The Good Reaper by Dennis J Butler

three of us ate at least one meal a day together. In the
middle of the second week, a man who looked to be about my age approached our
table just after we sat down. “Hi I’m Emanuel. I am called Manny. I heard you
speaking English and I wondered if I could join you. I speak English and
Spanish.”
    Manny began eating dinner with us each night and as our
conversations drifted into “end of life” suffering, Manny seemed very
sympathetic. Manny told us he worked at a clinic in the beautiful port city of
Antofagasta, Chile where he spoke mostly Spanish. On Earth, Manny was a nursing
assistant but back on Ranjisan he was a hematologist. He told us his background
and knowledge of oncology and hematology made it especially painful for him
since he believed he could cure most diseases the clinic’s patients suffered
with.
    Although the clinic was an outpatient center, Manny told us
he had made a lot of friends during his time in Chile and he had seen a few
people die slow painful deaths. “There is a woman who I spend time with. Her
sister died a few months ago of pancreatic cancer. She suffered a lot and I
wished I could have done something for her.”
    Manny looked more human than Ranjisi and I assumed he
colored his hair and mustache to blend in better in Spanish speaking Chile.
“Have you been in Chile for a long time Manny?” I asked. “You’re skin tone is
quite dark. It looks great.”
    “I’m in my second tour in Chile. I conditioned my skin
during my first tour by spending time in the sun. As you know, we have to take
our time in the sun very slow. We can’t get skin cancer thanks to our vaccines
but we can easily get awful burns.”
    “You almost look like you could be Hispanic,” I said.
    “Almost, but my bio says that I was born in the US and moved
to Chile as a youth. That’s much safer and I can easily talk about growing up
in Florida without saying anything that will make people curious about my
background.”
    As our nightly conversations continued, we often touched
upon the subject of some of the worst diseases still flourishing on P3 such as
diabetes and cancer. Most of our discussions about the status of medical
advancement on P3 usually ended up in a discussion of end of life beliefs and
laws on P3. On our last night at dinner we had a longer than usual discussion
about Tseen Ke. Everyone had left the dining room when we stood up to say our
goodbyes. During our time at CIPE, we had become friends and we hugged for a
while before heading for the elevators.
    It was almost midnight and I was falling asleep watching
historic sporting events on the big screen when there was a knock on the door.
I was surprised to see Cooper standing there when I opened the door. I didn’t
know who I was expecting but Cooper was the last person I expected to see
standing there. Somewhere in the back of my mind I guess I was hoping it was
Rachel although I knew that was unlikely. “Hey Cooper, what’s up?” I asked in
my best New York accent.
    “I wondered if I could talk to you for a few minutes Luke.”
I nodded and motioned for Cooper to come in and have a seat.
    Cooper sat quietly looking around for a while. I had the
impression he had something important to talk about so I just waited patiently.
Finally he began speaking but he sounded a bit timid. “You feel the same way as
I do about all the end of life suffering we see here, don’t you?”
    “I think so. I watched my best friend here die a very slow,
long and painful death. I still have dreams or nightmares about it.”
    Cooper was quiet for few long awkward moments before
speaking again. “Have you ever thought about breaking protocol?”
    “Yes. I even looked into purchasing acupuncture needles but
that is impossible. Also, if I was able to get my hands on acupuncture needles,
I would need to be alone with the patient for at least an hour. I don’t know if
it would even work since the human anatomy is different.”
    “I’ve been down that path