will be difficult to figure out that I had something to do with it. The end result is that I will be exposed. That would be really bad for me. I may have to disappear.”

  “What do you mean Luke?”

  “I may have to go into hiding, maybe move away and start a new identity. There are people who would help me.”

  “That’s not good Luke. That would mean that you can never go home. You would be like a criminal here, always looking over your shoulder. I don’t want to see you throw away your life to help me.”

  I didn’t know how to respond. I knew everything LeAnne was saying was true. It was my own dilemma. I couldn’t let LeAnne die. I was willing to make myself a fugitive from Ranjisi law if it meant that LeAnne could live. “LeAnne,” I paused and continued, “I wish my people would just come here and introduce themselves and begin sharing our medical cures. But with all our good qualities, Ranjisi are all so stubborn and rigid in their ways.”

  “People die all the time,” I continued rambling on, looking for the right words. “We can’t save them all. After a long awkward silence, I attempted to say what was in my heart, “I admit it. I just want to save you. You are special to me. I don’t want to live here if you die.”

  LeAnne was silent and reached out for my hand. I pulled the chair up close to the bed and slid my hand up her arm feeling her sickness beneath her gown. She was so frail and helpless but her face felt soft and healthy. She leaned into my palm and kissed my hand as I gently caressed her cheek. LeAnne’s eyes became instantly wet when I stood up and reached for her baseball cap. I kissed her lightly on the top of her head and slowly worked my way down to her forehead, nose and finally her lips. It was more of a kiss of affection than a romantic kiss but I knew it was more than a kiss. It was a turning point, a point where we both acknowledged at the same time that there was a bond forming between us that went far beyond friendship.

  “I’ll go with you,” LeAnne said. She didn’t need to say anything else. I knew what she meant. If we were successful and I had to become a fugitive, she wanted to come with me.

  “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. We have many obstacles to overcome before we get to the point where I have to become a fugitive.”

  “I don’t see any other way Luke. By the way, what is your real name?” LeAnne was excited and rambling on, “I don’t see how I could return to my o
ld life, cancer free, and not tell them the truth at some point. It would be better for you and your people if we just went underground.”

  “You are right. At some point you would need to give them some information on the mystery clinic in Europe that cured you. That Dr. Sandoval will insist on a report from the doctor who treated you, but the doctor doesn’t actually exist.”

  ***

  The next three weeks dragged on and the Tseen Ke team kept up our schedule of nightly sessions. MsOakley was preparing to introduce another Tseen Ke candidate to the team but generally we were all focused on the details of LeAnne’s treatment. It was about four days before the three week date for the arrival of the serum when Thomas announced the serums would arrive early and I could proceed with getting LeAnne to Cooper’s home in Tucson. I immediately got a knot in my stomach. It was perhaps the most dangerous piece of the entire project. I had to get LeAnne out of the hospital without anyone noticing.

  I had been living on Earth for over a year but I didn’t know exactly how everything worked. I didn’t know how fast they would be at tracking us once LeAnne left the hospital. I decided that rather than going right to the nearest airport, we would drive to a smaller airport in a neighboring state and fly to Arizona from there. But I hadn’t yet learned to drive a car. It appeared simple enough but it was not an option. Our only option was a bus. It was both simple and complicated.

  The following morning I clocked in as usual. I had decided during the night that the best time to make our move would be during the busy morning when extended care patients were coming and going for treatments. I arrived fifteen minutes early at LeAnne’s room. Her appointment in the infusion room was for 9:15. “This is it LeAnne, your last chance to back out of our crazy plan.”

  “So, it’s really happening?” LeAnne asked.

  “Yes. It’s not going to be easy. You will be uncomfortable until we get to Cooper’s house and that won’t be until late tonight or tomorrow morning.”