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

all around us today. It's just taken a long time for anyone to take any real notice. I didn't take a great deal of notice at first, but it's all occurred in a gradual process. The rainfall is heavier, the summers are hotter, hurricanes are more violent."
"Let's hope the new president takes more notice of these factors than the outgoing one," Steve commented.
"Oh he'll have to," replied Frank. "It won't be long 'til the next hurricane strikes New Orleans. And the next president should show more support to the people in that region of the US."
"I wouldn't be too sure about that," said Clint.
"Well, either way, we'll have a new president elected by the end of the year, who should be more pro-active with the situation," said Frank.
"Do you reckon we're going through a period of transition?" Steve asked him.
"Oh indeed we are, one way or another," said Frank. "Either global warming will continue to increase until factors become intolerable, by which time it will probably be too late, or we may be on the verge of developing new systems and appliances which are environmentally-friendly."
"Let's hope it's the latter," said Steve. "Do you think the likes of China will come on-board for green issues?"
"I think they will come onboard, sooner or later," replied Frank. "It's just a question of when, and whether it will be too late."

The Warm, The Wet and The Windy

Back on Tenerife, society was becoming more pro-active to global warming. While Gaspar and Gonchaves were fitting solar panels to a hotel on the island, requests for similar work came through for two more hotels. This was good news for Henry, whose business received payments for the work carried out, though Gaspar and Gonchaves were becoming rather busy. They wanted to ask Henry if they could take on an assistant, but were unsure what to say to him, so asked Arthur to speak to him.
Arthur was fine about the two of them staying in his house temporarily, but it seemed this was becoming indefinite with the additional work coming in. He spoke to Henry about this, though he knew it would probably mean someone else staying with him, temporarily at least.
Henry was reluctant at first, as he had already sent Robinson and Frickas to help Lucas and Ramondo with the new cars. Arthur asked what role Zebrina was doing, to which he said not a lot. Arthur suggested that she could help Lucas and Ramondo, while one of the others could go to assist Gaspar and Gonchaves. Though Henry wasn't too keen on this suggestion at first, he eventually saw the logic, and agreed to it.
Henry was more concerned about getting the twenty motors to California. First of all, it meant liaising with more scrap yards for written-off cars. Then, once they were produced, they had to be delivered to Heathrow airport. First of all he considered replicating a motor transportation lorry, but realised this would need several cars worth to be replicated. Then he remembered none of his lads had a licence to use such a vehicle.
In the end, Henry managed to wangle this, and replicated a 6-vehicle transporter. He decided to transport six motors on three separate runs, and to take another car along himself on two of the runs. He also had to pay for the use of parking the cars at Heathrow, and of course, for their transportation to California. This too, wasn’t easy, as the motors were flown to San Francisco. Fortunately, Henry had already arranged with Frank for the motors to be picked up there. All in all, it cost him £25,000, but with the money coming in for the hotel work, it wasn’t a problem at this time of recession.
By the time this had been sorted, there was some more positive news on the way from Tenerife. Arthur noticed an envelope from the energy suppliers. It was a three-monthly bill, so he opened it. He noticed the bill was less than usual. What’s more, this only took in one month since the solar paneling had been installed, which suggested that though there had been a reduction, the full savings were not yet evident.
Arthur made sure word of this got around the island. Before Gaspar and Gonchaves had commenced work on one their final order, further requests for solar paneling came in from other hotels on Tenerife. Gaspar and Gonchaves requested further support. Henry could see this becoming a business in it’s own right, so to keep them happy and behind him, agreed to send Robinson to help Gaspar and Gonchaves. They too, could see the potential and considered whether they should go their own way.
Amidst all of this, Henry found time to go online, where he put forward the suggestion of developing wave power to several energy companies, which he had discussed with Arthur. Unfortunately, he didn’t receive any response, though he couldn’t understand why. Perhaps it was because everyone was thinking of Christmas, which was fast approaching.
In the new year, Henry sent the suggestion to a few councils around the Scottish islands. This time, he did receive a response from The Western Isles council, based in Lewis, asking a little more about the idea. Henry put together a web site, which showed a large turbine on the edge of the coast, which was generated by the force of the waves. The turbine would generate energy, at a fraction of the cost of the current energy rates. It would also be cleaner, not relying upon coal or oil. Another benefit was that the scheme would ensure the UK was not reliant on foreign supplies. There was also a pair of ‘breakers’ each pointing diagonally inward towards the turbine, which increased the wave pressure as it approached the turbine.

Back in California, the motors Henry had sent had nearly all been sold. Frank asked if some more could be sent over, and even offered to pay for them and the transportation himself.
“Are you sure about this?” Henry asked him.
“Sure enough,” Frank replied. “That’s if it’s okay by you?”
“Oh it’s fine by me,” Henry told him. “I’m just a little curious as to which business they’re to be sold under?”
“Come again?” Frank queried.
“Well, the motors manufactured over here belong to my business, Major Motors,” Henry pointed out. “Are these vehicles being sold under my brand, or are you changing this before they go on display?”
“We didn’t change the brand of the other motors sold,” said Frank. “We don’t have any intention to amend this. To be honest, I only suggested to put the motors of yours on sale as a stop-gap while the plant is under construction.”
“Were you surprised the motors sold as quickly as they did?” Henry asked him.
“Yes and no,” replied Frank. “I had every faith that they’d sell, though I was a little surprised how well, as we’re supposed to be in a recession.”
“Perhaps the recession hasn’t hit California yet,” said Henry.
“If there’s anywhere the recession won’t hit, it’s California,” said Frank.
“How is the construction on the car plant coming along?” Henry asked.
“Oh that’s coming along just fine,” Frank told him. “I can’t say for certain when the plant will be ready, but it’s certainly taking shape. We may wish to come and visit your site in the near future, to assess the machinery required for the new plant. ”
“I’ll have to sort that out with my engineers first,” said Henry. “Have you arranged a name and identity for the new motor business yet? Presumably you won’t be selling them under the name of Major Motors.”
“Oh no,” said Frank. “We’re in the process of sorting an identity for the business. I’ll let you know when it’s confirmed.”
“Congratulations on the new President,” Henry then told Frank. “He should certainly help American foreign relations.”
“He can’t make them any worse than they already are,” replied Frank. “I think the little guy running for Republicans would have helped. “
“I thought he had similar policies to the outgoing President?” Henry queried.
“Oh no, they were quite different in many ways,” Frank told him. “That guy was a lot more professional about things. I’ve met the outgoing President, and believe me, he doesn’t inspire confidence. It’s hard to see him inspiring anyone, except a couple of clowns, perhaps.”
Henry then told Frank about his latest venture, and asked him what he thought about the idea of wave power.
“It sounds a pretty good idea to me,” Frank told him. “I’m not the best person to give advice on this matter, though. You probably want to speak to Dermot for that.”
“Dermot?” queried Henry. “I wouldn’t have associated him with that sort of thing.”
“No, I wouldn’t have either, but he was telling me a couple of days ago about some project similar to the one you mentioned,” said Frank. “I think he said some friend of his back in Ireland was on a planning committee for that project.”
“Thanks for letting me know - I’ll give him a call sometime,” Henry said to him. “If you don’t mind, I’d better go and see my staff to arrange for another load of motors. I suppose you could come here to collect them, though on consideration, I wouldn’t mind coming to California again. We could bring the plans of our factory with us, to give you some idea of your car plant’s requirements.”
“That should be fine, but I’ll speak to the others, first,” Frank muttered. “So long for now then, I’ll see you ‘round.”
Henry thought about contacting Dermot, but was more concerned with sorting the machinery for his cars. Though he wouldn’t need to use any machinery to produce the cars he was selling, he knew he had to put up a ‘shop floor’ somewhere in his premises, in case someone made an unexpected visit.
Henry went to discuss this with Lucas and Ramondo, who had drawn up plans for such an event, but had never put this into practice. Together, they looked carefully at the plans, and after a few refinements, agreed on a plan of the required machinery for the premises.
“When do you want to put the machinery up?” Lucas asked Henry.
“Would tomorrow night be okay?” suggested Henry. “I’d rather this be done while there’s no-one around outside. We don’t want anyone looking in, do we?”
“Does that mean we don’t have to come in tomorrow morning?” asked Ramondo. “I thought you wanted us to prepare those vehicles to be sent to America?”
“Hhmm, good point,” Henry muttered. “Can Zebrina or Madaly use the replicator?”
“I think so,” said Ramondo. “You’re not suggesting they go and replicate the new vehicles, are you? I don’think they’re really suited for that sort of thing, do you?”
“Hhmm, good point,” Henry muttered again. “We’ll just have to see how long the job takes. We can all help with replicating the next day, after we’ve had a good sleep.”
That was agreed by all three, after which Henry tried to contact Dermot, unsuccessfully. He tried to call Dermot on his home phone later that evening, though again, without success. Henry then had a long rest the next day, in order to prepare the new shop floor and it’s machinery.
As he had done with the showroom and with the help of Ramondo & Lucas, they put the design together in one evening. All was quiet in Skipton, as everyone was asleep. No-one noticed the construction, which by the early morning was complete.

The following evening, Henry called Dermot again. This time he managed to catch him.
“Bonsoir, Monsieuer O’Hagan,” Dermot replied, as he answered the phone in his Paris residency.
“Hello, is that you Dermot?” queried Henry at the other end of the line.
“Oh hello there Henry,” he replied.