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

/> "Oh, just ensuring we have our full resources," she replied cheekily, before she went to kiss him.
"Spending my cash, more like it!" commented Frank, before he introduced her and Mary to his friends, and vice versa. "Mary's the wife of a good friend of mine, Clint, whom some of you may already know."
As they talked briefly, Arthur asked Mary where Clint was.
"Oh, he's gone to Houston to see some buddies at NASA, I think," she told him. "I know one of them was recuperating in hospital."
"Do you know the chap's name, off hand?" asked Arthur.
"Steve something or other," said Mary
"Steve di Pierri?" queried Frank, who overheard the conversation.
"Yes, that's the fellow," she replied.
"Well if you hear from Clint, tell him to say hello to Steve for me, thanks," said Frank.
"Sorry to disturb you, fellas’, but Mary and I have some more resources to get," Jeanette then said to them, before her and Mary waved goodbye to the men.
Arthur noted that Clint had gone to visit Steve, while Frank and Dermot didn't think any more about it. Henry didn't know Steve, so thought nothing more of it, either. After lunch, Henry took Dermot in the solar sports car. Dermot even had a hand at the wheel for a while, and he too was impressed with it. They agreed that the project was now ready to go, and that they would leave for Sacramento, state capital of California, the following day.

Arthur and Henry drove to Frank's on Wednesday morning. They stayed for a coffee, and a brief chat, before Henry gave Frank the keys of the solar car, and let him lead them to the main highway outside Colorado Springs. Henry and Frank shared the driving in the solar sports car, as did Arthur and Dermot in the digital car. They didn't rush the journey, which was partly across country, but still made good progress, spending the night at a highway motel.
They made good progress again the following day, and when they crossed into California in the afternoon, Frank contacted the State Governor's office to confirm they would be there to meet the Governor the next morning. Again, they spent the night at a highway motel, this time just outside Sacramento.
The following morning, they drove to State Hall in the centre of the city, where they met a couple of the state Governor's agents.
"Good Morning, I'm Joe Goldstein, Transport Engineer for the state of California," he said to the four of them. "You must be the guys that have come here to meet the State Governor?"
"Yes, thank you," Frank said to him, before introducing Arthur, Henry and Dermot. Mr Goldstein then introduced a local businessman, Mr Gary Armstrong, who was standing beside him.
“Will the Governor of California be coming here later?” asked Arthur.
“I’m afraid he had some urgent business to attend, and asked us to represent him instead,” said Mr Goldstein. “I understand that you have a proposition?”
“We have two vehicles which we believe will revolutionise the transport of today,” Frank told them.
“We have two automobiles which are not dependant on gasoline, but use other, greener, non-polluting fuels,” Henry added.
“As we understand it, the Governor of California is very keen on green issues, am I correct?” Frank then queried.
“Yes, indeed, the current Governor of the state of California is keen on environmental issues, and wishes to avoid further-polluting the planet,” Mr Goldstein confirmed. “However, can you clarify how these automobiles can benefit the state of California?”
“If we can produce vehicles like the ones we have with us today, carbon emissions from the roads in California will be substantially reduced,” emphasised Frank.
“I fully accept that, but what I’m curious about is why you referred the matter to the Governor of California?” asked Mr Goldstein.
“Basically, we cannot fully develop the project to it’s full potential ourselves,” Frank told him. “We felt that the Governor of California would fully endorse this project, and indeed, he has done so since this was first brought to his attention.”
“I believe what Professor Marshall is trying to say is that this project requires financial backing,” Mr Armstrong chipped-in.
“I’m afraid the state of California has many responsibilities to it’s citizens,” Mr Goldstein then told them. “Motor manufacturing isn’t one of them. I’m sure Mr Armstrong would be in a better position to help you, however.”
“The Governor of California has spoken to me about this project of yours, and shown me the links on the websites for the proposals,” Mr Armstrong then stated. “I’m a businessman first and foremost, but I also strongly believe in the environment and can see that your project has a lot of potential.”
“Are you saying you’re prepared to back us with this?” Frank then asked.
“As I said, it appears that your project has a lot of potential, but at this moment in time, it remains just potential,” Mr Armstrong stipulated. “I may be prepared to back this, but I wish to see the potential for myself before I’m prepared to give any financial endorsement.”
“Well that should be fine,” said Frank. “We have the vehicles here with us. You can see them for yourself, if you like.”
Mr Goldstein then whispered something into Mr Armstrong’s ear, after which they asked to be excused for a few minutes. This gave Frank, Henry, Arthur and Dermot a chance to revise their presentation, as they had originally expected to meet the state Governor himself. As spokesman for the group, Frank would present the solar car, while Arthur would lead with his digital car.
A few minutes later, Mr Goldstein and Mr Armstrong came back into the room, and asked to see the cars, at which point they were taken to the vehicles. While Frank and Arthur explained how the cars worked, Henry and Dermot helped to emphasise how environmentally friendly they both were. Mr Goldstein and Mr Armstrong asked a lot of questions, but slowly they warmed to the idea of the new cars.
“These cars can drive like ordinary cars we see on the road today, plus the energy they use doesn’t cost anything,” Henry told them
“Looks good to me,” said Mr Armstrong. “Do you think we could take the motors for a ride?”
“Of course, be my guest,” said Frank. “You won’t mind if one of us comes with you, Mr Armstrong?”
“No of course not,” he replied. “You can call me Gary, by the way.”
Frank then went over to Henry and suggested he sit in for the ride, before handing him the keys to the solar car. Henry then went to open the car door, before sitting in the passenger’s seat and giving the keys to Mr Gary Armstrong.
Gary seemed quite pleased with the car as he drove it out of town and onto the highway, where he could get a better feel of the car’s performance.
“This is a 2 litre car, I believe?” Gary queried.
“Yes,” Henry acknowledged. “My engineers and I thought about this and felt a 2 litre engine would be about right for this model. We can develop larger engine sizes for this, if you feel that would be more appropriate.”
“Oh no, that’s okay for now,” said Gary. “Did you say this car was your idea?”
“This particular solar car was my idea,” said Henry. “The other, digital car, was actually adapted by my engineers in the UK one day.”
“You say it only took one day to come up with something like this?” queried Gary.
“The ideas didn’t take long,” Henry told him. “Unfortunately, the development and selling of them took a little longer.”
“You said this car can do about 120 miles per hour?” Gary asked.
“A little more actually,” Henry bluffed, as he hadn’t tried the car at that speed before. “I don’t know what the speed limits are here, but you might want to try it out when we’re out of town.”
“Oh I’ll give it a go, alright. I doubt the authorities will chase me for a measly speeding fine,” said Gary, as he pressed hard on the accelerator.
The car increased speed quickly. One minute they were travelling at 60 miles per hour, and a few moments later they were doing 80’, 90’, then 100 miles per hour.
Henry didn’t feel quite so confident on the journey now. He didn’t show it, but just kept talking to Gary, as the speed increased again. While Gary was driving, he often looked at the sabometer, to see how much energy was going from the SAB to the SEB. It was still a hot day, though the sun went in and out of the clouds at times, so the energy levels didn’t reduce a great deal, and the sebometer remained ‘full’.
Gary had driven the car about thirty miles out of Sacramento by the time he decided to turn off at the next junction on the highway and head back to town. Back at State Hall, Joe Goldstein was becoming a little impatient. He called on Gary’s mobile to see where he and Henry were, but the mobile was switched off. Arthur then received a call from Henry to let them know all was fine.
“Where are you at the moment? We’ve been worried about you,” Arthur told him.
“Don’t worry, everything’s in hand,” Henry answered. “We’ve been testing the speed of the car on the main highway around here.”
“How fast did you get up to?” asked Arthur.
“125 miles per hour,” Henry told him. “We’re heading back into town now, though looking around us, I think Gary’s taking the scenic route, so I don’t know how long we’ll be.”
At that point, Joe asked if he could take a ride in the digital car, to which Arthur agreed. Arthur told Henry this, to which he agreed too. Before they left, Joe took Frank and Dermot back to his office, and left them with some of his staff, before he went to test the digital car with Arthur
Arthur drove at first before letting Joe take the wheel. He didn’t drive as fast as Gary had done, not that the digital car, which had a 1.6 engine, was designed for speed. Joe checked the fuel gauge, when they arrived back at State Hall at 12.30. It hadn’t moved at all. By this time, Henry and Gary were waiting for them in the Hall reception, before they all went off for lunch.
“Great motor, that solar-powered vehicle of yours,” Gary said to Henry. “It’s marvelous for California on days like this, but don’t you ever worry that today’s weather is becoming too erratic?”
“I am cautious of that,” said Henry. “I had the idea for this in the UK, but the weather doesn’t suit a solar car. I accept the weather can be erratic, even in California, but, speaking with Frank, we calculated that with the auxiliary battery, the car should last a good while, even with erratic weather patterns.”
“The problem is that the US is a very large country,” Gary commented. “If someone wanted to drive from Miami to LA it would probably take the best part of three days. If he, or she, got caught in the Mojave dessert at night how are they going to get the car to move if the SEB is empty?”
“I didn’t think it ever rained in the Mojave dessert?” Henry replied. “Besides, the SEB and SAB will never run out of energy in any dessert, because desserts are always extremely hot during the day.”
“I take your point, but what about during the hurricane season?” queried Joe. ”The weather can be a total wash-out for weeks on end.”
“I accept that, but before any hurricane season, there must be a lot of extremely hot weather to cause this,” Henry replied. “So again, neither the SEB nor