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

down and sobbed, particularly after she noticed how deep the pot hole was. Then, to her astonishment, she heard someone call out “Hello, is someone down there?” Zebrina stood up and cried out for help again.
“Where are you?” she then heard the voice call.
“I’m at the end of a path that leads into this big hole,” Zebrina replied. “I wandered into the cave and became lost. Can you help me, please?”
Zebrina became anxious, awaiting a reply. For a few minutes, but what seemed like an hour, she thought that was it. And all the time, the sunlight was decreasing.
“Okay, I’m coming to get you,” she then heard a voice call. “Stay where you are - don’t move.”
Zebrina wanted to jump for joy, if only the cave was high enough, before hearing a voice query “Are you alright?”
“Yes, yes, I’m fine,” she shouted back. “I promise I won’t go anywhere.”
As the person abseiled down the pot hole, he kept in contact with Zebrina. It seemed a long while before the voice could actually be identified, but while the light still shone into the pot hole, the man appeared ahead.
“I’m here, I’m here,” Zebrina shouted to him.
As the man shone his torch towards a gap in the pot-hole-walls, he saw Zebrina, waiving and calling to him.
The man then called to her, to which Zebrina replied to say she could see him. He then asked his colleagues for more leverage of the rope, before he swung into the cave.
“Are you alright?” he asked Zebrina.
“Physically I’m okay,” she replied, though it was obvious she was a nervous wreck.
“I’m going to put this rope around you, and hook it together with me, for safety,” he told her. “My friends up above are going to winch us up. You don’t need to do anything, just keep hold of me tightly. I’ll make sure everything’s fine.”
After he checked that they were both fastened safely to the rope, he called to his colleagues above to pull them up. It seemed an eternity as they were being winched up, but before the sun had gone down, they were back on terra firma. She hugged the man who had picked her up, and thanked his colleagues. The men were in a hurry to get home, however, but as they walked down the fell to the car park Zebrina introduced herself. They had offered to give her a lift home, but unfortunately, they only had one car between them and so there wasn’t enough room to pick up Zebrina.
“Don’t worry,” she said to the lads, “I’ll call my boyfriend to come and pick me up.”
While Zebrina was calling Ramondo on her mobile, the lads decided that one of them should stay back with Zebrina until Ramondo arrived, and by the time she came off her mobile, most of the lads waived farewell to her before driving off. Zebrina then turned to the lad who remained to guard her.
“I never really had a chance to ask you your name?” she then said to him.
“My name’s Richard,” the lad replied. “Richard Copeland. I reckon your boyfriend’s a lucky lad.”
“Oh, why’s that?” Zebrina queried, unaware of what Richard was eluding to.
“To have a girlfriend like you,” he replied.
As Zebrina blushed, Richard put his arms around her. For a few seconds they looked into each other’s eyes, before Zebrina’s mobile sounded. It was Ramondo, asking where precisely she was. Zebrina then handed her mobile to Richard, who could better describe where they were. He then went to the roadside, and shone his torch to indicate their position. A few minutes later, a Nissan Primera pulled up in the car park.
“Zebrina, where the hell did you get to?” Ramondo asked her.
“Never mind, I’ll tell you later,” she replied. “Can you take us back to Ribblehead station, quickly - Richard has a train to catch.”
“Do you have far to travel?” Ramondo asked Richard.
“Not really. My mates have all gone home now, while I was looking after, this nice young lady,” Richard replied, before turning to Zebrina. “What is your name, by the way?”
“Zebrina,” she replied, before introducing Ramondo.
Introductions now over, they then got into the car. As they approached the station however, they saw a train crossing Ribblehead viaduct, on it’s way to Carlisle.
“It looks like I’ve missed the last train,” Richard said to Ramondo and Zebrina. “You wouldn’t mind taking me home, would you?”
“No, that’s no problem,” said Ramondo. “That’s the least we could do, from what I’ve heard. I don’t really know my way around these parts, though, so you’ll probably have to direct me.”
Ramondo then pulled over and suggested Richard sit in the front of the car, while Zebrina rang Major Retono, who was by now back at Ribblehead Cottage. Then, as Ramondo drove off, Richard became curious when he looked at the wheel and dashboard of the car.
“Where did you get this from?” he asked. “I’ve not seen anything like it before. Is it the latest model?”
“I actually developed this with a friend of mine,” Ramondo told him.
“Is this an automatic?” Richard then asked. “I see you haven’t got a gearstick.”
“That thing between the front seats, you mean?” Ramondo queried. “We got rid of that. We developed a better way of controlling the gears. You see these buttons on the steering wheel – I find them a lot easier to handle.”
Richard was becoming more and more curious, and asked how the buttons changed the gears of the car.
“Oh they’re controlled by micro-thingamyjigs,” explained Ramondo. “There’s one for each of these buttons, which sends a message to other whatchamicallits attached to the front wheels. Between them, they determine the speed of this car.”
“Micro-chips,” said Richard, “You mean micro-chips, don’t you?”
“Yeah, that’s them,” Ramondo replied. “Sorry if I don’t sound too sure about things, but I’m not from around here.”
Richard said he understood, but was more curious about the car than ever.
“Does this car run on petrol or diesel?” he then asked.
“You mean that old, dirty hydro-carbon fuel?” queried Ramondo.
“Yeah, that’s it,” Richard laughed. ”Does this car run on fuel?”
“No,” said Ramondo. ”That was another thing we got rid of. This car still has a big battery in the engine, but that’s now used to power the micro-chips. I prefer this as it saves fuel. Plus it doesn’t cost anything to run.”
“Except for the maintenance, I suppose,” queried Richard.
“Oh yeah, it still needs to be maintained,” said Ramondo. “Me and my mate haven’t yet designed anything that doesn’t require regular maintenance. Where did you say you were going?”
“Gawthrop,” said Richard. “It’s a small village a little further down the valley. I’ll let you know when we get there.”
Richard then contacted his friends to let them know he was okay. He told them not to wait at Dent station for him, or to drive back to Ribblehead to pick him up, as he was being taken home. As they continued the journey, Zebrina and Ramondo were very happy to be talking to someone from another world, and were pleased to have struck up a new friendship. Richard, too, was pleased to make new friends, but was more fascinated by the car.
“Have you patented this car yet?” he then asked Ramondo, who was unsure of what to say. “Have you sold you’re design to anyone yet?”
“No, not yet,” Ramondo replied, still a little unsure. “We only just designed this yesterday.”
“Well, I tell you what, how would you like me to help you,” Richard said to him. “My dad works for the military. I’m sure he could point you in the right direction. Speaking of which, take the next left turn. My home is a just a little further on.”
Ramondo almost missed the turning, but fortunately there were no other vehicles coming in the opposite direction, and he managed to turn quickly.
“I see you don’t have to slow down too much prior to turning,” Richard commented. “You’ll have to show me this car some other time. I think it’s marvelous, just what the world needs right now. ”
Richard then asked Ramondo to pull over, as they arrived outside his home. He then gave Ramondo his mobile number. Ramondo gave his mobile number, but to Richard, it seemed very odd, not the usual eleven-digit ‘07’ number, but just a five digit number instead. Richard queried this but Ramondo suggested Richard dial the number, and to his astonishment, Ramondo’s mobile rang. Richard then asked Ramondo and Zebrina where they were from, but they were unsure of what to say. In the end, when Richard asked if they were Spanish, Ramondo and Zebrina each said yes. Just then, the front door of the house opened.
“Is that you Richard?” queried his father, Peter, before walking up to the gate, where he noticed it was indeed Richard with some new friends. Ramondo and Zebrina greeted Peter, who invited them inside.
“Thanks, but I think we’d better be getting home ourselves,” said Zebrina. “We’ve had a long day, to say the least.”
“Where are you staying?” asked Peter. “Do you have far to go?”
“Ribblehead,” Ramondo replied. “I’m not used to this region, but I think I know my way home.”
“That’s not too far. I can drive there, if you like,” Peter suggested. “You can follow me in your car.”
Ramondo and Zebrina weren’t too sure whether to accept the offer, but said thank you all the same, before waving farewell. Richard then told his father about the car he had traveled in. Peter was unsure at first, but became more and more intrigued the more Richard talked about it.
“I’ll tell you what, son,” he said to Richard, as he closed the front door of the house. “Why don’t you invite them along this weekend, so I can see if the car’s as good as you claim it to be.”

Meanwhile, as Ramondo drove home, Zebrina contacted Major Retono, who had by now sorted his concerns with Professor Wagstaff and was back at Ribblehead Cottage.
Where the hell have you been?” he demanded to know. “Lucas and Madaly are out driving around in case you two lost your bearings, and Gaspar and Frickas are wandering the fells in search of you as well.”
“We’re very sorry, Major,” she apologised. ”I got lost in a cave and someone saved me. He missed his train, so we took him home. We wanted to contact you earlier, but we weren’t sure whether to do so while the lad was in the car. That’s why I’ve contacted you now as soon as we took him home.”
“Whereabouts are you at the moment?” Major Retono asked. “Not to far away, I hope.”
“No, we haven’t got far to go, Major,” Zebrina informed him. “We’re just going under a railway viaduct, not the big one at Ribblehead, the next viaduct along, I think.”
“Okay, well get here soon,” the Major told her. “I’m going to call the search parties to return home. I’ll speak to you and Ramondo later.”
When Ramondo and Zebrina arrived back at Ribblehead Cottage, they noticed a similar car pull into the drive. It was Lucas and Madaly, who were just pleased to see that their colleagues were fine. The four of them all went inside together, where Major Retono was waiting for them. Ramondo and Zebrina knew they were in trouble, as the Major stared at them angrily, before taking them upstairs and into a quiet room to get some privacy.
Though Major Retono was usually a mild-mannered man, he was not the sort of man you would want to cross. First of all, he let them explain everything that had happened, before he spoke severely to Zebrina, firstly for getting lost and not keeping