The Twins Paradox by Alan Gasparutti (best contemporary novels txt) 📖

shuttle had to be sent up as soon as possible, regardless of how long it had to wait for the asteroid. Cornelius volunteered to be co-pilot, and was assigned to go with Clint, and by 14.00 that afternoon, he and Clint went into the shuttle destroyer. They sat waiting as the countdown to lift-off was announced.
“5, 4, 3, 2, 1, lift-off, we have lift off,” was the announcement at NASA. “Lift-off of the space shuttle destroyer is successful.”
Both Clint and Cornelius were silent, as they shook in their seats while the rockets launched them high, high, and higher into the sky. One minute quickly became two, which quickly became three minutes. Clint and Cornelius looked at eachother.
“Are you okay?” Cornelius said to Clint.
“A little shaken, but none the worse,” replied Clint, as he held the throttle.
“I can already see the curvature of the planet,” said Cornelius as he looked through his window.
“I don't want to temp fate, but it looks as though we've made it past the first stage,” said Clint as he saw the first two rocket boosters fall. “At least we've lasted longer than Challenger.”
“We can loosen our belts in a few minutes,” said Cornelius.
“We can, but I think it better if we wait until the second set of rocket boosters have gone,” Clint advised him, before calling NASA to assure them everything was fine.
Cornelius began to lose his preminitions, and became excited at the thought of his responsibility, to help save Earth from potential destruction. As he looked through his window, he could see Earth getting smaller and smaller. As the second set of rocket boosters fell to Earth, Clint undid his belt. Cornelius followed suit. The two of them then smiled at eachother and shook hands.
“Do we have any back-up?” asked Cornelius.
“Apparently, NASA are now notifying Moscow that we've taken off successfully,” Clint told him. “The Russians will then send one of their ships to the ISS. They'll stay there as back-up.”
“Hopefully, they won't be needed,” said Cornelius.
“Hopefully,” said Clint. “I'm told they have some sort of laser on their ship, but Steve at NASA sounds scheptical whether it can be effective.”
“How many Big Bessy missiles do we have?” asked Cornelius.
“Two,” replied Clint. “We've got to make sure we hit our target.”
“What about the other shuttle?” queried Cornelius.
“That'll depend on whether it needs maintenance and how long it takes to re-fuel,” replied Clint. “I'm afraid that if we're unsuccessful and the Russians aren't effective, NASA may not have enough time to use the second shuttle.”
“It shouldn't need a maintenance check,” commented Cornelius. “It was checked less than a week ago.”
“NASA don't want another Challenger on their hands,” Clint told him.
“Never mind Challenger, man, that shuttle should be launched as soon as necessary, to save the Earth,” replied Cornelius.
“Never mind Columbia you mean,” said Clint. “If the other shuttle goes the way of Challenger, it'll never have the opportunity to destroy this asteroid. Let's hope the second shuttle won't be required.”
As the shuttle destroyer went through the upper atmosphere and into the realms of space, a strange feeling came over Clint, like he was to meet a long-lost brother. Then, as Cornelius walked down the shuttle to check the hatch, Clint thought he heard something.
“Control, did you call?” he called down to Houston. “NASA, do you read me, over?“
“Are you okay Clint, over?” asked Professor Marshall at the other end.
“We're fine,” replied Clint. “Did you say something a minute ago, over?”
“No,” said the Professor. “Is everything okay up there, over?”
“Everything's fine here,” Clint told him. “It must have been some disturbance, over.”
Cornelius came back to his seat, and read the co-ordinates and speed to Professor Marshall.
“You do realise that we're not likely to return to Earth,” Clint said to Cornelius.
“I had thought about that,” Cornelius replied. “To be quite honest, I haven't much to live for anymore.”
Clint was very surprised at what he had just heard.
“To tell you the truth, I haven't had much luck these past few years,” Cornelius told Clint. “You see a big, strong commander on the outside, but inside.....well, inside I feel like a wreck at times.”
“I didn't think you had many problems,” Clint said to him. “You're still young, I'd have thought you've still got the best of you're life ahead of you.”
“You know, seven years ago, I would have agreed with you,” said Clint. “Then my father was diagnosed with cancer, about six years ago.”
“I didn't know,” replied Clint. “I'm sorry to hear that.”
“That was just the beginning,” said Cornelius. “My Ma began to act strangely. Pa said it was nothing at first, but my sister Jenna and I arranged for Ma to be checked over. That was when we found out she had Alzheimers'.”
Clint was silent, and had a lot of sympathy for his colleague.
“Pa said he could look after Ma,” said Cornelius. “It was okay at first. He had radiation treatment and his condition improved. Jenna wasn't too far away and went to help. Until Pa had a stroke.”
“Couldn't Jenna look after your mother after that?” asked Clint.
“If only it was that simple,” commented Cornelius. “By that time, Ma was too far gone. We had all sorts of problems just getting Ma into a hostel. Pa remained in hospital for three months, and by that time there were new tenants at his home. First he went with Jenna for a while until it got too much for her.”
“Why was that?” asked Clint.
“Jenna was just a single parent,” said Cornelius. “What made things worse was her son, Aemon.”
“Was he ill?” asked Clint.
“I'd wished he was,” commented Cornelius. “He was into drugs, he was always getting into trouble. One night another gang came and set fire to Jenna's home.”
“Was she alright?” asked Clint.
“She was taken to hospital, but died two weeks later,” said Cornelius. “Pa, would you believe it, was rescued first, and after a week came to stay with me.”
“And your nephew?” Clint asked.
“He turned himself in,” said Cornelius. “He decided it was better to stay in jail than live with the threat of being burned alive, or worse. I reckon he actually felt some remorse after Jenna died.”
“Is your father still alive?” asked Clint.
“No,” replied Cornelius. “He passed away a couple of years ago. His cancer returned, and by that time he was too weak to have chemotherapy.”
Clint tried to change the subject, but Cornelius just continued to pour his heart out.
“Ma died a few months earlier,” Cornelius explained. “I went to visit her, but Ma was never the same. She just seemed worse each time I went to see her.”
“Don't you have any other family?” asked Clint.
“I have a brother, Marlon, but I don't talk about him,” said Cornelius.
“Why?” asked Clint. “Doesn't he keep in touch?”
“It's difficult keeping in touch with someone in Virginia penitentiary,” commented Cornelius. “He's been there almost twenty years now.”
A call then came through on the receiver.
“Control to shuttle, control to shuttle, are you receiving me, over,” cried a voice.
“Shuttle here, over,” replied Clint.
“Is everything okay up there, over?” asked Steve back in control.
“We're fine, over,” Clint replied.
“We've requested hourly reports from the ISS for the asteroid,” said Professor Marshall at the other end of the line, this time. “It appears that the speed at which it's traveling, you'll probably be able to shoot the missiles in good time, and return to the ISS, over.”
Clint asked Cornelius to check the shuttles destroyer's fuel and speed.
“Can you see the asteroid?” asked Professor Marshall.
“I can see something odd on screen, over,” replied Clint, before referring the matter to Cornelius.
“I'm increasing the screen image and can see what appears to be a long, narrow asteroid,” Cornelius told the Professor. “I'm going to send the picture to control. Can you confirm this is what we're after, over.”
As the picture was received in Control, Steve nodded to the Professor, confirming that the asteroid the shuttle destroyer was seeking to deflect was indeed in view.
“Now, this is the important bit, so listen to me very carefully, both of you, over,” the Professor advised Clint and Cornelius.
“We can hear you loud and clear, over,” they each replied.
“The missile launcher has a timer,” explained the Professor. “You must fire the first missile when it says there are thirty minutes before it's due to impact on the asteroid, over.”
“But I thought the missile only has twenty minutes before impact, over,” queried Cornelius.
“That's correct,” replied the Professor. “We don't want to destroy the asteroid, despite the shuttle's title, merely to deflect it, over.”
“What about the second missile, over?” asked Clint.
“You should only use that if the first missile has no or very little effect, if the asteroid is still on course to hit Earth,” instructed the Professor. “That will mean that you'll only have ten minutes or less to fire the second missile and get away from the asteroid, over.”
“As I understand it, we can deviate our course after the first missile, and if necessary, fire the second missile sideways-on from the asteroid,” suggested Clint.
Professor Marshall looked at a couple of the shuttle destroyer's engineers and handed his microphone to Steve, while he discussed the suggestion.
“I'm finding it difficult to tell the precise speed of this asteroid, over,” said Cornelius.
“I know, I know,” said Steve. “It seems to be changing speed as it's moving. We're monitoring it's movements here in Control – I'll let you know if you need to fire the missile in advance, over.”
Professor Marshall then took the microphone, and asked to speak to Clint.
“I've spoken to engineers, and they confirmed that you can manoeuvre the shuttle destroyer, but it isn't advisable, over,” Professor Marshall advised.
“I've studied this craft in training, and I know I can manoeuvre it,” Clint said confidently. “I've flown and manoeuvred many aircraft and I know I can manoeuvre this. Let's just hope it doesn't come to that, over.”
“We thought it may be more advisable to use the retro boosters, over,” Professor Marshall suggested to Clint.
“I don't think we'd have enough fuel to turn the shuttle' around, and get back to the International Space Station, over,” replied Clint.
“If you want to turn back after the first missile strike, we can ask the Russians to send their craft up right away, over,” said the Professor.
“Would they have enough time, over?” asked Clint.
Steve and Professor Marshall worked out how much time the Russians had. Moscow was nine hours ahead of Houston, but the launch site, which was in Kazakhstan, was a further three hours ahead, meaning it was now approaching 6.00 am there, which gave them an hour to prepare for lift-off. Fortunately, as Professor Marshall quickly spoke to Professor Kamilichenko, it was confirmed that the Russians were already preparing their rockets. Professor Kamilichenko also explained that the weather would be fine, and that their rocket was due to take off at 7.15 am.
“The Russians are currently preparing for lift-off, over,” Steve then told Clint.
“How long will that be, over?” asked Clint.
“One hour and a half, approximately, over,” said Steve.
“Will they have long enough to get above the Earth, over?” asked Cornelius.
“According to our current calculations, you've got another five hours before missile deadline,” Steve informed him. “That should be enough time for the Russian craft to get to the asteroid, over.”
Another colleague then came along and tapped Professor Marshall on is shoulder, before handing him a new report. He then took the microphone from Steve again.
“I've just received the good news that the first shuttle destroyer has landed safely at