Emmanuel's Seed

All characters in sexual situations are over the age of 18.

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Prologue

Within a year after they met each other at Brown University, Joey and Mairwen knew that they wanted to do good for the world's disadvantaged. Resolved and courageous, the winter after their graduation from Brown they joined the Peace Corps, and received their first-choice assignment, South America. They were sent to aid a group of indigenous people who lived between Tabatinga, Brazil, and Leticia, Colombia. The people they came to serve were not accustomed to outsiders but they quickly grew to respect Joey, as he was industrious, hardworking, and strong. He also had an even disposition and angered rarely. He mastered the art of stick-fighting, a ritualized group fight that was more of a dance than a fight, where the object was to show off your power and ferocity without actually hitting anyone with your stick.

But it was Mairwen the people really loved. She worked well with the other women of the tribe and was not above doing the daily routines expected of all the tribal women. When it was time for the women to strip naked and wash the men's backs in the river, for example, Mairwen never hesitated to participate along with the others. She would gently make her hygiene and sanitation suggestions in a way that never challenged tribal customs and beliefs. Her skill as a nurse and her black medical bag were revered, almost worshiped by both the men and women of the tribe. Her ability to seemingly miraculously cure the sick and relieve their suffering were, in fact, nothing but basic, elementary first aid and medicine. The only universal complaint, voiced from time to time by the tribal men and women, was that Mairwen was too skinny. She was nearly flat-chested and soon was given the nickname

Qikitani

, which more or less meant "pubescent boy without penis."

After their first year, Mairwen and Joey had sought permission and funding to start a pig farm on the highlands occupied by the tribe. The plan called for a three-hectare farm to eventually house eight thousand pigs. Being so close to the river, however, their first step was to design appropriate pig-waste facilities. The government would not approve any plan that resulted in any farm materials reaching the river or its tributaries. Because of the heavy seasonal rains, an elaborate design was created by Joey and eventually approved by the government. Since the pig-waste would be nearly as lucrative for the tribe as the sale of meat and pork byproducts, treating the pig-waste made sense.

Part One

Mairwen and Joey got permission to extend their second two-year Peace Corps commitment for a third term, in order to allow the pig farm to reach full capacity and establish sales contracts with the government, the farm's principle customer. As Mairwen could better articulate the health and sanitation features to the government officials, and she had better business negotiation skills, she was the one who had to travel the long distance to the government's district headquarters. Whenever she had to conduct pig-farm business, she brought Chippie, the tribal chief's oldest daughter and Mairwen's pig-farm protégé. Chippie was a cheerful fifteen-year-old, who was married to Springtide, Chippie's twenty-year-old cousin. Springtide had become irritated with Chippie's adoration of Joey; he could see her face light up whenever Joey spoke to her, and it made him furious. Although it had never happened, it would not have been against the tribal customs for Joey and Chippie to have sex, and Springtide knew that. But Joey had always been faithful to Mairwen, his first and only love, and she had never had sex with anyone but Joey. But Springtide could not control his jealousy, which had grown from irritation to frustration to rage in the past year or so.

Springtide was too frightened to confront Joey since he knew that Joey would patiently listen to him and convince him that there was nothing inappropriate going on between himself and Chippie. Springtide did not want to be reassured; he wanted vengeance. Confrontation between grown men was almost unheard of among the tribesmen. When someone thought that he had been wronged, it was customary to take vengeance on the alleged wrong-doer's livestock or possessions. Since Springtide saw Mairwen as Joey's possession, when a band of Venezuelan diamond hunters came through the village, Springtide arranged for them to exact retribution on his behalf.

When Mairwen and Chippie stopped to get some supplies about fifty miles down-river, the diamond hunters attacked the two women and carried them off to their encampment, about a mile off the main trunk of the river. Although Springtide had only bargained for the men to attack Mairwen, the diamond hunters found Chippie to be as enjoyable a victim as Mairwen. Both women were brutally raped and tortured, but only Mairwen survived the ordeal. Where Mairwen's attack had lasted a few hours, the men did not finish with Chippie until she expired, two days after the start of her ordeal. The men put Mairwen and Chippie's body back on their boat and set it adrift on the river. Some neighboring farmers discovered the boat and returned Mairwen and what remained of Chippie to the tribe.

Unaccustomed to such violence, the tribe became hysterical when Mairwen and Chippie's body arrived. Both grief and anger were growing very quickly and, true to character, it was Joey who calmed the tribesmen, reminding them that so long as the band of evil diamond hunters were still at large, it made no sense for the strongest and bravest of them to leave the women and children unprotected whilst they wandered through Amazonia looking for the perpetrators. Springtide, who now had two good reasons to be particularly enraged, volunteered to locate the perpetrators and report their location to the government authorities. The older women took Mairwen away from Joey and would not let him see her for four days, while they took care of her. Mairwen herself, and the other women who had worked along side her when she had nursed the members of the tribe over the years, mended the places on Mairwen's body where she had been tortured and, with the help of some antibiotics from her medical bag, she gradually healed and recovered.

A few weeks later, while she was still living with the woman and had not yet been allowed to return to Joey and her place, the oldest of the woman, the chief's sister, finally said what Mairwen had known – or at very least suspected – that Mairwen was pregnant. Although abortion was uncommon, it was not forbidden. Her first night back with Joey, Mairwen told Joey of her pregnancy. He said that they should immediately return to Boston and get "real" medical care for her condition, but Mairwen disagreed. She said that she was strong, otherwise perfectly healthy, and that she did not think of the fetus inside her so much as the product of her rape, but a reincarnation of Chippie. Joey would have none of it. He said that he would never be able to look at the baby without thinking of his wife being raped and tortured by grubby diamond hunters. He said that no good could possibly come from such a horrible violation. After three days of arguing about it, Mairwen finally agreed to have the women "treat her living sickness," a euphemism for termination of unwanted pregnancies, the traditional tribal way.

The woman sequestered Mairwen again, keeping her away from Joey and all other men and boys, while they treated her living sickness. The oldest woman sent one of the young boys to a plateau where unusual lichens grew on a certain rock, and to one of the more remote river tributaries where a tiny and unique fish spawned. The boy was to return with the spawn of the tiny fish and eight of the male fish, alive. The old woman mixed the fish eggs with the lichens, although the lichens that the boy had brought were not exactly like those the old woman had seen before. When the noxious paste was thoroughly mixed, she gutted the eight fish and carefully removed their livers, discarding the rest of the fish and awful into the fire. The fresh livers were quickly mashed in a stone mortar and pestle, and the lichen and fish-egg paste was added to the mix. Mairwen was to douche with the resulting mixture. This process, using new lichens and fresh eggs and fish, had to be done for eight consecutive days. Mairwen found the entire process disgusting, but knew that if she didn't go through with it, Joey would insist that the couple return to Boston.

The tribal women assured Joey that the herbal cure would work, but that it was not like an abortion that terminates a pregnancy right away. It was something that took weeks to work. Joey spent his time soothing Mairwen and assuring her of his love – which built her spirits and helped her to overcome the psychological trauma of her ordeal.

Unfortunately, the lichens that the boy had brought the old woman were not the right kind, and when that was finally discovered, the time for the herbal cure to work had come and gone. During the weeks that Joey and Mairwen were waiting for the pregnancy to terminate, Joey had lessened his focus on the rape and increased his focus on Mairwen, finally agreeing that it might be best to allow the pregnancy to go to full term.

By the time baby Emmanuel arrived, Mairwen and Joey had quit talking about Mairwen's rape; instead, they made plans for the new member of the family. He was a beautiful baby and, along with the boy's loving parents, the members of the tribe accepted and welcomed him as one of their own.

Emmanuel was an unusually good baby. He rarely cried and never got sick. Mairwen had taken him to the capital to get the regular shots, vaccinations, and well-baby examinations. He fell right in the middle of the growth-curve and, but for the fact that he never coughed, sneezed, spit-up, or got sick, was essentially normal. With the other boys of the tribe, Emmanuel learned to hunt, fish, and play with the other children.

When the time finally came for the family to return to the United States, Joey and Mairwen were concerned that Emmanuel might not be able to adjust to life in America very well. Although Joey and Mairwen taught him to read, write, and cipher, using home-schooling books and materials send to them from Boston, Emmanuel was accustomed to running around naked and playing like all of the other children, all but two or three hours a day.

The Peace Corps rejected the family's plea to stay in the village, noting that the number of years they had already been allowed to remain there was unprecedented. Their visas to remain in the country were dependent on their status as Peace Corps volunteers. So, it was only through the intervention of the local district government that the family was granted special-resident status, partially due to the government's embarrassment over Mairwen's rape, partially because Emmanuel was a citizen, but of even more significance was the local district deputy telling the central government that the pig farm would not run as efficiently without the family being there. The tribe members voted unanimously (with Springtide saying that he didn't want to vote at all) to allow Joey and Mairwen to have an aggregate 10% interest in the profits of the pig farm. The tribal elders had opined that, were they to lose the work, wisdom, and business savvy Joey and Mairwen brought to the venture, the loss would more than likely exceed the percentage they were to receive. Also, the whole tribe loved Emmanuel, and he was especially admired by the girls, who found his physical attributes enchanting and captivating. Emmanuel had gotten several of the girls pregnant and, true to form, the tribe found that news joyous and a cause for celebration.

The family had taken trips to America from time to time. A few times these were simple vacations, so Emmanuel could visit Washington D.C, New York, and so on, and four times to attend his grandparents' funerals. It was not until after Emmanuel had celebrated his eighteenth birthday with the tribe that Joey had become ill, requiring them to return to the United States permanently. In exchange for the family's ownership interest in the pig farm, the tribe agreed that the girls Emmanuel had impregnated would be cared for by the tribe collective and that the girls would be free to pick new husbands after the family left.

Emmanuel had lived such a sheltered life that, when Joey died and then shortly thereafter Mairwen passed away, when Emmanuel was in his mid-20s, he felt abandoned and terrified. He had never left his parent's home, and although he had dated through his college years, he never developed any significant love interests in the U.S. Joey's father had left a huge estate, which passed from Mairwen to Emmanuel. There were large real estate holdings in several East Coast cities' business districts as well as an enormous portfolio of stocks and bonds.

Wandering around the inherited mansion, just outside Boston, Emmanuel busied himself redecorating, adding unnecessary rooms, pools, tennis courts, and so on. Eventually, however, he became bored with these kinds of projects and remained secluded. He had made several visits back to his birthplace, but each time that he did he felt that he had less and less in common with the other members of the tribe.

Dating was frustrating for him as well, for several reasons. He was always suspicious that women might be interested in his fortune; he had no childhood experiences in common with anyone he ever met, and his sexual appetites were more appropriate for the jungle than the lovers' bedroom. In addition, he was going through something akin to a second puberty – a second coming of age. He could sense his hormones changing and his sexual interests becoming more and more predatory.

Emmanuel used his good looks and charisma, as well as his fame, to attract woman after woman, and a fair number of girls as well, until he began to realize that these conquests were fulfilling only part of his needs, leaving an ever-increasing hunger unsatisfied. About two times a year, he would rent a car and go on a sexual predator's road trip, leaving abused bodies in his wake. On his fourth such road trip, he had finally blossomed into a full-blown psycho-sadistic sexual predator, raping, torturing, and killing his sexual contacts, without exception. The more he did this, the more he felt compelled to do more.

Scores of his rape victims, who had kept silent over the years, finally came forward and told their grisly tales to the police and then to the State prosecutors. Because his latest, and most horrific crimes had taken place on a trip to Texas, he was extradited from Massachusetts to Texas, where he stood trial for eight murders and twenty-six sadistic rapes. He had had the bad judgment to videotape some of his torture and rape sessions for later amusement, but he never found them as satisfying as the acts themselves. As his conviction on all counts assured a sentence of death, he asked to address the court during the sentencing phase of his trial. Rather than show any contrition or remorse, Emmanuel held forth for nearly two hours (the maximum time the court would grant him to speak), lecturing the packed courtroom on the shortcomings and failures of the American way of life. His attorneys had hired four psycho-chemists who did a full analysis of Emmanuel's blood, DNA, and hormone values, in an effort to somehow paint him as "a sick individual who simply cannot control his behavior."

Nobody cared to listen the experts' testimony. An understandable mob-mentality had developed nationwide, and all but the most ardent anti-execution candle-holders, were calling for blood. Every anti-death-penalty organization found it nearly impossible to recruit candle-holders, and many of these organizations' leadership decided to "sit this one out."

Part Two

All but one of the labs that Emmanuel's attorneys had hired tested the same sorts of samples of his blood. Some was taken after fasting, some was taken after large amounts of sugar or protein were ingested. They all got the same results, which essentially showed that Emmanuel's blood and hormone levels were more or less within the range identified as "normal."

The three crime labs the Texas prosecutors had hired tested the blood Emmanuel left at his crime scenes, and then only to obtain the requisite DNA match. They matched each other, and Emmanuel's attorneys had not allowed a DNA sample from their client himself. The blood samples confirmed that the same person had committed every one of the crimes, and Emmanuel had proudly admitted that he had done the crimes.

Karen Kraft, a Baylor University Medical student in Houston, and a part time lab technician at the one lab that tested both kinds of blood samples did not stop her research after Emmanuel had confessed his crimes. She was fascinated by a series of experiments she had performed after the confession stopped the other tests, where she made a serum out of each sample of blood and injected the serum into laboratory rats. This was not done as part of the work contracted by the attorneys, but was part of a personal interest she had as a medical student. Her personal budget only allowed her to use a limited number of lab rats, so she decided to inject the serum into rats she was supposed to destroy, which had already been used in previous experiments by other technicians. About half of these had been infected with various carcinogens and had developed malignant tumors, both on their surface and internally. When she noticed that the rats injected with one of the Emmanuel serums she made showed no change, while the rats injected with the other Emmanuel serum showed an immediate reduction and elimination of the tumors, she reported her findings to her boss. Her boss scolded her for not destroying the rats as she was told, and that the lab could lose its grant if people were permitted to engage in freelance experimentation using other people's tissue samples. Undaunted, she took it upon herself to call the lead attorney in Emmanuel's murder trial.

Karen refused to tell the receptionist why she wanted to see the attorney, but said that she had worked on the Emmanuel blood samples and that she wanted an appointment. She got as far as the attorney's secretary, who said that the attorney was unavailable, having moved on to another criminal case in another state. She agreed to meet with an associate from the law firm, Kevin Stature, a young man about her age, late that afternoon. Although the secretary told Karen that she would only be granted a fifteen minute consultation, when Kevin met Karen, he liked what he saw and decided to let her explain the tests, the results, and what she opined were the implications of her findings.

Karen explained that for reasons unknown to her, the serum made from Emmanuel's crime-scene blood had the ability to eliminate cancer, while the serum made from Emmanuel's blood taken under normal laboratory conditions did not affect the cancerous rats at all. She figured that the same hormone that was causing Emmanuel to become sadistic and predatory also caused a change in his blood, giving it the cancer-curing attributes. Kevin listened politely as Karen spoke, but was actually thinking about asking her out to dinner.

At dinner that evening, Kevin explained that he was not involved in the details of Emmanuel's case at all, but merely helped organize the exhibits for trial. Karen seemed disappointed, but was happy she and Kevin had gone to dinner. He was charming and gentle, and Karen could see that he liked her a lot.

"So, you're telling me," Kevin asked in summation, "that when Emmanuel is doing his thing, and ONLY when he is doing his thing, his blood becomes cancer-curing? I sure wouldn't want to explain that in court."