Twin Earth

I stood awkwardly as I watched Hayden and his team set up the portable snake cake. The thing was remarkably basic in design, oblong in shape with a hexagonal grey metallic piece at the end. It was probably about three metres in length and not much narrower in width. It was smooth too mostly, with only a few openings to hint as something going on inside. In a way it reminded me of the alien black box, but less sophisticated, especially with the odd loose wire and tubing hanging out underneath, whatever they were for. Regardless, I felt like a loose part. I wasn’t sure why I was needed here even if I had suggested coming. Everyone now knew in great detail what I had learned up in space, but even so Hayden insisted on showing me everything that he was doing. I had to admire his tenacity.

Eventually leaving me alone, Hayden went off to haul the snake cake towards one of the larger stones and I turned my attention to James off in the far distance who was now seemingly deep in conversation with my father, whilst Yuki pondered over her notes under a portable tent that had now been set up. For some reason seeing James and my father together pissed me off, especially as it looked like their conversation was about my behaviour as my father turned to look at me. Rolling my eyes, I ignored them and went to look at a stone. The drizzle in the morning air had thankfully cleared and the day seemed to be brightening up. Even the wind had calmed down, making the barren landscape seem a little less miserable, unlike my mood. I was even beginning to feel a bit bored and debated heading back to the pub for some breakfast. It was already nearly nine o’clock and I was starving.

“Tom,” my father called softly from behind, making me jump a little as I stood running my hand over the stone now in front of me. “You okay? James said…”

”Yes, I can imagine what James said,” I interrupted sarcastically. “But I’m fine, honest.”

”You guys are best friends,” my father continued undeterred. “It seems a shame to dwell on the past and let that ruin how things are now. This is an exciting time.”

“You don’t know anything about my past,” I snapped, turning to look at my father.

“Now you listen. I know you have been through a lot, we all have, but you have to let what happened with that astronaut go. It is eating you up!”

Remaining silent, I turned away and stared out at the view.

“Your ex-wife was a poisonous woman. What she did to you is unforgivable. You are a good scientist and a good man with a good heart. Don’t let how she treated you ruin your life now.”

”But if I hadn’t of got drunk…” I started, fighting back years of emotion as I listened to my father’s caring voice.

“It wasn’t your fault son. You should not have been called in that night. There were numerous other people working that night that could have easily intervened. It was just one of those things. No-one is to blame. It was just a terrible, terrible accident and feeling guilty and ruining your life over it will not bring her back.”

“If only I’d just,” I whispered, fighting back tears and wishing it was still raining to hide my embarrassment.

“If only, if only,” my father repeated. “Ifs don’t help anyone. It didn’t help me with your mother and it isn’t helping you now.”

Hearing my father so openly talk about my mother caught me off guard and for a second I forgot to be upset. Starting at my Dad I waited for him to continue.

“I blamed myself for so many years for my failed marriage, for failing you…”

”You didn’t fail me,” I interrupted, surprised at my Dad’s words.

“Even so, it took me a long time to forgive myself and to realise that burying my head in work was only making the people around me feel worse. I had to move on. I had to forgive your mother and myself. If I hadn’t then who knows how many more years I would have wasted acting the way I was. When I thought you had died…” my father paused, coughing slightly and putting a hand on my shoulder. “…I struggled. It took everything in me to remember that promise I made to you.”

”Promise?” I asked surprised.

“The promise that I made silently to myself that I would never go back to that dark place. To honour everything you had done for us, for our planet. I had to carry on.”

”But you gave everything up? Moved to Hawaii,” I queried. “Why?”

“Why not? The weather is amazing,” my Dad grinned, lightening the mood.

Smiling and realising a huge weight had been lifted for probably the first time in years I grabbed my father’s arm and nodded in agreement.

“I have to say your tan is impressive,” I quipped.

“Need I say more,” my father laughed. “Come on, it looks like everyone is gathering around the collider. Maybe something is happening.”

Following my father over to the snake cake, I approached James and placed my arm around his shoulder, giving him a quick squeeze. Punching me affectionately in the ribs, James smiled.

“So what have I missed and what are these posts,” I asked, motioning towards a circle of what looked like outdoor lights pinned into the ground.

“These are types of magnetometers and gaussmeters. They detect the magnetic field around the stones and any radiation interference. They help eliminate any outside influence such as from the ground or from the weather,” Hayden replied, walking over with a clipboard.

“Is there a magnetic field here? Around the stones I mean?” I asked curiously.

“It definitely seems so and it’s concentrated. It may have been one of the fundamental reasons why this stone formation was built where it is. The lie of the land added to the concentration of the stones has created a regular and concentric alteration of polarity, manifesting itself physically as a magnetic field. You may even experience a slight headache.”

”Yeah I’d noticed that,” James replied, automatically rubbing his head.

”It’s a by-product I’m afraid if you’re sensitive to magnetic fields. Curiously though the magnetic field in this area seems to follow a spiral pattern, emanating outwards towards the smaller stones.”

“That’s weird,” I replied.

“I can only imagine that over-time the stones have literally charged themselves.”

”So like huge magnets?” James asked curiously, still rubbing his forehead.

“Yes, and a surprising amount of alpha radiation has been detected by my colleague here.”

“Should we be worried about that?” James asked nervously.

“No, it’s only in low quantities and although alpha radiation has more energy, it’s less penetrable. Your skin alone is good enough to stop it damaging your cells.”

”You should know that,” I joked, punching James softly.

“I did, I did, I just forgot that’s all,” James mumbled embarrassed. “So where’s this radiation coming from?”

”We’re not sure. We’re assuming the minerals in the stones has something to do with it, but it seems to fluctuate between this tomb and the inner stones here,” Hayden continued, pointing to the circle enclosure of stones around us.

“Interesting,” my father mused, looking down into the central tomb.

It wasn’t much of a tomb, more of a mound really surrounded by a set of flat stones lying on the ground. In the centre was a large puddle of water that had gathered and a few tufts of grass. Certainly nothing out of the ordinary.

“Is that why you set up the snake cake here?” I asked.

“Indeed…” Hayden started.

“And you were right Tom,” Yuki interrupted, looking up from the small screen on the collider.

”I was?”

“The natural level of neutralinos we’ve detected far outweighs those generated in the collider and they’re structured. In fact, they are considerably more structured than those detected from the meteorite samples.”

”Incredible,” my father replied, walking over and looking down at the tiny screen. “And they are coming from the stones?”

“Yes, I believe so. The closer we move the collider to the stones, the higher the quantity of neutralinos we’re detecting.”

”So what does this mean?” James asked. “Is there any data to suggest another map, or message hidden in these particle fluctuations?”

”I’m running it through the computer model now,” Hayden replied.

“Oh ye of little faith,” James grinned towards me.

“I’ll admit, this is interesting. I didn’t expect anything to happen.”

”It’s all hidden here within these stones. Who knows how many more stones around the world are emitting these particles, sending messages and no-one has a clue its happening!” James continued excitedly.

“We should report these findings to Saxton,” Yuki interjected. “We’ve stayed silent on this for too long now.”

”Who’s Saxton?” I asked confused.

“She means the UK government. No, we should wait,” James replied.

“But James, these are significant findings. I’ve already kept the maps quiet. We could get arrested for this or worse, shut down.”

”Yuki is right,” my father added. “The Japanese government will also want to know about this.”

”No, we should wait,” I agreed, slightly flustered. “Something tells me our government isn’t as clean in all this as we think. I mean, did they really just happily set up the new camp in Swindon in aid of science. Something tells me they already know about Mochuvia, just as much as the Americans and the Russians do. They could be using any information we discover for political advantage. We don’t know.”

“Tom has a point,” my father added. “Are we sure we can trust them right now? We don’t know what they will do with this information. It could jeopardise the peace treaty that took us years to implement.”

”Peace treaty?” I asked. “That implies you were at war?”

”In effect we were,” James replied. “When the Russians snitched on America, who then denied everything and arrested Magnus as a cover-up…”

”We can’t prove that,” Yuki interrupted.

“Oh come on, it’s so obvious. Anyway, all hell broke loose. Trust was at zero. The EU collapsed. China got defensive. It was a fucking nightmare. Everyone wanted a peace of Mochuvia. Now that it’s closed off, thanks to you Tom…”

”Err you’re welcome,” I mumbled.

“...any new information on gaining access to the twin Earth planet will be highly sort after. I mean seriously sought after. FBI killing people in silence kind of sought after, you know.”

”Okay fine, but at some point…” Yuki replied

“I know, but it’s too risky right now,” James interrupted.

“Well, either way,” Hayden added, looking up from his computer. “There is another message and a very clear message at that. It’s coming through now. This is unbelievable.”