Chapter 23 - the Twins

   As surprisingly okay as taking an alien-made sebaceous oil replacement "bath" really turned out to be... Joe and Ben longed for a real bath as they called it. They wanted to swim. As fun and fulfilling as getting the thrill of a lifetime piloting real space ships really was, Ben wanted something else and he got Joe in on it.

   A little vacation.

   He got Joe in on it, because Joe was something of the celebrity among Brack and his entourage and the others that rotated in and out. Other intellectuals were coming and going, seeing Brack's project working out.

   Brack and company were unsurprisingly fine with the idea. The magnetic ion drive that powered the ships? Sure, the ship itself was "expensive". While they had no concept of money, they certainly did have the idea of using up resources. Things could be expensive that way. Some resources were limited, and there were only so many of certain things to go around. If you needed a small or even a large ship? You got one. But it was a matter of need, not want.

   Having the larger ship at their disposal and a pilot to go with it? Had been provided for the project. There was no "fuel" though. Ben marveled at the idea of a ship not needing rocket fuel or tons of scram jet fuel being burned gallons at a time. The pilots joked it was gallons per mile, not miles per gallon to get up off the ground to station one and switch over to the low gravity orbital crafts.

   So. Little vacations weren't at all out of the question. So as they crossed little milestones, Joe and Ben got "rewarded" with little outings. Plus, it greatly improved their moods.

   Ben was a mixed bag. He had arrived expecting first to be on a suicide run, protecting his wife and kid financially with his early if inevitable demise. By simply controlling and preempting his own death date? He got them an optimum result. Since he had lived after all, he got to live a little longer. And yes, see wondrous things. He got to be the fastest pilot ever, the farthest trip ever undertaken. He was the first pilot to make it out of the known universe and beyond. He amused himself and Joe, by making fun of Neil Armstrong and the old moon shot program. That was "amateur hour" now.

   But his boundless joy any young kid would be proud of? Was tempered by knowing he was a walking dead man. Now a restored and healthy vital man once again? He was still gone.

   Joe missed Adelaide as well. And once the anomaly had been closed? Monitoring communications had ceased. No more radio waves could strike the anomaly that was gone, so no more local radio station to tune into.

   The first little weekend getaway, was the beach. It was beautiful, they both thought. Dark volcanic sand inland, interspersed with reddish hued sand that washed in and built up in sand bars. In fact, coming in for splashdown? That was the sudden land they had struck. A sandbar that stuck out from the fairly straight shoreline Ben had been tracking to crash land their orbital shuttle.

   The dark and fine grained volcanic sand, the reddish hued washed in sand and bars. The greenish blue ocean, the rising and setting reddish orange sun. It was beyond beautiful. Joe got copious pictures and little movies. They had no trouble recharging his cell phone, though calling anyone was impossible.

   Joe and Ben liked the idea of undeveloped coastline. In fact, other than what they recognized as shipping ports? No one coveted coastline. If they lived here? They themselves highly prized oceanfront property, and beach. Wow. No millionaires hogging up the best private beaches, ruining it by building resorts and condos and pricing regular people out of living there.

   None of their hosts that had brought them here? Would go into the water. They were at first thinking the water was toxic? No. Well, was there something dangerous? Poisonous jellyfish, something similar to sharks, armies of crabs that would pick them apart. No, none of that.

   They didn't like the water. It repulsed them. In the ancient history days of what Joe thought of as their world wars? It was torture to immerse prisoners of war into water. Almost the entire planet was hydrophobic. The small handful of their race that were unafraid of water? Were something of a curiosity to them, and were quite rare. They were like daredevils back home, that entertained people for a living. Here? Jumping into water and not being scared was one of the bravest things possible.

   While none of them would get near the water's edge, they did all watch intently as Joe and Ben swam and played. There were things amazingly close to crabs and mussels and oysters though on undeveloped beachfront, and in tidal pools that abounded. Their hosts were ecstatic about seemingly everything about the beach except the water. Fresh seafood.

   Ben had the idea first. He collected dry driftwood and wanted to make a fire at night. It was quite warm, there was no need for warmth whatsoever. Light? They had powerful portable lights with batteries that would last several lifetimes between "recharging" at a time. Fire wasn't even needed to keep annoying insects at bay. You could set up a small device that put out waves that repulsed them naturally.

   Ben smiled and wiggled his eyebrows at Joe. Joe, once again wasn't getting it. He was getting the advanced mathematics, but... Ben was the practical one. The one that had figured out "where is the beer" at what was obviously a party.

   "Joe? I can't believe I have to spell this out for you, with that big brain of yours. You're going to kick yourself, when I say it."

   "What."

   "How do you want your steak, Joe?"

   Joe did kind of dance around, and they hadn't even broken out the "powdered beer" yet. In addition to amazing their hosts by swimming and cavorting in the water and loving it? They made faces as they "ruined" their food. Ben was more into hunting and camping, and explained that all pilots in the service get survival training, in case they crash somewhere remote. Getting fish and meat for survival? Hard. Cooking it over a fire? The easy part.

   It suddenly struck Joe out of nowhere.

   Cats. They were descended from primates? That looked like they were half monkey, half cat.

   They were repulsed by the idea of water, and intensely hydrophobic. Only a few "psychos" born without fear, had no problem with going in water and enjoying it. They ate raw meat, and loved raw fish and seafood. They had a fine fur that passed for a chamois left over from it. They still had vestigial whiskers, and it was socially pleasing to stroke them. Even to scratch the head and neck to show affection. Their long, lithe slender but strong and flexible bodies.

   And even their ancient history and nature that they had to overcome with selective breeding and accelerating it by genetic engineering. Cats could be terribly violent and territorial. They could fight viciously over among other things? Hunting territory. Add in overpopulation, access to limited resources. Toss in some differing ideology into the mix, give them access to doomsday weapons more powerful than the thermonuclear bombs?

   Christ, that set of world wars had to have been a sight to behold.

   Yet as cold blooded and as ruthless as cats can be when hunting or fighting? Some were surprisingly laid back. They nuzzled their young with great warmth and affection. They could be very social, though they needed their alone time. Joe could even see it in how long they slept. Their hosts spread about the big room outside Ben and Joe's "hotel room"? Erratic short small naps. Some longer and longer ones. Then the occasional 4 to 8 hour respite. Even how they slept. They were lithe and flexible, and how they sometimes stretched out, and other times curled up into seemingly impossible small balls. On large rounded soft "beds". On and around piles of soft fabric.

   He saw it in their feet at the beach when they walked around barefoot on the dark volcanic sand. Similar to human feet with their boots off, but not quite. Long slender feet, even for their height. The heel could be down or up and walking on their toes. They had an oppose-able thumb on their feet and could grasp things effectively. The "thumb" there was long and slender like another toe, and could be on or off the ground with the "heel".

   Both sets of species marveled at the other's feet. Both were curious with sleeping habits and diet. Both marveled at the others similarities that far outweighed the differences.

   Joe on these outings was constantly struck by how similar things were to what he knew on earth. His words and language were different, but the things he pointed at were variations of what he already knew. Trees, vines, grass. Fish, crabs, seaweed. When they visited Brack's home eventually, he saw family and love. The child was both fascinated and scared by the novelty and sight of the newcomers. He hid behind his mother's legs and hips, but still stole glances then finally became interested when Brack sat with Joe and Ben, and even grazed Joe's upper lip with a finger to show his son it was okay.

   It made Joe homesick all over again to see Brack with his wife and child. Ben was homesick as well, but then he had resigned himself to being a dead man walking, and had recently gained his new lease on life. Lease be damned, he now owned his life like any other man. He would live until normal old age now, or until whatever random accident claimed him.

   They were nearing the end of the project, when Joe chanced to see one of the entourage at the big computer desk. He freaked when he saw it was the year 4098 back at home. Adelaide was dead and buried now. When he rushed his host in grief, anger and frustration? Brack simply sprang back, in a display of nimble and reaction time they had never seen before. He did this several times, before unexpectedly springing nearly onto Joe suddenly. He wrapped his long arms and legs around him and held him until his fit passed. He waved off his entourage rushing in to help.

   Another human trait, you don't hurt your friend that doesn't understand, you hold and console him if you're really not in danger. Ben didn't know what the problem was, other than "Adelaide is dead". The host and entourage gently hustled Joe out of the room, to calm him, reassure him, and finally console him.

   Joe understood quickly. Einstein's famous relativity thought experiment that was born out by his math. The infamous twins example. One identical twin stays on earth, and the other? Travels at the speed of light on a trip. The twin returns a short time later by his calendar and watch, but the other twin? Has aged 40 years. In another twin example? A longer trip away, had the twin return to find thousands of years had passed in his "short" absence.

   Time dilation. Joe understood, but only after his fit and grief had passed. Whatever Brack then said to him in conversation, speaking through the hand held translator? More than consoled him, it made him happy again. Ben had long since told Joe to keep things about such concepts to himself. He didn't understand, much less tolerate such things. It taxed his sanity to think they arrived before they left on their trip as an observer would see it.

   The work, however. The equations. Progressed with a new and fevered pitch.