THE PREMISE

Alexandra Benno has a unique problem: she was born with the ability to summon parallel-dimension versions of herself to Earth. These alternate-reality versions of Alex are always idealized in one way or another; they’re the smartest, or fastest, or toughest version of her on their world, and are unfailingly tall, graceful and beautiful. The problem? Alex herself is a clumsy, thoroughly average girl with frizzy hair and the figure of a twelve-year-old boy.

Alex is eighteen now, and she’s found a definite niche: the United States government uses her and her duplicates for top-secret espionage work. The world is becoming more and more dangerous, with a proliferation of super-high-tech weaponry on the global black market, and specialization is the key: they need someone who speaks flawless Mandarin Chinese? Alex can summon that version. They need someone who can overpower ten men single-handedly? Alex can serve that one up, too. But Alex has to be within half a mile of her duplicate, or the duplicate zaps back to her home dimension. Consequently, Alex – who is the truly indispensable member of the team – is always stuck being her own sidekick, as the idealized version of her gets all the recognition and credit from their government handlers.

Alex, Unlimited is a story about being overshadowed, and learning to play the hand life deals you in the best possible way.

THE PLAYERS

BUREAU OF GENERAL OPERATIONS

The ironically named BGO isn’t exactly a black ops agency, but it is buried so far down under miles of red tape and bureaucratic legalese that no one outside the intelligence community realizes it exists. Incredibly specialized, 90% of its budget and effort goes into operations centered on one agent:

ALEX BENNO

Orphaned at the age of two, Alex was made a ward of the state and raised by the BGO. Consequently her socialization has been rigidly limited; her only friends have been other children of extreme circumstances, all of them housed in a Bureau dormitory.

But it’s been a pretty decent life, more or less, since she’s been able to do most things that “normal” girls do (though most normal girls don’t have discreet government agents escorting them wherever they go). She likes to go shopping, she’s taught herself to sew, and she’s part of the global fan community of the Quartz Princess novels and TV show. (Quartz Princess chronicles the far-future deep-space adventures of a female pirate captain.)

But even though she has two friends she considers close, Alex still feels isolated, since no one else can do anything like what she can do.

Aside from her remarkable extra-dimensional talent, Alex hasn’t excelled at much – academics, sports, dating (especially dating). Also, she’s sort of scrawny, with severely uncooperative hair and, in her opinion, way too many freckles. All of this has combined to render Alex’s self-esteem chronically low.

On the surface, it would seem that being a part of the U.S. government’s world-wide anti-crime espionage force would be the antidote for that low self-esteem. But the parade of stunning, willowy, supremely talented versions of herself that she summons have done nothing but hammer her ego further into submission. Alex feels completely overshadowed by what she thinks of as personifications of her own missed potential, and while her life is more exciting than it’s ever been before, she’s still blisteringly unhappy.

Particulars on Summoning:

The summoned versions of Alex are always cooperative because, in the summoning process, Alex forms a subconscious telepathic connection with the subjects; that way she can determine whether they’ll be cooperative or not. If Alex and Alex Prime are separated by more than a half mile, Alex Prime immediately zaps back to her home dimension (they’re both equipped with wrist-watch proximity sensors to keep track of each other’s location). Sometimes, if a duplicate has an especially dazzling talent, there seems to be a kind of balance struck between her and Alex; for example, in the first story, the duplicate is a brilliant linguist, and the closer she is to Alex, the more trouble Alex has speaking and expressing herself. And finally, Alex can’t summon a specific version of herself more than once because it would create a kind of energy feedback – sort of like burning out a motor by turning it on and off repeatedly – endangering them both and almost certainly killing one of them.

SECOND-IN-COMMAND

Known casually as “Sec,” the anonymous young woman to whom Alex Benno directly reports started out as a quantum physics research scientist. But when Alex learned to control her abilities at age thirteen, the Bureau Chief selected Sec to fill a more managerial / administrative role, specifically that of Alex’s boss; no one else understood how Alex was capable of doing what she could do, plus she had a way of making Alex listen to her.

Sec is twenty-five and very pretty, in an academic sort of way. She’s excellent at her job, and has often called in back-up to pull Alex’s fat out of the fire while she was on a field assignment. Alex would love to have a sisterly relationship with Sec, but Sec insists on maintaining a professional distance between them. This contributes greatly to Alex’s feelings of isolation and loneliness.

BUREAU CHIEF

Referred to mostly as “B.C.”, the Chief is just as anonymous as Sec. A lean, sharp, dangerous man in his mid-forties, B.C. rules over the Bureau with the proverbial iron fist; he always gets exactly what he wants, exactly when he wants it, and when he says “jump” everyone within earshot asks “how high?”

For all of his exacting – some would say draconian – methods, the Chief has a soft spot for Alex. He shows it incredibly rarely, of course, and when he does it’s subtle enough to miss if you’re not looking closely. But the Chief thinks of Alex as a daughter, and occasionally fills the role of mentor when Alex needs it most.

ALEX PRIME

This is the name used in each mission for the alternate-reality version of Alex that’s been summoned to help. Alex herself is peeved about that, since she’s the one who makes everything happen and if anybody’s going to be called “prime” it should be her, but there’s nothing she can do about it.

S.K.A.R.

The Sacred Knights of Altered Reality. S.K.A.R. is a neo-fascist group, founded by several members of extreme fringe factions, including followers of Rasputin, members of Benito Mussolini’s war ministry, and a radical splinter sect of the Freemasons. Evolving over the years, now the group as a whole holds no allegiance to anything but itself (though individual members often have private agendas), and seeks to dominate the entire planet in order to bring the Earth to a state of “perfect peace and order.” It’s trying to accomplish this goal through a mix of counter-intelligence, terrorism, and bizarre, obscure occultism.

THE GRAY BARON

Baron Giacomo Morbidini, a large, imposing figure with iron-gray hair, claims to be the son of Benito Mussolini himself; he looks no more than forty-five, but there’s a common rumor that on the inside he’s more bionic than human. His demeanor lends credence to the rumor, as he’s easily the coldest, harshest, most impersonal human being on the planet. The Gray Baron is largely responsible for most of the super-high-tech devices and weapons that S.K.A.R. utilizes.

SONNET IVANDROVA

30. Raven-haired, and quite possibly the sexiest woman alive, Sonnet was born in Moscow but raised in London. Her parents were members of an incredibly secretive cult which worshipped the mad Russian monk Rasputin, and longs for the day when Rasputin’s message of unfettered black magic can be unleashed on the masses. Sonnet is a dangerous sorceress, taping into dark and arcane magics. Sonnet is loyal to S.K.A.R., but if she can find a way to use the group’s technology to further her own goals, she won’t hesitate.

SABRE CROMWELL

28. Whippet-thin and movie-star handsome, it would be easy to dismiss Sabre as an ineffectual pretty-boy at first glance. In reality, Sabre Cromwell is easily the most dangerous hand-to-hand combatant on Earth, trained virtually from birth by the fanatical Freemason extremists who raised him. Sabre thinks the Gray Baron’s methods sometimes range too far into technology – he’d much rather take a literal hands-on approach to modifying human behavior – but he knows they have the same destination in mind. Humanity simply cannot be trusted to make its own decisions… and Sabre means to make certain that it doesn’t get the chance to.

S.K.A.R. OPERATIVES

S.K.A.R. has agents all over the world, ranging from ultra-dangerous military special forces soldiers to research scientists to people as outwardly non-threatening as accountants and housewives. They can be activated at any time, and are unwaveringly loyal to their cause. S.K.A.R. has a number of strongholds in various countries masquerading as normal businesses; each of these is manned by a staff of operatives trained by the Russian military and instructed to shoot to kill. In addition to their fanaticism, many S.K.A.R. field operatives are equipped with examples of the Gray Baron’s super-advanced weaponry, including devices such as wireless tasers, focused EMP guns, and traceless poisons. A handful of them have also been known to employ what appear to be supernatural tactics, taught them by Sonnet Ivandrova.

WILD CARDS

Alex often encounters operatives not associated with either the States or S.K.A.R. Two such operatives are:

DAVID YU

24. A young hotshot in the South Korean counterintelligence service, David Yu is a linguist, a martial artist, and a ladies’ man of James Bondian proportions. Dashing, slick, and able to punch through concrete, David is a force to be reckoned with… as long as his colossal ego doesn’t sabotage him.

Upon meeting the recently-turned-eighteen Alex Benno, David finds himself rapidly developing an attraction to her; he respects her tenacity and dedication, and appreciates a more slender figure than the, in his words, “overdeveloped women they try to sell you in the movies.” He thinks it’s cute how utterly flustered this attention makes Alex.

YVETTE LeCHANCE

A truly dangerous mistress of disguise, Yvette – who’s commonly mistaken for French – is actually from Luxembourg. (Sec refers to her as “the spy from Luxembourg,” since Luxembourg’s intelligence services are proportionately tiny.) More skilled than David Yu and a hell of a lot more dangerous than Alex Benno, Yvette is unpredictable and just as zealous about her missions as any S.K.A.R. member.

Alex regards Yvette with a seriously envious eye. Yvette’s not that much older than Alex is, but she embodies a freedom and confidence that Alex desperately wants and knows she can’t have.