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

they have gone to? In addition, they hadn’t taken their mobiles with them. As for Major Retono, it seemed his line was constantly engaged. Surely he couldn’t be on the line to Commander Ondichi all this time?
The sun was now beginning to go down, when there was a knock on the front door. To the Professor’s surprise, it was Lucas and Ramondo.
“Where have you two been all this time?” he asked them. “We were beginning to think you’d been captured, and taken away somewhere for interrogation. On top of that, you both left your mobiles here. And where is the replicator? I suppose you’ve gone and lost it, and been searching the fells for it?”
“No Professor,” said Ramondo. “We’ve just been looking around, in an effort to get to know this place. We even spoke to a few people, not that we came across many.”
“The replicator’s in the car, by the way,” Lucas told Professor Wagstaff.
“Whereabouts in the car?” asked Professor Wagstaff. “The car’s been here all day, and I haven’t seen the replicator. I’ve even looked in the boot and underneath it. Perhaps you’d better show me.”
“It’s not in the car you’re looking at,” Ramondo replied. “It’s in the new one, behind the station.”
Professor Wagstaff looked towards the station and saw another car, identical to the one at the back of the house.
“Have you replicated the car?” Professor Wagstaff asked the lads curiously.
“You could say that,” Lucas replied. “But we’ve also made some improvements to the car,” he added.
Professor Wagstaff was becoming more curious, but as he was about to walk the lads to the car, Gaspar called him over.
“What is it now?” the Professor groaned.
“Major Retono’s on the mobile,” Gaspar replied, as he passed the mobile to the Professor.
“I’ll deal with you two later,” he said to Ramondo and Lucas, before speaking to Major Retono. “Are you okay? I’ve been trying to contact you all day – is something the matter?”
“I’m sorry Professor, but it’s these regulations and requirements,” Major Retono told him. “I need to speak to you urgently about some of them. Professor Schmidt has helped me a little, but he says you’re the man I need to speak to.”
“I’m not really familiar with this stuff myself,” Professor Wagstaff mumbled. “I’ll see if I can help in any way, but I can’t promise anything. Are you coming back here tonight or do you want me to return to the craft?”
“No, no, it can wait for now,” said Major Retono. “I’m tired to say the least, so I’ll see you tomorrow. Tell Lucas to meet me near Selside, where he picked you up, at 9.30 tomorrow morning.”
Lucas and Ramondo then offered to take Professor Wagstaff to the car, but as the sun had now gone down, and the Major wasn’t coming back tonight, he suggested to leave things for the time being, but to ensure the car was in good order, and with a new registration, by the following morning.

Major Retono was bright and alert by the next morning. Lucas went to pick him up, as instructed, in the standard Primera, so as not to make anything obvious to the Major. The number plates had been changed too, so they wouldn’t clash with the modified version. When they arrived back at the house, Major Retono noticed a similar model.
“Did you replicate this car?” he asked Lucas.
“You could say that,” Lucas replied. “With a bit of help from Ramondo. Would you like to have a look at it?”
“Not at this moment,” Major Retono told him. “I have a few concerns I must discuss with Professor Wagstaff.”
“Oh?” said Lucas. “What might they be? Could I help?”
“No, son, I need to sort some legal matters with the Professor,” Major Retono told him. “I think it would be best if you and the others went out and about today. Leave me and the Professor alone.”
“Where shall we go?” asked Lucas.
“That’s up to you,” said the Major who was getting a little agitated. “Why don’t you take a trip on one of those trains. Meet some humans. Come back to me and let me know what you’ve found.”
Major Retono then gave Lucas some money as he opened the door to the house. He then went over to Professor Wagstaff and took him into the next room. The others all looked at each other, wondering what was going on, before Lucas raised his voice.
“I think we’d be best to leave them alone,” he told the others. “Major Retono gave me some money to go on a train. Would any of you like to come with me?”
Most of the others agreed to go along with him, but Ramondo preferred to stay and try out the modified Primera. Zebrina wanted to go along with him, so while the others put some things together to take along, she and Ramondo went to the modified Primera, and before long, had left the premises.
In the house meanwhile, Major Retono was about to raise several queries with Professor Wagstaff.
“My primary concern, of which I have more than a few, is the ownership of this house,” said the Major. “First of all, I was unable to trace precisely who owns, or owned, this place. In trying to do so, however, I found a number of other issues.”
“I have a few concerns myself, which is partly why I wasn’t too keen to come here for reconnaissance,” said Professor Wagstaff.
“The first thing I noticed was that planning permission would be necessary when developing property,” Major Retono stated. “When seeking from whom this planning permission is given by, I found that this is by the local council. Then I found we are liable to pay council tax, and we have to be registered as home-owners. Which led back to the initial question, precisely who owned the property in the first place?”
“Okay, okay, okay, calm down a minute,” Professor Wagstaff advised him. “I’ve made some contingency plans for this. If we go back to the craft I can show you.”
The Major and the Professor then left the house. They noticed that one of the cars had gone.
“I doubt the others could all have fitted into one car,” Professor Wagstaff commented.
“I gave Lucas some money, and suggested to go on one of those trains,” said Major Retono.
“I’ll bet Ramondo took the other car,” said Professor Wagstaff.
“Can he drive that thing?” asked the Major.
“I don’t know,” replied Professor Wagstaff. “Apparently, he helped Lucas create the car yesterday. Perhaps Lucas has gone with him, and gave the money to Gaspar.”
“Hhmmm, possibly,” said Major Retono. “Anyway, I’ve other concerns at the moment. If I’m supposed to go to the local council, what do you think they’d say if I told them my forefathers left this planet 65 million years ago, and I’ve just come back to stake my claim?”
“Don’t worry Major, all will be revealed,” said Professor Wagstaff.
The Professor then told him about his contingency plans on way back to the craft, and that the details were on the computer. As the Major raised further concerns along the way, Professor Wagstaff became a little more concerned himself.
When they arrived back at the craft, he logged into the World Wide Web, and found his way into the records of Upper Ribblesdale District Council.
“If you look here, I’ve registered the house as ‘Ribblehead Cottage, Gauber Road’ in the name of Major Retono,” he quickly showed the Major.
“What about the council tax?” Major Retono queried. “Will I receive an invoice for this? How will I pay for the tax? Can we create money just by using the replicator? Will the council accept the money?”
“Don’t worry,” Professor Wagstaff said to him. “I’ve already registered a payment for this against your records. No-one will notice any problem.”
“How much was this for?” the Major asked, as Professor Wagstaff took the cursor line across the screen to the payment column. “One thousand, five hundred pounds!” he then exclaimed. “Is this paid monthly?”
“No, no, no,” Professor Wagstaff told him. “This is paid once a year, so you won’t have to worry about this for eleven months. Only local rent is paid monthly. As you now officially own Ribblehead Cottage, you don’t have to pay rent.”
“Phew!” said a relieved Major, before something else came to mind. “I’ve noticed that all registered people have at least two names. Perhaps we’d better arrange second names for the others.”
“Hhmm, good point,” muttered Professor Wagstaff. “It had crossed my mind, but I thought I’d better speak to you first. Do you have any names you think may suit the crew, or should we select names at random?”
“Not at this moment,” replied the Major. “I’d prefer to sort out some other matters for now. We can discuss this item later.”

Meanwhile, Ramondo was cruising along in the second car, which unbeknown to Major Retono and Professor Wagstaff had been internally re-modeled. He was quite excited to be ‘let-go’ for once, as was Zebrina, who was in the car with him. They couldn’t go too far, though, as they didn’t have any money with them, so turned back after a while. When they arrived back at soon-to-be-named ‘Ribblehead Cottage’, they found the door locked and no–one inside, so went off for a wander.
As they walked past the entrance to Ribblehead railway station, Ramondo went to see if the Ribblehead Inn, just around the corner, was open. Zebrina, who was following behind, noticed what appeared to be a cave, and called Ramondo over, as she went inside for a look.
Ramondo, however, hadn’t heard her and continued walking towards the Inn. When he found it locked, he went around the back to see if anyone was there, presuming Zebrina was behind him. When he noticed she wasn’t, he called out for her, but to no avail. Where could she be, he wondered?
Zebrina, meanwhile, was searching through the cave, presuming Ramondo was behind her. When she called out for him, however, she heard no reply, only her own echo. But by this time it was too late. Zebrina turned back, but the cave was dark and she couldn’t tell where she was going. She didn’t think it would be too much of a problem to find the entrance, as she hadn’t got too far. Or so she thought?
As Zebrina continued in search of the cave entrance, it became clear that she had become lost. She used the light from her mobile to guide her, but there seemed to be no daylight coming from anywhere. As she continued, she noticed paths converging at a couple of points. Each time, she followed a path it either came to a big drop, or else the cave became smaller and smaller giving her less room to manoeuvre.
Zebrina was now becoming desperate. For a while she sat crying to herself, echoes going around the cave again and again. Zebrina managed to pull herself together, and decided that sitting crying in a dark cave would certainly not help her find the entrance. She felt it would be best to at least follow a path, and so began to search for the entrance again.
As Zebrina continued her search, she eventually noticed what appeared to be light up ahead. As the path became lighter and lighter, she thought that must be the cave entrance ahead. Or was it?
The further she walked, she noticed rays of sunlight beaming downwards. Zebrina became curious, and decided to walk carefully, which was a good job, as she eventually noticed the sunlight was coming from a hole, like the one the craft had landed in. She hadn’t arrived at the cave entrance, but at a pot hole.
“Help!” she cried. “Help me, someone!”
Zebrina sat