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

/> Back in the United Kingdom, meanwhile, Henry, formerly Major, Retono was becoming a bit of a businessman. He had made agreements with three local scrap yards, near Kendal, Richmond and Skipton, where he picked-up written-off vehicles. From there, his team replicated the original vehicle designs to similar digital models, afterwhich Henry sold them. This earned him and his team a good living, but he was frustrated that the digital models didn’t catch on in the way he had hoped.
Even with the help and advice of Peter and Richard Copeland, things had hardly got off the ground. Though Henry was selling the digital vehicles, no-one ever came back to complain about them, and those that did return only came to praise their purchases. It just needed stronger backing.
It was at this point when Professor Wagstaff noticed a vacancy for an Astronomer with the European Space Agency on the internet. It sounded rather exciting, and would be located in the Canary Islands, which was a big plus to the Professor. He spoke to Henry about this, who agreed that though the Professor was a special member of his team, he wouldn’t stop in his way.
Shortly before Christmas 2007, Professor Wagstaff received an invitation to attend an interview for the position, entitled Professor of Planetary Studies. The interview was in Paris in early 2008. The Professor was rather excited at this, and felt well-suited to the position, as he had been studying planets for many, many years. Not your average Mars or Neptune, mind you, but planets in other solar systems, far, far away.
As the interview drew closer, Professor Wagstaff considered how to perform at the interview. He had never sat in on such an interview on Earth before. He knew about many planets, including a few where members of the Interstellar Pilgrim had originated. He couldn’t afford to indicate this at the interview, otherwise he may be laughed off the Earth at claiming to be from another world. Or worse still, he may be victimised, locked up or murdered. This would probably jeopardise Henry’s team, so Professor Wagstaff agreed to avoid stating where he had come from, and put together a more feasible alternative. It was a good job too.
Professor Wagstaff searched maps of Paris on the internet, and together with the directions provided to him, had little difficulty finding out precisely where he was to report to. He had learnt to speak French, too, so he could ask for help when he arrived in Paris. Professor Wagstaff was all ready for the interview, combing his hair (or what little he had left of it!) and gargling some mouthwash before was called in.
“Hello,” a tall man said to him in a Dutch accent before shaking his hand as he walked into the office. “You must be Professor Wagstaff. ‘Pleased to meet you. My name is Rob van Hennigem.”
Professor Wagstaff smiled, said hello and shook his hand.
“I am the Director of Development for the European Space Agency,” he said to Professor Wagstaff, as he took him to his seat and to two other members of the interviewing panel. “These are my colleagues, Francois le Rocheteaux, Managing Director, and Dermot O’Hagan, our new Director of Development.”
Professor Wagstaff shook their hands to before sitting down.
“Professor Wagstaff, can you tell us a little about yourself, as nobody within the European Space Agency had ever heard of you before,” asked Rob van Hennigem.
“Well, I studied at Bedfordshire Medical College, which is now defunct,” explained Professor Wagstaff. “When I was there, all records were on paper and kept in files. The college was burned in 1986, after I had left, so you may not have been able to get hold of my records.”
“And where have you been since then?” asked Rob van Hennigem.
“After I completed my medical degree in 1982, I decided to go abroad, due to problems with the doctors and nurses in the NHS,” said Professor Wagstaff. “I first went to help the poor and starving people of Ethiopia, before Bob Geldof came along. After aid began to arrive I continued my assistance as best I could, before moving to neighbouring Sudan.”
“And what did you do there?” asked Rob van Hennigem.
“I was always interested in Astronomy, and in Africa I saw a lot more of the night sky than in European cities,” Professor Wagstaff explained. “I took up a position as Lecturer of Astronomy at Khartoum University, and from there became a professor.”
“And what made you leave Sudan?” asked Rob van Hennigem.
“I did not like the current regime,” replied Professor Wagstaff. “I took part in demonstrations, afterwhich I became persecuted, so moved on to help the people of the west of the country. Following recent events, I decided to leave altogether, and have been staying with a friend in Yorkshire.”
Professor Wagstaff smiled at the panel, with all ‘the force’ of Luke Skywalker and Ben Kenobe, though without giving any instructions. The three members of the panel simply continued the interview, unaware that they had been ‘mentally instructed’ to appoint Professor Wagstaff, as they asked about his views of the cosmos, and particularly planets.
“I know there are other planets out there which hold life,” he stated to the panel, before realising what he had said.
“You sound very certain about that,” Dermot O’Hagan queried.
“I am convinced there are many similar planets in our galaxy, located in Earth-like positions,” replied Professor Wagstaff. “As to whether they hold life, and what forms of life they may hold, is another matter.”
“If you are certain of this, would you know where to look for such planets?” asked Dermot.
“I believe they are everywhere in the galaxy,” replied Professor Wagstaff. “My main aim is to develop a technique which can detect such planets.”
“Do you believe we can develop space probes which can travel to such distant locations?” asked Rob van Hennigem.
“I believe we will do so one day,” said Professor Wagstaff. “It may not be for a hundred years, or a thousand years even, but space travel will be conquered.”
“Do you have any ideas how this may be done?” asked Francois le Rocheteaux.
“I believe it will be possible to create nuclear fusion, and develop crafts which operate under similar techniques to the sun,” Professor Wagstaff replied. “We must first recognise how we can recycle waste products, particularly carbon dioxide and methane. Humans can split atoms, so we must develop a safe way in which to split carbon from oxygen, and from hydrogen. Oxygen can be recycled as air we breathe, and carbon can be recycled into many forms.”
“And how about hydrogen?” asked Francois le Rocheteaux.
“That’s where nuclear fusion comes in,” said Professor Wagstaff. “If we can fuse the recycled hydrogen to become helium, in the same way as the stars, we can create super energy for space travel. We may be able to travel at light speed.”
“Do you have any ideas how we can create safe nuclear fusion?” asked Dermot.
“I believe there are ways, which I am not prepared to divulge at this present moment,” replied Professor Wagstaff. “We have the technology to do many things – we just require the leaders of the world to listen to us, before they end up destroying the planet.”
“We all echo your sentiments,” Francois le Rocheteaux said to him, as the other two members of the panel nodded in agreement.
“Only a few months ago, some friends of mine developed a digital car,” said Professor Wagstaff. “In fact I have one myself. It’s every bit as good as a normal petrol car, but doesn’t produce pollutants.”
“Do you have it with you at this moment?” asked Dermot.
“I didn’t take it with me, if that’s what you mean,” the Professor queried. “I came on the Eurostar from Leeds. One of them runs each day.”
The three members of the interviewing panel were very pleased with Professor Wagstaff, so much so that his history, or rather lack of verifiable history, seemed to be forgotten. They were particularly impressed with his positive visions and ideas, so much so that they may have appointed him to the position even without ‘the force’.

Back in England, Henry Retono and the others were becoming rather frustrated at the lack of recognition of the digital car. It had so many benefits, he wondered how such an invention could be ignored. Professor Wagstaff had earlier written to a Chinese motor manufacturer, as he could decipher Chinese. A reply was later received, in Chinese, but by this time Professor Wagstaff was no longer there. Henry had to go back to square one, and write to the Chinese motor manufacturer himself, this time in English.
Peter Copeland had also emailed managers at both Nissan in Sunderland and Toyota in Swindon, but received no reply from either plant. Peter then wrote to the respective plants. While they waited for a reply, he explained to Henry that things take time in the United Kingdom, and emphasised how long it took Wembley and the Millennium Dome to be constructed. Richard then suggested writing to Jeremy Clarkson from the TV programme Top Gear. To everyone’s surprise, they received a letter indicating that they would consider looking at the digital cars in a green edition at the end of the series. This wasn’t until the end of that year, 2008.
Henry Retono decided that it may be best not to wait for big business to come to him, but to develop a motor manufacturing company of his own instead. It wouldn’t take a lot to produce a new vehicle with a replicator, which by now he and his team had a dozen of. What was required was a totally new car design.
With the help of Ramondo, Alan, who requested to be known as Lucas, and the rest of his team, they settled on a new design. Henry had made deals with several scrap yards, bought a group of four lorries in which to carry written-off vehicles, and was about to purchase a large, old building in Skipton that looked like something from the industrial revolution, in which to use as a manufacturing base. Then he received a letter from the DVLA, ordering that no further digital vehicles be produced until they had been fully examined, tested and authorised to be driven on the roads of the United Kingdom. Though this seemed a setback at first, as plans had to be put on hold, Henry realised that perhaps this was an opportunity to advertise the digital vehicles.


The Vanishing Moon

Professor Wagstaff seemed to fit the bill of an old English boffin perfectly, a short man with white hair surrounding a large, balding forehead and with an eccentric English accent to match. He could also speak Spanish, which came in very useful as he was now stationed on the island of La Palma, which was not too far from Lanzarote, where he wanted to settle all along.
To underline his earlier claim, he brought his digital car along with him. He found the car very good at climbing the gradients of the volcanic island of La Palma, and on the neighbouring island of Tenerife, where another high observatory was situated.
He knew where there were Earth-like planets in the galaxy, which had supported life. Indeed, he had been on a few of them himself. He had to find a way in which to detect small planets close to their stars, in order to prove that they existed. He considered a few different techniques, but in the end, he simply focused on certain stars. He magnified their images many times over on a daily basis. He knew that while in front of the star, the planets would be ‘smothered’ by the star’s luminosity. He considered, however, that the light would be bright enough to reflect tiny images when