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

in close contact with Ramondo.
“This is not the Interstellar Pilgrim,” he told her. “This is another world altogether. I gave strict instructions that all parties are to stay in close contact and to be careful not to lose sight of each-other. So how the hell did you end up going into a cave in the first place?”
“I’m very sorry Major,” Zebrina apologised. “I didn’t mean to get lost, really I didn’t.”
“Well why didn’t you keep in close contact with Ramondo?” Major Retono asked her. “You only had to keep sight of him, but you couldn’t even do that! I’m very disappointed with you, very disappointed indeed.”
Zebrina became very embarrassed, and couldn’t say anything.
“Surely, when you went into the cave you must have called out to Ramondo?” Major Retono queried.
“I, I, think I did,” Zebrina said to him. “I’m not certain, but I think I did.”
“Do you recall hearing Zebrina going into the cave?” Major Retono then asked Ramondo.
“I don’t remember, Major,” he replied. “I don’t recall hearing Zebrina.”
“Well why didn’t you look behind you?” asked Major Retono. “You did look behind you for Zebrina, didn’t you?”
“I can’t remember, Major,” he replied again. “I think I was watching the road, making sure there were no cars coming.”
“You were more interested in going to the Inn, rather than looking out for Zebrina, you mean,” Major Retono accused him.
Ramondo felt this wasn’t so and wanted to deny the accusation, but didn’t want to make an argument with the Major, so said nothing. He thought he’d made the right choice when Major Retono turned to Zebrina again.
“So, why in the cosmos did you proceed in the cave without keeping close attendance with Ramondo?” the Major asked her.
“I thought Ramondo wasn’t far behind me, Major,” she replied. “I really thought he was following me. I did stop and turn back when I couldn’t see him.”
“Well you should have stopped earlier, a lot earlier,” Major Retono told her. “When you did stop and turn back it was too late.”
“I’m sorry Major, it won’t happen again,” she said to him. “I promise. I know I was very fortunate to be rescued, but we did make some new friends in all this.”
“I’m pleased to hear that you made friends with people from Earth,” said Major Retono. “However, I must point out that though people may look and speak the same as us, this is an alien world. It was decided to land here because this seemed a stable and democratic nation. I can assure you that if you had become lost on other parts of Earth, local people would have ignored your pleas, or worse still, taken you in as a slave, or even cut your throat. I have given instructions that we must stay together in groups at all times, and to keep close contact with each other. Do I make myself clear?”
Zebrina nodded her head, trying to hold back her tears and embarrassment. Major Retono stared at Zebrina for a few moments, before he excused her, but told Ramondo to stay seated.
“I didn’t lose myself, Major,” Ramondo then said, as he became a little desperate after Zebrina closed the door to the room.
“No, but you have acknowledged that you could have maintained better contact with Zebrina,” Major Retono said to him.
Again, Ramondo wanted to deny this, but felt he shouldn’t argue with the Major, so said nothing.
“This is beside the point, anyway, as there are other matters I wish to discuss with you,” Major Retono added.
Ramondo was unsure what concerned the Major, and for a few moments considered that it may be complimentary, for making new friends and creating the new car. But then he remembered that Major Retono hadn’t yet seen the new car, so the little excitement he briefly felt soon vanished.
“You were driving a car, weren’t you?” Major Retono asked him, to which Ramondo acknowledged. “Who gave you permission to drive?”
Ramondo was unsure how to reply, so just said he hadn’t thought permission was necessary.
“Didn’t you consider asking me first?” Major Retono then asked, to which Ramondo simply apologised. He stared rather angrily at Ramondo, before saying, “Once again, I find that my authority has been ignored.”
Once again, Ramondo apologised, and added that he would seek the Major’s authority in future.
“We had one car, if I remember correctly?” Major Retono then queried, goading Ramondo to confirm this. “How did you come about the second car? Did you steal it? Did you buy it from your new friends?”
“No, Major,” he replied. “Me and Lucas created it with the replicator.”
Major Retono then called Lucas into the room, to confirm this. He then told them both that he had no objections to them using the replicator, but stipulated that they first needed his authority, and that he should be notified as to what they wished to use it for. Lucas then said that they had created a new car, and re-designed the engine. Ramondo then added that the new friends were very interested in the new car. Lucas was interested in these new friends, and their interest in the new car, as he mumbled and whispered with Ramondo.
“Silence!” Major Retono then shouted at them both, to which they immediately shut up. “I’m interested in this new car of yours. It’s too late to look at it now, but I want you both to show me it in the morning. But above all, I want you both to remember not to ignore my authority in future. Is that clear?”
“Yes Major,” Lucas and Ramondo replied simultaneously, before they were excused.

The next morning, Major Retono went to take a brief look at the car, while Lucas and Ramondo were asleep. He was quietly pleased. However, he wanted a full working description of the car, before giving it his backing. He queried this with Professor Wagstaff, but though he noticed a second car, looking identical to the first, he wasn’t aware of it’s seemingly-digital motor.
A little later, after Lucas and Ramondo had had their breakfasts, Major Retono took them to the car. He also invited Professor Wagstaff along to see things from his perspective, too.
“This car looks identical to the other car which was replicated,” Major Retono said to the lads. “However, the controls look rather different. Can you explain this to me?”
“Well, basically, this is what humans would term a digital car,” Ramondo explained. “Me and Lucas didn’t feel comfortable with the other engine, which had to rely on hydro-carbon fuels.”
“When the fuel-tank had run out of fuel, it would have to be filled up again,” Lucas chipped-in. ”Where were we then supposed to get the fuel from?”
“From a petrol station, maybe,” commented Major Retono.
Lucas and Ramondo looked at each other, mystified.
“The fuel used in these cars is called petrol, and can be found in petrol stations,” explained Professor Wagstaff. “You must have come across some, surely?”
“I don’t know what a petrol station looks like,” said Ramondo.
“To be honest, there don’t appear to be many petrol stations around here, but we’re straying away from the point,” said Major Retono. “We’ve established that this is a digital car, so could you two explain how it runs?”
“The buttons on the steering wheel control the speed at which the car travels at,” said Ramondo. “These are appropriately numbered to match the gears of the other car.”
“The micro-chips beneath the buttons feed to a group of micro-chips on the wheels, via the axel,” explained Lucas. “When you press button 1, it sends a message to the wheels to rotate in first gear, and so on.”
“Something must produce the energy for the micro-chips in the first place?” queried Major Retono.
“That’s the beauty of this car,” said Lucas. “When you turn the ignition key, it sets the engine in motion, which gives enough energy to enrich the micro-chips to send the appropriate messages through the car. As you press the accelerator pedal, I believe, pressure is pushed towards the axel chips, which generate more energy.”
“From there on,” explained Ramondo, “the greater the pressure, the more energy is fed into the micro-chips, and the faster the car can travel. And the faster the car moves, the more energy is fed into the wheel-chips.”
Major Retono and Professor Wagstaff looked at eachother.
“This is only a proto-type, which we developed a few days ago,” said Lucas. “There may be occasions when more pressure needs to be used in a lower gear. We would like to give it a good run, before it’s destroyed.”
“Okay,” said the Major. “You can start by giving Professor Wagstaff and myself a trip in the car this morning.”
“Besides, Richard, the man I was with last night, wants to have a closer look at the car,” Ramondo added.
“Well you can take the first journey,” Major Retono said to him. “If you’re careful enough, I may have something for you.”
“Is there anywhere you’d like to go, sir?” Ramondo asked the Major.
“Not particularly,” Major Retono replied. “I’ll leave that decision to you.”
Ramondo’s first thoughts were to follow his course from the previous night, towards Dentdale. Along the journey, however, Major Retono told him to take the right hand exit at a small country junction. This wasn’t the route Ramondo had intended to go down. As Ramondo continued, the gradient became steeper and steeper. The car stuttered a few times, as Ramondo had to press hard on the accelerator and amend the gears.
As he drove on ever upwards, twisting and turning, Ramondo saw what seemed to be the railway line and then noticed a train station. He hoped this was the end of the gradient, but then noticed that the road continued over the railway line. Ramondo was becoming worried, but kept his nerve, as he believed the most important thing was to impress the Major.
The gradient soon eased again, and so Ramondo pressed button 3 on the steering wheel. As he was about to press button number 4, however, he could see the road was now heading downhill. As he twisted and turned a couple of times, he noticed the valley down below. Once again, he wasn’t too sure of himself but held his nerve, using the brake pedal to assist along the journey. He noticed the railway line again, and went over another bridge, before noticing another station, and the valley a lot nearer. Ramondo’s tension eased as he saw the main road ahead.
Major Retono ordered him to turn right. Ramondo stopped and looked left and right. After letting a large vehicle pass, he looked each way again, and when he was sure there was no traffic on the main road, he turned right.
“I don’t fancy going along that road again, do you?” Professor Wagstaff commented to Major Retono, who nodded his head but said nothing.
As Ramondo drove along this main road, he had to change gear a couple of times, but the gradients were nowhere near as bad as on the road they had just come off. He noticed signs suggesting they were heading for the village of Hawes, where signs from the Ribblehead road also pointed. It was here that the Major ordered Ramondo to follow the roads to Ribblehead cottage.
When they arrived back home, Major Retono took Ramondo and Lucas to the private room.
“Now, you may be wondering what I’ve called you in here for,” Major Retono told them. “Well, don’t worry at this moment, because I’ve already given you both a stern warning.”
Lucas and Ramondo looked at each other, wondering what the Major was going to say next. Instead he handed them a small card. They each noticed a small photo of them on the card, but with the name of Raymond