The Adventure of the Double Image

By Kevin L. O'Brien

Dr. Mabuse has figured out a way to pierce the dimensional barriers between parallel universes and open portals onto alternative Earths. When she finds such a world, she hires Eile and Sunny to perform a preliminary, 24-hour investigation, based on their experience with their adventuring company Team Girl Inc., their special ops missions for Lt. Gen. Morgan Leia Ross, and their time in the Dreamlands. Based on their report, Mabuse and her sponsor Medb will decide whether to perform more in-depth investigations, with an eye towards possible exploitation.

These initial investigations can be hazardous, but in this case their danger stems from a case of mistaken identity, when they are confused with their in-world counterparts. Then this resemblance is ruthlessly exploited when they are blackmailed into playing decoy for them. They have no choice, not if they hope to get home in one piece. They just hope their latest adventure doesn't get them both killed.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Kevin L. O'Brien
• Release date: Apr 20, 2014
• ISBN: 9781311037220

Kevin L. O'Brien

Kevin L. O'Brien was born with a pen in his hand.Well, not quite, but he has been writing for as long as he can remember, at least since First Grade. Writing has always been his first, true love, but it hasn't always been his career. He worked for 15 years as a biomedical researcher, then for 3 years as a web designer. However, after 30 years of trying to be published in print with little success, he has decided to try his hand at self-publishing.He writes primarily speculative fiction -- fantasy, science fiction, horror, and their sub-genres -- but he also likes to try his hand at thrillers, suspense, mystery, and even westerns. However, his stories tend to have a fantasy element, no matter how subtle.Most of his stories involve the following three main characters:Medb hErenn (http://www.medbherenn.com/) -- One-time queen of Ireland, she is over 3500 years old. A warrior and a sorceress, she cannot be harmed by any weapon made by the hand of man.Eile and Sunny, Team Girl (http://www.teamgirlforever.com/) -- They are two adorable, vivacious, fun-loving young women whose motto is ONWARD TO ADVENTURE!!! Yet trouble follows them like a love-sick puppy wherever they go.Sir Differel Van Helsing (http://www.sir-differel.com/) -- The descendent of Abraham Van Helsing and King Arthur, she heads the Caerleon Order, the premier monster-hunting organization of the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth. She commands Dracula, the most powerful vampire extant, and the greatsword Caliburn, better known as Excalibur.He also writes a series of sword & sorcery stories set in an alternative universe known as the Lands of the Dreams of Men.Kevin lives in Denver with his family and 4 cats.For more information, see his website: http://www.kevinlobrien.com/

Book preview

The Adventure of the Double Image

Kevin L. O'Brien

Smashwords Edition

+++

Text Copyright 2013 by Kevin L. O'Brien

Cover artwork copyright 2014 by Ariel Roberts

Cover design and typography copyright 2014 by Kevin L. O'Brien

Adventure font distributed under a free use license by Neale Davidson and Pixel Sagas

+++

License Notes

Thank you for downloading this ebook. It is licensed for your personal enjoyment and remains the copyrighted property of the author. This ebook may not be sold, reproduced, or copied, whether for commercial or non-commercial purposes, but it may be given away if no changes are made. If you enjoyed this book and would like to share it, please encourage your friends to download their own copy from Smashwords or their favorite online retailer, where they can also discover other works by this author. Thank you for your support, and for respecting the hard work of this author.

Please consider writing a review for this book on the retailer's website.

If you see any misspellings or typographical errors, please notify Kevin L. O'Brien using one of his online social networks. Thank you.

+++

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents, including those based on the real world, are either products of the imagination of Kevin L. O'Brien or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Because some ebook platforms do not support special characters, certain words may appear misspelled, but this was done deliberately to avoid the problem of the platforms deleting the characters. Also, the LRF platform used by older models of the Sony Reader does not permit the use of links to external URLs, whereas the PDB platform used by Palm reading devices does not support any form of linking whatsoever.

+++

Table of Contents

Preface

The Adventure of the Double Image

About the Author

Other Books by Kevin L. O'Brien

Connect with Kevin L. O'Brien

Sample Excerpts

+++

Preface

This story takes place in mid-October of 2011. Eile and Sunny have been married for fifteen months. Their natural daughter, Connie, was born four months before the start of this story, and they adopted their second daughter, Liza, just a week before.

Dr. Mabuse has perfected a device that can breach the dimensional barrier between parallel universes, and create bridges to alternative Earths. She has hired Eile and Sunny to act as preliminary scouts, in their capacity as Team Girl! Inc., their freelance adventure and troubleshooting business, and based on their collective experience from their Dreamlands adventures. Once Mabuse locates a new world, the Girls infiltrate and remain on location for twenty-four hours, as they explore and collect as much information as they can before they return. Mabuse and Medb then evaluate their report to determine if further detailed investigation is immediately warranted.

There is an element of risk. The breach can only stay open for 90 seconds at a time, and the system requires twenty-four hours to recharge for another breach. If the Girls miss their scheduled rendezvous, Mabuse will attempt to retrieve them two more times before giving up and writing them off as lost. (Though Medb can override her and mount a rescue mission if she chooses.) On top of that, each world possesses its own dangers, and if not killed outright, the Girls can decide not to return through the breach if they feel doing so will endanger their home Earth.

Due to quantum randomness, every world is different, though they all share some similarities with home-Earth. Some are almost identical, with very few differences; others seem totally different, until the Girls stumble upon the one key similarity that explains all the differences.

I should note that I had published an earlier version of this story entitled The Adventure of the Gratuitous Crossover, but I had to withdraw it some three and a half months later when I lost permission to use three characters from a webcomic. By then 214 copies had been downloaded off Smashwords, along with an unknown number from other retail sites. Since these copies cannot be recalled, they remain extant until they are deleted.

So, don't be surprised if you find an ebook that appears similar to this one, but with different characters.

Back to TOC

+++

At the far end of a closed-off alley, a rat searched around garbage cans for something to eat. It paused, wary; it felt something. It was nothing definite, but it sniffed the air as it twitched its whiskers, trying to discern what had disturbed it. Then it felt something stronger: the air became charged with static electricity. A breeze blew up as bits of flotsam whirled about. Staring at the brick wall that stretched across the back, it saw arcs of lightning flash across its face from one side of the alley to the other. A bright flash startled it, and it scuttled under a pile of debris to hide from whatever danger the strange phenomenon represented.

When the flash faded, the brick wall had disappeared. In its place could be seen the interior of a lab, with a console set just in front of the back wall. Eile and Sunny stepped across the dimensional breach with Annie Tuhl between them.

...and then Sunny turns ta him and says, 'But it would work better with butterscotch!' Eile said. She and Annie laughed as Sunny blushed and giggled in a nervous fashion.

They paused a couple of feet beyond the breach threshold. You guys sure you have everything? Annie asked.

Sunny patted the oversized handbag under her left arm; Eile carried one just like it. Oh, sure! We're like the Boy Scouts: Always be prepared!

Eile rolled her eyes in a sarcastic manner. Yeah, right, only our merit badges are in spa treatments, hairstyling, and makeovers.

Yessirree Bob! Them's the best kind!

Annie flashed a grinning leer. Get out of here, you fruitcakes. I've got work to do before the breach closes.

Eile chuckled as Sunny giggled. Sure thing, Annie. See ya tomorrow.

A technician handed her the first of several floater surveillance devices. Be careful, now! she called out as they walked to the mouth of the alley.

When the Girls reached the street, they found themselves in the middle of a row of shops, with a similar row and alley on the other side.

Sunny clapped her hands. Okay! Let's get started. First things first: where's a newsstand?

They looked around and spotted a storefront three doors down on their left with newspapers and magazines stored in a rack sitting on the sidewalk. They walked on over and scanned headlines and mastheads. Fortunately, they were in English, and several of them established that they were in that world's version of Denver, Colorado.

Good, Eile said. Getting money shouldn't be a problem, then.

Look at this! Sunny pointed to a magazine called Celebrity Gossip. It displayed a photo of two young women, one a buff-skinned athletic blond with a ponytail and glasses, the other with a big bouncy mane of brown hair, a statuesque figure, and an ochre-complexion. Between them and the camera, standing to one side, interposed the head and shoulders of an older tanned woman with straight stringy copperish hair cut shoulder-length and wearing goggles, with a white-gloved hand raised in front of the camera. Above them a headline shouted: HOMECOMING! Beneath them was printed, America's First Look at the Fabulous Singing Duet SISTER ACT! At the bottom of the cover sat the picture of a sinister-looking bald-headed man in sunglasses with a close-cropped Van Dyke moustache and beard, beside which a caption read, PLUS! ANTON LAVEY tells how he saved the Girls from the HORROR of the BLACK SABBAT!

Eile couldn't help chuckling.

Sunny threw her a questioning look of disapproval. What's so funny?

It just tickles me how people we've heard of can be so different in these alternate worlds.

Sunny flashed a puzzled leer as she turned her attention back to the cover. Hmm, those ladies look like us.

Eh, kinda sorta, if you were me and I were you.

'The Horror of the Black Sabbat'. Sounds lurid! I wonder what that was all about.

Who cares about a coupla celebutante bimbos? Probably just some overblown piece of hype.

Sunny pointed to the masthead. It's 2011 here; that's the same year as us.

Huh. And I always thought Mabuse's device played fast and loose with the timestream.

You know, this could be a pretty boring trip, if this world turns out to be the same as ours.

That'd be fine by me; boring and safe. Eile walked up to the door of the shop and looked inside. She spied a man behind the counter. Hey! Any chance there's a pawn shop nearby?

The man smiled and nodded. Yeah, down to the left, turn right, and up the block half-ways.

She smiled and waved. Thanks a lot. She retreated back outside and took Sunny by the elbow. There's a place in the next block.

I heard. Let's go, partner!

The proprietor of the shop waited for the two girls to disappear from in front of his display window before he reached under the counter and pulled out a sheet of paper. On it was written, Reward: For Information Concerning the Whereabouts of Sister Act. A telephone number had been printed below a brief description. Turning around, he lifted the handle off the cradle of a wall phone and dialed the number.

Go, said the voice of the person who answered.

Hello? My name is Conrad; I run a small shop on Tabor Boulevard. And he recited his address and telephone number.

Talk to me.

Is that reward still available?

What do you have?

Well, I've seen them. They were just outside my shop not more than a minute ago.

Are you sure it was them?

Yeah, blonde hair and ponytail. Listen, they're heading for a pawn shop close by, just a block east. If you hurry, you'll find them there.

There was a pause for about a minute. Alright, I have it.

Good. So, ah, when do I get my reward?

When we check it out and verify they really are Sister Act.

But I'm telling you, it's them; it's gotta be.

Then you've got nothing to worry about!

Alright, alright, calm down; I can wait. But don't try to stiff me, or there'll be trouble. I've got friends, if you know what I mean.

There was another shorter pause. Mob friends.

Yeah, you've got it.

"Don't worry, if this pans out, you'll get