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

can go and see her when she gets back.”
Peter duly sent an email, before printing the two images. About an hour later, he received a reply from the Duty Manager, asking him to go to her office. He toook the images with him and showed them to the duty manager, Joanna. She said she would look at them and refer them on if necessary. Peter never heard anymore about the images for the rest of his shift, but on his way home early the next morning, he began to think about them to himself.
What if it was an asteroid, or a comet? What if no-one thought anymore of it? Was if it was heading for Earth? Would it lead to an almighty catastrophe? Could it affect Peter and his family? No, surely not, he then thought.
The same thoughts kept coming in his head, however. He couldn’t shake them off. What if it was something heading for Earth? Could it lead to the end of mankind?

When Peter arrived home, instead of going to bed, he got his book on the universe and read it carefully. He remembered where in the sky he saw the new speck of light, and saw that there was nothing about any stars in the particular area of Cepheus in which he saw the speck. Peter wore himself out reading his book and eventually went to bed. He soon went to sleep.
The next thing he knew was when there seemed to be something bright outside. It was getting brighter all the time, even with the curtains drawn. Then he heard an almighty loud bang, as the windows were shattered with glass flying all over the room. It must have been an explosion? What caused the explosion?
“Oh my God,” he cried. “Was this a nuclear bomb? Who would do such a thing?”
Peter heard some screams outside, so he ran to the window, treading on broken glass, and cutting his toes in the process. He could see houses had been destroyed, whilst disfigured bodies lay all over the place. Those that appeared to be alive were choking and suffocating. No-one was screaming. He was getting more and more worried.
“What’s happened to everyone?” he asked himself. “Where are the Police, the Fire Brigade and ambulances? How long will they take to get there”
Peter began to remember about the odd speck in the sky. Could the explosion have been a massive asteroid, he asked himself. He’d only seen it eight hours ago. It couldn’t be that, could it? He began to sweat as he became hotter and hotter.
“It can’t be, it can’t be,” he cried over and over again. “What on Earth is going to happen to me? What will happen to my family?”
Peter began to tremble and cough, and was now struggling to talk. Then he thought he heard a familiar voice.
“Peter, Peter, are you alright, Peter?” he could hear his wife Kirsty call. “Are you alright? Are you okay?”
Kirsty shook him.
“We’re….. doomed for!” he panted, “we’re… doomed!”
“What’s the matter?” she asked as she switched the bedside lamp on.
“We’re all going to die,” he managed to cry.
“Are you alright, Peter?” Kirsty asked again, as she shook him once more.”
Peter looked up at Kirsty, half-coughing, half-panting. As he looked around in a daze, he noticed one of the curtains were not fully drawn. There didn’t seem to be any explosion, or even of smoke or fire outside. The windows were in their pains. Then he looked at Kirsty.
“Have you had a nightmare?” she asked him.
Peter didn’t say anything. He just looked around, as Richard came into the bedroom, followed by Daniel.
“Is dad alright?” they asked their mother, Kirsty.
“I think he’s had a nightmare,” she told the children. “Stay with your dad for now. I’m going downstairs to make us a cup of tea. I think dad needs a warm drink, and some sleeping tablets.”
“Are you alright dad?” Daniel asked.
“You wouldn’t….” Peter said trying to get his breath back, “want to know.”
As Peter placed his hands over his head, he noticed that there wasn’t any blood hid hands from broken glass.
“It’s not like you to have nightmares very often, dad,” Richard commented. “Are you alright now?”
Peter just nodded his head. He then looked at his feet to check if there was any blood on them. Once again, he noticed there was nothing, not even a bruise or a scratch.
“Did I hear you say we’re doomed?” queried Daniel.
“He’s probably been watching too much Armageddon,” commented Richard. “Or perhaps he’s seen flying saucers.”
“Can I go back to sleep now?” asked Daniel.
“Go on, go on,” Peter told him, before looking at Richard. ”You may as well go back to bed too.”
“Are you sure, dad?” Richard queried. “Will you be okay for work tomorrow?”
“Yeah, I think I’m alright now,” said Peter mumbled.
As Richard went back to his bedroom, Peter relaxed for a little while, until Kirsty came upstairs with some tea. She brought a couple of paracetamols along, too.
“I think you’d better have these,” she told Peter. “They should help you sleep. You’re not due back to work for another fourteen hours, so you may as well get some kip for now.”
Peter took his time and just sipped his tea for a while. Kirsty made sure he took the paracetamols. Peter still wouldn’t lay down, and was reluctant to switch off the light at first. Eventually Peter fell asleep.
The next day, Peter was rather more eager to get to work, a little too eager some motorists might say. He got to the radar station okay however. The first thing he did was check the satellite picture of the same area of the current night sky. The small speck that he had noticed 24 hours earlier, was still there. The next thing he did was to see his duty manager, Joanna.
“Did you look at that speck in Cepheus that I showed you in last night’s picture?” Peter asked her.
“Yes,” she replied. “I’ve referred it further.”
“Look at this,” Peter said, showing Joanna the current picture of the same patch of sky. “The speck is still there.”
“Hhmmm,” she mumbled, thinking what to say next. “Thanks for bringing it to my attention. I’ll refer it again.”
“Have you had any reply about last night’s picture?” Peter asked.
“No, not yet,” said Joanna.
“Can you chase the matter, please,” Peter requested.
“I can’t really chase this,” she told Peter, getting a little fed up. “What is the point of all this?”
“It could be an asteroid, or a comet,” Peter replied. “It could smash into the Earth.”
“Peter, we’re not here to oversee asteroids,” she told him. “I know you like your astronomy, but don’t you think this is taking things a little too far?”
“It could kill us all, wipe us all out,” Peter emphasised.
“How do you know it’s an asteroid, anyway?” said Joanna. “I don’t claim to be an astronomer, but I know there are such things as variable stars. If it was an ‘enemy’ spy-satellite I could put some emphasis on it.”
“Okay, do that then,” Peter proposed.
“Perhaps you’ve forgotten, but the cold war is over,” Joanna told him. “The only other power that might do something like this may be China, and they’re not the old communist state they were, are they?”
“I’ve just got a feeling that this is something big,” Peter re-emphasised.
“Look I’m sorry, but until I have proof that it is what you claim, that’s the end of the matter,” Joanna told him. “Besides, if it is an asteroid heading for Earth, NASA or the European Space Agency may be looking at this right now, in which case we’ll hear about it soon enough.”
“I haven’t heard anything,” commented Peter.
“For heaven’s sake, what’s got into you?” Joanna asked Peter.
“Can I send these to NASA or the European Space Agency?” Peter asked.
“Not from here, you can’t,” Joanna told him in no uncertain terms.
“Can I take the images home, then?” asked Peter. “I can send them from home.”
“You know no-one here is allowed to take any data outside these premises,” Joanna told him.
“I’m not going to send these to some terrorist organisation,” moaned Peter.
“I wouldn’t have thought terrorists would be interested in a speck in the sky,” said Joanna.
“Exactly,” exclaimed Peter. “Please?”
Joanna thought for a moment.
“I won’t tell anyone,” Peter said to her.
“Okay, okay,” she said. “I don’t know anything about this though, do you understand?”
“I understand,” said Peter, who had now cooled down a little. “As far as I’m concerned, I took a picture with my digital camera through my telescope at home. No-one will know any different.”
“Do what you want as long as it doesn’t involve me, or this place,” Joanna told him. “Now get back to work.”
As Peter walked off, Joanna sent an e-mail to his colleagues. Peter’s name wasn’t on the list of addressees, so all the recipients worked out who it was referring to. It read:


When Peter arrived home early next morning, he went straight to his PC again. First he scanned the three pictures onto his PC, and then attached them to an email he sent to NASA, the European Space Agency and the Royal Greenwich Observatory. He thought about searching for the site of the Russian Space Federation, but thought it would take too long. Besides, he didn’t know Russian so couldn’t be certain of the address even if he found it. It may not be worth it as wouldn’t be in their native language, anyway.
Peter was tired, but pleased that he had done his bit for mankind. He was relieved and felt confident that he wouldn’t have the same nightmare as he had 24 hours earlier. Then he heard some footsteps.
“Are you still up?” Kirsty asked him.
“I’m coming to bed now, love,” Peter said to her, as he crept into their bedroom looking forward to a good night’s sleep.
Call Me George

The following morning, at the Royal Greenwich Observatory, one of the astronomers read Peter’s e-mail, and then went to the telescope to closely study the sky around Cepheus. He found the speck Peter had referred to, and checked the records. There was nothing to indicate what this may be, so after noting the data, sent a copy to NASA.
At the same time, a professor at the Guildford offices of the European Space Agency also read the e-mail and double-checked the images sent. He too could not be sure what the small speck could be, and after passing the details to colleagues, also sent a copy to NASA.
Six hours later, at the NASA headquarters in Houston, Texas, Dr Steve de Pierri picked up one of the e-mails. As he read it, he became ever-more curious. Then along came his secretary, who passed the other two e-mails to Steve. He read these too, and passed them to his team to assess.
Later that afternoon, one of his team, Robert Langman, came to his office.
“It’s about those images of a faint object in Cepheus,” Robert said to Steve. “We’ve looked at this, and all the possibilities it could be.”
“Do you have any idea what it may be?” asked Steve.
“It could be a new erupting nova from a distant part of the galaxy, in which case it will diminish in time,” said Robert. “I’m not sure about this though.”
“It can’t be a British aircraft, as it wouldn’t have appeared in the same area two successive nights,” said Steve. “Make sure it’s checked out again this evening.”
“I’ve already asked Mount Wilson observatory to do that,” replied Robert. “Do you think we should send this to the Space Station, and ask