Twin Paradox

by Purple Hazel

  TWIN PARADOX

  BOOK THREE

  by

  Purple Hazel

  TORRID BOOKS

  www.torridbooks.com

  Published by

  TORRID BOOKS

  www.torridbooks.com

  An Imprint of Whiskey Creek Press LLC

  Copyright © 2018 by Purple Hazel

  Warning: The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5 (five) years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000.

  Names, characters and incidents depicted in this book are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental and beyond the intent of the author or the publisher.

  No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

  ISBN: 978-1-68299-272-2

  Credits

  Cover Artist: Kristian Norris

  Editor: Dave Field

  Printed in the United States of America

  WHAT THEY ARE SAYING ABOUT

  Twin Paradox

  Purple Hazel has hit a home run with Twin Paradox. This book has science fiction, action, sports, romance and espionage. I found it hard to put down. I am inspired to write something myself, but first I want to finish reading another Purple Hazel book!

  ~ Frank Erwin, Austin

  Intriguing, exciting, keeps you engrossed. Can't put it down. A must read.

  ~ Melody Wisely, Indianapolis

  Other Books by Author Available at Torrid Books:

  www.torridbooks.com

  Spanish Posse Serial

  Episode 1: The Gentleman and the Saloon Girl

  Episode 2: The Casanova and the Cyprian

  Episode 3: The Hunters and the Hunted

  Episode 4: Heroes and Villains

  Twin Paradox Series

  Twin Paradox Book One

  Twin Paradox Book Two

  Dedication

  To Dave Landes, our coworker, who came up with the basic concept for this incredible book. Thanks for all your crazy ideas, Dave!

  To Miguel Alcubierre, theoretical physicist from Mexico City, author of The Warp Drive: Hyper-fast travel within general relativity, and creator of the Alcubierre Drive Metric.

  To Albert Einstein, Max Born, Paul Langevin, and Max von Laue, for their theories on special relativity and the twin paradox, which inspired the premise for this novel.

  Also, a special acknowledgement to rock star Ted Nugent. Thanks Ted, for being so amazing.

  Table of Contents

  Part 1: Performers and Pitchmen

  Chapter 1: Intervene

  Chapter 2: Manner, Mood, Mentality, and Method

  Chapter 3: Bleib aktiv meine Freunde

  Part 2: Novices and Veterans

  Chapter 4: Rookie

  Chapter 5: Playoffs!

  Chapter 6: Magnifique

  Part 3: Twins and Lovers

  Chapter 7: “Kiss Kiss Love”

  Chapter 8: Triptan

  Chapter 9: V.I.P.

  Chapter 10: Back in thirty

  Chapter 11: What we’ve become

  Part 4: Friends and Fugitives

  Chapter 12: Lofty Expectations

  Chapter 13: Dessert anyone?

  Chapter 14: The Bund

  Chapter 15: Step on it

  Part 5: Enemies and Allies

  Chapter 16: Tooth Fairy

  Chapter 17: Sidekicks

  Chapter 18: Crazy Horse

  Chapter 19: Isla Perez

  PART ONE

  PERFORMERS

  AND

  PITCHMEN

  Chapter 1

  Intervene

  “It has now been ten months since the return of our astronauts from deep space, and I am pleased to report that our courageous twins Oswaldo, Shamiso, and Young-Min have led rather interesting lives since my last entry,” she dictated into the computer.

  Monika Steckel was sitting in her cubicle at Space Programme headquarters in Darmstadt, updating a file that had been started twenty-four years ago by people she’d never met and who’d long-since retired. This was now part of her job as Personnel Vertreter, in charge of crewmember reorientation. She wore a headset with a mouthpiece so she could compose her report without having to type on a keyboard like people did fifty years ago.

  “In the nine months since sending them off to America, England, and Canada to meet their twin siblings—who’ve had no knowledge of their whereabouts, nor even their existence, mind you, since 2086—the three young ensigns have had quite amazing experiences,” she continued. She then took another sip of her tea, which a coworker had brought her from the office replicator. The slurping sound from drinking her beverage caused a series of asterisks to appear on the screen, which she had to erase manually.

  “Recruited from orphanages when they were only ten years old, they would have had no inkling of what their twin brothers and sister might go on to become. Separated from them for so many years, their individual developments and successes were up to them and their own capabilities. Yet the surprise and shock of seeing how their Earth counterparts turned out in their absence must have been thrilling for them; one can only imagine.”

  Monika was suddenly interrupted by a subordinate’s laugh a few cubicles away. Someone had sent him a macronet link to a funny video of a cat trying to order itself dinner on the family’s food replicator. Not knowing it was being watched, the cat seemed to have memorized the sequence of buttons to activate the menu, and was now swiping its paw from right to left, scrolling through images of food choices. Monika could hear the young man’s exclamations as he observed the cat looking for its favorite dish. “Süss! Das ist super geil! Die Katze sucht den Fisch.” To this, she snickered a bit, picturing the funny scene. This time, however, she remembered to mute her microphone.

  “I’ll begin by detailing what we know of Oswaldo Guerrero and his long journey down to Texas to find his twin brother, Práxedis,” she continued saying into the microphone, trying to re-focus on her work. This file she was contributing to had entries dating as far back as fall 2086, when Space Programme staffers had originally made contact with the phenomenal pair of strapping boys just outside of Houston. At the time, they’d been living and working on the Katy Boys Farm, which raised cotton most of the year, but also trained top-flight athletes year-round.

  “Ozzie, as he’s known by his friends—Ensign Oswaldo Guerrero officially—returned nine months ago to his home town of Katy, Texas where he reunited with his twin brother, Práxedis. Ozzie’s brother is now a famous athlete and retired Megaball player, known the world over as ‘Ranger’ Guerrero. Though the origin of the nickname is largely a mystery to the public these days, it likely has to do with a comment made by the two boys’ little league ball coach, who once referred to the pair as a ‘Ranger Battalion’. This was noted in our file over twenty-four years ago.” She muted and paused her dictation yet again to take another sip of tea.

  “Shortly after traveling to Houston, our sources report that there was increased activity around the private home of Ozzie’s famous brother. Using global positioning satellite imagery, among other things, we observed that Ozzie was soon seen traveling in his brother’s Mercedes out to the local high school to work out with a personal trainer. The pair could be seen running up and down the stairs of the stadium, and performing agility drills and strength training exercises. Práxedis was never in attendance during these trainin
g sessions, I might add.”

  “After a few weeks passed, it was also observed that ‘Ranger’ had hired a well-known throwing expert to instruct Ozzie in proper passing techniques. This individual is reported to be quite controversial in his methods, but has achieved measurable successes with more than a few notable Center Backs in the Professional Megaball Association. He’s now a quadriplegic who was once a star athlete in college, but was injured in a rock climbing accident in his early twenties. Operating from a hover chair in Práxedis’s back yard, he could be seen moving about watching Oswaldo as he threw passes into a target many meters away. Ranger could be seen by global positioning satellite standing nearby, along with their biological mother, Lupé, who, I’m pleased to add, seems to have delighted in seeing her son’s return. Observations indicate his mother is in frail health but ambulatory for brief periods during the day. It was quite inspiring to all of us seeing the two reunited.”

  At that point, Monika paused her dictation to open up a short video feed that was built into the document. By simply moving her cursor over the link, and keeping it there, the images opened instantaneously. A rather pixelated video of the field behind Práxedis’s house could now be seen, and when zooming in, three blurry images of people were visible in front of a small cottage located out back of the main house.

  As the video focused, the three people could easily be identified as Ozzie, Ranger, and Lupé. Ozzie was very carefully escorting his aged mother out the door of the cottage, with his arm around her waist and other hand gently holding her by the wrist. He could then be seen helping her seat herself in a shaded lawn chair so she could watch him practice with the instructor.

  The care and attention he showed when handling her was deeply inspiring. Monika had watched this video so many times, she almost had it memorized! But it brought tears to her eyes almost every time. It did this time as well.

  “Again?” said a deep voice from behind her shoulder. This startled Monika, and her hand slid to the side, moving the cursor off the video—thus freezing it on an image of a smiling Lupé clapping and cheering for her son. Ranger could be seen smiling in the background, operating a video camera on a tripod, filming his brother’s progress.

  “You’re watching that thing again?” asked Otto. He was one of their programmers who’d walk past sometimes when he was goofing off—which was pretty much always. He addressed her in English for some reason, which was not all that unusual, really. Most every educated person these days spoke Mandarin, English, or Arabic in addition to their native language. Many switched back and forth rather frequently.

  “Ja. Ich weiß. Can’t help it, I guess,” answered Monika embarrassedly. “I’ve simply grown so fond of these kids over the years. Well, then again, I guess they’re far from being children anymore, aren’t they? It’s just that I’ve followed their lives for so long, you know? Feel like I’ve been there the whole time, watching them grow up.”

  This was not a random, isolated observation, by the way. Indeed, Space Programme had been a part of all their lives ever since the beginning of the experiment. Not just for Ozzie, Shamiso, and Young-Min either. ALL of the twins…

  * * * *

  True, the initial experiment was designed to separate three sets of identical twins and have one from each pair continue to live out their lives on Earth with no knowledge of their sibling’s circumstances. And though the original theory—The Twin Paradox—was penned in 1911, it was only now that the concept could be pursued…simply because the technology didn’t exist a hundred and eighty years prior to attempt near-light speed travel. Not to mention the questionable ethics of attempting it! That’s why the authors of this bizarre experiment by Space Programme were so strict about its secrecy—even from the participants themselves.

  Furthermore, the designers of the 2086 experiment focused their recruiting on orphans so that the Earth-bound twin would have to develop independently of any moral support from their last known relative. It was cold and heartless, yes, but those were the rules. What’s more, absolutely no interference was ever permitted on behalf of—or as a means of assisting—the Earth twins, while their space counterparts lived out their puberty and teenage years in space.

  Ironically, it was presumed that the space twins would experience an environment with little in the way of temptations or dangers like they would have faced growing up in a large city. They’d enjoy a utopian existence devoid of drugs, alcohol, or promiscuous sex. Unfortunately, those presumptions fell far short of reality. The Santa Maria was rife with wanton behavior and substance abuse on board…to the point it rivaled anything the three Earth twins, Práxedis, Rudo, and Kwang-Min, would have known! When brought to light, it even ended their ship captain’s career when the vessel returned to Earth many years later.

  But what Monika had heard was that over the years, her predecessors in charge of monitoring the twins had often violated this cardinal rule of the experiment. It would never have been noted in the file, of course, but they most certainly did intervene—occasionally—throughout the young lives of the siblings, who remained on Earth for nearly two and a half decades.

  For instance, when Práxedis was struggling with mathematics and science back in high school, an “independent tutor” living in the Houston area suddenly showed up at Katy High’s athletics department, offering her services to the head coach’s best players. This random person was a retiree from Space Programme, rumor had it, but she diligently worked with the star athlete throughout his senior year to help improve his grades so he could make it into college.

  And that’s not all! When he was in the Professional Megaball Association, and embroiled in the controversy surrounding the Red Brick Ranch and the wild parties in Dallas, it was said that Space Programme officials once again came to his aid. Government censors contacted the publisher of the book The Wild Bunch and influenced them to leave out names of “certain otherwise upstanding citizens whose careers might be adversely affected, thus damaging the integrity of the sport and its loyal fans.” The publisher didn’t hesitate to comply. No one ever argued with the government. Hence, Ranger Guerrero was never mentioned specifically in the book.

  Similarly, when Rudo Kachote was in her mid-teens and working at that hotel in London, it was no accident that a singing instructor and talent scout got involved in her eventual music career. It was no coincidence that she was suddenly “discovered” either. Monika had heard years before that individuals were alerted to her talents, or influenced in some way to take notice of her amazing voice.

  And when she was in the relationship with the jealous African model? The one she eventually married? The one who beat her? Once again, Space Programme knew all about the situation. Tipped off local police when the assault was occurring so that they arrived in the nick of time to stop him from killing her—which he most likely would have if they hadn’t burst through the door when they did. Then, when the hot-headed fellow was hauled off to jail, rumor had it around Space Programme administration that the judge was somehow encouraged to put the prisoner “on remand” until his hearing in the magistrate’s court. Denied bail, he was forced to serve his sentence and face immediate deportation when it concluded. Rudo thankfully never had to face the crazed man again.

  With Kwang-Min, it was said that Space Programme went all out for him as well. Gave him several big breaks through the years. Monika knew what they did for him, and it was truly a shame it hadn’t worked out better, she had to admit. It saddened her to see how he eventually turned out—a cutthroat business executive—even though he’d shown so much promise as a youngster. Many thought he’d become a Space Programme scientist himself one day. How fortuitous that would have been! Yet he never thought to apply. His life went a different direction, and that was ultimately his choice and his alone, which everyone grew to accept.

  Yes, just as Kelvin had predicted so many years before, Kwang-Min was recommended to the Global Union Program for Gifted Children right after his thirteenth birthday! This organizat
ion selected high-scoring students from around the world and brought them into special schools, providing for their daily sustenance and housing, while they studied applied sciences and mathematics with teens ranging from thirteen to eighteen.

  He showed an immediate aptitude for chemistry, just as everyone would have expected him to, and many would have guessed he’d someday pioneer advancements in microbiology or discover new ways to improve agriculture. Not so. He didn’t just go the other way; he turned out to be downright evil! The degeneration was just as surprising as it was unwelcome. Gradual, too.

  Space Programme operatives were said to have intervened several times to keep him out of jail when he started his smuggling operation. Many times, he could have been fingered by police informants. Folks back in Darmstadt gave him several chances, hoping he was simply going through a phase trying to support himself financially, and would someday clean up his act. But he never did. Frankly, Monika could only wonder if it might have done him some good to spend a night or two in jail back when he was a teenager! Maybe that would have scared him straight.

  Instead, he continued to expand his network and create layer upon layer of intermediaries that protected his identity as the true mastermind behind “the organization” as it was referred to around Toronto. After several years, Space Programme wrote him off as a loss. Then, years later, they started tracking his activities for other reasons, she would soon learn.

  * * * *

  After grabbing a tissue and dabbing her nose a bit, Monika prepared to unmute her microphone and continue dictating. Otto patted her on the shoulder and assured her kindly, “Wir verstehen Monika…es ist okay.” And that was truly the case. Everyone understood around Space Programme headquarters how emotional it could be at times having the huge responsibilities she had. Crewmember reorientation was a difficult task, and required a lot of her time and effort.