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

are to visit ZR3 or contact other life, we will require time to adjust.”
“We'll have to orbit around ZR3 for sometime,” said Commander Ondichi. “I'll order Major Retono and his team to abort their intended mission.”

As each second went by, the shuttle destroyer was closing in on the asteroid. Clint had his finger on the blaster.
“Are you going to fire?” Cornelius asked him.
“I'm getting ready,” he replied. “Give control a call, ask them to confirm if we're within shooting range.”
As Cornelius called NASA control, Clint thought he could hear something. After a couple of seconds he heard the same thing again.
“NASA control say we're now within range,” Cornelius said to Clint. “You can fire any time now.”
Cornelius turned around, and saw Clint in a daze.
“Clint, you can shoot now,” he said to him. “Clint, Clint, are you okay?”
Cornelius quickly looked at the missile co-ordinates. It seemed to be pointing towards the asteroid. He knew the missile wasn't supposed to hit the asteroid directly. He knew it was a nuclear missile surrounded by oxygen, all encased in a solid aluminium tube.
“Clint, Clint, wake up, wake up,” he called, but Clint remained in a daze.
Cornelius quickly pressed the red button to release the missile. He then punched Clint in his face in attempt to wake him from the daze.
“Clint, are you okay, speak to me,” said Cornelius.
Clint looked at his colleague, shaking his head.
“What happened?“ Cornelius asked.
“I don't know,” Clint said to him. “I heard something, I can't remember anything else.”
“Well we won't have much time to remember much more,” Cornelius pointed out. “We're currently following the missile. We've got to get away.”
“How much time do we have before it explodes?” asked Clint.
“Seventeen minutes,” Cornelius told him.
“That should be enough time to change course,” said Clint. “Strap yourself in – I'm going to have to pull away faster than intended.”

As the Interstellar Pilgrim came ever closer to it's destination, Commander Ondichi noticed something approaching.
“Have they sent something to us?” he pondered.
“Yeah, sure,” replied Major Kong. “They've sent something to us alright – a missile! I said you should have let me out there to deal with them.”
As it came ever closer, Commander Ondichi pressed the red alert button. Sirens could be heard all over the Interstellar Pilgrim, as the Commander called the engine room.
“Raise our repellent field,” he ordered. “Change course immediately.”
“Where to?” asked Captain Jamess.
“Are we going to run away?” commented a rather aggressive Major Kong.
“Put the ship in an orbital mode,” ordered Commander Ondichi, before turning towards Major Kong. “We're not running away from this, not after all the time we've taken getting here. Besides, we need more time to analyse ZR3. Life down there seems to be more intelligent than we first imagined.”
As Major Kong stormed off, Major Retono entered the flight deck.
“What's the alert, and what's with 'Kong?” asked Major Retono.
“It appears these humans have sent a missile,” the Commander explained. “Major Kong wanted to go out and attack that craft - you know how he can get like. I've ordered our repellent field to be raised, and that we go into an orbital mode from this point.”
“Do you think that's close enough?” asked Major Retono.
“It will have to be,” said Commander Ondichi. “I think this will be close enough for our Small Reconnaisance Craft to get to ZR3 okay, don't you?”

Meanwhile, the shuttle destroyer had veered onto a different course and as far away from the asteroid as possible. As it turned at a safe distance, the asteroid could be seen on one corner of their screen. Clint and Cornelius thought, for a few seconds at least, that they saw the asteroid turning as well as moving out of picture.
Then there was an almighty explosion, which shook the shuttle destroyer. It was a good few minutes later before the screen cleared.
“We did it, we did it,” Cornelius cheered excitedly.
“I think we'd better call NASA Control first,” suggested Clint. “Let's hear what they have to say before we head for the International Space Station.”
Cornelius called NASA Control.
“What's happened, what's happened?” he asked. “It looks from here like we've deflected the asteroid. Can you confirm this, over?”
“Yepp, great job boys,” replied a very relieved Steve. ”It looks like you've deflected the asteroid from here, too. Well done lads. We'll continue to monitor the asteroid from here, over?”
“Weheyyy, weheyyy,” cried Cornelius excitedly as he gave Clint a high-five. “We did it, we did it. Woooh-ooooooh”
Clint had his earphones on this time and heard the confirmation.
“I've been keeping an eye on our fuel load,” Clint said to Steve amidst the celebrations. “We may have enough to get us to the International Space Station, hopefully, over.”
“The ISS is about to come into your horizon,” Steve told him. “Our data suggests you should be okay, fuel-wise. Do you still have the remaining missile, over?”
“We do, over,” said Clint.
“As you know, the asteroid's been behaving very weirdly,” replied Steve. “We may need to use the second missile if the asteroid changes course again. We'll keep you informed, over.”
“Do you think we may be needed again, over?” asked Clint.
“We don't wish to rule that out, just yet,” said Steve. ”You can re-fuel the shuttle while your with the ISS. If everything's okay, you can return to Earth next week, over.”
“Will do, Steve, over and out,” said Clint, before turning to Cornelius. “Let's not get too excited just yet.”


New Moon On Monday

The Interstellar Pilgrim was now orbiting Earth. All plans had been suspended following the recent events. However, it was agreed to remain in orbit, in order to get a better understanding of what lay on the planet they knew as ZR3.
Professor Schmidt was in his office, monitoring various frequencies and tracing any images on his screen, when an odd sound was heard. Bongggghhhhhh! Professor Schmidt quickly tuned in to the frequency and brought up the image on his screen, where he saw a young lady for a second, before various pictures were shown.

“The lunchtime news on Monday May 10th 2008 – Bongggghhhhhh!
Earth has a new moon. Bongggghhhhhh!
Dozens killed in Afghanistan suicide. Bongggghhhhhh!
Is climate change already upon us. Bongggghhhhhh!
Sport – Beckham signs for Millwall. Bongggghhhhhh!

Professor Schmidt became very interested, and so recorded the news. A young lady named Laura began reading, while various images appeared on screen.
“NASA have today confirmed that Earth has a new moon,” read the young lady. ”It's probably better described as a captured asteroid, which had been approaching Earth. The two-man crew of the latest space shuttle managed to deflect the asteroid off of it's original course, and onto it's now current orbit. It remains to be seen, however, precisely how long the asteroid will remain in orbit. With me in the studio is Professor Stephen Hawking of Cambridge University. Stephen – I understand this isn't your average asteroid.”
“No Laura, indeed it is not,” was the reply from a very strange-looking person, with a robotic voice.
Could he be half-human and half-robot, Professor Schmidt wondered to himself, whilst listening to this person speak.
“This asteroid was first discovered travelling at very, very high speeds, almost one million miles per hour,” said Stephen Hawking. “By the time it approached Earth, however, it had reduced in speed by 97%.”
“Do we know what caused the asteroid to reduce in speed?” Laura asked him.
“The asteroid probably crashed two or three times in the asteroid belt, between Mars and Jupiter,” explained Stephen Hawking. “However, we cannot say with absolute certainty, as it seemed to continue on it's original course.”
“You would have expected the asteroid to be deflected at this point?” Laura queried.
“Yes indeed,” replied Stephen Hawking. “It may be that something travelling at such speed simply knocked anything it came across out of it's path. NASA are currently examining it's movements to see if this was the case.”
“Doesn't that make it seem odd that the NASA Space Shuttle managed to deflect the asteroid in the end?” asked Laura.
“No, because the asteroid had reduced speed by this time,” explained Stephen Hawking. “If the asteroid had continued at 1 million miles per hour, it would have crossed our orbit at a distance of 12 million miles from Earth. Having reduced speed, for whatever reasons, meant that the asteroid took longer to reach Earth's orbit. By this time, Earth was further along it's orbit and much closer to the point at which the asteroid crossed it’s orbit.”
“Will we be able to see this new moon in the evening sky?” Laura asked.
“Yes, but only as a small star,” said Stephen Hawking. “The asteroid is relatively small, only about eight miles in length by two miles wide. It is fairly reflective for an asteroid, though.”
“Do you believe this should be classified as a moon?” asked Laura.
“No,” replied Stephen Hawking. “However, other planets have captured asteroids with irregular shapes which are classified as moons. This will probably be debated at the next International Astronomical Union meeting.”
“Can you give us some idea of what would have happened if the asteroid had collided with Earth?” Laura asked him.
“Earth, as we know it, would have been destroyed,” Stephen Hawking emphasised. “The impact would first have created the energy of a million Hiroshima atomic bombs. This itself would have killed off between 70 and 85% of all life, depending upon where precisely the impact occurred.”
“Could anyone have survived this impact?” asked Laura.
“Possibly people in the Arctic circle may have escaped the very worst, if the asteroid impacted in Antarctica and if they had moved quickly into very deep bunkers beneath the Earth,” explained Stephen Hawking. “However, they will have had to come to the surface for food at some point after. If the intense heat and radiation did not kill them, the after-effects would most certainly have done so.”
Laura asked Stephen Hawking to elaborate on this.
“Dust and radiation would have left a thick smog in the upper atmosphere,” explained Stephen Hawking. “This would have prevented sunlight from reaching Earth, creating an eventual ice age, far worse than those of the past million years. This would have destroyed all but the hardiest of insects and bacteria.”
“At what distance from Earth does the asteroid orbit?” asked Laura.
“Almost 179,000 miles,” said Stephen Hawking. “The speed of the asteroid's orbit is over four times faster than that of the moon, however, which will probably result in the appearance of a small star moving fairly quickly across the night sky.”
“Has the new moon been given a name yet?” Laura asked Stephen Hawking.
“Not yet,” he replied.
“Can you confirm if the Space Shuttle which deflected the asteroid has returned to Earth yet?” asked Laura.
“No,” replied Stephen Hawking. “The Space Shuttle has since docked with the International Space Station. The crew have been instructed to remain there for the time being, until NASA, in association with the European Space Agency and the Russian Space Federation, are satisfied that the asteroid poses no further danger to Earth.”
“Will we see man on the new moon in the near future?” Laura asked Stephen Hawking.
“The European Space Agency are considering a plan to visit the new moon, but that will not be for some time to come,” he replied.
“Professor Stephen Hawking, thank you,” Laura said to him, before referring to the next item.
Professor Schmidt didn't find the next item as inviting. Amidst an announcement that many people had been killed were pictures of men being carried in stretchers, others with cuts, bruises and bleeding all over. There also appeared to be buildings and large metal