Twin Paradox_Book Two

by Purple Hazel

  “It was I who advised the captain of my own personal assessment of the situation,” he stated fearlessly. “I informed him that the crew of Santa Maria as well as their captain were regularly abusing cannabis and very likely could have collided with the original missing matter device in error. That, in my opinion, was what might explain the presence of what we believed to be two matter pods in close proximity to one another.”

  When he spoke those words, the tension in the room rose to a fever pitch. It changed everything—and within seconds, looks of shock and concern began being exchanged among the other officers and members of the media in attendance. It was like someone had just stood up in church and farted! The silence didn’t last for long though.

  His testimony soon created quite an uproar in the courtroom. Not surprisingly, the murmuring drowned out the proceedings for several seconds while the prosecution attempted to clarify Commander Cadorna’s comments. The judge eventually had to hush the audience by rapping a gavel down on a wooden platform sitting in front of him. “ORDER...THIS COURTROOM SHALL MAINTAIN ORDER!” he shouted and people slowly quieted down.

  “Cannabis, Commander?” repeated the prosecutor back to Luigi, “Do you mean marijuana...Tetrahydrocannabinol, sir? Is that what you’re saying?” The prosecuting attorney was an aging British officer from Space Programme who’d been assigned to the prosecution. Savvy and unflappable, the other lawyers on the team had deferred to him for the task of cross-examination because he had the most experience with this sort of thing. He spoke loudly and slowly; deliberately and coolly enunciating every word for effect. Made sure the board heard him clearly as he sought clarification. These were serious charges.

  “With all due respect, Commander...I believe you’re implying that the captain of the Santa Maria was known to be using a controlled substance...while in command of a galactic space vessel. You do realize the seriousness of such charges don’t you, Commander?” He paused for a moment as he slowly got up and walked toward Cadorna. The room was eerily silent as though waiting for the little fellow to correct himself or temper his words a bit. But he didn’t.

  “Yes...yes, I do, Lieutenant,” replied Luigi. Oh, he knew perfectly well what he was doing. “And I do realize the seriousness of this. It was I who protested the use and consumption of marijuana and sadly, I must add, found myself in the minority—even among my fellow commanders.”

  The much older Lieutenant detected just a tad bit of presumptuousness in the Italian fellow’s words. Couldn’t help but notice he’d just said, “fellow commanders” as though Commander Cadorna felt he was equal in rank to them. Not so. They were in fact his superior officers and it was an act of gross insubordination for a junior officer to make such an accusation without solid, irrefutable facts.

  But that’s precisely where Luigi had him licked. Those same fifty colonists who’d returned to Earth with him...they could be hauled in one by one to confirm the story if push came to shove. What’s more, the use of marijuana onboard Santa Maria was not just random but systematic! All he had to do was point out what he knew of cannabis consumption on the Santa Maria, and the whole thing would go off like an old 20th century atom bomb. The fallout would ruin careers, no doubt about it.

  Yet the Lieutenant had been down this type of rabbit hole before. He knew better than to continue his current line of questioning. There was no use in pushing things further and creating even more controversy. Captain Timofeyevich would likely be exonerated either way.

  No, the prosecution simply couldn’t win, no matter what they tried now. Timofeyevich had obviously assumed the second object they’d detected was remnants of the missing matter pod due to the assumed incompetence of his fellow ship captain. He’d taken the advice of a junior officer, which was certainly acceptable, and believed his subordinate had competently assessed the situation based on direct experience with the other ship’s captains. Seeing the deck was stacked against him at this point, he turned to the admiral in charge of the proceedings and requested a private audience. Under the circumstances there was simply no other alternative.

  “Permission to approach the bench, Your Honor?” he asked. The admiral merely nodded with a look of extreme annoyance and apprehension on his face. “Please do, Lieutenant,” he grumbled.

  What followed was a veritable sea of murmurings and comments uttered in raised whispers which rumbled throughout the audience and sounded much like a crowded cattle feed lot just outside a Nebraska slaughterhouse. Meanwhile Commander Cadorna sat calmly with his cap secured under his arm and the other hand resting at ease on his lap. Within a few moments of conferring with the prosecutor, the admiral returned his attention to the courtroom.

  “Eh...The court will take a half-hour recess to discuss this matter further. We’ll return to this meeting hall in thirty minutes.” Then he smacked his gavel on the table, missing the little wooden platform intended for it, and hitting the table next to a glass of water which nearly toppled from the impact.

  Yes, this was big. Someone was going to swing for this most definitely, and the admiral could only assume the one who would eventually be brought up on charges of dereliction of duty, was not even in the room at the time. He wisely instructed the defense counsel as well as the prosecutor to join him in his private chambers.

  “You...and you, too, Lieutenant...follow me, please will you, gentlemen?” said the admiral angrily. He was just as perturbed as he was fuming mad. The prosecutor as well as the defense attorney promptly did as he directed. The rest of the court erupted once again into excited whispers as they exited the room…

  * * * *

  “Alright,” he began as they joined him in his office down the hallway, “let’s cut to the chase, both of you. What in bloody hell is going on here?” The admiral was an old Scottish fellow who’d risen to this lofty rank after a heroic mission years before to evacuate refugees from the burning city of Mogadishu. During the mission, he’d successfully fought off Somalian pirates and wiped out their base with a missile strike. Years later, he was now a respected, no-nonsense leader within Space Programme.

  That’s precisely why he was so taken aback by what he’d heard in his courtroom. Marijuana being consumed onboard a Space Programme vessel—with the implied acquiescence of the captain himself? He couldn’t begin to conceive of such a thing! Now, unfortunately, there was little if anything he could do about it. He measured his words carefully at first, then simply blurted out what he felt in his heart. There was no use beating around the bush; not for a respected admiral whose reputation was also on the line. He opened up with both barrels blazing.

  “The witness knows something vitally important. But if he says one more bloody word out there in that bloody courtroom about dope—this whole case is going to blow up in our faces. You both understand that, don’t you?” The two attorneys nodded soberly. “Now...one of you two dobbers knows what he knows, so start your tongues a’ waggin’ and tell me what the fuck is goin’ on.”

  The defense attorney nodded in the general direction of his opponent and spoke up first.

  “Yes, Admiral,” he admitted, “I know precisely what Commander Cadorna is referring to. The hydroponic garden center onboard the ship was where it started. They started growing tomatoes and then other vegetables. Grafted the roots together with Cannabis Indica to create hybrid plants with edible THC. Furthermore, the crew who’d been in stasis during the journey to Kapteyn B was given food laced with cannabis to aid them in their recovery. Many were in pain after being revived, you see, and in this way, they could avoid taking narcotic pain killers.” In reaction to this the old admiral furrowed his eyebrows and nodded with keen interest.

  “They used those marijuana edibles to kick-start their appetites and get them eating regularly,” continued the attorney. “Sped up the recovery process, is what he told me; and indeed, it did wonders. He doesn’t deny that. However, the captain of the Santa Maria, Tommy Berwick, and possibly others within his command staff, were known to be regular users
—long before the ship even made orbit at Kapteyn B.” By now the admiral was shaking his head with disgust. The old prosecutor showed little reaction.

  “What’s more, Cadorna claims his own colonists continued to try and consume the contraband substance after the Santa Maria departed. He’d personally seen to it that this had been stamped out of course—literally by his own hands. Says he went through the garden center ripping out entire harvests of suspected hybrid plants. Those identified as being complicit in the affair suffered company punishment by having their rations cut in half for one week, with the main perpetrators suffering one month half-rations. Draconian measures yes, but well-within military regulations,” added the Lieutenant.

  The defense attorney went on to say he’d been told this while preparing his case; though he’d instructed his star witness not to mention it unless it was necessary to establish a motive for his conduct. He told the judge he’d made it very clear to the commander beforehand. “Yes, Admiral. It’s all true. Commander Cadorna knew these things but I explicitly told him not to bring it up on the witness stand unless...well, unless he had no choice.”

  The Admiral sighed. “Ah. Did you now, Lieutenant? Bloody hell, man. And just how in hell was your witness supposed to determine that? Now the whole case is a shambles.”

  The admiral knew full well the implications. There was no further need to pursue the case. The damage had been done already. The admiral knew he had to save Space Programme from further scandal. Captain Timofeyevich would have to be exonerated of any charges of negligence in the incident, and allowed to retire with full military honors and benefits. He dismissed the two attorneys from his office and returned to the courtroom to continue the proceedings.

  After that, the witness was immediately excused. And within an hour the board returned a verdict. Not guilty. Under the circumstances, it was about the only viable solution to the matter. Captain Timofeyevich was absolved of all guilt and the charges of negligence were dropped. He exited the courtroom and quietly slipped out the back of the building rarely to be seen in public again. His career, of course, was over, but he still received an honorable discharge only a few months later.

  But what of Luigi Cadorna? The man who’d dropped a dime on his superior officers onboard Santa Maria? His brash accusations about marijuana use among the crew of the Santa Maria would be a bombshell in the media for days to come—until of course G.U. officials got in touch with media executives to put a lid on it. Following that, the story dissipated like an early morning fog.

  Nevertheless, he suffered no real consequences for his audacious testimony. Instead, Commander Cadorna was given a promotion—to captain no less—partly as a means of keeping him quiet and partly as a reward for his “heroism and brave leadership”.

  “Oh, the irony,” many would say later. Certainly, those fifty colonists who’d suffered under his command got a belly laugh out of that one. And those military contractors? Those construction engineers and the like who’d clashed with him repeatedly both onboard Nautilus and on Kapteyn B? They could only knock back a pint of beer at the local pub and spend the next few years of their lives laughing about the sheer stupidity of the farce they’d just witnessed.

  Sure, they’d have loved to weigh in during the media shitstorm which followed. Could have ripped Cadorna apart in the press. Could have raised any manner of questions about his motives in exposing what to them at least was an immaterial observation that the crew of Santa Maria “might” have been high on marijuana from time to time. Truth be told they wouldn’t have blamed them one bit!

  “There was no booze to be had anywhere, goddamn it,” one told a reporter on a local Ultravision station back in the North American district of Oklahoma. “Couldn’t get a beer. No fuckin’ whiskey around, neither. Shit, by the time we arrived we’d been in space for over a year and they didn’t have a bar ‘r nothin’. Didn’t even brew their own vodka using potatoes—which I found rather odd. Offered to show ’em how to build a ‘still’ but that ‘ole commander fella’...he shut ’er right down.”

  Of course, that same construction engineer wisely stopped short of personally lambasting Luigi Cadorna in the interview. The military had taken mighty good care of those sub-contractors and seen to it they kept hushed about anything else pertaining to the case. No matter anyway, figured both they as well as the fifty returning colonists who also got offered early retirement with full benefits. Same with the returning crew! Everyone got a big fat reward for what they’d endured. They were famous. They were set for life. So why rock the boat?

  Besides, with all the fame garnered by “Captain” Cadorna, who would even listen to them? Luigi had already become a media sensation shortly after landing and continued to be a highly sought-after “expert” on space exploration as well as ways to exploit the alien planet’s infinite resources. Many simply figured why bother telling the world what they’d seen—and what they really knew about their former nagging, badgering, overbearing commander.

  Indeed, it would seem for the time being, that the world was, at least officially, believing Luigi Cadorna’s and Captain Yermak’s version of the story. And as the next few years passed, with people gradually losing interest once again in matters pertaining to the still missing ship, folks returned to their daily lives and regular diversions which commonly held their attention in a vise grip. Shows and sports broadcasts on Ultravision were far more interesting anyway. They didn’t have to worry anymore about the sad tale of that poor lost space vessel hurtling toward them at just below light speed from far across the galaxy.

  Few still remembered. Even children in primary school had to be taught about the infamous “lost ship”. Most simply put it out of their minds and assumed it would all work out someday...somehow. Why bother with it, really? The stigma surrounding the Santa Maria—with its fifty-three crewmembers and one hundred cryogenically frozen crewmates believed to be in stasis onboard—was that they had brought this whole malady upon themselves with their decision to grow and consume marijuana onboard their ship.

  When they returned (if they ever returned) there’d be some mighty good explaining to do for many of them—not the least of which their now-infamous captain, Steinhart Stehter…

  Watch for

  Twin Paradox: Book Two

  Coming Soon to Torrid Books

  Returning to Earth in 2110, the world is ecstatic to welcome home its long-lost heroes. However, Steinhart Stehter is court-martialed for negligence in not making the rendezvous with Nautilus, and for not maintaining proper military discipline onboard. Basically, someone has to be blamed. Someone has to take the fall.

  Part of the problem continues to be our old nemesis Luigi Cadorna. He stubbornly maintains that many among the officers and crew of Santa Maria were derelict of duty. Plenty of people can be brought to the witness stand to support his accusations; and he threatens to do just that. Sadly, Steinhart is convicted and forced to resign his commission in disgrace.

  Ozzie returns to Texas looking for his brother; and Shamiso returns to London seeking her twin sister. Neither are difficult to find. Both are quite famous, for one is a legendary athlete while the other is a world-renowned pop music Diva!

  Young-Min Jo meanwhile returns to Canada, only to find his twin brother is now a maverick CEO of a powerful pharmaceutical firm called Min-Pharma. And what follows next is the bizarre story of how all three sets of twins, for reasons known only to themselves, decide to switch identities!

  Check out Twin Paradox: Book Two...coming this December, 2017 to Torrid Books!

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Purple Hazel

  …is King and Caroline Medlin from Denver, Colorado.

  Purple is Caroline's favorite color. Hazel is the color of her eyes. They fell in love, and King started writing short stories to Caroline while they were dating. Eventually, the stories got better and better, so they started writing full length novels.

  Starting with Star Kitten in the fall of 2015, they have now written fi
ve books including The Wild Fields, Morgana's Handmaid, and Spanish Posse (a four-part serial published in February 2017). These are erotic romances using fictional characters in real-life situations amidst the backdrop of actual events that shaped world history; or gleaned from classical literature.

  People and places may very well color our notion of the moral principles that people follow or ignore; yet King and Caroline feel only true love endures all things. It's what really matters in the grand scheme of things. Therefore, LOVE is all they write about. Love, devotion, and the desire to find a companion to accompany us through life's many trials, tribulation, and the best of all those moments of profound joy that give life meaning: that's what it's about!

  For your reading pleasure, we invite you to visit our web bookstore

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