Karnetta Doppelganger

By David Young

The world is at peace. the evil Karnetta Monad is dead, but the world's population does not know it. Edith, who killed Karnetta is using a doppelganger (biological A.I. robot) to convince the world that Karnetta has reformed and is now working for the good of the people. Helen, Edith's daughter, and Helen's husband Michael are bored with the peace of the new world order and need a challenge. That challenge is to re-discover the knowledge of the ancients. The first part of Karnetta Doppelganger is the search for that knowledge by Helen and Michael, and that leads to a way of telling doppelgangers from humans. Edith and her family had believed that Karnetta Doppelganger was the last doppelganger left but are shocked to find that Karnetta Doppelganger is manufacturing other doppelgangers to form an army. Not only that but Karnetta doppelganger had already replaced nearly half of the world government representatives with doppelgangers. Having already fought and defeated the human Karnetta Monad, Edith and her family must now fight and defeat Karnetta Doppelganger and her army.

• Language: English
• Publisher: David Young
• Release date: Aug 21, 2023
• ISBN: 9798215267035

David Young

I was born in a working class district of East London and migrated to Australia as a young adult. In Australia I entered the university system and eventually gained a PhD from Curtin University in Western Australia. My area of research was why different groups in society cannot understand each other. This was a direct result of a working class lad studying at university and finding that the two different ways of thinking could not be further apart. I have now expanded into researching thinking and consciousness through creative writing, novels and non-fiction. To download my original research for free go to https://www.davidyoungresearch.com

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Karnetta Doppelganger

A Novel by David Young

The second book of the Monad trilogy

Copyright 2023 David Young Published by David Young at Smashwords. Smashwords Edition License Notes This eBook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This eBook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your enjoyment only, then please return to Smashwords.com or your favorite retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author. All artwork Copyright 2023 David Young

Contents

1. The Conversation

2. Edith the Ordinary

3. Tweedledum and Tweedledee

4. OS and all that Jazz

5. The Dark Secrets of the Ancients

6. Curiouser and Curiouser

7. This Really is Weird

8. The Gadget

9. So Many Doppelgangers

10. The War Begins

11. Alice

12. Fighting Back

13. Children

14. The Hotel Saturn

15. Neighbours

16. Things that Go Bump in the Night

17. The Red Baron

18. The Doppelgangers Learn

19. The Dark Night of the Soul

20. The Clean-up

21. Sequel

1. The Conversation

Michael came home from the university to find Helen sitting quietly. He knew that when his wife was contemplating as she was now there was a conversation she needed to have, but he would wait until she was ready. It took a while but Michael knew his wife. He did not pressure her to speak.

'Michael Helen said at last. Can we talk."

Helen knew that Michael would always talk to her but was telling him that she needed him to listen before he made any reply. Michael sat beside Helen and Helen snuggled up to him. This was Helen's way of telling Michael that she was struggling with something and needed his support.

I have a student that came to me today with books that her family had kept from ancient times. Helen began slowly, And she showed them to me in confidence because her family have many more hidden and are still afraid to show them. The family wants to know what to do with them.

Michael understood this. Any person caught with books from the Ancients would be executed as children of Satan in the still recent days of The Last Living God, Karnetta Monad. The student had brought them to Helen because Helen was a professor of ancient myths and felt she could trust her, not because of any knowledge of Helen and Michael's part in the revolution that never happened. The student had no idea that Helen's mother Edith had killed Karnetta Monad and replaced her with a doppelganger they called Karnetta D. It had been a revolution two hundred years in the planning that had been executed silently in a single day without the world knowing anything about it. All the world saw was that the evil Karnetta Monad slowly softened to become a sweet and benevolent woman who had helped Edith James, guide the world to democracy after decades of despotic rule. Many were still getting used to the idea that they no longer had to hide and bringing ancient books to Helen had been a great risk for the student.

Look at this book. opening the book son that Michael could read also. It's about an ancient myth called Ground Hog Day. It is about someone who wakes up day after day, and the same day repeats over and over. Eventually the person learns that he has to change the day and do things differently if he wants to move on with his life.

Yes, Said Michael, that makes sense.

That started me thinking, said Helen, About my love for you. I love you, but there is always something I don't know about you. Even though every day I learn more about the mystery of who you are, but the more I learn the deeper the mystery gets.

Helen, You are a complete mystery to me. The more I learn the more I love you, but I will never solve the mystery.

And, said Helen, the more I solve of the mystery of you the more I understand the mystery of myself.

Helen was very Thoughtful. After a while she hugged Michael and said,

Another Ancient named Thomas wrote in another of my student's books 'But if you do not know yourselves, you dwell in poverty and it is you who are that poverty'."

Helen paused, Without you to show me who I am I would live in poverty.

Michael did not answer because of the silent understanding he felt the same.

You know Brian I work with."

Yes. Said Michael.

Helen Continued He is good looking, intelligent and very pleasant but completely unlovable because there is no mystery. He never changes. Brian is the complete ground hog day. I wait for him to do something different but he never does. There has to be that mystery to solve for a person to be a person. It’s like receiving a beautifully wrapped gift but when you open the box there is nothing inside.

Michael nodded in agreement. I know several people like that. I love Edith and Malcolm dearly, but they are both still a mystery to me. Your mother especially. Every time I think I understand Edith she does something that completely surprises me.

After a pause Helen relied,

Karnetta has gone, the world is at peace and life is very pleasant. No war, no poverty, no greed and oppression. No mystery. Life has become Brian.

Do you want to re-introduce war and poverty so you are not bored? asked Michael.

No. said a laughing Helen, But I want mysteries to uncover. And when I uncover a mystery I want to find it uncovers two new mysteries. There has to be mysteries humans to solve to be alive, to be human. We live in a world without mystery. I want life to be a mystery to solve so that I can love life.

When we had the mystery of how to rid the world Karnetta's evil we were alive. added Michael.

Yes, Added Helen brightly, We were alive. Adding chidingly. You even made me immortal.

Michael wondered if Helen would ever forget waking up and finding he had saved her life but made her immortal.

Michael had not realised how in learning the mystery of Helen was to learn the mystery of himself. But it was true. Part of his love for Helen was the way she showed himself to himself. Helen would always be a mystery and he would not have it any other way.

Standing up Michael suggested, Let’s go for a walk.

A good idea. said Helen.

If there was anything deep to talk about and Helen and Michael would often go for a walk. Both enjoyed the large park opposite their home with its lake and shady walks amongst the trees. The waterbirds were on the lake with their new-borns. It was a fascinating time of year to see how nature often mirrored humans in the way they cared for their young.

Could this be more perfect. said Helen, not expecting a reply.

The whole world is perfect now Karnetta has gone. We live in peace with nature and with each other. The ancients have left us their technology to use even if we don't know how it works. The world is perfect. There is nothing left to do except enjoy live. But I want it to be a mystery so I can love it.

Michael understood. They lived in a beautiful world. The natural beauty was really an amazing interact of life in all its forms. They could just accept its perfection and let it be ordinary. Soon it would be so ordinary would become normal and they would not even notice it. But begin to look at all the little mysteries acting out in every little corner and soon it was lovable, exciting and mysterious.

The walked on silently enjoying the perfect evening with just the perfect slight breeze disturbing the leaves on the trees and carrying the sound of the wildlife on the lake to the.

Michael. Said Helen, The world is falling asleep, and I am scared that you and I will fall asleep and we will be more than a habit.

They silently finished their walk hand in hand with no need for words. Back inside the house Michael said,

What is it you want? asked Michael.

We are both university professors. If we cannot awaken the world to the wonder of the mystery who can? I want to uncover the myths of the Ancients and show the world how much we do not know, how much there is to learn, and how we do not have to spend life reliving every day as Groundhog Day."

You want to wake up Brian?

Yes. Replied Helen.

But first we will have to wake up ourselves. Said Michael.

What about my student? Helen asked, Have you any ideas.

Is she competent and alive?

Yes. replied Helen.

Then why not gently lead into asking her if she wants to help research and find the meanings behind her family books. suggested Michael. If she proves competent she might be worth considering as an assistant.

Yes. said Helen. If her here family have kept forbidden books for hundreds of years the spark must be there. And I wonder how many more there are wanting more than just everything.

We could make it a fashion. said Michael.

Helen laughed. The world is always looking for the next big thing, maybe we can give it to them.

Fashiion gives the world the illusion of being alive. Said Michael. Can we give them an illusion that is real?

Helen thought about it. If the idea was to get the knowledge of the Ancients back into the world they needed to start with and interested audience and beginning with Helen's student they could an audience of one. Also, this was a task that was going to be far too big for two people. Helen began to wonder what monster she might be releasing on the world. This was exciting, this was being alive again. She had felt alive attacking Karnetta's castle but this was a different alive. That had been the excitement and thrill of the moment. This was a slow-burning passionate desire for being alive, like her love for Michael.

Michael began laughing.

What are you laughing at. asked Helen.

You want to find the mystery of us and the world. said Michael. but who is going to tell our children the mystery of their parents and their grandparents?

Helen Joined Michael in uncontrollable laughter.

Who is going to tell Little Edith and Peter that their lovely sweet ordinary grandmother Edith, supported by their parents and kindly but quirky grandfather had once been immortal and commanded an army of immortals into battle to defeat the evil Last Living God?

Who is going to tell little Edith and Peter that their father is over two hundred years old?

Will they believe their mother is the beautiful, sweet but powerful Helen of the holograph superheroes they watch. The Helen who had stormed the gates of Karnetta Monad's castle?

Will they ever believe you and I were once immortal? came the reply.

This was the revolution That did not happen even though it did. It did not happen because nobody would believe it. There was a weird event each year where aging hoverboard riders from around the world would meet and play silly games on their boards followed by a fancy-dress ball where Edith, Helen, Michael, and Malcolm are treated as gods. Would Little Edith and Peter ever have believed that this group of aging adolescents had once bought light back into the world? Little Edith and Peter in their innocence would tell Michael and Helen that they are far too old to be playing on their hoverboard with no idea of that they existed only because an immortal had been tipped of his hoverboard and fell to earth wrapped in the arms of a Greek goddess. But to Little Edith and Peter their father's Greek goddess was just Mum. Would they believe that the superhero cartoons on the holograph were actually true?

Joan, one of the ex-immortal soldiers with a love of computers and her animator partner Debbie, had generated a substantial income turning truth into fiction by showing the truth as happening on a galaxy far away. Part of the fiction was to elevate their part in the immortal army from privates to superhero generals. Michael and Helen smiled when they saw the elevation of Joan and Debbie, but since it was only fiction what did it matter? Joan and Debbie had even borrowed a phrase from an Ancient's pre holograph TV series for the title of their animation series, The Truth is out there.

And what of Edith’s good friend Karnetta? Would anyone believe that she is not a person but the doppelganger in the likeness of the evil Karnetta Monad? History has a long, strange habit of being a falsehood masquerading as truth, or truth masquerading as falsehood. The two are often interchangeable, or at least compatible.

Michael was an Astrophysicist, or what was called an astrophysicist in the science starved world of the now departed Monads. Helen a researcher of ancient myths, or at least the myths generated by the now departed Monads. Michael wanted to be a real astrophysicist. Helen wanted to be a real researcher of myths. In particular Helen and Michael wanted to know what truths were hidden in those myths. All these mysteries were waiting to be solved.

The tyranny of the Monads has gone, but it had left a big hole in Michael and Helen's lives. Thanks to Helen's student and the conversation between Helen and Michael they now knew the source of that hole. Peace ruled and the there was no poverty or disease. They had communication and computing to connect the world. Wonderful machines provided for the world of humans. But there was one problem. The world knew how to use the technology on which they depended, but nobody knew how or why the machines worked. Most people did not worry about this because it still worked, but some longed for the thrill of discovery and progress. Arguments for progress would be countered by arguments such as the world is good, so if it isn’t broken don't fix it. Some, like Michael and Helen, wanted an elusive thing called knowledge, understanding and progress. It was different for different people but the end result was the same, they wanted an end to the complacent slumber of the world and wanted ideas to excite their curiosity. What Did Helen and Michael want to know? Everything. They wanted Brian to wake up.

Michael and Helen had been on the front line of the hidden revolution. They had stormed Karnetta Monads castles and destroyed the empire of the self-styled One True Living Gods. They had ended the execution of millions of innocent people for being accused of being the 'children of Satan'. Michael was the only living person who could dimly remember the last days of the Ancients. Michael and Helen wasted to revive the knowledge of the Ancients. It is not unusual to look back at time gone by with nostalgia, but this was different. They understood that a society goes forward or it dies of indifference. They now had to look back to find where they are now so that they could then move forward. The world was slipping into a comatose state where it would slowly run down and die through lack of interest.

Michael had begun as an astrophysicist more than two hundred years ago. He was a contemporary of Karnetta Monad and remembered her evil. He even remembered Helen's ancestor Malcolm James who was probably the last person who understood how computers work. In those days the sun had been the centre of the solar system. They were the days before the One Living True God, the immortal Karnetta Monad had become the centre of the universe and all knowledge, and the sun had been relegated to revolving around the earth, or rather around Karnetta Monad. Michael wanted to begin restoring mystery by restoring the rightful place of the earth and the sun in the universe. Helen, as well as being his wife, was the perfect partner because she wanted to restore the ancient knowledge stored in the myths of the ancients, and the planets revolving around the sun had become an ancient myth, and if anyone could unravel myths it was Helen.

There had been persistent rumours at the university of a great warehouse full of old books that seemed to have no purpose. The seemed to be written in code but nobody seemed interested enough to try to break that code. What were in these books nobody knew and nobody cared. Helen decided to look for the warehouse herself and it was easy to find. It was in plain sight if anyone had been interested. Helen was hit with the realisation that the books were the books of the Ancients. Helen went onto her hands and knees and crawled through piles of books, hugging them while she laughed and crying at the same time.

The books had been thought to have been written in code, but Helen realised that these were ancient languages. There was an old, thought to be redundant, computer sitting gathering dust in a corner of a disused hut at the university with the 'translator' written on it. It seemed unlikely to Helen that it could read the old books it was worth a try. Helen's father Malcolm, the wis-kid of computers cleaned and worked out to turn the computer on. And to the amazement and delight of both it worked. It was indeed a translator of old