The Twins Paradox - Alan Gasparutti (top ten books of all time txt) 📗

it may affect the car, before sending the image to Lucas.
Lucas was amending the plan of the car engine at the time, but agreed with Ramondo's plan. On consideration, however, he thought it better to position the SEB in front of the sunroof, reduce the width of the sunroof slightly on each side, to allow more hot energy to be absorbed by the SEB, and for the SAB to be moved to the back of the roof compartment. When he sent his amended plan to Ramondo, he agreed with this, so the two of them met for lunch to discuss this. They discussed all aspects of the car, and agreed that in all other respects, the original model was fine.
When the new plan of the solar car was completed, they sent this to Henry. He looked carefully at the plan, and in full agreement, gave it his approval. He went to monitor the production of the new solar car, the next week. The three of them gave the new car a couple of short test-runs, which were similar to the ones earlier, and carried out a further inspection. By the end of the next week, a brand new sports solar car was ready.

New Business

Meanwhile, back in Tenerife, Arthur had by now forgotten about the solar panels he had intended to be put up in his house. He had eventually found a company in Spain, but when they gave a price, Arthur wasn't too keen. They explained that this included airfare and transporting materials. Arthur noted the price and said he'd ring them back later. Unfortunately, he had no luck in trying to find anyone else to carry out the work, and eventually forgot the case, until he received an email from Henry, showing the new solar car. He contacted Henry as he checked the message.
“Hello, is Major Retono available?” he asked as he rang Henry about his email.
“Hello, Professor Wagstaff, I’ll put you through to the major,” replied Zebrina who had answered the phone. “Hello Major,“ she then said to Henry as she transferred the call, “I have Arthur on the line for you.”
“Put him through, put him through,” instructed Henry.
“Hello Major, I received your message,” Arthur said to Henry when he was put through. “I was impressed with the new solar car when I looked at your web page. It would be excellent to market in California.”
“That’s what I intend to do,” Henry told him. “I’ve had plans for a solar car for a while, but had to put them on hold as it wouldn’t really be suited to the UK.”
"Indeed, indeed," said Arthur.
"To be totally honest, I had some assistance with the design from Lucas and Ramondo," Henry admitted.
"Oh really," commented Arthur. "They're quite bright young chaps, aren’t they?"
"Oh they're bright alright, though not so young any more," said Henry. "I have been thinking about sending one of them to LA as a consultant on my behalf."
"With all due respects, I don’t think they’re ready for that sort of thing just yet,” said Arthur. “Oh, by the way, that offer you made me last month…”
"Remind me, which offer was that?" queried Henry.
"About installing solar-panels on my roof," said Arthur.
"Oh that one," said Henry. "The offer still stands if you're interested in it."
"Yes please, if it's no trouble," replied Arthur. "I've been scouring the local telephone directory and the web, but all I found was a company in Spain charging the Earth for the job."
"I suppose that's understandable, if someone's going to have to travel a thousand odd miles, plus carry cargo for the distance," commented Henry. "I'll have a word with my men, it shouldn't cost too much."
"Sending them via Easy jet, eh," laughed Arthur. "I hope they let them take the tools and what-have-you."
"That shouldn't be a problem," said Henry. "Can you send me the dimensions of your house, so as Gaspar and Gonchaves can sort the frames out. They'll send you their projected plan."
"Oh good, good," said Arthur. "When will that be - after we've sorted the Californian project?"
"We may be able to arrange it before then, but I'll have to check if Gaspar and Gonchaves have any other arrangements in that time," Henry told him. "Speaking of the Californian project, would you mind if I sent the plan of the solar car to your American contact, Frank?"
"No, not at all," replied Arthur. "You may want to send a picture of yourself, as well."
"Why's that?" Henry asked curiously. "He doesn't think I'm some kind of Wookie, or from the Planet of the Apes, does he?"
"Oh good gracious, no," said Arthur. "I just thought you may want to get to know the chap, particularly if we're going to meet him in the next few weeks."
"I suppose you're right," Henry sighed. "If you can give me Frank's email address, I'll forward the details of the new solar car to him."
"I don't recall the address off-hand, but I'll copy you in when I send himthe details of your solar car," said Arthur. "He may want to contact you directly, himself. Can you let me know what he has to say?"
"I'll do that," said Henry.

A little later, Henry checked his PC mailbox, and found the new message from Arthur, quoting Frank’s email address. It was a little later that day when Frank looked into his own PC mailbox. He didn’t think a lot about the email at first, until he began reading it and noticed where it was from and what it was about. He then read the message with interest, and was impressed with idea of the solar car. He thought about contacting Henry immediately, but then wondered whether this was too good to be true. The longer Frank thought about this, the more he wondered.
In the end, he decided to send a reply, acknowledging the information. This was at night, in the UK, where Henry was sleeping at the time. After sleeping on the thought himself, Frank rang Arthur the following day.
“I’m afraid I don’t know a lot more about this solar-powered car myself,” Arthur said to him. “I was only told about it a couple of days ago.”
“I’m not saying you can’t utilise solar energy, but do you really believe it could power a vehicle?” queried Frank.
“Oh yes,” said Arthur. ”As I understand it, the heat going into the roof of the car, via the sunroof, is absorbed into a battery, which converts the heat into energy. It appears there are small solar panels, too, from which light is similarly absorbed.”
“So you think the idea is plausible?” Frank queried again.
“Oh I think so,” replied Arthur. “I know Henry has solar panels in his warehouse, from which the electricity is supplied in much the same way. From what I’ve seen, that doesn’t seem to be a new idea in the UK. I don’t think they get enough sunshine and heat to truly maximize the idea, though.”
“Do you think it would be better suited to other places, like California?” asked Frank.
“Oh most definitely,” Arthur told him. “In fact I’ve been considering having solar panels fitted to my house, here in Tenerife. I get the impression you’re not too keen on the idea?”
“Oh, don’t get me wrong, I like the idea – I’m just not convinced, yet,” explained Frank. “I wouldn’t have believed the digital car you showed me at the ‘Convention last month if I hadn’t seen it for myself.”
“I take it that you would prefer to see the proof first, am I right?” Arthur queried.
“That’s about it,” said Frank. “I don’t want to tell the Governor of California about some genius idea, only to find it doesn’t work. I was presented with enough of them at NASA.”
“I understand where you’re coming from,” said Arthur. “I’ll ask Henry to get in touch, see if he can arrange to fly over this weekend.”
“I would be grateful,” said Frank.
“If we can’t arrange that, I’ll suggest we take both the solar and digital cars along next week,” Arthur suggested as an alternative. “The Governor’ will only be expecting to see the digital car, so perhaps we can surprise him with the solar car.”
“I’d rather see the solar car myself, first,” Frank told him
“I copied Henry in on the email, so you can contact him yourself, if you wish,” Arthur suggested. “Perhaps you can come up with your own arrangements.”
“I’ll see if I have the time,” replied Frank. “Thanks very much, anyway. Let me know how you get on.”

As it was, Henry had already arranged for both vehicles to be transported, and also managed to get a flight to Colorado Springs. He spoke to Frank the following day, to confirm this. Everything was ready.
Arthur managed to arrange 5 days leave for the following week. On Saturday, he flew to Leeds & Bradford airport, and spent the weekend with Henry and his team, where they arranged for Gaspar and Gonchaves to sort the solar paneling on Arthur’s roof.
Early on Monday morning, they drove the two cars to Heathrow, where they each booked-in, with their vehicles, before flying out to meet Frank. They slept lightly through most of the flight, to make up for their lack of sleep earlier. Due to the time difference, they arrived at Colorado Springs just before mid-day. On arrival, Arthur rang Frank to let him know, and while he and Henry went to pick up their vehicles, Frank drove to the airport.
It was just after 1pm that Henry and Arthur parked their vehicles, and went to one of the café’s in the airport to have some lunch. It was then that Frank rang them to check where they were, and five minutes later Arthur felt a tap on his shoulder.
“Do you mind if I join?” asked Frank, who had taken along a friend with him, though it wasn’t who they had expected.
“Well, hello there,” replied Arthur, before introducing him to Henry.
Then, to his amazement, someone appeared from behind Frank.
“Hello Arthur, how are you?” Dermot said to him. “Aren’t you going to introduce me to your colleague?”
“Oh yes, yes, of course,” Arthur said with surprise. “Meet Henry.”
They all shook hands, and while Dermot and Henry were in dialogue, Arthur asked Frank where Clint was.
“Oh, he couldn’t make it,” Frank told him. “By the time this was arranged, he’d already booked to go away for a while.”
“Oh??” mumbled Arthur. “Where exactly has he gone to? Hawaii, or Miami perhaps?”
“Nowhere as exciting, I’m afraid,” said Frank. “Apparently, he’s gone to see some friend of his in Texas. He didn’t say where exactly.”
"Perhaps he has a friend near Houston," Arthur suggested.
"Could be," said Frank. "Clint spent the best part of a year at NASA, so I dare say he has a buddy or two there. Maybe even a kitten!"
"A kitten?" asked Arthur. "Surely he wouldn't travel that far just to see a little cat grow up?"
Frank laughed.
"No, I mean a female friend," Frank explained. "That's what I often refer to as a kitten."
"Oh, sorry, sorry," Arthur giggled as he saw the funny side. "Please excuse me, but I didn't realise what you were referring to."
Just across the table, Dermot was telling Henry how impressed he was with the digital car he had bought from Henry.
"That car of mine is running well," Dermot then said to the others. "It's perfect for driving around Paris in. I've not had any problems it at all."
"Good, good," said Henry. "I can't recall if your car had our new logo on it, or title of the car?"
"I understand your business is named Major Motors," queried Dermot. "I don't