The Good Reaper

by Dennis J Butler

  ***

  The mind works in mysterious ways. The loud crash I heard was woven into my dream. Whatever I was dreaming about suddenly changed into a dream where I was working at a Saw Mill. I wasn’t sure why I was dreaming about a Saw Mill. For a fraction of a second during that period between being asleep and awake, I had a brief thought that it had something to do with all the lumber companies and mills in Idaho. In the dream, there was some kind of accident and someone I thought I knew was hurt. The loud crash in my dream had woken me up but I was in such a deep sleep, it took me a few seconds to realize what was happening. I wasn’t in a Saw Mill. I was in my bed and the loud crash was coming from the living room. LeAnne sat straight up and although she was in a deep sleep a few seconds earlier, she appeared wide awake. Someone was in the house. Thoughts of survival were racing through my mind as I swung around and placed my feet on the floor. For some reason I knew there wasn’t enough time to get to the closet to grab the only weapon I had. I wasn’t even sure I wanted the baseball bat in my hand. From the sound of the noise, I guessed there was more than one person. They could take the baseball bat and use it against me. I knew it would be wiser to just let them take what they wanted.

  I was right. Three men barged into the bedroom. All of my survival instincts had been focused on fighting off a home invasion. I was filled with panic as I focused on how I would defend myself and LeAnne with just my fists. So many thoughts raced through my mind in a fraction of a second. I was thinking, this probably happens to people occasionally who live out in the middle of nowhere. That’s probably why they keep loaded shotguns next to their beds. But if they are locals just looking to rob us, I thought it might not be so bad. They were probably not really violent. They were probably just desperate. They would take our money and some valuables and leave. All these thoughts raced through my head in a fraction of a second.

  But my adrenalin based fear quickly turned into full blown panic when I got a better look at the men. They weren’t there to rob us. There was no doubt about it. They were Ranjisi. There could only be one explanation. They were there to arrest me. Somehow they had found out where we were. The thoughts were still racing through my head. Did they work with human law enforcement? Did Manny from Chile somehow find out where I was? My mind was spinning in overdrive and I had a feeling of unreality, like I wasn’t actually there or I wasn’t actually alive. I could hear their voices but I was in a sort of surreal fog and I didn’t respond.

  “Naos Oriel-Achernar, aka Luke Riley?”

  I was beginning to come back to reality but before I could respond, the officer began reciting the traditional Ranjisan arrest notice: “From this moment forward, you have no rights and you are the property of the CIPE Code Exaction Forces. You will be delivered to the Ranjisi People’s Detention Center at Cepheus Island where you will stand trial.”

  One of the officers knelt down in front of me and attached a small devise to both of my ankles. It was hidden under my pants and socks so no one would be able to see it when they escorted me through public areas filled with humans. I guessed they would be taking me through airport terminals on our trip back to the CIPE Center on Easter Island. If I tried to escape, the ankle devices would send electric charges through my upper legs which would cause me to fall to the floor in pain. Once the charge is released, it would take a half hour to an hour to get enough strength back in my legs to stand.

  When I glanced over at LeAnne, I was overcome with a deep sick feeling that seemed to begin in my stomach and spread out into my chest and arms. LeAnne was terrified and tried to speak as they began leading me toward the front door. “Where are you taking him? Will I be able to go with you? Can I see him again?”

  “You should have heard the arrest notice. Say goodbye now. You will never see Naos Oriel-Achernar again.”

  “What about me?” LeAnne asked. “Shouldn’t you be arresting me also?”

  “We have no jurisdiction here regarding humans. You are not subject to our laws. Say goodbye now.”

  LeAnne hurried over to me. The officers stood and watched for a few moments while we kissed for the last time. There were no words that seemed appropriate. It was such a final and devastating feeling. We both knew it was really the end. What do you say to someone who is the most important thing in the world to you, when you are saying a final goodbye?

  LeAnne followed us out the front door and stood on the front porch watching and crying while they put me into the back seat. The last thing I remember from that day was turning around to see LeAnne standing there looking lost and alone while we drove down the gravel driveway. It was the first time I wondered if I could have done something different to prevent our capture. I wondered if we should have gone to Mexico or Central America instead of driving north to Idaho. Either way, my life was over. I hoped that LeAnne would return to her family in New York. My mind continued to spin with random thoughts but every few seconds the thought of never seeing LeAnne again seemed to look like a giant billboard in my mind. It was a billboard like you might see on the side of the interstate back east. The billboard read, “Naos Oriel-Achernar you will never ever see LeAnne again!”

  ***

  LeAnne was slow to make the decision to return home to her family. She continued going through the motions of normal life. It was okay for a while. LeAnne was in a kind of depressed numbness. It was an especially difficult situation since she couldn’t really talk honestly about what had happened. When her co-workers asked her what was wrong, she told them that we had broken up. She couldn’t tell them I was taken back to a distant planet to serve a jail sentence for curing her of cancer.

  Finally after spending a few weeks in a state of depressed limbo, LeAnne decided to return home. As she thought about it more and more she realized that she had hurt her parents by being dishonest with them. Talking to them on the phone would be too painful so she decided that the best thing to do would be to return home unannounced. LeAnne realized that it would be shocking for her parents but in the long run, seeing LeAnne healthy and cured would strip away any hurt or resentment her parents felt. So she worked out her 2-week notice at her job, said goodbye to her co-workers and set out one cold winter morning for New York.

  LeAnne spent the long 3-day drive thinking about what she would say when her parents answered the door. Her heart kicked into double-time the moment she turned off of State Road 30 and onto County Rd. 43. By the time she turned onto the nameless gravel road that led to the Pearson family home, she had to pull over to catch her breath. After five minutes sitting there trying to control her breathing, she realized she had to go forward and get it all over with. She put the car in “drive” and crept forward.

  When she left Idaho City three days earlier, it was a chilly, dry 18 degrees but there in the upper Catskill Mountains of New York, it was a typical winter afternoon with a cold, raw, misty drizzle making everything seem even colder. The same truck which her father had bought new twelve years earlier was parked near the barn next to a car she had never seen before. She wondered if they had company. She knew that would make the whole scene even more awkward and dramatic.

  LeAnne gathered up her courage and stepped out of the car, pushing the car door quietly closed. “No one noticed me yet,” she thought. “I could jump back in the car and leave now. But where would I go?” LeAnne walked slowly and quietly up to the front porch and stood there looking at the front door for a few moments. She took a deep breath and knocked lightly. She could hear the muffled sound of voices and footsteps getting closer. By the time the doorknob begin turning, it felt as if her heart would explode.

  “LeAnne?” He sounded like he was in a daze. “It’s me Roy.”

  LeAnne squeezed Roy so tightly that he found it hard to take a deep breath to call out to his parents, “Mom, dad, it’s LeAnne!”

  Carl and Madeline Pearson came from different directions in the house. Madeline covered her mouth as if she was about to scream. Carl didn’t hold back. He screamed as he ran to his daughte
r. “LeAnne, you’re here, you’re really here.”

  LeAnne smiled and took her wool hat off. Her hair had grown in just long enough to be combed. It was the first time in a very long time that LeAnne’s family had seen her looking healthy and standing on her own two legs. Her parents hugged her from both sides while her brother Roy hugged the three of them from behind.

  “You look amazing,” Roy said. “You look completely healthy. Are you in remission?”

  As Roy came around in front of LeAnne, Carl and Madeline backed up a few feet to get a better look at her. “It’s better than that Roy. I’m cancer free. I’m cured.”

  “So that was a doctor in Germany that cured you?” Carl asked.

  LeAnne wished she could tell the truth but she had made a promise to Naos. She found it odd that the security people who arrested Naos never asked her to keep quiet about it but she had made a promise to Naos and she would keep it.

  “Yes. Doctor Schueneman in Berlin.” During her drive east, LeAnne had rehearsed saying the name of the imaginary doctor.

  “Why was it such a secret?” Madeline asked while wiping the tears away from her eyes and then added, “Forget that. I’m just glad you’re home and you’re cured. Thank god for this doctor, whoever he is.”

  “So did the orderly from the hospital have something to do with this?” Carl asked. “Before we got that message that you were in Germany, we filed a ‘Missing Persons’ report which we later cancelled. The police wanted to question that orderly and they couldn’t find him so we figured he was involved.”

  “Yes. Luke from the hospital organized the whole thing. Luke was in patient transport but he knew people involved in experimental treatments in Germany.”

  “But why couldn’t you let us know where you were in Germany?” LeAnne’s mother asked.

  “The doctor and the treatment are kind of underground. His treatments haven’t been approved yet so we had to keep it a secret.”

  “So we owe a world of gratitude to the doctor in Germany and to this Luke person who organized the whole thing,” Roy said.

  “Yes. If it wasn’t for Luke, I probably wouldn’t be here now.”

  “So where is he?” Roy asked. “He is obviously someone who cares about you. He must have made huge sacrifices to arrange this. Can we thank him? I’m assuming you are in touch with him.”

  LeAnne had to think fast again. “I guess eventually you can talk to him. He had to go home for a while. His mother is ill.”

  “Okay then as soon as it is possible, please let us talk to him. He is welcome here anytime,” Carl said. “I vaguely remember him at the hospital. He seemed nice.”

  LeAnne settled into her old bedroom and the visitors began coming to greet LeAnne. It seemed they couldn’t wait to see her healthy. The Pearson family treated LeAnne like a celebrity queen while entertaining all the distant family and friends who trickled in almost every day. It was like old times only better. The awkward teenage years had come and gone and Roy and LeAnne just loved being together again. Things were back to normal. They were better than normal. Carl and Madeline seemed happier than ever before. LeAnne was glad that no one questioned her extensively about the treatment that cured her. They were all so happy she was better that they just didn’t seem to care how it happened.

  After a few months, the topic of LeAnne’s treatment in Germany never even came up. LeAnne kept her promise to Naos and her secret close to her chest. She knew that the only person who could expose her secret was light years away on a far distant planet. She couldn’t have ever imagined in her wildest dreams what the future would bring.

  17 - Baten Kaitos MS Detention Center

  Cooper had about fifteen dschubbas left on his sentence when I arrived at Baten Kaitos. I had always wondered how he felt about LeAnne and I escaping while he was arrested and sent back to Ranjisan to serve a two year sentence. But in the long run, things had turned out better for him. He only had to serve two years. I was sentenced to three years. But I never regretted it for one moment.

  From the moment they took me away from our home in Idaho City, a deep melancholy seemed to settle in my chest making it harder to breathe. I found myself taking deep breaths which caused a sharp pain in my chest. I found it difficult to move or talk. I understood. It was such a final devastating feeling, knowing that I would never see LeAnne again. I remembered that feeling and it never seemed to leave me. It always lingered there, just below the surface.

  It seemed every kilometer we sailed back to Ranjisan intensified the feeling of melancholy as I was acutely aware of traveling further and further from LeAnne. But when they locked the cell door behind me that first day it was the lowest feeling I had ever had. I was alone and miserable and scared and all I could think about was LeAnne. But I never regretted what I had done. The one thing that gave me strength was knowing that far away on a distant planet LeAnne was alive and well. I wondered if she missed me as much as I missed her but it was comforting knowing that she had her family. She would be alright. She was surrounded by her loving family. Life would go on for LeAnne and I hoped with all my heart that she would be happy.

  The trial didn’t last long since I pleaded guilty. My guilty plea statement came with a rebellious speech about why we should be sharing our medical advances with the human race. Here is an excerpt from it:

  Members of the Baten Kaitos Judgment Panel, officers of the CIPE Code Exaction Forces and CIPE representatives, I have pleaded guilty and I accept my punishment without reservation. I would like you to know that my decision to break CIPE protocol did not come without many hours of mental anguish. I am not a rebel and I do hold CIPE in the highest regard. I am thankful for the opportunity to serve CIPE. I also know that I was taught not to get too emotionally attached to humans who are suffering and dying. In theory, that is not difficult. But when you are actually with them, standing two feet away from them every day and you hear them moaning in pain, it has a way of eating away at you. It has a way of creeping into you very soul or as humans might say, it has a way of creeping into your heart. Perhaps I was just not cut out for such a painful mission. In any case, after spending a year watching my human friends spend the last hours of their life suffering needlessly, I just couldn’t take it anymore.

  So, my crime is that I helped cure an Earth woman of cancer. She was a wonderful, strong human woman before the cell disease began eating her alive. Watching her come back from the edge of death as the Zaurak gradually destroyed the disease was the most wonderful experience of my life. She is once again, a wonderful, strong and beautiful human woman. The big difference now is that she is one human who truly loves our people. She loves us from somewhere deep inside. She is more than grateful. It’s almost as if she looks upon us in the same way that the Ophiucha look upon the Aegiala; with love, respect and admiration. She is one. There could be more. There could be many more. There should be many more.

  Why wait another five to ten years to begin saving the human race. They are good people. I have grown to love and respect them. But what is most important is the question of their readiness. I am absolutely positive that they are ready now. It won’t be easy but I would like to plead with the Judgment Panel, CIPE and the Grand Council to move up the timetable for Phase III. We should make open contact with the human race as soon as possible.

  My memory is foggy but at some point during my statement, I got down on my knees and continued:

  I will gladly serve my time. I deserve it. I broke the law. But please, I beg you to consider all the human lives who are at this very moment, suffering. When you go to sleep tonight, just for one night, imagine a young child suffering from a cell cloning disease or a parasitic disease. We could begin Phase III now. If we do, we may be in time to save the innocent child you imagined. Let’s not wait any longer to begin saving lives.

  Each time I glanced over toward the Judgment Panel, two of judges always appeared sympathetic. For a time I actually thought there was a possibility that I would be set free or put on
probation, but my instincts were wrong. I was sentenced to three years at the minimum security prison at Baten Kaitos. Baten Kaitos was part of a vast prison system complex on an island in the Zavijah Sea. Baten Kaitos also had four maximum security prisons and two additional minimum security prisons.

  On the day of my arrival, I looked down from the air-transport as we floated over the farm area and vegetable garden. After the orientation I was assigned to a 2-man cell and although the feeling of being a captive prisoner was frightening and depressing, I was glad I was serving my sentence on Ranjisan instead of on Earth. On Ranjisan everyone looks basically the same. There are no racial or religious divides. I was sure there would be cliques, but at least I wouldn’t immediately be a target based on my physical appearance. The first thing I planned to do to fit in better was to cut my hair short. The color of my hair was already turning back to normal as the bleached white roots were overtaken by my boring brown color.

  I found Cooper on my second day at Baten. I began scanning the dining room as soon as I walked in, wanting to locate him before I got on the food line. It took a few minutes but I thought I saw him right about in the middle of the room. He was facing the opposite direction but I could see the side of his face. I walked down the center aisle until I was just past the row of tables he was sitting at. He was talking to someone on the opposite side of the table. I was sure it was him. There didn’t appear to be anywhere to sit there at his table so I decided to eat quickly and then walk over to his table to talk to him.

  When I approached his table a little while later, he didn’t seem surprised to see me. Although I never really expected him to be resentful of me for fleeing while he was getting arrested, I was still relieved to see his big, warm smile. The other prisoners all turned and stared at me blankly. “Naos. I heard you were here,” Cooper said. “Good to see you, although I would prefer that you were never caught and you weren’t here.”