Chapter Twelve: Reach the Beach

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.

Transcript

Hello, and welcome back to Twin Paradox.  I'm King Everett Medlin and what you're hearing is a SciFi trilogy I wrote four years ago under the pseudonym Purple Hazel.  Twin Paradox follows my first podcast series entitled Deathwalker Colony, which is now a full length novel available for purchase on Amazon.  It's on sale today in E-book format, as well as the first two books in the Rijel 12 Series, The Rise of New Australia and Return of Anarchy.  

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.

Twin Paradox is a SciFi series encompassing three full length novels; all of which will be read in their entirety during the coming weeks.  You can go online and download the E-books ... or if you prefer, tune in and listen to me read them to you.  So let's continue. 

Ladies and Gentlemen, Twin Paradox, Part Three:  Journey and Conquest.  Chapter Twelve, Reach the Beach ...

At shortly after 0600 Greenwich Mean Time on the 24th of May, 2101 the Santa Maria arrived in orbit around Kapteyn B, the first manned space exploration vessel to ever reach an alien planet outside Earth’s solar system.  To mark this grand occasion, a single brief message was sent by Captain Tommy Berwick using the newly completed matter pod line stretching billions of kilometers back to Earth.  All it said was “Orbit established at Kapteyn B.  Preparing landing craft.”   

This historically significant message would take approximately 1.28 years to reach Earth.  By that time, back in Earth’s orbit, a massive resupply ship called the Nautilus, equipped with Alcubierre Drive Metric technology, would already be preparing for launch.  Meanwhile a hundred weary souls, having completed the first leg of their mission, were busy rehabilitating the rest of their colleagues while their ship circled the planet.

 B.J. (or “Ensign O-1 Ariel” as she was known officially) strained, moaned, and groaned through her daily physical therapy session.  She wasn't alone.  The crew and colonists which had been in stasis for so many years were awake by now and had, for the past 30 Earth days, been readjusting to the cold realities of consciousness after 14 plus Earth years frozen inside cryogenic containers.  

Waking them up, reviving them from so many years in suspended animation, had been a delicate task.  It had been a rather strange process indeed!  Yet with each revived crewmember, culminating in the successful reanimation of the Captain of the Return Team himself, Steinhart Stehter, Shamiso’s team could heave a collective sigh of relief.  Practically everyone seemed to make it through the process okay, or at least relatively so, given the circumstances.

Those from the Pod Launch and Matter Pod Preparation teams were reassigned to help Shamiso’s unit in getting all those mostly female crewmembers back to full functionality.  After seven long years working with the dangers of chemical gas leaks and the threat of exposure and death while placing matter pods out in space; they became full time physical therapists.  Now their daily work dangers were of a far different sort!  They had to deal with cranky, whiny, and sometimes even violent patients as those poor souls struggled to get blood circulation to extremities and achieve full motion with their arms, fingers, and legs.  Their minds were usually the biggest challenge of all.

 “STOP TOUCHING ME!” screamed one of the young Canadian women, shortly after being revived.  Hers was a typical reaction.  Patients would undergo physical therapy until exhausted; then be stirred awake to begin again after a short nap.  They’d cry out whenever lifted from one of the special therapy beds meant for the recovery process.  These had been stacked up and sealed inside containers along the walls of the cryogenic lab for the past 14.22 Earth years.  Lt. Junior Grade Kelvin and his team of brutes, including a now full-grown Ensign Oswaldo Guerrero, had pulled them down one by one, and laid them out in what was once an open lobby area in front of the stasis machines.  When done it looked like an old wartime M.A.S.H. unit performing triage after wounded had arrived.  It was chaotic.  Shamiso and her little team of scientists could not hope to have managed it on their own.

 People would scream at them, curse them out, or pathetically beg them to stop, but the brawny therapists pressed on; all the while assuring and reassuring each distressed crewmember, “It’ll only hurt worse if you fight it,” or they’d say “Just relax and breathe through it.”  

B.J. suffered just as much as anyone during the painful ordeal; but her clever wit had clearly survived the cryogenic process.  She’d make ribald comments like, “It’ll only hurt worse if you fight it?  Now when have I heard that before, I wonder?” or she’d quip “Just relax, huh?  Don’t they always say that when they wanna get ya’ to try something kinky?”  

It was great to have her back! 

Her friendship with Kelvin took no time to reestablish itself.  It was Kelvin who personally supervised reviving her; and he insisted he be the first person she saw when the reversal process was complete.  Sat by her stasis machine for nearly seven hours as the machine thawed her body and resupplied her organs with her own previously frozen plasma.  She awoke, pale and ghostly after such a long period with no blood circulating.  Then, ever so slowly, as the reversal process brought her back, she finally looked up at Kelvin and stared eerily, blinking occasionally in reaction to some drops he was putting in her eyes to rehydrate them.  She was silent for nearly an hour – occasionally confused or anxious – but then mouthed something nonsensical, barely audible to the team huddled around her.  No one was completely sure what she was saying; but to Kelvin it looked like she was muttering “Well … Good morning, asshole.” 

It took nearly a month to start returning them all to duty.  Some patients came around after only a couple days of having their own previously frozen blood pumped back into their bodies and their brains “reactivated”.  Others took much longer; but there was always a threat that the minds of each individual frozen in stasis might be altered from their original demeanor.  Shamiso’s team had been trained for this potentiality and in turn informed their staff of 23 volunteer “physical therapists” to watch out for it.  The brain could be afflicted with psychotic episodes, loss of long-term memory, or bipolar mood swings, they’d been told.  To make matters worse, it might be undetectable until triggered.   

Despite the dangers, everyone was continually assured they’d return to their normal selves within a week or two.  And though there was only one clear case of psychosis (discovered much, much later); the challenges it would present to both the colonists remaining - as well as the crew sent to the surface to help them - were terribly unwelcome.  Unfortunately, this condition with one of the crewmen – one of the officers in fact - was not to be recognized until exploration began down on the planet surface.

                                                                                                     ******** 

Landing on the surface had been thoroughly planned out.  A smaller craft called the Kapteyn B Lander, or “B-Lander” for short, had been fastened to the hull of the Santa Maria for the voyage.  It merely needed to be provisioned with supplies then jettisoned from the mothership.  Released from the main craft, it was capable of firing jets for maneuvering and had room for fifty passengers, who could live on board after landing.  What’s more, it had a complement of seventy-five officers and personnel from the Away Team and Return Team sent along to assist in setting up shop.  That was the initial phase of the mission.   

The rest was far more interesting - and complicated.  For they’d spend the next eleven and a half months exploring.  First task was to select a decent landing site with clear vision in every direction but within proximity of the ocean shore, where everyone expected to be harvesting food someday.  Plus, the staging area had to be large enough for the Santa Maria to land safely once it followed them down.  During this initial phase the Santa Maria would continue to orbit, manned by a skeleton crew of trustworthy men and women from Return Team.  These people were hand-selected and tested to make sure they could function properly after fourteen-plus Earth years frozen in stasis and only thirty days of rehabilitation.  Captain Berwick remained and commanded the vessel until word came from B-lander that they’d chosen an acceptable location.  It would stay up there the whole time B--lander was investigating the surface, in almost constant communication with them until it passed around the dark side of the planet which never faced the Kapteyn System’s red dwarf sun.  During those periods, no communication was possible until the Santa Maria came ‘round again.  Because of the planet’s massive size, a single orbit took nearly seven and a half hours.  Only when a safe landing site had been identified, large enough to accommodate the mother ship, was it then to maneuver down to the planet and land. 

The “B-lander” had a rough go of it at first, entering “B’s” atmosphere and viewing for the first time a brand-new world, so very far from Earth and yet so full of both opportunities as well as potential hazards.  Targeting what seemed to be a dry, open seabed left over from some inland ocean which had vanished millions of years ago, Captain Stehter set down the B-lander and scrambled his exploration teams into action.  High winds delayed this.  Also, prevailing weather patterns seemed to indicate a storm was brewing!  He had to plant the B-lander some distance from the center of the dry seabed and hope the Santa Maria would have an easier time of it later once a staging area had been established – and the storm had passed.  Which it did; after a day or two. 

Naturally, most of the 125 men and women on that initial landing mission were itching to be the first to step outside, so Steinhart decided to make it as fair as possible by drawing lots among his officers assigned to the exploration teams.  Kelvin was one of those officers; and for his team he selected men from his own section, including his bright young protégé Ensign Guerrero (now 24 in Earth years and standing well over 1.9 meters tall - literally towering over half the crew).  Captain Stehter programmed the computer to determine a random winner; so one lucky team of explorers would be the first to step off the craft and be the first humans to ever set foot on the alien planet. 

The B-lander itself was about the size of a 5-story office building laying on its side.  It had sleeping berths for fifty including the commander of the colony, Luigi Cadorna, plus it had provisions for twice that many - for the next 24 months at least.  This depended naturally on how fast they could build up a colony; but B-lander also had five fully constructed surface rovers, which had been packed in components and could easily be reassembled inside its cargo bay.  These were to be used for foraging missions.  Each rover was fitted out with supplies for its crew, which would operate the vehicle from inside a protective pod located above the chassis and manned by a complement of up to four men or women seated safely inside.  In their supply bin, located right behind the cab, they also had a pop-up tent which could keep out potentially toxic air and provide an artificial atmosphere which would keep the astronauts comfortable for up to twelve hours before it would have to be recharged.  These “break tents” were ideal for hopping out onto the planet surface and taking a breather from the heavy gravity of Kapteyn B.  They were also heated to give folks a little respite from the frigid cold.  

During all of this, back on the Santa Maria, the small team left behind had been doing some atmospheric research of their own.  Surface temperatures were similar to that of Antarctica back on Earth, they determined, with the mean temperature in the interior estimated to be about -57 °C, though the coast was thought to be warmer.  There, estimates were more like -26 °C or even -3 °C.  However, when “B” reached its closest point to Kapteyn’s Star, approximately every 48 days, temperatures could soar to as high as +15 °C.  The only remaining question was whether the atmosphere was even breathable.  Most on board felt this was unrealistic.  The planet’s air was believed to be toxic. 

“Not a problem,” remarked Ozzie to his now full-time girlfriend Shamiso, “I expected this … so did pretty much all of us on Kelvin’s team.  We never figured on it bein' a tropical paradise.” 

He’d been sitting with her on a padded bench inside the B-Lander awaiting the Captain’s decision as to which squad would be able to launch their rover onto the planet’s surface next.  To Ozzie’s disappointment, another team had been chosen to go first, a squad of scientists and engineers made up of a few members from the new colony, as well as Commander Cadorna who was to be in charge of the colony until the relief ship arrived from Earth in a couple years. 

“I wish you wouldn’t have to go,” argued Shamiso.  She had a sinking feeling they’d be killed – either stuck out there with no means of finding their way back or attacked by something meaner and bigger.  Ozzie confidently brushed off her concerns.   

“It’s not that bad, Meeso,” he replied with his thick Texas accent.  “Captain Stehter insists that pairs of rovers go out together to watch over each other and make sure we all get back to B-lander in one piece.  All of us.  And even if we do get stuck, there’s a fifth rover equipped for rescue which’ll go out ‘n look for us.”   

He was right, the Captain had absolutely no intention of losing a crewman to some unforeseen surface monster which may at that very moment be prowling the desert landscape of Kapteyn B looking for an easy meal. 

“B” wasn’t likely to offer such a threat anyway.  It was believed to be a planet stuck in a rough equivalent to Earth’s Palaeozic Era, much like the period scientists refer to as the Cambrian Explosion, during which most modern flora and fauna first appeared.  Chances were they’d find nothing but fish, arthropods (insects, crustaceans, and arachnids), perhaps some hearty amphibians such as eurapsida (one-meter-long aquatic reptiles), maybe viviparous lizards (tiny reptiles about 20 cm long which give birth to live young and could survive low temperatures).  At best it was assumed they’d find large forests growing along riverbanks or near freshwater lakes fed by melting snows which they could easily see from the dry seabed where B-lander was located.  As for amphibians – creatures that start out as larvae with gills then develop lungs in adulthood – these were highly unlikely Ozzie believed.   

“Not much of a chance o’ that,” commented Ensign Guerrero, “My guess is, it’s too damn cold here for that sort o’ thing.”  

Young-Min Jo at that point joined their conversation.  He had been listening in and felt compelled to add something important.  His input only served to unnerve poor Shamiso.   

“Well, there is of course the Siberian Salamander,” he said with his trademark sober-as-a-judge look on his face.  “They can survive being frozen for long periods of time - at temperatures below -45 °C … pretty much like all those folks in the cryogenic chambers.  They evolved on Earth by replacing water in their bodies with their own form of natural antifreeze.” 

To this Shamiso retorted, “Oh that’s just great … so are they big enough to eat us, Bones?”  'Bones' was Young-Min’s latest nickname among the crew. 

“Highly improbable … even if they got ‘em here,” he replied calmly.  “Might be kinda cute though, if we find something like that.  I’m just saying that it is possible in natural science for a lower order amphibian to survive extreme temperatures.”  To this, nearby crewmembers awaiting their turn to join their respective exploration teams murmured excitedly.   

“So what do they eat then … Salamanders I mean?” asked one nervous crewman.   

“Yeah, like are they herbivores or carnivores?” asked another.  Young-Min answered coolly. 

“Omnivores mainly … shrimps, worms, other salamanders still in larval stages … things like that,” he said.  “But on the surface they mainly hunt mosquito larvae.”   

“Well, there you have it then,” interjected Oswaldo.  He then laughed and said, “As long as they don’t mistake me for a mosquito, I’ll be fine.  And if they come after me, I’ll just tell ‘em ‘ole Bones here promised me they don’t eat humans.”  In response, Shamiso promptly slapped him on his thigh giving off a big SMACK.  

“You stop that,” she exclaimed in her East London accent, “That’s not funny.”  The rest of the group began to chuckle.  Not all of them, though.  

“Oh, no.  Not just mosquito larvae mes amis,” clarified a young French scientist sitting farther down from them.  “Maggots, fruit flies, crickets, basically any insect their tongues can reach,” she added.  “They’ll eat anything really.  Extremely carnivorous.”  Ozzie shot her an annoyed look. 

“Hmmph.  Now you’ve done it,” he grumbled, while Shamiso muttered something in Cockney that no one understood but no one really needed to.  The aggravation on her face was enough.  She could now imagine some giant salamander, the size of a commuter train, shooting his tongue out and swallowing her lover whole.  Subsequently this left only one question:  were there insects living on the surface of Kapteyn B?  Something a predator might consume?  The solution to this quandary became apparent within about an hour - after the first rover got just a few kilometers from B-lander.  There were insects.  Swarms of them!  And all it took was for the first rover to pull to a stop on a ridge overlooking the vast ocean of Kapteyn B.  That’s when their windshield became saturated with armies of bugs trying to figure out just what their strange craft really was.  Many were teeny, but not all of them.  One in particular; which resembled a dragonfly, was something like 65 cm wide counting the wingspan.  A fascinated crewman inside the cab measured it with his hands and later verified it. 

But that occurred after the infamous “race to the coast”.  This amazing contest captivated the crew’s attention before any of that happened.  It also served to expose the first big problem with the mission.

                                                                                                     ********      

Kelvin’s squad went second; right after the first squad of explorers was launched, and once he’d put the machine into gear they literally raced after them in headlong pursuit.  Battery fully charged, and with all four crewmen packed inside, Lieutenant Kelvin warned them they'd better strap themselves in tight.  

“Hold onto your nuts, boys!” he yelled through his helmet lens.  He’d wisely turned off his transmitter before saying it, so that Captain Stehter wouldn’t hear him.  “Ain’t no way they’re beatin’ us down there to the beach.  Y’all with me?” he exclaimed.  Three heads nodded excitedly.  

“Yes sir,” they replied in unison.  Morale was high.  

To be fair, neither of the two teams of explorers had any real intention of obeying the Captain’s orders to the letter.  Never crossed their minds.  No, that little part about “Proceed with caution” was ignored entirely.  All they’d heard was “Rover One you will reconnoiter and identify a proper route to the ocean shore.  Rover Two provide backup.”  After that, it was “game on”.  What followed was both vehicles in a desperate contest to be the first to reach the beach; bounding over berms and dunes, dodging occasional rock outcroppings, and kicking up an enormous cloud of dust that the remaining crew back at B-lander could easily see off in the distance.  Even Steinhart had to chuckle watching them, wondering just who’d get there first.  

“I hope they don’t kill themselves,” he muttered to himself.  Then he continued in German “Gott bei ihnen sein,” praying to God in heaven they’d all somehow make it back alive. 

Kelvin drove like a deranged madman, goaded on by his team of young officers who whooped and hollered with every big bump and swerve of the craft as it sped through the dry seabed to the nearby hills.  For a while he tried driving in the wake of Rover One in an effort to disguise his presence.  This tactic was intended to fool his opponent and confuse him as to how big of a lead they had, which was diminishing rapidly.  It made visibility difficult, but Kelvin could only assume that his counterpart behind the wheel of the other vehicle was choosing the safest, most logical path and avoiding obstacles.  The only thing that might go wrong was if Rover One impacted a rock and broke its axle.  If that happened “we’ll both be in deep shit” Kelvin explained to his cohorts.   

Finally, after a harrowing ride that covered several treacherous kilometers, Kelvin could make out sun-glare gleaming off the passenger compartment of his opponent’s craft - and that they were turning sharply to the left.  They slowed for a moment to wind around a large boulder that was blocking their path.  That’s when Kelvin got an idea.  He swerved and took an alternate route.  One of his crew had pointed it out to him only moments before but he had already seen it.  It was a gamble, but if there was nothing else impeding them, Kelvin believed he could overtake the other vehicle by the time they crested the next hill.  It didn’t quite work out that way unfortunately.  Instead, they slid to a roaring halt on a ridge together with Rover One, stopping just in time before crashing into a rocky outcrop overlooking the ocean.  When the dust eventually settled, the young Lieutenant had caught up to his nemesis, with both craft parked on that same ridge, taking in the view – a cloud of dust billowing up and enveloping from the rear.  When visibility returned what they saw before them was to say the least breathtaking.   

There it was:  The Great Kapteyn Sea, an enormous expanse of ocean which they’d been told covered nearly one third of the planet’s sun-facing side.  This was their goal; and the site of it made their jaws drop.  The water was a milky, grayish green; reflecting light from the sun which was not terribly powerful yet lit up the horizon much like Earth’s own sun at dusk.  Surf lapped up on the beach below them.  The clouds in the sky had a pinkish, orange glow in an otherwise magenta/lavender-colored sky.  There were no birds though.  Nothing to indicate the sea was alive.  That said it was the most wondrous thing they’d ever seen.  Not long after that, an argument started up between the two commanders regarding what to name it. 

“Rover Two, this is Rover One,” they suddenly heard on their transmitter.  It was the thickly accented voice of their Italian colleague in command of the other vehicle.  “Hailing Rover Two.  Over,” he repeated – this time sounding agitated.  Kelvin looked around and discovered to his annoyance that the crew of Rover One were now looking out at him from the passenger compartment of their vehicle.  Some were waiving tauntingly, as if to point out how they’d arrived there first.  The commander of Rover One was his superior officer however, and Kelvin knew he’d have to respond immediately.   

“Rover two here.  Good day Commander,” he replied with a frustrated sigh, “Over.”  He would soon learn that the first team, having arrived only seconds ahead of them, now wished to name the vast ocean after their team leader Luigi Cadorna.  At first Kelvin thought they might be joking.  

“Well-well.  Welcome Rover Two,” said Cdr. Cadorna; a vague hint of sarcasm detectable in his accented English.  “You are no doubt enjoying the beautiful view of my ocean now, are you?  Yes, it is favoloso, you agree?  I - I mean we, of course - have named it Mare Cadorna.  After myself, naturally.  Since I – I mean we that is – were first to the shore.  We hope you like the new name we’ve chosen.  Over.”  Kelvin now found himself sitting in the driver’s seat of Rover Two getting the first real taste of the colony commander’s arrogance – as well as the man’s fiery temper soon thereafter. 

“Uh … negative, Rover One,” Kelvin patiently replied, “with all due respect sir, that’s not for us to decide.  Besides, what we really need is to figure out a way down to that beach.  Then we gotta head on back.”  He paused before adding, “Captain’s orders, Commander.  Over.”  No one could really argue with that, not even Luigi Cadorna, and Kelvin knew it.  Captains always outrank Commanders - in all the world’s navies.  However, Kelvin’s coolness seemed to set the man off; like he’d pushed the wrong button.  Within seconds he got the angry fellow’s reply.   

“You are challenging me, no?” asked the Commander provocatively, “Cos’é questo?  You question my judgment?  Questioning my authority, are you?”  Then his voice seemed to rise ever higher as he grew enraged.  “Are you some kind of fool?”  This caused Kelvin to reach over and mute the craft’s transmitter when one of his younger officers carelessly commented, “What the fuck?”  Luigi apparently didn’t hear this and continued with his tirade.  “Well … that is a pity Lieutenant!  But you see … I outrank you.  I’m sure you realize this!  Over!”  He was certainly right about that part.  Commanders outrank lieutenants in most of the world’s navies as well. 

“No sir, Commander … just pointing out procedure, sir,” replied Kelvin as he quickly pressed the mute button and turned to his cohorts with eyes wide open as if to say “Shut the hell up!”  But the incensed Italian was not done with his rebuke.  That’s when everyone learned for the first time just how unstable the fellow was.   

“Cazzo!  How dare you Lieutenant!  You do not remind me, Luigi Cadorna, of procedure.  I remind you.  Tenere per le palle.  You think you have the balls?  Hah!  If it is a fight you wish, coglione, come closer ...”  

Hearing that, everyone inside Kelvin’s surface rover sat up straight, looking around at each other in disbelief.  Did he just say that?  Truly the man must be insane!  Kelvin had never been the type to back down, especially when it came to an open threat.  What’s more, he knew Cadorna was only the short, barrel-chested type (perhaps with a Napoleon Complex) who wouldn’t last five minutes in a scrap.  Not with the more athletic Kelvin that was for sure.  He nearly laughed out loud at the Commander’s absurdness.  

“Lieutenant, go kick his ass!” one of his team members scoffed.  “We’ll back you up.  He just threatened you.  We fuckin’ heard him!”  But Kelvin knew better and hastened to compose himself.    

“Sorry Rover One,” he calmly responded (suppressing a deep urge to go over and throttle the arrogant little man).  “We didn’t copy that I’m afraid.  But like I said we’ll have to let the Captain weigh in on this later.  For now, what we really need is to figure a way down from here.  Take some water samples; then we gotta head on back."  After a pause he then added, "See you on the beach sir.  Rover Two … over and out.”   

That of course was the right course of action.  They had bigger fish to fry.  Discovering live organisms living within that massive ocean was a “mission priority”.  Naming the Kapteyn Sea was not.  His crew were compelled to agree.  There was no point in trying to reason with that hotheaded Italian parked next to them in Rover One.  Best that they get on with their job. 

“Ensign Guerrero,” Kelvin said, “prepare to exit Rover Two.  The rest o' you … prepare for departure.”  

Turning to face them, with a look of intensity in his eyes, he stared them down for at least a full second, letting the significance of the moment sink in.  They knew what this meant.  It was history in the making.  Whoever popped out of their craft and made it down those cliffs to that beach would be the first humans ever to do so.  They’d be famous for all time, every last one of them.  Kelvin could see it unfolding in his mind.  He could taste victory.  This was what he’d been dreaming about all those years up in space traveling across the galaxy.  It was going to be his squad that made it down first and he fully believed it.  What’s more he believed in his men, and that was easy to see by the way he spoke to them.  Calling out through the lens of his helmet - using no transmitter so Rover One’s crew wouldn’t hear him - he then explained in no uncertain terms to his excited crew: 

“Gentlemen, you know what’s at stake here!  We’ve gotta get our butts down there before Cadorna’s team; and I have no doubt we can beat ‘em!  We’re the best!  We’re the strongest and y’all damn well know it!  So whaddya say?  You boys up for a little run?” 

He didn’t need to wait for an answer.  Ozzie’s gloved hands were already reaching for the release to the hatch, champing at the bit like some hopped-up Megaball player at preseason practice competing in Oklahoma Drill.  The reaction from his fellow squad members was deafening.  It even scared off some curious bugs collecting on the windshield who still couldn’t quite figure out just what they’d landed on.

"Yes sir!" they screamed. 

What followed was almost comical really, if it wasn’t for the fact it truly was an historical moment.  After popping open their hatchway, Kelvin knew full well that Commander Cardona’s team were doing the very same thing; spilling out of their vehicle with the exuberance of young boys being permitted inside the local country club for open swim on a hot July afternoon.  It was only a matter of who could get there first, and with the tremendous gravity of Kapteyn B it would truly be an ordeal.  Ozzie and Kelvin lumbered along for over a hundred meters, straining and struggling across rocks and boulders which rimmed the cliff line and searched desperately for a way to zigzag their way down to the sand.  That could be quite perilous and they understood the implications.  It would mean risking everything.  Fall and they’d likely perish if their helmet lens cracked.  It would surely complicate matters if someone did so because prime directive would dictate they stop everything to save a distressed comrade.  Absolutely no one wanted to be the poor schmuck who ruined everyone’s shining moment.

"Careful, Oz!" hollered Kelvin through his helmet lens.

"Aye-aye, Lieutenant!" replied Ozzie, easing himself between two humongous boulders.  The harsh terrain wasn't making things any easier on them. 

However, fortune was with them that day as Ozzie Guerrero eventually discovered a way around some of the larger rocks and broke into a jog as his booted feet first made it onto the sand.  Kelvin raced closely behind, desperately trying to overtake him, lungs burning as he pushed himself to the limits of human endurance.  The effects of Kapteyn B’s gravity were paralyzing!  Kelvin had trained for this, back in the athletic center onboard Santa Maria.  They both had!  And yet being out there, with all the excitement of the moment, racing across that beach to the shoreline, it quickly exhausted him.  Nevertheless he soldiered on.  He could sense they were in the lead.  Now it was just a question of beating each other to the finish line.  Merely a sprint to the water’s edge, and one of them would make history.  Two big, strong athletes.  The brave Lieutenant and his junior officer competing for the ultimate prize.  This was the moment Kelvin had been waiting for; and he was not to be denied. 

It was only when Ozzie abruptly stopped, about 20 meters from the lapping surf that Kelvin overtook him.  Yet it didn't appear that the youngster was giving up.  Why the hell was Ozzie doing this?  He could have won!  There could be only one explanation.  The young Texan must be letting Kelvin win; but why?  Was he just being courteous?  Did he feel it wasn't his place to finish first?  Or was there an even better reason?  That’s when it struck the young Lieutenant:  the sheer magnitude of their shared discovery.  This was not a moment that necessitated personal triumph, he suddenly realized.  This was a team effort; one for members of both teams to share in.  What's more, his young subordinate seemed to have grasped this without any prompting.  Ozzie was merely waiting for his teammates to catch up!  Embarrassed, the Lieutenant froze in his tracks. 

“My God, what a fool I've been ... Ozzie’s got it right,” thought Kelvin, now appreciating the maturity of his younger colleague.  "This isn't about me."  

And he was right.  This was for all of mankind; all those hard-working people in the factories and out on those solar farms whose taxes had paid for this grand occasion.  This moment was for them, not for a couple of panting, gasping astronauts trying to be first to the shoreline.  It wasn’t the time nor the place for acts of selfish pride.  It wasn’t about personal glory.  For years he'd dreamed of this day - imagined being the one mentioned in history books and spoken of in classrooms for centuries to come.  Yet he'd had it all wrong, right from the start, and now he knew.  There was a far better way of going about this.  That’s why he too stopped to catch his breath, turning slightly toward Ensign Guerrero while fighting to form words.  Like two athletes who had just competed in a long brutal match, they subtly reached out and bumped their fists together as if to salute a fellow warrior.  Kelvin then reactivated his transmitter as he coughed and wheezed.

“I agree, Ensign.  This is close enough.  What say we go ahead and let the good Commander grab the glory, shall we?  We’ll always know who would have made it first, won’t we?”  

Ozzie gave out a heaving sigh and nodded.  His superior was correct of course.  Everyone would eventually find out what they did that day.  It no longer mattered who first wet their boots in the gigantic ocean splayed out before them.  That prickly little colony commander?  He could have this all to himself as far as Kelvin was concerned.  And sure enough, after about a minute had passed, Commander Cadorna (and two of his colleagues from Rover One) finally made it across those fifty grueling meters of sand to the water’s edge; only to find Lt. Kelvin and Ens. Guerrero standing with hands on hips, nodding toward the rolling surf only a short distance from them, patiently awaiting their arrival.   

“Go ahead, Commander!“ Kelvin called out through his transmitter. “It’s all yours, sir.  Go claim your prize.”   

To this, the stout little commander promptly slowed to a gallant walk.  He eyed Kelvin suspiciously for a moment, then waded into the surf a few meters before retiring to the safety of the shore.  By that point, crewmen from both vehicles had caught up to them.  Now they all stood together, breathlessly watching from the crest of the shoreline.  What followed was predictable. 

“I, Luigi Cadorna, Commander of the Colony of Kapteyn B, claim this ocean in the name of the people of Earth!” the little man proclaimed proudly, still gasping for air.  “By the grace of God, by His will and through His great mercy … and to Whom we are humbly grateful … we thank thee Lord for this Thou hast delivered us today.  Amen!”  Kelvin bowed his head in reverence while Oswaldo crossed himself - both still recovering from the exertion - both filled with pride in what they’d accomplished.   

They’d done it!  Now they merely had to take some samples of seawater and somehow devise a way back up those treacherous cliffs to their surface rovers.  Yet no one bothered worrying about that, not for the time being anyway, as they dutifully pulled out plastic bags to scoop soil and ocean water for the lab back at B-lander.  These samples would be tested for microbes and bacteria; tested for the seeds of life, then “seeded” with additional organisms which might also find a way to flourish within the oceans of Planet B.   

This is what they’d come for.  The mission had been a success!  The journey back to B-lander would be one long victory ride.    

This concludes tonight's podcast of Twin Paradox, Chapter Twelve:  Reach the Beach.  I hope you enjoyed it.  Watch for episode thirteen; which I'll be posting very soon.  

Also, and don't forget, my latest full-length novel ... Deathwalker Colony ... is available right now in E-book format and can be downloaded today on Amazon.com, along with the first two books in the Rijel 12 Series, The Rise of New Australia and Return of Anarchy.  A link to these can be found in the transcript for this episode.

I'm King Everett Medlin.  Thanks for tuning in.

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