The Harvesters

The Harvesters were out late that night. I remember it as if it were
a recording forever playing in my subconscious. From where I was
sitting I could only hear them. Their boots ground the broken glass on
the floor into dust. The silence of their marching prior to this was
eerie but then the clamour of the horde served to strike fear into all
of us. We were the underdog now. We had tried to help, we looked for
cures but they grew impatient. No matter how hard we worked it was all
to no avail. Then the news broke and it spread worse than the
Affliction itself, there was no cure. When the news became official,
The Harvesters banded themselves together into small armies and
seemingly decided to take revenge on the society that spawned them. The
news-screens say that "spawn" is the right word too, or more
appropriately hell-spawn. Of course, this was just ignorant speculation
and name-calling; a product of the fear entrenched in our times. The
Harvesters were in fact very sick people in need of help in a world
that could offer none. I did not think that they were all bad people,
but in the same way that other minority groups have been all tarred
with the same brush so it was for The Harvesters.

That night, was around the beginning of what many would call the
"Fear". It was a time of uncertainty, a time of rounding up and a time
of killing. It was then that their appellation seemed most appropriate
for it did indeed seem to be a time of harvesting. They came when you
least expected it at first. Then as they became more organised, with
more recruits, their bravery was insurmountable. The dark was a time to
fear most, because their disorder made them unusually sensitive to
light. The night-time's foulness enveloped everything. It was their
cycle; there was no real escape. The "Fear" was indeed also aptly
named, it started for me on that Thursday night with the crescent moon.
The night when my life ended.

I was at home with my wife. She was so beautiful and serene. She had a
demeanour like no other, from my experience of my own kindred. Like me
she was without the Affliction. Although her family were now Harvesters
she had been spared their fate. Her family wanted her to have nothing
to do with me. In their eyes I was the unclean one and I suspect that
they thought that she could have been utilised through experimentation
as a possible regulator for the illness. Not a cure you understand for
it would seem that cures were no longer what they wanted. I suspected
that they just wanted to purify themselves slightly to remove the
aspects from their affliction that they cared little for. After I
explained this point of view to her, my wife wanted nothing to do with
this disgusting form of eugenics. When we met I was an activist that
was still pro cure, a scientist. I was desperately searching for the
answer and she came to me with her blood, still pure, her opinions and
her beauty. We fell in love very quickly. No immediate answer came from
our initial tests but we had high hopes. We had treated many, but found
nothing. We let the unfortunates that survived, their disease
genetically altered but not cured, go to live what was left of their
miserable lives. This was my wife's idea, an expression of her
never-ending compassion. Then the funding stopped. The Higher
Immaculate had become less interested in cures and turned their
attentions to war. The only cure they could think of was genocide. So,
my wife and I dropped out of the society. We lived away from it. I
resigned my post as Higherscholar, the position that I held in the
Higher Immaculate.

My wife was called Hope. When they came for her I had no expectation of
the atrocities that were to follow. Dear Lord, I can still see her face
the way it was when the knock came on the door. There seemed to be an
ultimate fear in her eyes, as if she knew her fate and potentially
mine. Seerguard was the unclean bastard that had the gall to come
calling. We were friends before he changed was infected. He now had
their pallid skin tone and seemingly emotionless voice.

"I have come for Hope, Karl, resistance would not be recommended. She
is one of us. As her husband you will be allowed to exist along side
us, if you work for us." There was no recognition in his eyes. He was
no longer the man I knew. His contaminated blood controlled his every
movement, which was slight.

"We want to live outside your petty feud, Seerguard. Things have
changed too much. Your people have no place here. You know damn well,
if my kind walked in as you do tonight they would receive the same
response." My mind and my features were fixed, my resolve was clear but
still he continued.

"Karl, we were friends once. Please let me give you some advice. It is
time to choose sides, old friend; the fences are being torn down. Soon
there will be nowhere left for you to sit. With us, you at least will
be able to continue your work. You will be able to see your wife. The
Higher Immaculate never accepted her, to them she was just a guinea pig
because she was born with your kind's blood type to parents of my kind
and you are now branded a traitor and charlatan. With us she will be
amongst family and you, you will be the exalted scientist you always
should have been."

I turned to my wife and studied her expression. She looked calm, she
must have known that there was nothing that could be done. I knew also
that Seerguard and his cronies could come at any time, take Hope and
kill me. I remember wondering if I could play for time then dismissed
the thought as quixotic. Hope was the one to voice our collective
thought.

"If I don't come with you, you will take me and Karl will die. Is that
not true?"

Seerguard shifted his feet edgily and looked around the room in a
distracted fashion as he spoke. I remember thinking that his reaction
was odd considering how controlled he was. It seemed almost rehearsed.
"You both are needed for the cause. Neither of you have any value to us
dead. Unfortunately, no one can afford to have enemies as powerful as
you at this time Karl, and I understand that the Immaculate feel the
same way, so if you are against us then..."

His sentence went unfinished; his point needed no clarification. We
gathered a few clothes together and went with Seerguard and his men,
who were waiting outside for us. Their transport took us to what they
regarded as a city. It was the old underground transport network,
deserted since it became too expensive to run and repair. I had seen
many newsreels about the underground network, it was a once proud
achievement of our people. A cheap and easy way to get around the
cities and the countryside. It soon fell to pieces due to lack of
interest and investment on the part of the owners and the Higher
Immaculate. Since it fell into disuse the underground network became
where the poor went to get away from the taunts and violence directed
towards them. As time went on The Harvesters found their sanctuary
there too. Later on the poor and destitute became infected with the
Affliction, swelling the ranks of The Harvesters. Then the underground
became a real no go area. We became afraid to go there. This fear
proved to be founded too because in its initial stages the Affliction
often caused violent and abhorrent behaviour.

The place had caused fear amongst my kindred for a number of years. We
envisaged its dark caverns filled with all sorts of horrors. As we
entered I saw that this was just another superstitious nonsense. To my
surprise the corridors were quite brightly lit and bustling with people
who looked like me. In this light none of the skin pigmentation
attributes of the Affliction seemed obvious, indeed they looked nothing
like the subjects that I had been given to work on. I began to wonder
if I looked different to them, something that had never occurred to me
before. I was not treated like a prisoner but as a guest , almost
revered. I was still very suspicious but found myself relaxing despite
myself. We came to a room and we were guided inside. It was a small
office again brightly lit and functionally decorated. Except, on the
walls there were large paintings, seemingly done in oils. It was odd to
see such pictures; where I was brought up, indeed where I lived, the
only decorations were laser printed photographs. I was drawn to their
spectacular colours and natural lines. They were nothing like the laser
prints; they had once seemed so vibrant to me. Now the pictures seemed
emotionless, ordinary.

There was a man sitting behind a desk regarding us with inquisitive
eyes. I recognised him from my time as Higherscholar for the Higher
Immaculate. His name was Seraphim, I presumed that he was the Prime
Harvester and as he stood up I remember thinking that he was shorter
than I had remembered.

"Karl, Hope, welcome to the Circle. I am glad that you chose to join
us. I wish to just ask you a few questions before you are
processed."

"Processed" it sounded so bureaucratic, so innocuous but I felt concern
for our very being. Seraphim's scrutinising gaze flitted from Hope to
me then back and on me again. I wanted to know what he was thinking. I
wanted to get inside his very essence and discover what he had in store
for us. Even though I realised this could never be possible, not him or
any other. I still allowed myself to imagine searching through the
files in his brain searching for some clues to our fate. I knew, at
least I thought I knew, that the promises of asylum where almost
certainly false but under the circumstances we had chosen the only
option. I looked directly into his tools of scrutiny. His stare broke
off and fell upon his desk at a computer screen pad.

"You claim to live outside of the conflict yet you both worked for the
Immaculate in their extermination programme." When he used the word
"Immaculate" it was as if there was an evil taste in his mouth that
needed spitting out quickly. "I wish to know if you renounce their
ideology or would you still be helping them now if their methods had
not become more overt?"

"The experiments that I was involved in were in place in order to find
a cure for the Affliction that you and your people suffer from. My
studies were purely humanitarian and if the Higher Immaculate had not
withdrawn funding then I would still be doing it as we speak."

My response was a little too hasty. I tripped over my words like a
schoolboy in front of his headmaster. My answer seemed to disturb him.
He shifted uneasily in his chair.

"Cure?" he paused. "Humanitarian?" Again another pause, this one longer
than the first. "You sought to find a way of cleansing us of our
"Affliction" as you call it? Don't you see how your research was simply
a way of wiping out a race of people? It was an attempt at genocide.
Just because we don't fit into a simply definable category of your
society you see us as a virus to be wiped out. Luckily, your attempts
failed. Better than failed they&;#8230;" He broke off and then begun
again. "Open your mind Karl; consider other possibilities. Could
another explanation be that we are a step in the evolutionary ladder?
We are not the diseased unfortunates that you see. We are far better
adapted to this tired and wretched planet than your people. What has
happened to us is a beautiful gift given to us by someone very special.
We gave up looking for cures when we realised this. But you and people
like you see us as a cancer to be wiped out of existence. You are the
ones to be pitied my friend. When the scorching sun dries up all your
crops and water. When the same sun's poisons have done their work and
you all are dust, we will still be here. Our bodies are prepared for
it. We will welcome it. We wait for that sacred day, new prophecies say
that it will come and we want part of its beauty."

His face had reddened as much as his skin tone would allow and his
eyes were glazed. I couldn't believe that these people could justify
the atrocities they had recently inflicted on my people by relying on
religious dogma no doubt plundered from many sources.

"So Seraphim, we are the ones who are to perish are we? My research
has shown that if the disease is not checked within the next ten years
it will have mutated in such a way that your people will not be able to
tolerate sunlight of any kind. The violent tendencies in the early
stages may not cease. The cravings for blood that seem to be prevalent
in the next short stage will be the end result. This is not just a
passing phase, Seraphim; it is the final outcome. Is that what you want
a race of beings who can only survive in darkness in a bloodthirsty
rage?"

He smiled a thin bloodless smile. "Your propaganda does not effect me.
If you had spent your time looking around you instead of inside the
bodies of innocents then you would see that the sun that was once our
benefactor is now our scourge. Its radiation will destroy us all. The
only asylum is to avoid its punishment. This is what we offer to the
friends who join us, a way of surviving the massacre to come. In many
ways this salvation is thanks to you"

His mood changed, he softened and looked at me as if we were long lost
friends.

"Karl, what you are looking at is evolution. We are the next step,
Karl. We have adapted to the ways that our planet has changed. We will
be provided for when the time comes." He stopped and looked at me in a
cheerless manner.

"Massacre? Friends? Seraphim you insult my intelligence. You are
killing my people, turning them into monsters to enlarge your army. You
will not take me or my family," I looked to Hope she nodded once
slowly.

"Karl, are you with us or not?"

He looked at me to check my response and on seeing that it was not the
one he required shrugged his shoulders and nodded to one of the guards
standing next to us.

"You are to be taken for processing. It is painless and you will feel
much more agreeable afterwards."

As I was led gently from the room I could see he was turning his
attentions to Hope. If I had known the real significance of this moment
I am sure I would have at least put up a fight.

I was bustled onto an electric rail vehicle, the kind of which I had
only seen in the newsreels that I mentioned earlier. It travelled
slowly, quietly and efficiently to a large holding area where others of
my kind were presumably being held until their turn for the process. I
recognised a few faces although names escaped me. After I had been left
alone for a few minutes a man approached me. He had a remarkable
stature. His body spanned well over six and a half feet in height and
he seemed as broad as he was long. His clothes and features displayed
the ravages of being denied the luxuries of home. When he spoke his
voice reminded me of a cathedral organ I had once heard in a
recording.

"I know you. You are one of the butchers that got us into this mess in
the first place. Why didn't you just leave nature alone? Now you have
created these mutant bastards they will kill us all. Everyone look who
joined us, its Higherscholar Karl one of the creators of the Half-blood
scum. One of the people responsible for you all being here."

I could hardly believe what I was hearing. These were people of my own
kind, granted they were all of a lower order than I was but nonetheless
my people. The behemoth grabbed me by the throat and lifted me to his
height with one hand. The pressure on my neck forced me to choke and
gag. He said nothing, as he expected no reply, he wanted me simply to
cease to be. My head began to tingle that way that arms do when you lie
on them. A horrendous pounding filled my ears, a noise that I carry
with me to this day. Then the giant dropped me and fell to the ground
in obvious pain. His features were contorted not only in agony but they
seemed to be visibly vibrating. Then the colossus' tormentor made
himself known to me.

"You are to come with me," he snapped.

My saviour was unsurprisingly pale, but he was much taller than any
other Harvester I had previously encountered. His range topped that of
my assailant but he was spindly with it. My wiry salvation led me to
the front of a queue that I had hitherto unnoticed and bustled me into
a small room containing only a chair above which hung something that
appeared to be a multicoloured lighting system. I was strapped into the
chair and a fluid was pumped into me. I burnt, I could feel it burning
the inside of my veins, the torture was excruciating. All I could do
was to focus on the lights above my head. As I did this, the pain
seemed to fade. I must have lost consciousness. The next thing I
remember was my wiry friend, who had came back to collect me. I was
taken back to Seraphim's office. Hope was gone. Seraphim sat there
smiling as much as his pale lips would allow.

"I understand that you met one of the terrorists that the Higher
Immaculate sent to destroy us. Interesting isn't it how you were not
received with such a welcome, don't you think?"

"I do not understand what he meant. The Higherscholars were brought
together to cure the Affliction. What did he mean?"

"First, you must stop referring to it as an affliction. It is not.
Agreed, it is a genetically created condition, but we welcome it. We
also welcome you Higherscholar Karl. We welcome you into our fold. It
would seem that Hope saw sense, she is with her parents now. It was a
beautiful reunion." He looked calm and genuinely moved.

My head started to spin and whirl. What did this mean? Hope? No! She
could not, would not betray me. My legs struggled to hold my weight.
The many thoughts that usually colonised my mind congealed into one
word. A word that escaped from my mind through my lips in the form of
the most violent&;#8230;

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!" I started to perspire and fell to my
knees. My legs no longer could will the fight with the weight of my
torso. "What have you done to her? She was all I had." I looked at him
dejected and defeated.

He returned my look. "It would seem that the process is beginning to
take effect. This painful and turbulent stage only lasts a short while.
But then, you know that becaue you have observed many times. Does it
feel as you expected Karl? Did you expect to feel it?" There was
concern in his eyes. Or at least it seemed so; on reflection I may have
put the concern there myself. For the lies that came forth from his
mouth belied his concern.

"Karl&;#8230;Hope was always going to return to us. She was sent to
find you, search you out and put you in a position so that we could
rescue you from the Higher Immaculate. I think she did rather well,
although it will be hard for her to re-assimilate; but with your
help&;#8230;Karl she needs you now more than ever and you her, don't
despair. We wanted to have you here where you belong. You are famous
here, exalted almost. What you did is a phenomenal achievement. You
unknowingly mutated the genetic blood disorder into what you see now.
What it turned into is contagious, thanks to you. But rather than hate
you for it we thank you. You are our salvation. Thanks to you our race
will not just survive the coming disaster. It will expand in
preparation."

Adrenalin started to pump through my veins. I wanted to rip out his
lying tongue. This villain, this liar had in one speech attempted to
destroy everything that I was. My wife, my life&;#8230;he would have
me believe that they were all distortions of the truth. I heard my
heart pounding like I had never heard it before. Hope, came through the
door behind me. I knew her presence, I could feel it. In fact I could
feel it like I had never felt it before. I could not understand why my
senses were reeling so much. Hope spoke to me and I was sure that it
would make me feel better, but her voice boomed and echoed in my
pathetic skull. Everything that I knew about me and my life and my
understanding of the way the world worked broke down and died when she
said&;#8230;

"It is true Karl. You should be very proud."