Twin Paradox by Purple Hazel

Author:Purple Hazel [Hazel, Purple]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Torrid Books
Published: 2017-08-30T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter 13

All Ears

Back on board a few hours later, both exploration teams were hailed as heroes. Kelvin naturally deferred all the fame to his fellow squad members, highlighting Oswaldo’s heroic run and before that his cleverness in discovering a path down to the beach. Commander Cadorna, by way of comparison, seemed to want to seize all the glory for himself, detailing how he’d “calmly walked out into the surf” and “felt the sensations of seawater rushing past my boots”. Kelvin rolled his eyes and let Steinhart Stehter piece it together for himself.

No, he needn’t clarify just who or whom had reached the ocean first. The Captain added it up rather easily. No way in hell it was that little Italian fellow—with his boisterous story-telling—saying that he’d indeed reached the water’s edge before anyone else. Steinhart was much smarter than that. He’d write his report later that day and credit both commanders equally, which is what he’d have assumed Kelvin would prefer anyway. His young Lieutenant was a team player, not some selfish fame-seeker. If only he’d known how this personal insult would later affect Luigi Cadorna—when the commander found out later what was in Captain Stehter’s report…

Within a week after that historic day, Santa Maria had finally set down in that dry sea bed as well, some distance from B-lander. Because of its massive size, basically a full two-thirds larger than B-lander and covering an area the size of a large metropolitan sports stadium, Santa Maria needed plenty of room to “park”. For one thing, the dust cloud it created when landing nearly covered B-lander in a layer of sandy dirt; and if any living thing had been near it when touching down it would have been incinerated or quite literally blown asunder. The other reason for the great distance between the two ships was just as valid: the mother ship would create an even bigger whirlwind taking off a year later when it departed for Earth.

The surplus crew, who’d been sent with the colonists down to the surface then trudged across nearly a kilometer of cracked, dusty soil to Santa Maria, and happily returned to their former home. Ironically most of them desperately missed the place, truth be told; after suffering on board B-lander for nearly a week, sharing sleeping berths with their colleagues and grabbing short naps when it came their turn to go get some “rack time”.

Others by way of comparison didn’t bother with the assigned sleep rotation and braved the surface in tents which “popped” open upon activation and provided both internal heating as well as a breathable oxygen-infused atmosphere once all occupants were sealed up inside. The crew jokingly took to calling these devices “Jiffy Pops”.

No real predators were identified meanwhile—only curious insects collecting on them whenever they’d venture into wooded areas. The big dragon-fly looking bug that the crew of Rover One had witnessed? No one reported seeing it again, or anything like it either, so folks began to question whether there were more of them anywhere close by.

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