Twin Paradox Book One

Kelvin and his trusted protege' Ozzie Guerrero have succeeded in leading their colleagues down to the beaches of the Great Kapteyn Sea where they've gathered samples of soil and sea water.  Now a determination can be made as to whether the vast ocean possesses the necessary components for Humans to eventually farm it.  All indications are that the results will be positive.  Only problem is that one particular individual has proven to be unstable.  Whether caused by a malfunction within the reanimation process or other factors remains to be seen.  Nonetheless a brand new challenge faces the brave crew of the Santa Maria; not to mention the soon to be hard-pressed colonists of Kapteyn B. 

Tonight we continue with Part 3:  Journey and Conquest.  By the grace of God they've finally done it!  The brave crew and captain of the Santa Maria have reached their goal:  an exoplanet called Kapteyn B which is ripe for colonization.  

Or is it?  Up to now they've been relying upon grainy photographs and vague scientific theories regarding what they're going to find there.  Will it be a veritable Garden of Eden, teaming with life?  Will it be a frozen wasteland?  We're about to find out. 

Kelvin and his team of brawny engineers and scientists first have to assist Shamiso and her coworkers with reviving the other one hundred passengers currently in stasis.  It poses several unexpected challenges; but none so complicated as what they'll face when it comes time to explore the surface of planet "B".  There they encounter obstacles of a far different variety.

 Tonight we continue with Part 3:  Journey and Conquest.  We're now approaching year ten of the Santa Maria's voyage to Kapteyn B, an exoplanet believed to possess the potential for feeding the population of Earth.  It's a daily grind for the crew of the ship, despite the effects of time dilation meaning they are aging at only half the rate of folks back home.  Boredom has become a problem.  Crew members resort to casual sex as a means of dealing with the monotony; and that's not all, as we're about to find out. 

The three space twins become quite popular on board; Young-Min Jo especially.  Yet his twin brother Kwang-Min is also doing pretty well, as we're going to learn.  Now twenty; and despite being left behind at that gloomy orphanage near Toronto, he's been able to achieve great success.  Same can be said for Rudo Kachote still working away back in London.  She's on her way to becoming famous!  Just like Ozzie's twin brother back in Texas, it seems the Earth twins are all three making names for themselves - at least in one way or another.

Tonight we begin Part 3:  Journey and Conquest.  A lot has been covered in the first nine chapters but we now know the true function of the soon-to-be obsolete Santa Maria galactic exploration vessel.  During its voyage to Kapteyn B it will be laying a path for something much bigger to follow:  a ship many times its size which will be constructed over the course of the next fourteen years, able to travel at ten times the speed of light, making the journey in just under thirteen months.  The role of the crew - especially Kelvin and his colleagues from the Away Team - is going to be all the more crucial to the future of mankind.

Not that anyone cares back on Earth.  They've moved on; all those Earthlings who'd been so thrilled with the news that the Santa Maria was about to embark on a deep space mission to colonize an alien planet.  They've returned to their daily lives, enjoying their favorite pastimes.  Meanwhile, the crew of the ship are trying desperately to maintain their sanity as they hurtle through the galaxy toward Kapteyn B.  

Tonight we continue with Part Two, Pioneers and Explorers.  At this point we've met all three of our space twins:  Ozzie, Shamiso, and Young-Min Jo.  We've also learned how Kelvin (with a little help from his new friends Helga and Steffen - not to mention an outstanding effort from his old pal B.J.) has made just the right connection in order to get himself selected to the crew.  That is, if he can get clean and pass the drug test.  Not to mention getting himself back into shape ... and passing the entrance exam.

Meanwhile, there is something very few people know about the maiden voyage of the Santa Maria.   Only top level scientists within the upper echelon of Space Programme - and barely a handful of high level officials within the government itself - have been informed.   An exciting development within the world of science will soon alter the average person's understanding of long-distance space travel; and with it mankind’s potential for eventually conquering and settling the galaxy. 

Tonight we continue with Part 2:  Pioneers and Explorers.  So far we've been introduced to our first two space twins, Oswaldo (Ozzie) Guerrero and Shamiso Kachote.  Now it's time to meet our third space twin ... and learn of a salacious scheme to get Kelvin selected to the crew for the upcoming space mission to Kapteyn B.  

We start off by traveling from Houston all the way to Canada, where we visit an orphanage for young males ages two to thirteen.  It's a rough existence for the boys living there but among the many hundreds there is to be found a pair of identical twins who possess the makings for becoming brilliant scientists someday.

Kelvin and B.J. are asked to tag along with Space Programme staffers, making the short drive up from Mississauga.  They spend the day visiting the facility and gathering intel on the two candidates.  When testing continues into a second day, the finalists are transferred to a hotel down the road in Toronto.  B.J. and Kelvin are invited as well; and that's where the two stoners get to demonstrate how they got their reputations.  Yet when they befriend one of the staffers - a young woman from Germany - their fortunes take a turn for the better.  Seems Helga and her husband Steffen know exactly who Kelvin needs to be talking to if he wants a spot on the crew. 

Tonight we continue with Part 2:  Pioneers and Explorers.  We've already met some of our main characters and tonight we're going to meet some more; namely two of the space twins eventually selected for the mission. 

So far we got to meet Kelvin, the handsome Virginian who's good with the ladies.  Günther, the soft-spoken German whose father is a government official.  Also B.J., the lovely math whiz from Colorado whose brains and good looks are only matched by the gal's limitless sex drive.  And finally Robin, the flamboyant transgender from east Atlanta who introduces the concept of 'the twin paradox'. 

 It's been months since the official announcement; along with the unveiling of the new Santa Maria galactic exploration vessel.  The media has covered it ever since, thrilling the public with imagery of the ship’s designs, details of crew functions, accommodations, as well as descriptions of the ship’s anticipated mission protocol.  Meanwhile, the ongoing search for just the right set of identical twins is coming to a conclusion.  Sure enough … Günther’s father embraced the wild idea proposed by his son and his friends back at Magellan Aerospace.  To be sure, he's taken things much further than originally suggested. 

In this episode we begin Part 2:  Pioneers and Explorers.  Here we get to meet some of the main characters in the story.   The setting is a corporate dormitory in the year 2086 and four young stoners - all of them scientists working for an aerospace firm in southeastern Canada -  are watching the news program World Week.  It's a Sunday night and they're taking a break from their projects; something they do each Sunday, along with getting high smoking THC resin from a glass bong.

First there's  Kelvin, the once-ambitious Virginian who's taken a slight detour with his life as of late.   Next, there's Gunther, the soft-spoken German whose father is a government official.  Then there's  B.J., the promiscuous wild child from Colorado who's never had a boyfriend but always has a date.   And there's Robin, the flamboyant transgender from east Atlanta.   What they hear at the opening of the broadcast sparks a lively discussion once the show goes to commercial.  A space mission to an alien planet 13 light years from Earth?  Kelvin sees it as the opportunity of a lifetime.  The others think he's crazy.

Journalist Cory Redman concludes her controversial expose' from year 2076 with her depiction of the race to send a manned mission into deep space; the goal being to seek out long term possibilities for galactic colonization.

She turns her attention to the GU’s diabolical and rather ambitious 30-year long space flight program which began in the 2040's.  In 2049, the GU Food and Agricultural Ministry calculated that food production had to increase by a minimum of seventy percent by the year 2100.  Yet there isn't a definitive way to accommodate this rise in need – not on planet Earth, anyway.  Temperatures on the planet have increased upwards of 3.3 ◦C, and expectations are for that to triple by the end of the century.  There simply isn't any easier answer.  Studies all reach one irrefutable conclusion:  the destiny of humanity is to explore and colonize space. 

Kapteyn B, an exoplanet within the Kapteyn star system, 12.8 light years away, is believed to be the best candidate for colonization.

In Part Four of her controversial expose' from 2076, Cory shifts her focus to the massive turnaround in the world economy during the years following the Great Collapse.  A radical revamping of global energy production leads to SOLAR becoming the accepted source for powering the planet.

Developments within the “photovoltaic” industry come fast and furious from drawing board to reality, leading to an economic boom.  Millions of unemployed Europeans and North Americans desperate for steady work once again find good-paying jobs, in that what's required will be the placement of thousands of square kilometers of solar mirrors in order to establish a modernized energy grid.  

But by 2046, a new opportunity comes to light which creates an even bigger stir within the scientific community:  Scientists announce plans for mining the solar system for precious metals and minerals necessary for powering the new global economy.  It starts with the Earth’s moon and eventually expands to the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.  The moon provides Helium 3.  Asteroids provide platinum.  It won't be long before nuclear fusion-powered spacecraft will become a reality.