The Good Reaper Read Online Free
Author: Dennis J Butler
when socializing with humans but if we were
in a group, it would become an oddity. Humans would find it peculiar that
several people suffered from the same affliction at the same time. This all
meant that part of the challenge of the assignment would be separation and
isolation from members of our own species. I knew that the only way I could
prevent loneliness and perhaps depression would be to form relationships with
humans.
But Ranjisan is not a utopia. Our scientists have made
amazing discoveries in science and medicine over the centuries but they haven’t
been able to solve everything. One of the problems they have not been
able to solve is why the ratio of male to female childbirths has gradually
become so out of balance. If left to natural fertilization, 8 to 12 males would
be born for every female. Ranjisan scientists have developed a simple procedure
to modify Y chromosomes so that families could have as many females as they
desired.
However, my parents opted to take the natural route so I had
nine brothers and one sister. Naturally my sister Alula was everyone’s
favorite. Alula was the planner and organizer of my departure party.
I had been away at Ranjisan’s Global Exploratorium Campus so
Alula, my parents and my brothers were a little shocked to see me when I
returned. During my cultural study of planet Earth I became intrigued with what
humans refer to as the punk counter-culture. I was attracted to the
rebelliousness and I liked the loud music. I thought it had a kind of angry
honesty to it. Although I didn’t entirely understand why many of the young
humans were angry rebels, I assumed their disillusionment had something to do
with the endless tribal wars of planet Earth. I wasn’t completely sure I
intended to stick with my new punkish persona but at least for my initial
arrival on planet Earth, I would appear as one of them. I would be an alien
punk.
“Naos, what did you do to yourself?” Alula screamed when she
first saw me on the rear terrace of my parent’s avior. Avior’s are a modern
type of dwelling on Ranjisan. They are built of a semi-soft flexible
translucent material known as gelaeno that absorbs sunlight directly into the
avior’s power system. My parent’s avior is built into the side of an old low
mountain covered mostly in kokab white needle trees that grow at all different
twisted angles. From the inside of the avior looking out, the structure is 90%
invisible so it appears as if you are living in the middle of a white kokab
forest. From the outside, the gelaeno appears solid. From inside, we can see
out but from the outside, you can’t see in. Our family loves it but there are
many Ranjisi who prefer more traditional dwellings. I hadn’t lived at my
parent’s house for a few seasons and I had forgotten how cool living in an
avior in the forest was. Looking out at the white-bark kokab trees with their
yellow, red and green leaves was hypnotizing.
I was lost in a daydream but Alula’s voice snapped me back
to reality. “What did you do to your hair? Why did you shave your head on the
one side?” In my effort to identify with the young rebels on planet Earth, I
had shaved my head on my right side all the way up to the top and dyed my hair
white. I considered piercings and tattoos but I decided I would wait until I
got to Earth since I didn’t fully understand the meaning of the tattoos.
“When I get to Earth, I’m going to identify with the punks
and other outcasts of society. I think I look pretty good. I may be a bit old
to really fit in, but I don’t care. The white hair kind of
goes with my tall skinny frame, azure eyes and pale skin. You don’t like
it?”
“It’s different,” Altair my youngest brother said. “So what
do you have to rebel about?”
“I guess I don’t really know Altair. Maybe I’ll understand
after I’ve lived with humans for a while.”
“Well I like it,” Syrma said. “So what’s a punk?” Syrma and
I were childhood friends
in a group, it would become an oddity. Humans would find it peculiar that
several people suffered from the same affliction at the same time. This all
meant that part of the challenge of the assignment would be separation and
isolation from members of our own species. I knew that the only way I could
prevent loneliness and perhaps depression would be to form relationships with
humans.
But Ranjisan is not a utopia. Our scientists have made
amazing discoveries in science and medicine over the centuries but they haven’t
been able to solve everything. One of the problems they have not been
able to solve is why the ratio of male to female childbirths has gradually
become so out of balance. If left to natural fertilization, 8 to 12 males would
be born for every female. Ranjisan scientists have developed a simple procedure
to modify Y chromosomes so that families could have as many females as they
desired.
However, my parents opted to take the natural route so I had
nine brothers and one sister. Naturally my sister Alula was everyone’s
favorite. Alula was the planner and organizer of my departure party.
I had been away at Ranjisan’s Global Exploratorium Campus so
Alula, my parents and my brothers were a little shocked to see me when I
returned. During my cultural study of planet Earth I became intrigued with what
humans refer to as the punk counter-culture. I was attracted to the
rebelliousness and I liked the loud music. I thought it had a kind of angry
honesty to it. Although I didn’t entirely understand why many of the young
humans were angry rebels, I assumed their disillusionment had something to do
with the endless tribal wars of planet Earth. I wasn’t completely sure I
intended to stick with my new punkish persona but at least for my initial
arrival on planet Earth, I would appear as one of them. I would be an alien
punk.
“Naos, what did you do to yourself?” Alula screamed when she
first saw me on the rear terrace of my parent’s avior. Avior’s are a modern
type of dwelling on Ranjisan. They are built of a semi-soft flexible
translucent material known as gelaeno that absorbs sunlight directly into the
avior’s power system. My parent’s avior is built into the side of an old low
mountain covered mostly in kokab white needle trees that grow at all different
twisted angles. From the inside of the avior looking out, the structure is 90%
invisible so it appears as if you are living in the middle of a white kokab
forest. From the outside, the gelaeno appears solid. From inside, we can see
out but from the outside, you can’t see in. Our family loves it but there are
many Ranjisi who prefer more traditional dwellings. I hadn’t lived at my
parent’s house for a few seasons and I had forgotten how cool living in an
avior in the forest was. Looking out at the white-bark kokab trees with their
yellow, red and green leaves was hypnotizing.
I was lost in a daydream but Alula’s voice snapped me back
to reality. “What did you do to your hair? Why did you shave your head on the
one side?” In my effort to identify with the young rebels on planet Earth, I
had shaved my head on my right side all the way up to the top and dyed my hair
white. I considered piercings and tattoos but I decided I would wait until I
got to Earth since I didn’t fully understand the meaning of the tattoos.
“When I get to Earth, I’m going to identify with the punks
and other outcasts of society. I think I look pretty good. I may be a bit old
to really fit in, but I don’t care. The white hair kind of
goes with my tall skinny frame, azure eyes and pale skin. You don’t like
it?”
“It’s different,” Altair my youngest brother said. “So what
do you have to rebel about?”
“I guess I don’t really know Altair. Maybe I’ll understand
after I’ve lived with humans for a while.”
“Well I like it,” Syrma said. “So what’s a punk?” Syrma and
I were childhood friends