The Good Reaper (16 page)

“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.

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.”