The Good Reaper (21 page)

I submitted her bio to the Tseen Ke group and they voted
unanimously to end her suffering. After that I reluctantly came clean with her
and told her the truth about who I was and how I could end her life with
dignity and without any pain or suffering. We arranged the day and time and I
was just about to administer the needles when the idea occurred to me. If we
could smuggle the Tseen Ke kits to Earth, why couldn’t we smuggle the cell
serum and software application? Why couldn’t we save her life instead of ending
it? When I introduced the question to the Tseen Ke group, it didn’t take any
coaxing. They agreed immediately and unanimously. The time was right to
actually save a human life. It took a lot of planning but we did it. We were
successful. We saved the woman’s life.”

I hoped that when I spoke of LeAnne, the emotion hiding
behind my words wasn’t becoming too obvious. I tried to sound cold and
detached. I thought it was working.

“Do you plan to see her during your time on Earth?” Syrma asked
as she looked down at the ground.

“I don’t know Syrma. I hadn’t thought about it,” I said,
knowing that I was lying. I wasn’t sure if I would actually see LeAnne but I
had definitely been thinking about it. In fact that was almost all I thought
about.

“For your departure, I want to give you something different
this time. I want to give you something you will remember,” Syrma said.

“I still have the pendant which never leaves me Syrma,” I
said.

“No pendant this time,” Syrma said as she put her arms around
my neck. It was our first real kiss. It was deep, passionate and long. “Naos, I
will wait for your return,” Syrma said with tears in her eyes. “I love you. I
have always loved you. Please be safe and return to me.”

I wasn’t sure what to say. I wasn’t sure if I actually loved
Syrma. Thoughts of LeAnne kept flashing through my mind. But I felt obligated
to say something so I said it. I thought it sounded sincere although in my
heart I wasn’t sure. “I love you too Syrma.”

***

Atik was right. The three month voyage back to Earth
consisted of endless meetings and discussions. But it was necessary. Proof of
the existence of alien life would be the most significant discovery in Earth’s
history. There were no words in any language to adequately describe the importance
of the first declaration of our existence to the human race.

The meetings lasted until the middle of the afternoon each
day which still gave us plenty of free time. The ship was much smaller than the
large saucer shaped ships that were the Ranjisi standard space exploration
design. The ship was cylinder shaped and was built for one-directional high
speed. The living quarters were small and cramped, consisting of a bed, a desk
and chair, a dresser, a wardrobe and a small bath area.

But the ship was still a marvel of engineering. The bridge
area had an overlook area similar to an Earthly operating room. Since there
wasn’t much to do on the voyage, at almost any time of the night or day there
would be at least a few of the delegation team sitting up in the overlook,
looking down at the ship’s crew. It gave me a chance to get to know the other
delegation members.

 Gomeisa Oriel-
Angetenar
was
assigned the human name of Gary. Gary was a well-known cell disease specialist
back home. Gary almost always had a notebook or other text books sitting on his
lap while observing the ship’s crew below. I never did see him actually look at
his books. One night I asked him if he was comfortable passing on his knowledge
to human doctors. His response was straight forward: “It’s no big deal. It’s
relatively simple. Human doctors will have no problem understanding and using
our technology. It’s all in the equipment, that is, the advanced imaging
systems. They are somewhat familiar with Nanoscience so it shouldn’t be much of
a learning curve.”

Gary and the second team cell disease specialist
Azha
Oriel-Canopus already knew each other well before the
voyage so they were almost always talking about their specialty.
Azha
was the oldest person on the team and I guessed that
he was well over one hundred years old in Ranjisi years. It seemed Gary looked
up to him and I would frequently see Gary listening intently to
Azha’s
theories on Earthly cell diseases.

The two teams usually ate meals together. Atik was the
unofficial leader of the delegation and did most of the talking during dinner
and at the endless meetings we attended. When Atik wasn’t leading the
conversation, one of the other CP officials usually took over the conversation
while the team scientists usually just answered questions as they popped up.

Chara and Mesarthim spent endless hours discussing Earth’s
most contagious and lethal infectious diseases. As I often listened to them
talking after dinner, I gradually watched them come to a decision about which
disease they were going to focus on. After that they began discussing the
logistics of how they would coordinate administration and dissemination of the
cure and how they would teach human doctors how to administer it. They had
decided to take on a huge and difficult challenge. They would be assembling a
team to go to West Africa to begin wiping out Ebola.

  Our arrival on Earth was as secretive as it had
always been, but nevertheless it was still a dramatic arrival. News of our
arrival had traveled through the CIPE Center on Easter Island and when the ship
broke the surface at the docking station, we could hear the muffled sound of
cheering. We all stood and crowded around the portals to see that the entire
dock area and the two floors above were lined with cheering CIPE cadets. The
human race was unaware of the significance of our arrival but the Ranjisi knew
what it meant and how important and exciting it would all be.

The following three days we discussed our strategy. It was
all new to us but since we had been studying human behavior we had some idea of
how humans would react. We would have to patiently climb our way from
administrative people to agents to high-level officers.

The original plan was to fly from the island to Washington
using normal commercial aircraft but we decided that four Ranjisi traveling
together was more risky than using one of the smaller ships. On the evening of
our departure, a smaller but enthusiastic group cheered us on as we prepared to
board the ship.  “All we need now is Dr.
Ophiuchus
,”
Atik said.

“That would be Chara the infectious disease specialist?” I
remarked as more of a statement than a question.

“Yes. There she is now,” Atik said as he began waving toward
one of the elevators.

Dr.
Ophiuchus
hurried toward us,
struggling with what appeared to be a very heavy duffle bag that was strapped
around her neck.

“Good to see you too Chara,” Dr.
Angetenar
said as he extended his left hand to shake Dr.
Ophiuchus’s
hand. “Let us begin the real adventure.”

“Other hand
Gome
,” Chara said with
a little giggle and a big smile.

Dr.
Angetenar
looked a bit
embarrassed. “Oh yes, right hand it is.”

We waved goodbye like celebrities, boarded the ship and a
few minutes later we were beneath the Pacific Ocean.

A few hours later, the ship landed silently in a valley
about ten miles east of Jollett, Virginia. A few yards away, a jeep was parked
with its running lights on. The jeep approached us as we stepped down from the
ship’s entry ramp. The driver introduced himself by first name only, “Hi, I’m
Seginus. I’ll be taking you to the
Fontvieille
Inn
downtown. I’ve been told to tell you to check in separately, but you probably
already know that.”

“Yes, we understand,” Atik said.

“Do we really stand out that much?” Gomeisa asked sounding
bewildered.

“Who knows,” Atik said. “It won’t be long before we no
longer have to pretend we’re human anyway.”

We did as Seginus had told us. He parked in the short-term
lot outside the hotel lobby and we took turns checking in. I was thinking that
checking in separately was a stupid idea since it would arouse more suspicion
than if we all checked in together. The desk clerk might be thinking, “That
fellow looked and acted an awful lot like the last fellow who checked in.” But
in the end, I didn’t care. They could think whatever they wanted to. I knew it
wouldn’t be long before everyone knew of our existence. From that point forward
we would be traveling in a group.

The following morning Atik was sitting in the rental car
waiting for us near the hotel entrance. We jumped in and headed for the FBI
headquarters. The most amazing part of our mission was about to begin. We would
be attempting to answer the question that humans had been asking for decades.
It was so exciting that it seemed I was more excited about it than I expected
humans to be. It was like I was holding a secret for my entire life and I was
about to let the secret out.

Our first stop was the reception area. Atik told the
receptionist he needed to talk to an agent regarding a national security issue.
The receptionist looked unimpressed and I assumed she probably heard people say
that often. After waiting an hour, a young man came out to greet us. “Hello. I
am agent Goetz. How can I help you?” He looked at Atik first and then shifted
his gaze to look at each one of us. I got the immediate impression that
although he may hold a relatively low position with the Bureau, he was already
highly trained at observation and profiling. His left eye remained in a fixed,
squinting frown-like position as he continued staring at us. I was quite sure
that he thought we were an odd group.

Atik started to introduce us using our Earth names and then
suddenly changed his mind, obviously realizing that names meant nothing. “We
represent a unique medical group and we have some startling findings to
announce. We would like our report to reach the highest levels of government so
we have come to you first. We realize we need to be vetted.”

“Do your findings have something to do with national
security or crime? Unless it is some kind of pharmaceutical crime or something
related to a public health warning, I don’t see what this has to do with the
agency. Can you give me a brief summary of these findings?”

“What we need to share with you is not urgent like a public
health warning or a crime. In fact I can’t really think of a word to describe
it. I guess a more accurate description of the information we wish to share
would be ‘momentous’ or ‘Earth shattering’ and should be discussed in private.”

“All righty then,” Agent Goetz said with a bit of annoyance
creeping into his voice. We followed Agent Goetz to his small interior office.
I tried to get a feeling for his sense of awareness as he took a seat behind
his desk. My impression of him was that he was new with the FBI and had come to
Washington from some small town somewhere out in the Midwest. He looked to be
in his mid-twenties. His light brown goatee and mustache didn’t help to make
him look any older. But the important question was
,
did he have an open mind? Our mission could run into a huge snag right there on
our first day if Agent Goetz was closed minded. I was glad he was young.

“So, what is this earth shattering news you wish to share
with us?” Agent Goetz asked.

“Thank you for taking the time to speak with us Agent Goetz.
I am George and this is Luke,” Atik said, gesturing toward me with his hand.
Atik shifted in his chair to face Gomeisa and Chara directly. “Gary is a cell
disease specialist and Linda is our infectious disease specialist.”

“I’m still confused. Why exactly are you here and why are
you not providing full names?” Agent Goetz asked looking more annoyed.

Atik stared blankly toward a cheap looking print on the far
wall for a few long, awkward moments. “Well you see Agent Goetz, they aren’t
our real names.”

Agent Goetz looked angry and a bit worried as he reached for
his phone. “Please wait one moment Agent Goetz,” Atik stood up and approached
the agent’s desk as he spoke.

Agent Goetz moved quickly. He hung the phone up with his
left hand while opening his desk drawer with his right hand. He kept his right
hand inside the desk drawer. I was thinking, “Agent Goetz surely has his hand
on a handgun. If Atik doesn’t say the right thing, the FBI man will be drawing
his gun any second.”

“Please relax Agent Goetz,” Atik said. “We do not pose a
threat. We are scientists and government people.” Atik paused for a moment and
continued, “My real name is Atik Arial-
Unukalhai
.
Luke here is Naos Oriel-
Achernar
. Gary’s real name is
Gomeisa Oriel-
Angetenar
and Linda’s name is Chara
Arial-
Ophiuchus
.”

“Government people,” Agent Goetz spoke sounding surprisingly
calm. “What government?”

We all stared at Agent Goetz. It seemed as if time had been
frozen for a few moments. For a split second I was sure he was going to pull
the gun out from his desk drawer but he just sat there looking stunned.

“Our government is very far away,” I said slowly and calmly.
“We are from the planet Ranjisan. It’s a planet very similar to Earth. It’s
about 9,000 light years from here.”

Over two years had passed since
that horrible day in Idaho City when the CIPE Code Exaction Forces had busted
down our door in the early morning darkness. Life in upstate New York had
returned to some form of normalcy for the
Pearson family. Life for
LeAnne was comfortable but boring.

The return of LeAnne’s brother Roy from Japan helped her to
recover from the heartache of missing me (at least I hoped in my own selfish
way that she missed me). LeAnne and Roy were always close and having Roy back
at the family house made things seem like they were teenagers again. Roy
finally grew tired of living so far from home in Japan and he missed the simple
laid back lifestyle of living in upstate New York so he took a big cut in
salary and status to return to the states. Roy was a sensitive and thoughtful
man and LeAnne always thought that Roy and Naos would have liked each other if
they had a chance to get to know each other.

Carl and Roy were sitting at the dining room table sharing
the Sunday newspaper when they heard the soft knock on the front door. Madeline
was in the kitchen and LeAnne was upstairs.

“Maybe
it’s
Tara looking to borrow
some kind of weird spice for a recipe,” Madeline hollered from the kitchen.
“I’ll get it.”

Ulysses the Golden Labrador momentarily forgot about what
was happening on top of the dinner table and strolled quickly to the front
door. Ulysses turned around and looked at Madeline with a look that said, “Can
you hurry it up please.”

From where the dining room table was situated, you could see
across the foyer into the living area but you couldn’t see the front door. Carl
and Roy listened quietly while Madeline went to the door. It was quiet. They
could hear the sound of soft voices but they couldn’t make out what they were
saying and they didn’t recognize the voices. Carl knew something unusual was
happening so he pushed his chair back and began to stand up when Madeline and
two strange men stepped into the dining room.

“These gentlemen are here to see LeAnne,” Madeline said.

“I’ll get her,” Roy said as he took two stairs at a time.

“LeAnne, there are some men here to see you,” Roy yelled
from the top of the stairs.

LeAnne tried to think of who it could possibly be. She
couldn’t think of anyone that would come to see her on a Sunday afternoon.
“I’ll be right there,” she said.

The two men stood there silently and smiled briefly at Carl.
“Why don’t you have a seat,” Carl said, pointing toward the dining room table.

When LeAnne stepped into the dining room her eyes widened
and here heart began to race. She knew who they were. She had never seen them
before but she knew
what
they were. LeAnne stood up and came around the
table to greet the odd visitors.

“Yes, what do you want to see me about?” LeAnne asked,
moving her eyes from one visitor to the other.

“Do we need to talk in private?” one of the men asked.

LeAnne was silent for a long thoughtful moment while looking
down at the floor. “Is this about Naos?” LeAnne asked without looking up. She
said the words quietly. In some way she thought that the visitors would hear
her but her parents wouldn’t.

“Yes LeAnne. We have some rather good news.”

LeAnne turned and looked at her family. Carl and Madeline
were seated at the dining room table while Roy stood behind them looking on.
They were just watching and looking confused and concerned. “I guess it’s time
I told you all the truth,” she said and turned back to face the visitors and
continued, “That is, if you have the time to help me explain. I kept my vow of
silence to Naos and your people. I haven’t told anyone anything, not even my
family.”

Carl, Madeline and Roy looked more confused than ever. They
were all wondering the same thing; who were these people, why did LeAnne refer
to them as “your people” and who in the world was Naos.

“What’s this about LeAnne?” Carl asked, sounding just a bit
angry.

“Please introduce yourselves and have a seat. This is going
to take time,” LeAnne said.

“Real names I guess?” The two men looked at LeAnne and
waited for a response. LeAnne nodded.

 “I am Sargas Oriel-
Alnitak
and this is Giauzar Oriel-
Almeisan
,” Sargas said as
the two men took their seats. “We’ve come to interview LeAnne about the medical
procedure she recently underwent. Also we are here to gather as much
information about her condition prior to the treatment as well as all the
previous treatments.”

“Are you with the FDA or something?” Carl asked. “You do
know the treatment was done in Germany.”

The two men looked at each other and then at LeAnne. It
seemed they were waiting for LeAnne to break the ice. “I have a confession to
make,” LeAnne said. Everyone stared wide-eyed at LeAnne. “It wasn’t done in
Germany. It was done in Arizona.”

“Algol Arial-Seginus performed the treatments, correct?”
Sargas asked while Giauzar appeared to be typing notes into a small tablet
device.

“Yes, Algol AKA Cooper,” LeAnne answered. “I’m sorry about
what happened to him”

“That’s part of the good news LeAnne,” Sargas said. “Did
Naos explain to you about Phase III?”

“Yes. Hopefully that will happen in about ten years.”

“Could somebody tell me what the hell is going on?” Carl
stood straight up and yelled across the dining room table.

LeAnne decided the time had come. There would be no more
lies. “I wasn’t cured by a doctor in Germany. I was cured by these people. They
aren’t German. Where they come from is much further away than Germany. These
gentlemen are space travelers from a distant world in a faraway solar system,
many light years away.”

Carl stood there staring and looking disoriented. His eyes were
wide and his mouth hung open.

“Gamma Anadeia is our name for the Milky Way,” Sargas said
with a humble smile. “Our home is called Ranjisan. We have been here observing
the human race for over forty of your Earth years.”

The Pearsons looked like they were in a daze. The whole
scene was surreal and completely unbelievable and yet there was something real
about it. Perhaps it was the natural and relaxed way that LeAnne casually spoke
with the two odd men. She didn’t seem the least bit surprised about anything
they said and she seemed to already know about most of it.

“Before we continue I need to know, what is the good news?
Does it have anything to do with Naos? Is it something to do with Phase III?”

“Yes,” Sargas answered while Giauzar continued to take
notes. “A few months ago, the Ranjisi Grand Council of Provinces and CIPE
re-opened discussions about Phase III. Your case is at the center or it all.
Naos gave an emotional statement at his sentencing which has become the
cornerstone for moving up the timetable for Phase III. Your case was at the
heart of the Phase III discussions. Naos is now somewhat of a celebrity back
home. So he and Algol have both been released from prison.”

“Oh thank god,” LeAnne said while wiping her eyes with a
table napkin.

Carl, Madeline and Roy were still in a state of shock,
unable to understand what they were hearing and yet not able to believe or
disbelieve it. “I know this is all unbelievable and really too much to
comprehend but I’ll explain a little at a time,” LeAnne said as she turned back
to her parents.

“Okay, so you are telling us that these two men are aliens
from a planet called
Ranj
-something and they cured
your cancer and you have a friend name Na-
os
?” Roy
sounded a bit more coherent than his parents.

“Are you on drugs?” Carl asked, looking at LeAnne. “I don’t
know what the hell is going on here but I think you boys best be leaving now.”

Giauzar spoke for the first time. His voice was soft and
almost difficult to hear. “Maybe it would be best if we left and let LeAnne
explain everything. We could come back when you are ready.”

“But I want to hear more and I want to hear it now,” Roy
said. “Is there some kind of proof you can give us. You do look human. Do you
have the ability to change your appearance or something?” Roy looked both
serious and sarcastic at the same time.

“We don’t carry with us anything that would prove who we
are. It has always been a highly secret operation,” Giauzar said. “We are
almost identical to humans except for the fatigue we feel here dealing with
Earth’s strong gravitational pull.”

“We could come back in a few days with photos of our
planet,” Sargas said. “But I will have to ask you not to talk about this to
anyone. Although the time of our formal introduction to the human race may be
coming, as of right now we still need to keep it a secret. When the time comes,
our leaders will make contact with your leaders and come up with a plan that
will hopefully not cause a panic. Learning that the human race is not alone in
the universe will be unsettling to many, especially religious leaders. It needs
to be done carefully.”

“Okay. Let’s do that. I can take my time explaining
everything and you can you come back in a few days.” LeAnne said.

“Today is Sunday. We will return on Wednesday,” Sargas said.

Sargas and Giauzar said goodbye. LeAnne was surprised at how
calm her father was. She expected him to drill her with questions as soon as
the visitors left but he seemed calm and relaxed.

Roy seemed more open to the whole concept of aliens walking
among humans on Earth so LeAnne continued to explain more of the details to him
a little at a time. Carl and Madeline didn’t seem to want to talk about it at
all. They didn’t ask one question about it, at least until the visitors
returned on Wednesday evening.

LeAnne and Roy greeted them at the door.

“Come on in,” Roy said. Roy stared hard at the visitors.
Since he seemed to be accepting the fact that they were possibly from a faraway
world, he was studying the two men closely. Sargas was aware of Roy’s staring
but he didn’t seem to care.

Before he sat down he lifted up his pants to expose his
legs. They were noticeably skinnier than a normal, healthy human. “If you were
to visit Ranjisan, you would probably be able to jump 20 or 30 feet with your
leg strength,” Sargas said.

“You’re all like that?” Roy said and looked over at Giauzar
who quickly lifted his pants up to expose his weak, fragile looking legs
without saying anything. Carl and Madeline stepped forward and bent down,
looking over
Giauzar’s
legs before sitting down.

When they sat down, Giauzar lifted a tablet device from his
backpack and set it on the table, turning it around so that it was facing Carl
and Madeline. “This first photo is an aerial view of
Dheneb
,
one of the larger cities on Ranjisan, taken just after sunset. In the
background you can see two of our six moons. Pretty impressive isn’t it?”
Giauzar said with a smile. LeAnne’s impression of Giauzar was that he was
younger and less serious than Sargas. She suspected that somewhere inside him
he may even have a sense of humor which was rare for Ranjisi.

The Pearson family pushed the tablet back and forth, looking
at the photo. “What are your buildings made of?” Carl asked. He seemed to be
accepting the bizarre reality that had suddenly upended his world. Carl was a
master carpenter and cabinet maker and his curiosity about Ranjisi construction
was overtaking his skepticism.

“We have some bizarre weather on Ranjisan which I’ll explain
later. For that reason, a lot of our building materials are flexible. Most of
these buildings are a soft metallic alloy but newer buildings are actually a
form of soft, flexible glass.”

The next photo showed Northern Tiara on the first day of
Sorex
. “Holy shit,” Roy called out. “I’ve never seen
anything so beautiful. You can see this from your planet?”

“It is rare to be able to see our six moons at the same
time. This view can only be seen from one area of the planet and at one time of
the year. It is called
Sorex
. It’s a common
destination where newly bound men and women celebrate their joining.”

The next group of photos consisted of exterior shots of
several different types of long and short distance air ships. “So the flying
saucers are yours?” Madeline spoke for the first time. “But I thought you were
supposed to be little creepy Grey people with big eyes and heads.”

“Well that’s another story for another day,” Sargas said.
“They are here and they are definitely creepy but they are not us.”

“So you are now telling us that there are two alien races
here on Earth?” Carl asked sounding kind of broken and defeated.

“Yes and there are still other races of beings that haven’t
come here yet. In addition to us and the weird Grey people, we know of two
other races. There are actually three we know of but two are from twin planets
in the same solar system.”

“Are they all friendly? What do the Grey people want? What
do you want?” Carl asked.

“We are part of an alliance, along with the other two races
I mentioned. We want Earth to join us eventually. That’s why we are here. We’ve
been studying human evolution, hoping and waiting for the time when we believe
you’re ready.”

“So you think we’re ready now?” LeAnne asked.

“We believe you are very close. We are not exactly sure how
and when we will make official contact with your government, but it is coming
soon. The first thing we want to do is share our medical advances with you and
hopefully we can help you to evolve into modern members of the universe,”
Giauzar said.

“We need to end war and start taking care of the planet,”
LeAnne chimed in.

“That would be a good start,” Giauzar said. “We have had a
change of heart; a revelation of sorts. We now believe that the human race will
evolve much more quickly once you all know that you are not alone in the
universe. We are anxious to tell you the story of the amazing people of the
Ophiuchi Star System. But for now, if it is alright with you we need to start
gathering information about LeAnne’s condition, before and after the treatment.
We need to document a case study.”