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

them to monitor it?”
“I think we'd better,” agreed Steve. “We can’t be sure what this is, and we can’t rule out an asteroid heading this way. It’s worth a serious look at.”
“Okay, I'll notify the Space Station right away,” replied Robert. “They’ll be in a better position to monitor this from the Space Station. Let’s hope it is a distant nova, or something like that.”
Robert looked at the stars through his telescope that night from his Texas country home, particularly in the region of Cepheus. He noticed the same speck again. Steve also observed the same speck, which had now appeared for the third night in succession. They were both rather curious about this, and next morning, the first thing Robert did when he arrived at NASA HQ was to check for messages from the Space Station. Sure enough, there was one waiting, which read:


Robert showed this to Steve. They now knew what the speck was. When they compared the images of the last three nights, the speck seemed to be a tiny bit brighter. At least they needn’t worry about the asteroid hitting the Earth, and wiping out humanity. Or so they thought.

The next morning, when Robert went to check for any messages from the Space Station, he found the following message:


“Oh my God,” Robert shouted, and quickly contacted Steve, on his mobile while he was driving to work. “I’ve got some very bad news,” he told him.
“Can it wait,” Steve asked.
“Not really - it’s that asteroid,” Robert told him. “It’s heading this way.”
“What?” shrieked Steve. “The crew of the space station said yesterday it was travelling too fast to hit Earth.”
“I know, I know,” replied Robert. “They’ve now refined yesterday’s report.”
Just as Steve was about to reply to Robert, he just noticed he was approaching a red traffic light rather too quickly. He slammed on the brakes. His Chevrolet hit the car in front, as the car behind narrowly avoided smashing into the Chevrolet. Several other vehicles around Steve sounded their horns, and arguments and accusations were being made, mainly against Steve.
“Do we have much time?” Steve asked Robert in all the rumpus.
“They reckon it may hit Earth in January,” warned Robert. “They haven’t given us a specific date yet.”
“Tell Professor Marshall and all the other Team Leaders,” Steve said. “I’ll be there as quick as I can. We may have to hold a meeting.”
As soon as the lights went green, Steve moved quickly into the next lane, overtaking the car in front and then pulling away. Fortunately there was little damage to Steve’s Chevrolet, or the other vehicles. He wasn’t too far from NASA HQ at the time, so did not take long to get there. When he arrived for work, he read the message from the space station.
By now, Robert had notified colleagues and other departments about the message. Professor Frank Marshall contacted the space station, where it was confirmed that the asteroid was heading for Earth’s orbit. January 21st seemed the most likely date. Professor Marshall and Steve discussed what to do next.
“Do we tell the President just yet?” asked Steve.
“I think we’re going to have to,” replied Professor Marshall. “Don’t forget, the space station is manned by Russians as well, and if they know about this, which I should think they do, President Boritzov will be aware.”
“We don’t want to alarm anybody though,” said Steve. “The message only says that the asteroid may be heading this way.”
“I’ve instructed everyone here strictly not to divulge this information,” said Professor Marshall. “The Space Station will continue to monitor the situation and will update us further. If the asteroid does not hit Earth, no-one will be the wiser and we can forget the matter, for now.”
“If this asteroid is bound for Earth, we still have two or three months to prepare for the event,” said Steve. “What do you think would be our best option for such an event?”
“I’m not sure about this one,” said Professor Marshall. “We’ve been preparing Big Bessy, but I don’t think she was designed for such a large asteroid.”
“Do you think the shuttle could blow it up, perhaps from inside, like they did on that film,” suggested Steve.
“That’s something we’re going to have to consider,” said Professor Marshall. “We’ll have to make sure the asteroid is far enough away from Earth so that any fragments don’t end up smashing into us.”
“What is the furthest distance the shuttle can go to?” asked Steve. “It was never designed to go the moon or beyond.”
“I know, and we haven't enough time to build a new rocket,” said Professor Marshall.
“At least we have some time,” said Steve.
“I don’t know if it’s enough to train would-be astronauts for such a mission,” commented Professor Marshall. “If this asteroid is surrounded by as much debris as the one in Armageddon, I’d prefer to consider other options.”
“Such as Big Bessy?” asked Steve.
“Amongst other things, yes,” replied Professor Marshall. “I do have another suggestion, but someone along the line will probably say it’s not an option.”
“Like what?” asked Steve.
“We can’t blow a nuclear bomb in space as it would require oxygen to help fan the explosion,” said Professor Marshall. “We could however, send a space craft, with a nuclear missile inside, and blow it up from within the craft as the asteroid approaches,” said Professor Marshall.
“Sounds good to me,” commented Steve.
“We haven’t tried this with a remote-controlled craft yet, though,” said Professor Marshall.
“No, but we have sent remote-controlled crafts to Mars, Jupiter and beyond,” Steve pointed out. “We detached a smaller craft from Galileo around Saturn and sent it to Titan.”
“I know what you’re saying, but this is no exploration,” said the Professor. “We cannot allow for any small malfunction in this case. Besides, we don’t have a remote-control system for the ‘shuttle. ”
“We can build one into the ‘shuttle,” argued Steve.
“And how long will that take?” queried Professor Marshall. “For something as important as this someone has got to be inside the craft. Do you want to be the one to ask some astronaut to effectively commit suicide?”
“It’s not just for our sakes, though, is it,” said Steve. “It’s for the sake of all mankind.”
“I know, I know,” replied Professor Marshall. “But that’s a decision for someone like the President.”
“I’ll get onto him right away,” said Steve.

In Washington, the president was in the garden of the White House, chewing a few pretzels, when one of his secretaries came along.
“I have a call for you Mr President,” she informed him. “It’s from NASA.”
“Put the line through to my office,” the President told her. “I’d like to speak to NASA in private.”
It didn’t take long for the President to get to his office. As he walked in, he saw Steve on his screen.
“What can I do for you,” the president asked.
“I’m afraid we have a very big problem, sir,” Steve replied.
“I know you’ve had problems with the space shuttle, and I would like to help if I could,” said the president, “but if it’s anything to do with the shuttle, you’ll have to speak to my Chief of Finance.”
“It’s nothing to do with space shuttle, well not directly anyway, sir,” replied Steve, “I’m afraid we’ve had a message from the Space Station which indicates that an asteroid is heading this way.”
“Geeeeee,” gasped the president. “Are you sure about this?”
“I’m afraid so, sir,” said Steve. “The Space Shuttle’ are monitoring the asteroids movements. If there is any further news we’ll let you know.”
“How much time do we have?” asked the president.
“Ten weeks, sir,” said Steve.
“Well at least we have a little time,” commented the President. “Do we have the resources to destroy or deflect the asteroid?”
“We have been preparing for something like this for a while, sir,” Steve informed the President. “We do have some resources in place for such an event, but we haven’t had the opportunity to test them yet, sir.”
“Well, it sounds like you’ve got a perfect opportunity to try them out now,” commented the President.
“The other problem is that this asteroid is larger than what we may have been preparing for, sir,” said Steve.
“How large is this asteroid, exactly?” asked the President. “Have you any idea what damage any impact may have?”
“We believe it to be about eight miles in length. If this thing impacts Earth, we'll all go the way of the dinosaurs, sir,” Steve informed the President.
“Geeee...,” said the President. “I’ll speak to my Secretary for Defence. I'll arrange for him to meet you at NASA HQ as soon as possible. You can all get together to discuss our resources and what to do next.”
“My colleagues are trying to contact the Secretary for Defence and the VP at the moment, sir” said Steve.
“VP?” queried the President.
“Vice President, sir,” explained Steve.
“Oh right, right,” mumbled the President. ”Do you know if Russia or Europe are aware of this?”
“I can't say for certain, sir, but as this was discovered on the International Space Station, I'd guess the Russian President is probably being informed of this right now,” replied Steve. “Do you know if the Russians, Chinese or Europeans have any resources for such an event, sir?”
“I doubt it,” the President replied. “Have you spoken to anyone about this?”
“No, not yet, sir,” replied Steve. “Only a few of us here at NASA are aware of this. We’ve all agreed not to divulge any information relating to this.”
“Good, we don’t want the natives to get excited, do we?” said the President.
Just then, a tune could be heard on the President’s mobile. It was a text message indicating that the Russian President was on another line.
“I've had a call from Moscow, so I'm going to have to go now,” said the President. “I’m going to contact President Borisov, and I’ll let you know if they have any resources to deal with this. In the meantime, keep me informed of any developments.”
The President put one phone down and closed the video-link screen, as he picked up another phone.
“Hi Mr Borisov,” said the President.
“Boritzov, my name is Boritzov,” replied the Russian President, in broken English.
“Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. Sorry about that,” the President said apologetically.
“I hear an asteroid coming for Earth,” Mr Boritzov told the President.
“I’ve just been speaking to my Astronomical team at NASA about this,” replied the President.
“What they say?” asked Mr Boritzov.
“They informed me that this asteroid may hit Earth,” replied the President. “I understand that we have about ten weeks to prepare ourselves for this.”
“Have you informed your people of this?” asked Mr Boritzov.
“Not yet,” replied the President. “This has only recently come to light, and we don’t want to cause any panic, not until we have more information on the asteroid.”
“I agree,” replied Mr Boritzov. “I tell my men not to say anything. You speak to UK Prime Minister, Mr Bear?”
“No not yet,” replied the President. “I’d rather keep Mr Bear out of this for the time being. It’s the European Space Agency’s responsibility to inform him of this. Besides, I don’t want to spread panic.”
“I’m sure Mr Bear say nothing,” said Mr Boritzov.
“It’s not Mr Bear who worries me,” replied the President. “If the European Space Agency inform Mr Bear, there’ll also have to speak to Jacques Challotte. That’s when all hell will break loose.”
“I see what you mean,” said Mr Boritzov. “Do you have ammunition to destroy asteroid if it comes to Earth?”
“I’m going to send my Secretary for Defence, Fred Luddolmans, to NASA,” the President told Mr Boritzov.