Twin Paradox_Book Two

by Purple Hazel

  “I reckon I won’t have to worry about a bloody thing pretty soon—not ’til we reach Earth.” Then he laughed from having seen Steinhart squirm a bit a few moments before. Steinhart for his part took it in stride and merely rolled his eyes humorously.

  “Yes Captain,” he commented with a smile. “And I’ll do my best to take very good care of Lieutenant Ariel while you’re...indisposed, I can assure you.” Tommy Berwick now sensed that his colleague was taking the opportunity to taunt him in return. He appreciated the sarcasm fully. “Oh yes, I hope you do. I really hope you do.” He grinned slyly for a moment before rising up from their table in the Officer’s Mess. Then they saluted each other and Steinhart returned to his duties…

  * * * *

  Blast off was a smashing success. No real problems at all. It created a dust cloud the size of hurricane, yet by then the colonists of the B-lander were safely secured inside their vessel. It would probably take them a week or so to clear off the enormous sand dune that built up alongside of the craft, but they made it through unscathed.

  And from there, things pretty much returned to normal within a day or two on board Santa Maria. The two stasis machines which had been suspected of malfunctioning were not to be reused, ordered the new captain. And the unexpected result of this was that all three twins; Shamiso as well as Young-Min and Oswaldo, bravely chose to remain conscious for the entire flight and dutifully returned to their previous posts. Indeed, to the astonishment of everyone, none of the three would enter stasis without the other two; and even though there was still a functional stasis machine for one of them to utilize, they refused to draw lots for it. Acting Captain Stehter respected their decision and “welcomed” them back to their posts.

  Ozzie joined the team supervising the matter pod line during the return voyage and running tests to make sure they were still functioning. Shamiso returned to her old job in the cryogenics lab. Young-Min returned to managing the hydroponic garden and doing what he’d done for the Away Team all those years in space. Meanwhile he’d also been promoted to Lieutenant Junior Grade and just like B.J., outranked half the crew now.

  Meanwhile Steinhart Stehter assumed full command of the ship—and once orders had been given and assignments for duty rosters completed, he prepared for a long trip back home to Earth. He was both relieved and yet apprehensive at the same time. To be fair, it had been months since he’d been intimate with B.J. He longed for her terribly. Had missed her desperately the whole time she’d been secretly “attached” to Luigi Cadorna, and now that she was technically “his” again...he still privately wrestled with his feelings about it...the way it had all gone down.

  He knew he’d done the right thing, of course. Never doubted it for a minute. Knew B.J. had the right idea by using her womanly charms to calm the inflexible tyrant and get him off peoples’ backs so they could finish the colony without his constant meddling. However, no matter how he tried rationalizing it, it still bothered him that she’d temporarily belonged to another man for three months while the colony was being completed. It made for some awkward conversations on board, not surprisingly. Hardly a crewmember on board didn’t know they’d been lovers in the past, and few had ever really understood why B.J. had apparently “dumped” him for that temperamental Italian fellow in the first place.

  They had to wait several “days” in orbit before they could find time alone, those two. Had so much to do, for one thing. Especially Steinhart. He’d see her and they’d make eye contact, but he’d avoid any personal conversations or interaction, so as not to distract the crew. It just didn’t feel right until everyone had settled into a predictable routine. Only then did he approach her with his familiar old smile that she’d gotten so used to before. She responded immediately to it, when she saw him changing back into the man she so dearly loved.

  “Well, Captain, I see you’re smiling like your old self once again. Does this mean we’re cool?” she asked delicately, but with a sultry grin that she could only hope would allay any of his remaining concerns. Steinhart chuckled happily at seeing her reaction, then replied in German, “Ja...alles in Ordnung.” But B.J. clarified his statement in a calm voice, “Dann sind wir wieder zusammen?” To this Steinhart patiently answered, with sincere affection, as well as relief showing in his eyes. “Yes, my love. We most certainly are together again.” In reaction to this, she threw her arms around his neck and kissed him passionately, not even worrying about whether other crewmembers were about.

  “Thank God for that, Schnucki,” she breathed into his ear, “Fuck, I’ve missed you so bad—really I have.” Captain Stehter hugged her right back, burying his face in her neck like a husband who’d been apart from his wife for many years. No, it didn’t matter if anyone saw them doing this. He knew that. And it didn’t matter if anyone speculated that she’d been given “special consideration” for her new promotion either. B.J. couldn’t have cared less anyway. She wasn’t the type to pull rank or demand proper military protocol and etiquette. “Couldn’t give two shits about it, really,” as she’d often tell people onboard.

  No, the only thing she cared about was that she’d gotten back her loving man. The one she truly desired. In his absence, truth be told, she’d developed the deepest of feelings for him. No doubt about it, Steinhart was the man she wanted to marry someday...if he’d still have her, of course.

  Nevertheless, Steinhart desperately wanted to know more about her exploits with the once-tempestuous “Comandante” of the colony. How did she turn him around so quickly? What did she say to him? What did he tell her? For that matter, how did he account for his actions and conduct in those first difficult months after the crew began work on the colony? Could he even explain himself? What excuses did he make? What’s more—he just had to ask—“How was he? I mean, in terms of...well, you know?”

  “In bed?” asked B.J. pulling back from Steinhart with a look on her face like she now possessed some terribly vital secret. “You want to know, really?”

  Steinhart stared back at her blankly, trying to remain composed, but his eyes told a different story, even when he shrugged his shoulders as if to indicate he could live without the intimate details of her lovemaking with the prickly little man. Then slowly his expression turned to one of worry and concern, as though she might very well have stayed in the relationship with the colony commander because he was some kind of fabulous, red-hot lover who pleasured her more completely than Steinhart could ever do. He’d, of course, temporarily forgotten how it had been his idea in the first place to have her attach herself to him for the duration of the mission to complete the colony.

  B.J. detected this and embraced him once more, kissing his cheek and laying her head on his broad chest. However, the thought occurred to her suddenly that a quick answer might not be the best idea at that particular moment. Might be taken the wrong way.

  Maybe if she gushed assurances to bolster his confidence he might find her sincerity to be forced—or at the worst questionable. Instead, she coyly replied, “Well, let’s not worry about that right now, shall we? We’ll have several years in space together to talk about it, after all...won’t we?” To this he gave out a semi-frustrated, “pfffft”.

  Yet B.J. knew what she was doing. To her, men were much like mathematical equations. Both merely required patience and careful observance of natural, predictable tendencies—even crazy ones, as she’d recently discovered. She then added in a throaty, sexy voice, barely above a whisper, “Whaddya say we go get a shower and take a little break together in the Virtual Reality Chamber...say for an hour or two? I know just what’ll make you feel better…”

  Part Four

  Heroes and Scapegoats

  Chapter 16

  Year Fifteen

  Prior to the Santa Maria departing for Earth however, the mother ship spent about a day circling the planet searching for something terribly important. There was still one remaining order of business to complete before blasting off into space; and acting Captain Steinhart Stehte
r knew he must remain in orbit around Kapteyn B until it was resolved. One more thing to do before they left; and it was vital to the fate of both his own ship as well as the colonists down on the surface.

  Yes, something was supposed to be out there, floating in B’s orbit. Therefore, he and his staff on the command bridge literally scoured the area orbiting Planet B for hours and hours searching for it high and low. It most certainly had to be there—that had been the original plan after all—and even though what they were searching for was most likely no bigger than an old internal combustion engine or perhaps slightly larger than a riding lawn mower, it simply had to be found before they departed.

  It took quite a while; but after many hours they succeeded. A message pod containing important information from Earth was eventually detected; and by then practically the whole crew speculated that what it contained was just what they’d been waiting for—what they’d been waiting to hear ever since landing on Kapteyn B. The Santa Maria sent out astronauts wearing pressure suits and jet packs, including Ozzie Guerrero and a team of his colleagues to retrieve it. They then brought it into the cargo bay before unsealing it and removing its contents: a computer filled with data, messages from family members for the crew, and further orders for the captain and his command staff.

  Captain Stehter was on the scene within moments of the retrieval. Came down from the command bridge as quickly as he could, the minute he’d heard the device had been secured in the cargo bay. And by the time he arrived, it had already been opened. The crew were merely waiting for him to give the order to activate the mechanism; and when he walked in to the area, the crew backed away to let him approach. Realizing the hard part had been completed, he gave a swirling motion with his right index finger to indicate they may proceed.

  “Volle pulle!” he began in German, “Let her rip.” They happily obliged. And upon loading the first of the programs, Santa Maria’s new captain—along with the small crowd forming around him—were able to learn of Earth’s progress and history over the past fifteen years since they’d been gone.

  But that wasn’t all! They eventually received even better news from home; and Steinhart was able to look forward to sending messages down to B-lander telling them of Space Programme’s latest amazing development. Indeed, a new, much larger craft was nearing completion, the transmission would later go on to say, and with this brand new information the colonists down on the surface would be able to heave a big sigh of relief. Help was on the way.

  “Congratulations to the crew and captain of Earth ship Santa Maria,” began the electronic communiqué, in English. It was a young female’s voice which had a charming French accent. “We at Space Programme hope this message is reaching you in favorable circumstances.” After that it detailed what the crew had missed out on ever since embarking on its historic mission to Kapteyn B. Later it would go on to specify what was in store for them over the next several years as well.

  “The remainder of this broadcast is organized into several key sections,” continued the lovely voice, “some of which are classified for the exclusive viewing of the acting captain and his or her first officer. A security code for accessing this information may be found in the ship’s computer.”

  Steinhart knew of this code and exactly how to find it, but allowed the broadcast to continue as crewmen like Ozzie who’d been involved in the acquisition of the vessel continued to stand around, wide-eyed with excitement over the significance of the moment. They circled about, listening to the recording, straining their necks to get a look at the little screen which activated when flipped open by the captain.

  “But first...please share with everyone onboard a quick review of major world events since you’ve all been gone!” the pretty voice went on to say, and Steinhart let the transmission proceed uninterrupted. By then an even bigger crowd had gathered as several more crewmembers made their way to the cargo bay. Young-Min Jo arrived to join the throng and stood right along with Ozzie as the recording progressed. By now great friends with his fellow Junior Grade Lieutenant, Ozzie threw his arm around his buddy’s shoulder like they were two old teammates.

  “You will find that a lot has been going on in your absence. Please enjoy the latest international news recorded for you as of the date of this transmission. Then, when you’re ready, you may proceed to Section One to learn about plans for our newest ship currently in final production phase on Lunar Base Alpha…”

  There was certainly a lot to catch up on! History had been made in applied sciences, leading to the development of newer, more advanced industrial technologies. There’d been advancements in pharmaceuticals too, including “wonder drugs” coming out of North America from cutting edge biotech firms like “Min-Pharma”, as well as in the recent groundbreaking science of marine agriculture. Many of the crew were fascinated with this part especially, wondering if any of their colleagues from the past may have been involved with some of these breakthroughs.

  And yet, much of Earth history during the past decade and a half seemed pretty much like the same old boring news. Conflicts had arisen in several African nations due to ongoing drought and famine problems. This had led to the forced migration of millions of people. A government had been overthrown in some Central American country, prompting GU intervention to prevent the bloody coup from leading to an outbreak of hostilities and spilling into neighboring countries. The GU had also recently threatened economic sanctions against several Arab nations for repeated human rights violations against women. Much the same as always, really. The usual problems one could expect from the usual places, in other words.

  In popular music, the year 2101 had seen the latest chart-busting sensation from England, “Rudo Love”, dominate the macronet with her smash hit “Kiss Kiss Love”. Meanwhile, the English Premier League had crowned Leicester City champions of English football for the first time since way back in 2016. And in Megaball, the Dallas “Wranglers”, led by star Center Back Ranger Guerrero, had achieved its third world championship, defeating the Yokohama “Bay Stars” 24-7.

  But what it detailed next was truly what they’d been hoping for—ever since arriving in orbit about a year earlier. Back on Earth, things in aerospace engineering had been progressing rather quickly ever since the Santa Maria had departed. And what it led to was the creation of a space exploration vessel roughly four times her size and capable of technological feats people could once only dream about ten years prior. It was to be called The Nautilus and according to the voice on the recording, it was already nearing completion by the time this message pod had been sent from Earth.

  The Nautilus was indeed a massive ship, they learned, fitted out for flight utilizing Alcubierre Drive Metric technology which would enable it to travel at roughly ten times the speed of light. This “Warp Drive” craft would essentially stretch space time in a wave causing the fabric of space ahead of the craft to contract and the space behind it to expand. Accomplishing this, the ship would simply “ride the wave” to accelerate to incredibly high speeds.

  The message pod even contained the plans for it, detailed its crew complement, described its capacity for storage, as well as housing of passengers, and its expansive cargo bay which was most likely large enough to fit the entire Santa Maria within its confines. It was so tremendously large in fact, it had to be constructed in space just like Santa Maria had been. The Earth’s moon had to be utilized as a base for construction with materials ferried back and forth to it for completion. Similar to Santa Maria, the crew had already been selected for it long in advance and was actually stationed on the moon during the final phases of assembly. Space Programme had been working on it for over ten years, the recording went on to say.

  During its journey to Planet B, Santa Maria had been sending its own messages back to Earth of course. These contained regular updates on the progress the crew was making setting up the long line of nonbaryonic matter pods all the way to B’s orbit...across 12.8 light years...across literally trillions of kilometers of space. Th
ey also included messages from crewmen back to their loved ones and family members on Earth.

  However, based on calculations of Santa Maria’s progress, Space Programme had determined that launching this message pod months prior to the mother ship’s anticipated arrival date would mean it would arrive in time for them to receive it before attempting to return to Earth.

  This meant firing the message pod into space using ADM technology and timing it to arrive in orbit right before Santa Maria would eventually blast off from the surface. It would thus avoid any collision with Santa Maria since the message pod would travel to B’s orbit in 1.28 Earth years—or roughly fifteen months and ten days. Santa Maria would have already landed on the surface by then. Meanwhile the message pod would remain in orbit until Santa Maria blasted off from the surface shortly after completing the founding of the colony.

  It worked. Just like Santa Maria’s crew and captain had been told to expect over fourteen years prior, they could expect a special message from home floating around in B’s orbit for them to retrieve. After they’d completed their experiments and fitted out an irrigation system as well as building an agricultural complex for the colonists to farm their own food supply, they could anticipate finding this relatively tiny unmanned vessel containing their next set of orders. And that’s precisely what they were viewing this day.

  Then came the really good part: interception and retrieval by the Nautilus! That’s what everyone was dying to find out—all those still awake and operating the ship that is—because for many years the crew and colonists of the Santa Maria had been hoping against hope that Space Programme would create an ADM-capable ship that might be able to scoop them up on the way back home to Earth. That’s what came next in the message transmission.

  According to information provided in the communiqué, the entire crew—the entire ship in fact—could expect retrieval on 1st of September, 2106, give or take a day or two, by the massive returning supply ship now preparing to launch back on Earth. The Santa Maria would travel 3.9 light years toward Earth, and if successful, find the Nautilus appearing on or about that date, floating in space and anticipating their arrival. Beyond that the rest was pretty simple.