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

further north they headed, the more clouds came into focus.
By the time they had exited the motorway, the sebometer had gone below the half-way point. The drive for the next ten miles or so was relatively easy-going, until they got closer to Ullswater. By now, much of the sky had cleared. It was on the lakeside that they agreed to take a halt, at a pub beside the lake. Ramondo didn’t parked the car near trees and bushes to give the car some shade, but in the open instead, in order to obtain the maximum sunlight. Henry and Ramondo then had an outdoor lunch with a few pints of beer to go with it.
"Don't you just like it here?" Henry asked Ramondo, as he watched the paddle steamer sailing across the lake towards it's terminus nearby.
"It is relaxing," he replied. “I like the Yorkshire Dales, too."
"The scenery's beautiful, don't you think?" said Henry. "Much better than staring into outer space, coupled-up in a mobile asteroid. I could stay here for hours."
"I couldn’t agree more,” admitted Ramondo, as he picked his mobile out of a pocket, and noticed the time. “It's gone 1 o'clock, perhaps we ought to get a move-on?"
Henry looked at his watch.
"Ohhhhh," he moaned. "I don't want to go, but I suppose you're right. You don’t mind taking a few pictures while we’re here?”
Henry then went to stand beside the pub, while Ramondo caught him in the viewfinder of his mobile, before taking the photo. He also took another of Henry beside Ullswater, and gave the mobile to Henry to take a photo of himself.
“Let’s get going,” Henry then instructed, before asking for the car keys. “I'll take over the wheel from here."
When they got back to the car, they found it was hot inside, so had to stand outside for a few moments, while they left the doors open to give the car some fresh air.
As Henry drove along the lakeside, he seemed to be more interested in plodding along, looking at the mountains in the distance. Ramondo noticed this, and suggested to do the driving instead. Henry acknowledged this, and stopped in a car park near the head of Ullswater, where they changed seats again. Henry could now admire the scenery without compromising the driving.
The road was fine, though a little windy in places, until they got to the foot of the Kirkstone pass, where the gradient increased. As the road became steeper and steeper, Ramondo had to change gears, though the car went a fair way in fourth'.
“Take the next turning on the right,” Henry instructed Ramondo. “It should come into view just beyond the crest of the pass.”
Ramondo soon saw the road, and after he took the right-hand fork, thought he could relax a little. He left the gear in neutral and let the car roll down hill, but the road was steep, and he had to brake just to ensure the car didn’t roll out of control. He pressed even harder when approaching sharp bends on the pass. When they got to the bottom, he asked Henry how much further he wanted to go.
“Are you fed up?” Henry asked him.
“Just a little,” said Ramondo. “My legs are a bit worn out driving up and down those roads. You don’t mind if we have a rest?”
“Okay,” agreed Henry. “We’re in the small town of Ambleside, now. You can pull over when we find a good place to park. At least we know the brakes are working!”
Ramondo pulled over into a parking space, once again in the full glare of the sun, before he and Henry exchanged seats.
“What do you think of the car overall?” Henry then asked him.
“Generally, I thought it was fine,” said Ramondo. “It performed well. I think I got up to 95 miles per hour, but it could have done a fair bit more. Do you think I should have driven it a bit faster?”
“I think 95’ was enough for the moment,” Henry told him. “I don’t fancy trying to go any faster at this time – we don’t want the police checking us up on this car.”
“The brakes worked well – I proved that five minutes ago!” said Ramondo. “The sebometer is about where it started this morning.”
“Excellent!” said Henry. “That means we’ve done over 100 miles without using any energy, effectively. You don’t seem very impressed or excited, though?”
“I think it’s an excellent car, and can’t really fault it,” said Ramondo. “I think it would be perfect for driving across the Sahara desert, if there was a motorway across it, but I doubt this is the sort of thing which will catch on in this country. We don’t get enough sunshine.”
“I didn’t design this model for the UK,” Henry then pointed out.
“Oh??” Ramondo said with some surprise. “Is this for Professor Wagstaff – I remember he kept saying how good the weather was in Tenerife.”
“Not exactly,” said Henry. “I don’t think I should say too much more for the time being. Besides, perhaps we should get a move on.”
”Where are we going now?” asked Ramondo. “Haven’t we done enough testing for today, we’ve covered over 100 miles.”
“You’re not very enthusiastic about this car,” Henry then commented.
“It’s not that I’m not enthusiastic about it. I just don’t want to get caught on the top of Hardknott pass with the mist coming down over us,” Ramondo explained.
“I just wish you’d be a bit more positive about this car,” Henry said to him. “There’s still plenty of energy left. In fact it’s increasing slightly every minute we talk. If you’ve got any concerns, let me know now.”
“If this car is not for the UK, I haven’t any concerns about it,” said Ramondo.
“Good!” said Henry. “If you do get any concerns, or recall anything odd about this morning’s journey, let me know.”
Henry then signalled to move off, looked in his mirror, out of his window and at his mirror again, before driving off. This time he drove another mountain pass, and then went down a long winding valley towards the coast. The clouds had by now taken over the sky, though the sun still came out between them from time to time. Henry then turned back onto the main road leading to the motorway. As the road also led directly to Ingleton, he eventually bypassed the M6, and drove home.

The weather for the next day was similar to that of the previous two, except that there were a few more clouds lurking about in the sky. It was warm, eventually to turn humid, and by the time Henry and Ramondo set off for Skipton, the sebometer on the car was above the three quarter mark.
Just before they got to Skipton, Henry contacted Madaly at the company premises, where he requested the gates be opened for their arrival. He invited Lucas to come along with him this time, to test drive the solar car, and instructed Ramondo to stay with Madaly for the day.
Henry then drove out to test the car, and proceeded towards the A1(M), where he could test the speed of the car again. Eventually, when they approached Wearside, he turned off the motorway and into the rural valley, where the roads were fine at first. The further they proceded, however, the smaller the roads became. The roads were rather bumpy, too, as they headed for the upper part of the valley.
When they stopped for lunch, Henry asked Lucas his views of the car's performance, which were basically the same as what Ramondo had said the previous day. Lucas also said that the suspension was in good order, after the number of bumps they had endured.
Lucas then took hold of the steering wheel on their journey back, which took them over a high moorland pass, before proceeding down the Tees valley, and then towards another dual carriageway. They ended the day with a drink at the highest pub in England, at Tan Hill.
When they arrived back at the Major Motors premises in Skipton, Henry called for Ramondo, and took him and Lucas to the meeting room. There, they discussed the solar car, it's benefits, and anything which may be improved. Henry then suggested that another, auxiliary battery would be very useful, as this could store more energy for the SEB, and could be used if ever the SEB ran out of energy. Lucas and Ramondo agreed with this, after which they discussed where this could be fitted and how large it should be.

The weather began to turn the next day, but Henry decided to test the solar car again. This time though, it was only for a few relatively-brief journeys, to get an idea of how many miles the car could cover, what was the most economical speed, and precisely how much energy was required on gradients.
Meanwhile, back at Major Motors, Ramondo and Lucas were discussing where to fit the new additional SEB, or in this case, as they named it, a SAB (Solar Auxiliary Battery). They discussed where to fit the SAB to the solar car, and how large it should be.
"The most obvious place would be within the roof compartment," suggested Ramondo.
"But that would reduce the space behind the sunroof for the SEB, and for the heat to be absorbed," Lucas pointed out. "How about at the back of the car?"
"Behind the seats, or at the back of the boot?" Ramondo queried. "That would reduce the size of the boot, which isn't very big anyway."
"Yes, but do you really think someone using a two-seater sports car would need to carry four suitcases with them?" Lucas commented.
"Not really," said Ramondo. "Wouldn't it be odd to put the SAB at the back of the car, though - we'd have to implement long connections to the SEB."
"How about if we put the engine in the boot instead?" suggested Lucas.
"We may have to make the boot bigger, and amend the whole model," replied Ramondo. "Besides, whoever heard of putting an engine in the boot?"
"It's been done before," Lucas pointed out. "Back in the sixties, or maybe earlier, the Volkswagen Beetle had it's engine in the boot. They were still being built thirty years later. There may even be some still around."
"Perhaps we could fit the SAB into the bonnet," Ramondo suggested.
"Possible, but we'd have to re-design the whole engine all over again," said Lucas. "Why don't we call the Major, see what he has to say?"
"I don't think he wants to be contacted today," Ramondo told him. "He's driving, testing the new car again."
"What!?" said a surprised Lucas. "The weather ain't up to much - he'll never get far today."
"He was only going locally, to drive the car 'til all the energy has been used up, to get an idea of how economical it is," explained Ramondo.
"You can't get a car more economical," said Lucas.
"Apparently, he wants to see how many miles it can do and at what speeds," said Ramondo. "Do you have the car's technical details on computer?"
"Yes," replied Lucas.
"Why don't we each have a look at what we can come up with, and we can look at them together for lunch," suggested Ramondo.
"Or tea," said Lucas.
The two of them each went to study the data on file, and assessed what they could move around in the car. Ramondo went to use the PC in Henry's office. While he was looking at the dimensions of the car, he thought about the using the roof of the car again. He 'placed' SAB in the front of the roof compartment, while the SEB was left behind the sunroof, looked at it all over and assessed how