Doorways to Everywhere (Tourist Trap Book 2)

Chapter 1

Dr. Octavius stepped outside of his lab and blinked his eyes at the bright sunlight.  He put his hand to his brow and surveyed the clear blue sky.  There didn’t appear to be any clouds anywhere in sight.

“Hmm,” he thought to himself.  “Now this won’t do at all.  Maybe I made some sort of miscalculation somewhere along the way.”  He put one hand on his hip and scratched the top of his bald head with the other.

“Uh, sir?” a small voice spoke up behind him and he felt a hand tugging gently at his lab coat.

“Ah, yes.  What is it Maurice?” Dr. Octavius asked kindly.  

Maurice was Dr. Octavius’ new lab assistant.  He had been hired to replace the good doctor’s old lab assistant, Zeke, who had disappeared mysteriously one night several months before.  Maurice had been lured away from his duties as an assistant to one Dr. Jonas Wentworth from down the street, who was a brilliant mad scientist in his own right and, as it just so happened, was also Dr. Octavius’ arch-nemesis.

Dr. Wentworth had been furious at the “betrayal” of his lab assistant and had duly sworn revenge.  In addition to offering slightly higher wages, Dr. Octavius also won Maurice’s loyalty through his niece, the lovely Sarah.  Sarah and Maurice had begun dating a few months back, shortly after Dr. Octavius had returned from his last interdimensional jaunt and a little before the unexplained disappearance of Zeke.  Dr. Octavius couldn’t help but chuckle at the memory of an utterly flustered Dr. Wentworth, going out of his head with rage as Maurice had informed him of his intention to switch employers.

“Sir, you might want to come in here for a moment,” Maurice said with a note of anxiety in his voice.  “The weather control machine seems to be malfunctioning.”

“Yes, I might have guessed that, considering it’s not raining,” Dr. Octavius rubbed his chin thoughtfully.  “I expected to at least see a few storm clouds once I cranked it to the ‘hurricane’ setting.”  He sighed a bit as he stared again at the clear blue skies.

“Yes sir, about the hurricane setting,” Maurice said.  “Things seem to be going a little haywire inside.”

At that moment the door to the lab blew off its hinges, sailed over their heads, and landed in the street with a thud, narrowly missing a group of yuppies out on a power walk during their lunch break.

“My word,” Dr. Octavius said in astonishment.  “I’d better look into this.”

He was nearly swept off his feet as he tried to make his way back into the lab.  Huge gusts of wind and an overwhelming downpour of torrential rain pounded at his body as he tried to avoid the mass of debris that blew scattershot around the room.  Maurice, ever the faithful assistant, was right behind him.  

“Try to reach the off switch!” Dr. Octavius shouted, although he wasn’t sure if his voice could be heard above the howling gales of wind, which seemed to be growing in strength by the second.  Soon they were both clinging to the lab bench for dear life, their bodies stinging from little bits of debris that pelted them at massive speeds.  Just when it seemed the lab was going to burst apart at the seams everything suddenly became deathly quiet.

“What’s going on?” Maurice asked.

“We must be at the eye of the hurricane right now.  Quickly, now’s our chance!”  He leaped to his feet and ran over to the large metal box-like machine situated against the wall and hit a conspicuous red button.  “There, that ought to do it.”  He let out a long breath and turned around to survey the damage.  Papers were scattered everywhere and the floor was littered with various metal sprockets and gears as well as broken flasks.  Truthfully, it didn’t look too much worse than normal.