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

Cape Canaveral,” he told Clint and Cornelius. “I'll instruct staff to re-fuel the shuttle and be put on stand-by, over.”
“Thanks for the news, but at the moment we don't want to think about any other craft on stand-by or back-up,” said Clint. “Right now, it's our mission to deflect the asteroid and we mustn't think of anything else, over.”
Cornelius was in full agreement.

The Interstellar Pilgrim, meanwhile, was coming closer and closer to it's intended destination. Major Retono was preparing to lead a small group to ZR3, while Commander Ondichi sat with others in the control room, carefully watching the screen. As he watched, he noticed a small object gradually becoming larger and brighter.
“Lieutenant Harchett, increase the screen dimensions,” he asked.
“Which one do want increased?” Lieutenant Harchett asked.
“Bottom left corner, please, where that small object lies,” the Commander ordered.
When the screen was increased, he became more and more curious.
“Lieutenant, what does that object seem to you?” he asked.
“Is it a craft of some sort?” queried the Lieutenant.
“Hhmmmm,” Commander Ondichi muttered, “that's what it I thought. Perhaps life on ZR3 is more advanced than we had imagined.”
Commander Ondichi then notified Major Retono of this. He instructed the Major to remain on stand-by. The Commander also notified Professor Schmidt and Major Kong, and called them to control. By the time they arrived, the object had become larger and brighter still. They all agreed that it was a craft sent up from ZR3.
“Do you want me to lead my fighter crew to destroy that craft?” Major Kong queried.
“No, not yet,” ordered the Commander. “Professor, go to your lab, see if you can determine if anyone's on-board the craft, and if so, what do they want. We shouldn't presume all intelligent life is alien and violent.”
“Why don't you send a message to the craft,” suggested Professor Schmidt.
“Yes, why not,” the Commander said to himself, before ordering to Lieutenant Harchett to do so. “See if we get any reply.”

On the shuttle destroyer, Clint had taken off his earphones for a while. Cornelius, however, heard a brief ultra-low pitched sound. It continued to ring in his, as he seemed to sit stationary for minutes.
“Corny', are you okay?” Clint asked him with due concern.
“Gee, man, what was that??” said Cornelius.
“What was what?” asked Clint.
“That sound I just heard,” replied Cornelius. “I ain't heard anything like it.”
“Like what?” asked Clint.
“A very, very low sound,” said Cornelius. “It was like an electric shock going through my ears.”
Clint became rather concerned.
“I hope it wasn't a solar flare or gamma ray burst,” he said to Cornelius. “I think you'd better give the shuttle an emergency checkover – make sure no wiring, sockets or connections are damaged. It'll mean going to auxiliary power.”
“Okay,” said Cornelius. “Tell me when the shuttle's on auxiliary. In the meantime, I'm going to notify Control.”
“Try to contact the International Space Station instead,” suggested Clint. “See if they were affected in any way.”
Cornelius contacted the ISS. They said they hadn't noticed anything, but that they were on the other side of Earth at the time.

On the Interstellar Pilgrim, they were a little surprised not to have received any reply.
“Shall I lead my fighter crew to attack that craft now, Commander?” Major Kong queried.
“I don't think attacking other life, man or machine, will do any good in this instance,” Commander Ondichi told him, before calling Professor Schmidt. “Can you clarify if there are life forms on that craft, yet?”
“I can indeed, Commander,” said Professor Scmidt. “There are two humans, each male. One is light pink, the other brown. The two males are talking to eachother. They may also be communicating to others on ZR3.”
“Can you understand what they are saying?” asked Commander Ondichi.
“Not really,” said Professor Schmidt. “They seem to be on a different wavelength, much lower than ours.”
“What is the craft like inside?” asked Commander Ondichi.
“Rather like our control room,” said Professor Schmidt.
“Professor, continue to monitor the men,” instructed the Commander. “I think perhaps we should leave them for a while,”

Back at NASA Control, Professor Marshall was getting worried, as he spoke to one of the shuttle destroyer's designers.
“That checkover they're carrying out on the shuttle, shouldn't it be completed by now?” he asked.
“It should be,” said the designer. “It's the first time this has had to be done, so perhaps there's a few teething problems. Give them a few more minutes.”
As they were talking, the Professor saw Steve waving his hand in the air, calling him over. The shuttle destroyer was back on line.
“Is everything okay up there, Corny, over?” Steve asked.
“Everything appears to be fine,” said Cornelius. “Clint and me have reviewed the results and we're not really sure what happened, over.”
“Are there any signs of gamma ray bursts, or of x-rays or solar flares, over?” Steve asked him.
“No,” Cornelius replied. “The only sign of any disturbance seems to have come from the asteroid, over.”
“I don't like it,” said Professor Marshall, who had come over and heard what had happened. “That's no asteroid. If it is I'll eat my Ten Gallon'.”
“How long do we have before firing the missile?” Cornelius asked Steve. “I make it three hours, over.”
“I've been checking the asteroid's movements, and it seems to have picked up speed a little,” Steve informed Cornelius. “I make it you have two hours and forty minutes until firing time. The fact that you had to reduce speed for the checkover suggests we may have to refine the timescales again, over.”
“I'll amend our timescales for firing to two hours and thirty minutes,” Cornelius told Steve. “If it gets below that timescale you'd better let me know, over.”
A colleague came along and handed Professor Marshall a new report from Moscow.
“Corny, I've just received word from Moscow that the Russians have launched their rocket,” said the Professor. “I've not been informed precisely where they are just at this minute, but we'll keep you informed, over.”
“We'll try to keep an eye out for them, over,” replied Cornelius.
“You may want to keep in contact with the Russians,” suggested the Professor. “I understand one of the crew, Valerie, speaks English, over.”
“Thanks, Frank, over and out,” said Cornelius.
As Clint and Cornelius proceeded in the shuttle destroyer they became more and more tense. That was until Cornelius began to hear another ultra-high-pitched sound in his earphone. It seemed relatively quiet at first, but got louder and louder. The sound became higher and higher still, higher than the other sound he'd heard earlier. Cornelius clenched his fists tighter and tighter.
“Corny, are you okay?” asked a bemused Clint. “What's the matter?”
The sound was deafening, as Cornelius began to scream. He managed to grab his earphone and threw it to the floor. The noise was so low that Clint could hear it, so he kicked it as far down the corridor as he could.
“Are you okay Corny?” Clint asked.
Cornelius was still shaking. He stared at Clint and managed to get his breath back.
“That, that, sound, that noise,” he said.
“I heard it too, when you threw the earphone down,” said a worried Clint, before looking down the corridor. “I can't hear anything from your earphone from here, so it may be quiet again.”
Clint walked down the corridor to pick up Cornelius's earphone. He could hear something on the other end of the line. It was NASA Control.
“Come in Corny, come in, over,” Steve was saying as Clint picked up the earphone.
“Clint here, over,” he said to Steve.
“Are you okay, over?” Steve asked. “Where's Corny?”
“Corny's resting for a few minutes. He just had another high-pitched sound come through, over,” Clint informed Steve as he described what had occurred.
“Do you want to do another checkover, over?” asked Steve.
“I don't think so, not just yet,” said Clint. “I'm just glad I turned my earphone off. I think Corny is just a little shook up, over.”
“Let us know if he's not okay,” said Steve. “I can tell the Russians, and instruct to launch our second shuttle destroyer, over.”
“Hopefully he's okay,” said Clint. “I think we'd better switch off our earphones for now. We'll call you at regular intervals, over and out.”
Steve called for silence at NASA Control, and explained to everyone what had happened. Professor Marshall instructed one of his staff to notify Moscow. It seemed that Clint and Cornelius wouldn't be able to maintain contact with the Russian crew, and that Control should keep in close contact with Moscow.
Ten minutes later, a call came through from Cornelius to say that he was okay, but that he and Clint would continue to keep their earphones switched off.

Back on the Interstellar Pilgrim, Commander Ondichi had been expecting a call from the shuttle but had by now given up hope. Major Kong continued to be aggressive, suggesting to lead an attack on the shuttle destroyer. Instead, he called Professor Schmidt to ask of any progress in the monitoring of the shuttle.
“I've been watching the two men in the approaching craft,” the Professor informed him. “I don't think our last message went down very well.”
“Have you any idea why?” asked Commander Ondichi.
“I believe we're using the wrong frequency,” said Professor Schmidt. “It seemed that the higher our message became, the worse one of the men became.”
“You say he became worse,” asked the Commander. “In what way was that?”
“It seemed to affect his mind,” said Professor Schmidt. “Our latest message was in a higher-pitch than the previous one. We should have used a lower frequency.”
Commander Ondichi considered what to do next.
“Lieutenant Harchett, sort our frequency out, please,” he ordered. “Then try to send another message in a lower frequency.”
“Will do, sir,” said the lieutenant.
Lieutenant Harchett tried to send a message on a lower frequency. Commander Ondichi expected a reply, but still he heard nothing. All the while, Major Kong was suggesting to attack the shuttle, and that if there was intelligent life it was probably violent and not worth saving. Just as the Commander was about to grant Major Kong his wish a call came through. It wasn't the shuttle, however, but Professor Schmidt.
“Commander, I think I know why we've not received any reply yet,” he said.
“Why is that?” Commander Ondichi asked.
“One of the men was wearing something around his ears,” Professor Schmidt explained. “He has since removed it. I believe it was probably an old earphone.”
“What makes you think that was an earphone?” asked the Commander.
“Because he was the only man who reacted to our message,” Professor Schmidt informed him. “The other man was unaffected.”
“You say one man reacted to our message,” the Commander queried. “Precisely how did he react?”
“He appeared to be shaking, and eventually threw the earphone on the floor,” explained Professor Schmidt. “Since he took it off he's been fine. That's what made me think we were using the wrong frequency.”
“What about the second man?” asked the Commander.
“He didn't have an earphone, nor has he put one on since,” said Professor Schmidt. “We may be within range to call to them through our minds.”
“I'll check with our control and let you know,” replied the Commander.
“I also think we overlooked something,” Professor Schmidt pointed out.
“Oh,” said the Commander. “What's that?”
“We've been travelling at ultra high speeds for eons and eons. This has probably affected our voices in relation to planetary life,” explained Professor Schmidt.
“Hhmmm, I see what you mean,” said Commander Ondichi.
“Life on ZR3 seems to be much further advanced than anything else we've come across previously,” Professor Schmidt emphasised. “If we