The Good Reaper (15 page)

“The universe is infinite,” I said. “If there are millions
or billions of galaxies out there, then there are billions or trillions of star
systems similar to Earth. So the probability of life on other planets has never
been in question. Any star system where there is a planet with an atmosphere
may sustain life. The galaxy your scientists refer to as Andromeda was labeled
Nemo
Eusebeia many years ago by Ranjisi scientists. It is
one of many galaxies where intelligent, advanced life is known to come from.”

“You mentioned the other day that the beings from Andromeda
are weird. What did you mean?” LeAnne asked.

“Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that they come
from so very far away,” Algol said. “But most likely it is due to their
environment. We have no idea what their planet is like. It’s too far even for
us to visit but their physical appearance is probably a result of how they have
adapted to their environment.”

Algol paused, took a deep breath and continued:

Ranjisan is 9,000
light years away from Earth.  It is about 2.5 million light-years from
Earth to the closest edge of
Nemo
Eusebeia/Andromeda.
Consider that for a moment. We have tracked the race you call “the Greys” back
to somewhere deep in Eusebeia. They are here on Earth. They were here before we
got here. We don’t know how long they have been visiting Earth, perhaps for
hundreds of years and yet there is still no real proof that they are here. We
have attempted to communicate with them but they have ignored us. After a few
brief encounters with them near our planet, and a few here on Earth, they seem
to have determined that we are of no use to them.

We refer to the
Greys as the Eusebeia. I guess it was a quick and easy way of referring to them
since that’s where they come from. There has never been any indication that
they are hostile or that they are territorial. We don’t believe their
intentions are necessarily evil although they don’t have a problem creating
fear and destroying lives with their abductions and experiments. So we have
determined that their intentions regarding the human race are neither hostile
nor helpful and yet they do not seem to be able to feel empathy, or at least
they don’t appear to feel it.

They just seem to
be singularly focused on reproduction. So, we don’t exactly know what their
problem is. On Ranjisan, we started having problems with reproduction over
seventy five years ago but our scientists quickly found solutions. Our problem
is that on average, 8 to 12 males are born for every female so researchers
developed a simple Y-chromosome fertilization procedure to solve the problem.
But we believe the Eusebeia problem is much more serious. We believe their race
is becoming naturally extinct, similar to an Earthly animal that is in danger
of extinction. They just can’t reproduce so they are experimenting with
reproductive DNA of other races. They are highly intelligent and technologically
advanced. Look how far they travel. Ranjisi are incapable of traveling that far
with our current technology due to the simple fact that using our current
technology it would take several lifetimes to reach Eusebeia.

Our intentions,
Ranjisi intentions regarding the human race should be considered benevolent.
It’s very simple. Our intention is to bring the human race into the Gamma
Anadeia Alliance. Gamma Anadeia is our name for the Milky Way. So the Gamma
Anadeia Alliance is just an alliance of races residing in the Milky Way.

“Are you ready for this LeAnne” Algol asked with a big
smile. “I believe you may be one of the only humans to learn what I am about to
tell you.”

LeAnne perked up and her eyes widened, “Yes, yes continue.
This is all too fascinating.”

“There are currently three races who meet routinely. We meet
informally all the time and formally every two Earth years via huge formal
conferences. The concept is simple: A free exchange of knowledge that will
benefit all. There are some provisions about allegiance and aid if there are
attacks from hostile races or natural disasters but so far, thankfully nothing
has happened. There haven’t been any attacks from hostile races. Up to this
point, we only know of four races in the Milky Way galaxy, plus the human race.
So when the time comes that Earth joins us, there will be five races.”

“Who are the other three?” LeAnne asked.

Algol was silent for a moment before
continuing:

In addition to us,
there are the twin planets of the Ophiuchi Star System. We consider them one
race because their planets revolve around the same sun but they are vastly
different. We sometimes count them as one race. In addition to the Ophiuchi
there is the race of people who live on the other planet in the Ophiuchi Star
System but I will first tell you about the race of beings we refer to simply as
the Ophiuchi. I hope that someday the human race will be able to study and
learn from the Ophiuchi.

It’s the
relationship between the two races of Ophiuchi that is amazing. They have a
wonderful history. So you know that Ophiuchi is a star system with two planets
that sustain higher life. One planet is about the size of Earth and the other
is closer to the size of Mars, about half the size of Earth. The smaller
planet, Aegialeus was able to advance at an amazing rate, leaving the larger
planet Ophiuchi behind. Ophiuchi was not so long ago more like Earth was a few
thousand years ago while only existing a few thousand miles away from its
smaller neighbor, Aegialeus. While the people of Ophiuchi were struggling to
keep warm, little Aegialeus was already conquering space travel while making
enormous strides in medicine.

Now based on Earth
history, you may think that the people of Aegialeus set out and conquered and
enslaved the Ophiuchi. But it was just the opposite. When the Aegiala were able
to successfully travel to Ophiuchi they arrived in peace and began teaching the
Ophiuchi. They started with medicine and began curing the deadly diseases that
plagued Ophiuchi. It wasn’t long before the Ophiuchi began to view the people
of Aegialeus as profits and saviors. The Aegiala began introducing art and
music to the Ophiuchi and now the two races live in peace and harmony. The
Ophiuchi haven’t started their own space travel yet but the Aegiala have
established universities on Ophiucha and some of their graduating scientists
have been recruited for Aegiala space exploration. So someday you may get to
meet both the Aegiala and the Ophiucha. You see, the Aegiala seem to look upon
the Ophiucha as their children, or something like that. It is a wonderful story
and I love talking about it.

“What do they look like?” LeAnne asked. “Do they also look
human, like you?”

“Yes, they do look human, although there are some subtle
differences. It makes me wonder about the Greys of Eusebeia. They are from so
far away and look so different, I can’t help but wonder what other species of
intelligent beings look like that come from even further away than the Greys.”

“Well they also have unusual gravity problems, don’t they
Algol? I think the smaller planet has a much stronger gravitational pull. That
would make them physically stronger correct?”

“Yes, that is true. The Ophiucha would be like us, here on
Earth if they visited Aegialeus or Earth. They would have difficulty walking
and they would experience a shortness of breath from over-exertion. Also, I
haven’t studied the two races extensively but I believe the Ophiucha are a bit
smaller and they have more variation in their physical appearance, probably due
to the fact that up until recently they didn’t travel extensively.”

“You mentioned subtle differences. Did you mean just the
muscular differences due to the gravity or are there other differences?”

“I think if you came face to face with an Ophiucha or
Aegiala person you may think they were odd or that they may even have a severe
medical condition but you wouldn’t think they were from another planet. There
is a big difference in the temperature on each planet. Aegialeus is cold with
average temperatures ranging from what you know here as minus 20 degrees
Fahrenheit to plus 35. The Aegiala have a thick, leathery looking skin that
appears to look like a skin condition. So it becomes similar to our own Ranjisi
differences. If you see one Ranjisi struggling to walk up a flight of stairs
it’s not unusual but if you see six of us with the same condition together, it
becomes something strange and out of the ordinary. It’s the same with the
Aegiala. If you see one of them with what appears to be a skin condition it’s
no big deal but if you were to see a dozen Aegiala together it would be
alarming.”

“I would like to learn more about the Ophiucha and Aegiala.
Did I pronounce that right?” LeAnne asked. “But first I think I need to close
my eyes for a while.”

We left LeAnne to sleep most of the day away and most of the
following day. On the third day of her treatment she awoke hungry and alert.
“Is it my imagination or does she already look better?” I asked Algol as we
both stood at the foot of LeAnne’s bed looking at her.

“I’m right here and I can hear you talking about me. I feel
better. You think I look better?”

“It is too soon,” Algol said. “It’s probably some of the
other drugs that are included in the serum that will make you feel better while
you recover. “Are you ready to resume your infusions?”

“Yes, as soon as I have something solid to eat like a bagel
or a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.”

LeAnne gobbled down two peanut butter and jelly sandwiches
and Algol started the IV again. “Okay. Here we are again. Can we resume our
conversation from the other day?” LeAnne asked.

“The Ophiucha and the Aegiala?”
I
asked

“Can we come back to them? I was half in a dream last night,
imagining their world but I was also imagining what the other people from the
third planet are like. Can you tell me a little about them?”

“Well they are probably even more interesting than the
Ophiucha and the Aegiala but I just admire the Aegiala so much I’m always ready
to talk about them,” Algol said.

“The third planet is called Tellus,” Algol said. “It is a
desert planet with no standing water on the surface. All water is underground.
So you can probably guess what makes the Telli people unique.”

LeAnne looked fascinated. “Don’t tell me they live
underground?”

“Yes. Note that human scientists are correct in their theory
about beings on other planets evolving to fit their environment, so imagine a
race of people that lived underground for millions of years.”

“So they are like the mole people from Flash Gordon?” LeAnne
asked with a little giggle.

“Yes, sort of.
You probably have an
image of a primitive people living like prehistoric cave people, but nothing
could be further from the truth. The Telli are highly advanced. Beneath the
surface of their planet are lakes, rivers and even oceans. They’ve developed
beautiful modern cities which glow in the brilliant natural light of the cave
formation minerals. And just to give you an idea of how sophisticated they are,
they have used the surface of their desert planet for industry. About 90% of
their industry is on the surface. So the planet isn’t much to look at from the
air but their quality of life beneath the surface is extraordinary.”

“So what do they look like?”

“Humanoid except that living beneath the surface they have
evolved accordingly. They can see but here on Earth they would be considered
legally blind. They have highly sensitive hearing. Their ears are long and more
rigid looking than ours or yours, that is, their ears are more boney and look
almost like horns. Since they don’t see very well, they depend on their hearing
for everything.”

“Do their eyes look like the eyes of blind people?” LeAnne
Asked.

“Yes, they have two eyes but the cornea, lens and pupil are
all black. So, the eyes plus the ears makes them look completely alien. They
would never be able to blend in, here on Earth.”

“Wow. This is amazing. I would like to talk more about their
societies and even their government but I think I need to know more about your
people and your world. Can you tell me about Ranjisan?”

Algol talked extensively about Ranjisan. He was a good
speaker and storyteller and his words just seemed to come out effortlessly:

Ranjisan is very
old.
It’s
millions of years older than Earth so what
were once rugged mountain ranges have gradually rounded out. Ranjisan consists
of mostly rolling hills. There is no place on Ranjisan that is as breathtaking
as some of the places on Earth like the south island of New Zealand or the
American southwest. The orbit around our sun is elliptical like Earth’s orbit
around your sun but Ranjisan is tilted at a more extreme angle than Earth. Your
Earth is tilted at about 23 degrees which causes your seasons based on whether
Earth is tilted toward or away from the sun.

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.