The equation of everything

October 2018: Twin Earth landing

The team was now in the real shuttle.  A voice came out of the dashboard to repeat the instructions they had been given. The voyage was set to last only 5 minutes but they were to be reporting back as soon as they had reached the other side.

“This might feel a bit weird”

Raju tried to humour while his heart was racing.

“5…4…3…2…1…Ignition!”

The particle accelerator started whirring and the vibrations were becoming visible from the inside of the totally insulated shuttle. Luc closed his eyes and gripped the armrest on his seat.  He had the sensation of the shuttle moving at an increasing pace.

He hesitantly opened his eyes and everything seemed distorted. He looked towards his fellow voyagers and they were unrecognizable. The pressure on his chest was increasing to an unbearable point then suddenly dropped. All electrics went out and a deadly silence filled the cabin.

An automatic voice came out of the dash board and lights came back on

“Destination reached”

But all the crew members were motionless.

The automatic voice repeated itself until the travellers started to come round and enquire about what had happened

“Have we crashed?”

“I think I fainted”

“Everybody alright?”

The shuttle’s protective shield opened to let the light through a second transparent layer. 

They appeared to have landed in some kind of  woodland.

Lloyd pressed a few commands on the dashboard to analyse the composition of the atmosphere.

He grunted in disbelief.

“This can’t be! We don’t seem to have left Earth! Composition of the atmosphere is exactly the same!”

Raju interjected

“Don’t be so sure. Keep investigating till we know where we are exactly.” Then facing Luc and Archie, “ Why don’t you two take some fresh air and some samples”.

Archie obliged gleefully while Luc followed prudently . They changed into light reconnaissance suits. Everything looked and felt the same as on planet Earth. They advanced through the woods, expecting to meet some vestiges of civilisation soon. Archie took his compass out of his pocket.

“It doesn’t seem to know which is north. There must be some strong magnetic field nearby. I think we shouldn’t go too far”

About an hour later, the transmitter on Archie’s cracked into life.

“Guys, my mistake! We are definitely on another planet. Stay where you are, I’m coming to check something!”

Within minutes the astrophysicist was here with them. Took their samples, analysed them to confirm his findings. His eyes wider with excitement.

“Check this out, a day is 32 hours long here. The planet orbits two suns. It seems to be about twice the size of Earth. Flora is the same, atmosphere is the same. There is much to explore!”

Luc was not taken by Lloyd's discovery.

“Yes Lloyd, but it seems there is no polarisation here, or a real unstable one. We’d get lost in a tick if we venture too far”

“Raj? Have you been listening? What do you suggest?”

Lloyd waited for an answer through his radio device but it didn’t come. He decided to go back to the shuttle. His radio might have been damaged by the vibrations during the trip, he thought.

A few minutes later, Archie’s transmitter buzzed again. It was Raj.

“I got this. I got a few mechanised probes I can use. They send information back as they go so even if they get lost, we will have their precious data.”

“Great stuff, we’ll continue looking around in the mean time. We’ll be back for curry”.

“Very funny”

They searched a bit further away as they familiarised themselves with their surroundings. Soon, they were quite far away from the shuttle.

Archie stopped and turned to Luc.

“Do you think there is civilisation here?”

“I haven’t got the foggiest, but if there is, I hope they speak a language I can learn!

“ 50 Pounds say there is”

“Shut up, you and your hunches… What is it?”

Archie signalled for Luc to stop talking. “Listen”

There was an intermittent crashing sound coming from the distance. 

“Look over there” Archie pointed towards the top of the hill. 

Luc looked up and two giant vehicles were headed towards them, crushing every tree along the way. They had never seen these before. They resembled monster tanks, 15 feet high, on massive wheels instead of caterpillar tracks, with no canon at the end of a pole but yet twice as impressive as a tank on Earth.

Archie pressed his radio transmitter hastily.

“You gonna have to do without us for a bit, we’ve been spotted by two tanks. Not sure what their intentions are but we can’t lead them to you”

They ran in the opposite direction then a firing noise cut the air. Luc turned around as a net fell on them and abruptly stopped their escape.

“Are you alright? We are going to stealth mode” said the radio-transmitted voice.

One of the two monster tanks opened on the side and a figure emerged. A soldier in an unusual attire shouted as he got out.

“Hands up, keep still!”

The 2 explorers obeyed immediately.