“Excellent. Have you figured out how we will make first contact? I’m guessing for the US it will be the FBI or the Secret Service.”
“Yes, this will be the riskiest part of the whole thing. We can never be too sure of how they will react or what they will do. They may just think we’re terrorists and put us in jail. But we have to start somewhere and the FBI is the likeliest place.”
I thanked Atik for including me in the Phase III delegation and walked him to the door. I was quite sure that he had something to do with choosing me for the mission. I had accepted Atik’s offer and although it would be weeks or months away, I was so excited I was in a state of euphoria. I hadn’t even realized that I was the only one home, the entire length of Atik’s visit. I would have to explain everything to the family, but that was fine with me.
After Atik left, I sat on the front deck looking out at the kokab trees, going through my mental checklist of all the reasons I wanted to be a part of Phase III. Of course I believed in it. During my time on Earth I had grown fond of humans. I knew we could end much of the suffering with our advances in medicine. To me, Earth and the human race were kind of like a raw piece of kokab that had not yet been carved into an artisan’s masterpiece.
But lurking somewhere just below the surface of my conscious thought was LeAnne and the real possibility of being closer to her. I knew US geography fairly well. I assumed that LeAnne had gone back to her parent’s house in New York. The delegation would be going to Washington DC. I would be within a day’s drive to LeAnne’s family’s house. It may be possible somehow, to see LeAnne again. There was still so much I never got a chance to tell her. I knew that she went on with her life and maybe she even forgot about me, but I needed to know.
The family didn’t bother throwing me a “Going Away Party” when I left for Earth for the second time. It was the third time I was leaving them. First I left to go to Earth as part of the CIPE Discovery Team and then I left to go to prison. Leaving my friends and family for the third time was a non-event. “It’s just Naos leaving home again,” my brother Minkar remarked at one of our last family dinners. He was right. I was always leaving to go somewhere.
The only one that seemed to be really saddened by the whole thing was Syrma. Syrma and I had been spending more time together. It was an odd relationship in some ways. We were somewhere in that limbo area between friends and lovers. Physically there was not much more than an occasional light kiss but there was a closeness about our relationship that anyone could see. Syrma seemed to take the news of my departure pretty good when I explained that I would probably only be gone for a few months. When I told her that, I really had no idea how long I would be gone so technically it wasn’t a lie. But deep inside, I had a nagging feeling that my return to Earth would be something much bigger. I had the feeling that something was coming, perhaps something that would give my life direction and meaning.
On the morning of my departure, Syrma was the only one to see me off. We talked for a while about the three month voyage to Earth and about Symra’s university studies but then Syrma’s demeanor changed and she looked more serious. “Naos, can you tell me about the woman you cured? How did you choose her?”
I really didn’t feel comfortable talking about LeAnne to Syrma but I had no choice. I braced myself mentally and tried not to sound too emotional. “It wasn’t long after we started performing Tseen Ke on humans. Her name is LeAnne. I met her at the hospital where I was working. She seemed like a nice person and she was in such misery. Although she didn’t actually ask me to end her suffering, she implied it. She said that she wished someone could make it all end. She said she was done with it all; all the treatments and all the pain. She was done with the roller coaster ride of living with a terminal illness. She was to be my first Tseen Ke subject. I met her family also. They were nice people. I transported her at least three times a week, so we gradually began speaking more openly about the possibility of assisted suicide. She was all for it.
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 frequent
ly 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.”
19 - The visitors
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.”
The Good Reaper Page 18