The Good Reaper (12 page)

I sat staring at the laptop screen, logged into an empty
chat room. It was too early for the others to check in but I was anxious to get
their opinions on the concept I had quickly become obsessed with. It wasn’t
until after 11:00 PM when they started checking in. When they were all there,
one by one they asked me for a status and update on LeAnne.

“I planned to perform the procedure last night but I have
postponed it.”

“Why, were you unable to be alone with your patient?” Thomas
asked.

“No. I could have done it. I had plenty of time. I postponed
it in order to ask you all about another path I would like to take.” I had been
thinking all evening, exactly how I was going to ask them. “Here goes,” I said
to myself as I began typing.

“Is it possible to get the cell therapy application here?”

There was no activity on the chat screen for several
minutes. Finally Thomas replied, “We talked about that last year. It is too
difficult to administer the follow-up therapy because it requires slow
transfusions. First we would have to get it here and then you would need a
laboratory setting for the transfusions. This would be almost impossible to do
without exposing us.”

“There is a medical facility at CIPE. If I could move her,
why can’t we do it there?” I asked.

“That’s out of the question,” Pocahontas said. “Since it is
against CIPE regulations, we wouldn’t be able to keep it a secret and when they
found out, the treatment would be halted and we would be arrested. It’s a
violation of the first protocol.”

“Then how about if I move her somewhere
like
a clinic or hospital that is managed by one of us?”

“I don’t think the timing will work,” Cactus1 typed.
“Perhaps we can help find a location for a future patient but there isn’t
enough time now for this one.”

“Can we proceed with getting the serums here?” I asked. “I
will try and locate a facility somewhere.”

“I agree,” Thomas typed. “If it doesn’t work out for this
patient, we can save the serums for a future candidate. We will need to approve
the lab setting before you are given the serums but I’ll proceed with getting
the serums here. Does everyone else agree?”

The rest of the group agreed. The ball was now in my hands.
I would have to somehow find a clinic that could perform the procedure and then
I would have to move LeAnne there. It was an almost impossible task and I
didn’t even know where to start.

I was just about to sign off when another message appeared
on the screen in all-caps: “HOLD ON! I HAVE AN IDEA!” It was Joe (Shadrack)
typing, “I may be able to treat her here at Hospice if you could get her here
but I have a better idea. I am assuming that if we are successful with this, we
will want to do more cure treatments. So, I think that if we are going to
really do this and be successful, we need to set up our own secret medical
facility. It doesn’t need to be elaborate. It just needs to be sterile and have
a few of the basics. The actual medicines will come from home.” It was
unanimous. We would postpone the Tseen Ke for LeAnne and we would proceed with
finding a location to set up a secret treatment facility.

Carrying a double burden of racing against time and solving
an unsolvable puzzle made it impossible to sleep or even relax. I felt
disoriented and my legs felt weaker than ever.

“Having trouble sleeping again?” Connie asked when I stepped
into the office the following Monday morning.

I hadn’t actually registered at NYU yet but I had read
enough about the clinical research curriculum at NYU to talk about it if I had
to. “I started night school at NYU. It’s a lot of studying.”

I had two assignments before LeAnne’s morning treatment. By
the time I got to LeAnne’s room I was ready to sit down for a few minutes.
“Good morning Luke. You look like I feel,” LeAnne said with a half-smile.

“I’m having trouble sleeping LeAnne.”

“How do you think I’ve slept? You left me in a state of confusion
and suspense the last time I saw you. Can you please explain what’s going on
now?”

I was about to answer honestly when a nurse’s aide walked
into the room. Her name was Mia and she had a heavy Spanish accent. “Hi Mia,”
LeAnne said. “How was your weekend?”

Mia seamlessly drifted back and forth between Spanish and
English, “Mi
madre
y mi padre
están
aquí
from Santiago. Estoy muy
tired,
mucho cooking y limpieza.”

“So your family lives in Chile?” LeAnne asked.

I suddenly felt like a writer who overcomes writer’s block
in a sudden wave of inspiration. The idea hit me with a mental shove. “Chile,”
I said the word silently in my mind. “Manny from the CIPE conference lives in
Chile.” Manny seemed sympathetic to the concept of using Tseen Ke on humans. “If
only there was a way to contact him.” I was so lost in my thoughts that I
mumbled the words out loud.

“What did you say Luke?”

“Oh, nothing.
I was just thinking
that I know someone who lives in Chile.”

Turning to LeAnne, I got the feeling that the only thing
keeping her from becoming completely angry was the fact that she was so sick
and weak. LeAnne only responded with a smirk. She hadn’t lost her train of
thought while speaking with Mia. Mia was only halfway out of the door when
LeAnne resumed our conversation, “So Luke, are you ready to tell me what’s
really going on? It is my life we are talking about, or what’s left of it.”

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 can 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.”