Ranjisan is tilted at about 29 degrees. It doesn’t seem like a lot but there are more significant extremes in our seasons. Our summer is very hot with temperatures reaching 130 degrees in our northern hemisphere. Fortunately summer only lasts about one Earth month. Winter is the opposite. At the height of winter I have seen temperatures around fifty below zero. Winter lasts about two Earth months.
On Ranjisan, you don’t need to ever go outside if you don’t want to. The public transportation system is extensive and climate controlled. We don’t have individual transport vehicles like you have here. Everyone travels by public transportation which consists of above and below ground monorails and airbuses.
“Sounds nice. Please continue.”
“Single family homes are connected to the underground monorail system so in the summer and winter you can travel to and from work without going outside. When a new home is sold, the secure elevator system that is connected to the underground monorail has to be approved by government engineers.”
“So there are three months where we stay indoors. The climate controlled monorail is connected to just about everything like schools, shopping malls, indoor parks, and just about anything you can think of.”
“What’s it like the rest of the year? Do you spend a lot of time outdoors?” LeAnne asked.
“Yes, probably due to the fact that we are cooped up for three months out of the year, Ranjisi culture is entirely outdoors. The weather for most of the year is temperate ranging between 55 degrees and 78 degrees so everything is done outside. 90% of the seating in restaurants is outdoor seating. I don’t think we have any sports which are indoor sports. Nightclubs are mostly outdoors with decks and terraces overlooking lakes.”
“Ranjisan is almost twice the size of Earth at 14,000 miles around the widest point. This is good because we have over two trillion people spread out across several continents.”
Algol sometimes got lost in the details of things and hadn’t mentioned the most striking difference between Earth and Ranjisan. “Ranjisan has six moons,” I chimed in sheepishly. Algol was doing a fine job telling LeAnne all about our home but I was busting at the seams waiting to talk about our six moons.
“Yes, although the mountains of Ranjisan have flattened out a bit over the millions of years, the thing that makes Ranjisan beautiful and to the point of being breathtaking are the six moons,” I said.
I figured I would let Algol take a break and continued:
Two are relatively large. Ididae is about 5,500 km and Hyla is just under 4,000 km. The other four are smaller but the spectacular thing is that they are relatively close to Ranjisan and they are all made of different minerals and some of them have their own atmosphere which makes them all different colors. That is the spectacular thing. Ididae has a reddish glow to it while Hyla appears blue. At different times they may both be visible in the night sky. There are dates of the calendar year where Ranjisi will travel to viewing points where they can see four or five of the six moons in the sky at the same time.
You know how they tell you here that you have to see certain things before you die, like the Grand Canyon and the Pyramids? On Ranjisan they tell you that you have to see the moons at Northern Tiara on the first day of Sorex before you die. That is the one place and time where you can see all six moons in the sky at the same time. It is a special time on Ranjisan. It’s also a typical newlywed honeymoon spot.
I could see LeAnne’s eyes were closing again so I waved my hand toward Algol and pointed to LeAnne. “I still have questions.” LeAnne was barely loud enough for us to hear her as we were walking out of the room.
“We’ll continue tomorrow. Get some rest,” I said.
14 - Treatments continue
By the third week of LeAnne’s treatments, we began to see a dramatic difference. She seemed stronger and wanted to get out of bed every chance she could. Her appetite was good and her skin color improved. She was beginning to look healthy.
“I was thinking we may be able to start tapering off your infusions soon but we need some way of finding out exactly what’s going on inside you. You should have a thorough exam,” Algol said.
“Do you think they’re still looking for me? If I went to a hospital or doctor, would they be able to find us?” LeAnne asked.
“I’m not sure. At a minimum, we need a thorough blood test. We could tell a lot from that. But we need a doctor’s order for a blood test. Unfortunately we don’t have any doctors we can trust.”
“How about if we make up a fake symptom and take you to the emergency room?” I asked. “If it’s something that sounds serious, they will perform all kinds of tests. We could say you coughed up blood or you were experiencing shortness of breath or something.”
“Did you have medical insurance back in New York?” Algol asked.
“Yes, but I know where you’re going with this. Tell them I don’t have insurance and it would be almost impossible for anyone to find us. It would be easy to find us if I use my insurance ID card.”
“I think it’s a good idea. We need to know if LeAnne is really cured. She needs blood work, x-rays and other tests,” I said.
“I feel different. I mean I feel good. I feel like I’m getting better, like I’m winning and the cancer is losing. Let’s do it. I’m ready whenever you think it’s best.”
“It’s Friday. Your last infusion was Wednesday. Let’s skip today’s treatment and we’ll see how you feel Monday. If you are feeling good, we’ll go Monday. If we skip today’s treatment there will be less chance anyone will notice anything unusual in your blood,” Algol said. “Actually, they would never be able to detect the micro-pods with their equipment. They’re too small and they will be self-destructing.”
“Micro-pods? Is that what’s inside me killing the cancer?”
“Yes. I’ll explain more later,” Algol said.
Over the weekend, LeAnne felt so good, the three of us took a daytrip out to Sabino Canyon. We weren’t quite ready to walk the trail so we took a tram ride. I expected LeAnne to pass out on the way home but she seemed full of energy and insisted on eating at a Mexican restaurant on the way home.
The following morning LeAnne was showered and dressed by the time I woke up. We arrived at the Medical Center just after 10:00. LeAnne told the woman at the check-in counter exactly what I had suggested. She added a little drama to the whole thing by looking like she was going to pass out while trying to catch her breath. After an hour’s wait, they wheeled her off to an examination room. It took another two hours before the ER doctor came out to introduce himself. “Hello, I’m Doctor Cologini. I’m going to admit LeAnne so we can run a series of tests. The nurse will let you know when she is assigned to a room. I’m thinking she’ll be just staying overnight and she’ll be released tomorrow.”
LeAnne must have added to the drama with more coughing and near-fainting because they kept her there for three full days. When we arrived on Wednesday evening she said she would be released the following morning. Thursday morning we arrived early. We wanted to be sure we saw the doctor before LeAnne was released. A different doctor popped into the room around 9:30. “Oncologist Doctor Shimn,” he said with a faint Asian accent as he entered the room.
“How is LeAnne?” I blurted out before he had a chance to continue.
“It must have been a lingering upper respiratory infection. She did mention she had a head cold a few weeks ago. We’ve done every type of test you can think of. I am happy to tell you all that LeAnne is in perfect health. Her lungs look perfect. The only thing the blood work showed was some vitamin deficiencies. She should start taking D supplements and a B-complex.”
We all smiled and thanked the doctor as he left the room. When he left, we didn’t need to say anything. The three of us just stared at each other. We were all deep in thought until LeAnne snapped us out of our daydreams. When I realized I was looking at her I became aware of the tears running down her face. “I guess I’m really cured. Amazing, amazing and wonderful!”
I jumped up out of the chair and hugged LeAnne for a long time. “I don’t know when I’ve ever been so happy,” I said.
Algol came around the other side of the bed and hugged LeAnne. “I don’t have even the slightest doubt that what we did was right,” Algol said. “I don’t care if CIPE finds out. I don’t care if we get caught and sent back home to stand trial. Seeing you cured is the greatest gift of all.”
“Well said Algo. You’ve expressed my feelings exactly,” I said. Algol had a way with words.
We spent the next few weeks just gardening and sightseeing. Algol had taken quite a bit of time off from work during LeAnne’s treatments so he went back to focusing on his job. LeAnne still had a driver’s license so we bought an old Ford Escort. It wasn’t the coolest car but it started good and it had good tires and we figured we wouldn’t need it very long. We loved going out to Sabino Canyon or up to Mount Lemmon. Our trips to the canyon were consumed with extensive talks about our future.
“So what’s next Naos?”
“Well, I’m what you would call here, AWOL. By now they know I’m not going back to work at the hospital and I haven’t submitted any observation reports since we left New York. I suppose it’s happened before but I may be the first Ranjisi to go AWOL because I violated the CIPE code and broke the law.”
“I now understand why you wanted to look like a punk rocker,” LeAnne said and burst out laughing. “You are really a rebel at heart.”
LeAnne paused for a moment and continued, “But they can’t know that, can they? They can’t know you broke their law.”
“They know that my disappearance is related to your disappearance and they know that you had a terminal illness. They probably also know that your parents think you are in Europe undergoing an experimental treatment for your illness. So they can probably put two and two together and figure out that I am involved in your treatment. If I am involved in your treatment, they would suspect right away that I was breaking protocol and attempting to treat you with Ranjisi methods. Hopefully they don’t yet know that the cell serums were smuggled here. But since the only people who know we are here are the handful of people from the Tseen Ke group, I think we are safe for now.”
We stayed at the canyon long enough to watch the sunset over Tucson. On the drive back to Algol’s house, my cellphone started vibrating. “It’s a text from Algol,” I said. “Don’t come back here,” is all it says.
Another one is coming through. “CIPE here. Leave area now!”
“Holy shit! What does that mean?” LeAnne sounded scared.
“It sounds like they’ve found us. I can’t imagine how. Perhaps it has something to do with your stay at the hospital here.”
“Where should we go Naos?”
“Let’s park a few blocks from Algol’s house. It’s dark. Maybe we can get behind his house and see what’s going on.”
We drove to the block that runs behind Algol’s house and parked a few houses down where there was an empty wooded area. A natural desert area runs behind Algol’s house and separates the properties on the next block. It was the perfect way to get close to Algol’s without anyone seeing us. We made our way down the desert divider until we were directly behind Algol’s house. There was a wooden stockade fence separating his property from the divider lot. We could see over the fence and into the house. All the lights were on and we were out in the pitch-black Tucson night. “I can see a commotion there and more than two people walking around. I can hear talking but I can’t make out what they’re saying.”
“Look, the lights are on in my room where all the medical equipment is,” LeAnne said. “This can’t be good.”
“I’m going to jump the fence. Maybe I can hear what they’re saying if I get closer.”
“Let me do it. I used to climb trees all the time. Climbing this fence will be easy.”
LeAnne was over the fence in a few seconds. I could just make out her silhouette just below the bedroom window. Suddenly a spotlight lit up the entire back yard. I forgot about the motion detector. A man I had never seen before came charging out the back door with his hand on his hip, like he was about to go for his gun. I didn’t see LeAnne anywhere. I figured she ducked around the side of the house. The man walked around for a few minutes and then went back in the house. I didn’t even see LeAnne approaching the fence and the next thing I knew, she was jumping down onto the lot side about ten feet from me.
“Is it them? Is it CIPE?”
“There are four or five men in there questioning Algol. They are asking him where you and I are. I heard them asking Algol where he got all the medical equipment.”
“This is bad LeAnne. They are on to us and they know we’re here. I think we’re going to have to run.”
“Where should we go?”
“We have the car and we have some money and credit cards. We should get as much cash as we can from the credit cards before we leave Tucson. They already know we’re here. As soon as we have more cash we can pick a direction and drive.”
We hurried back to the car in silence. LeAnne started the car and began driving. “Wait a minute LeAnne.”
“What? Which way should we go?”
“Maybe I should just turn myself in. You can go back to live with your family instead of running with me like a fugitive.”
LeAnne pulled the car over and stopped. “If you turn yourself in, you’ll go back to Ranjisan. I’ll never see you again. I can’t do that. I won’t do that.”
“You would be better off in the long run,” I said.
“I’m not going to abandon you Naos. It’s more than the fact that you risked everything to save my life. It’s about you and me. We’re good together. It feels right when we’re together. It’s felt right since the first day you walked into my hospital room.” LeAnne paused for a moment and continued, “I just really need to know if you feel the same way.”
“I’ve wondered sometimes if I would have done this for just anyone. I may have thought about it but maybe I wouldn’t have acted on it,” I said. “I confess, I was motivated for selfish reasons.” I paused for a moment and continued, “I didn’t want you to die because I wanted to be with you. I also felt it, the first time I walked into your room. In case you weren’t sure before, there it is. We Ranjisi do feel love and devotion, just like humans.”
I placed my hand on LeAnne’s and leaned toward her and began gently pulling her closer. It was an awkward embrace, leaning over the console in the dark car. There was just enough moonlight to see the sparkle in LeAnne’s eyes as we tried to find each other’s lips in the pitch-black night of dark Tucson. The mood was shattered by approaching headlights. I quickly shifted back to the other side of the car as LeAnne started the engine. I was overcome with fear as the car came closer. I was sure it was the Ranjisi security forces. LeAnne and I were like two rabbits in the headlights. We were frozen in place, not able to move, drive or speak. The blinding headlights slowly passed us. It was a man in a big white Cadillac wearing a tall cowboy hat.
“Holy shit. I thought that was it,” I said.
“Let’s get the fuck out of here,” LeAnne said. “Which way?”
“North.”
15 - Going north
We took as many side streets as we could while we slowly meandered our way to the interstate. “I feel guilty about leaving Cooper there to take the rap,” LeAnne said.
“There wasn’t much we could do to help.”
“What will happen to him?”
“Well, we are a civilized society back home. What we have done will not be considered much of a crime by average citizens. I think he will be sentenced to a minimum security prison. Perhaps they will sentence him to house arrest or probation. Naturally he will be expelled from CIPE.”
“I guess that’s not too bad,” LeAnne said. “You mentioned minimum security prison. I assume you also have maximum security prisons on Ranjisan and you do have violent crime.”
“Of course. There will always be crimes o
f passion in any society and of course there will always be greed.”
“What is there on Ranjisan to be greedy about? You mentioned that some people are better off than others but you don’t have the extremes in rich and poor like we have here. How does money work there? How do you pay for things? Do you have taxes?”
“We do have taxes, or something like taxes. Things that are needed that are not profit driven need to be paid for.”
“So Ranjisan has a capitalist government, like we have here?” LeAnne asked. “You have poverty too?”
“I don’t think it’s as extreme as here on Earth but there is poverty and homelessness, although homeless people don’t live on the street. They live in government sponsored camps. The camps have their own police forces, construction crews and chefs. Homeless people can become part of the various camp crews where they can learn working skills.
The Aegiala have basically wiped out poverty and homelessness. We have people there studying and observing how they accomplished what is close to being a utopian society. They are amazing, highly intelligent people.”
“I guess you can say that Ranjisan is in a period of illumination or enlightenment. They’ve been talking about splitting everything into two categories, one for governing profit-driven enterprise and one for anything that is for the good of everyone. For a civilized society to flourish you have to have money to build public structures but without the incentive for profit, business becomes anemic. So we are learning from the Aegialeus how to build incentives for philanthropy into profit-based businesses. It’s all pretty boring I guess but I’ve already seen a difference. The most famous celebrities back home are philanthropists, kind of like your Bill Gates here.”
The Good Reaper Page 14
