Countless aeons of time before even the earliest primate ancestors of humankind appeared upon the planet Earth, there existed, in the area of what is now known as the Pacific Ocean, a land undreamed of. It was a vast continent known as Mu, which was centred by a great city fashioned of architecture beyond all common understanding -- buildings of strange angles and shapes not known to any understood system of geometry. This city, and forsooth the highly-advanced civilisation of which it was the capital, was populated by a race known as the Gargouellios -- themselves an unusual mixture of mammalian and reptilian DNA the very existence of which bespoke of the likelihood of genetic engineering from an unknown origin.
These creatures, the Gargouellios of Mu, did for age-long generations protect Earth from sundry threats, including the horrible Lizard-Men of Lemuria, the dread Cult of Kuthalu, the Shaitans of Eblis, and many other eldritch horrors now long forgotten. That the Gargouellios themselves were of a rather strange appearance is itself remembered darkly by the fact that a certain psychic memory of their existence became the inspiration for the stone gargoyles and other grotesque sculptures that still decorate the exteriors of numerous medieval European churches, and are said to have the ability to ward off evil spirits.
The power of the Gargouellios flowed from something known to them as the Source, itself an energy field said to be created by the very existence of life itself, and which is said to both surround and penetrate all, thus holding together the very possibility of existence. In the vast ages of their history, the wise gargoyle-like philosophers of Mu did perfect the use of the Source as a system of defence for the very world around them.
It is with a meeting of two of these weird but wise prehistoric Gargouellios that our story begins, there in that strange capital city upon the hoary continent of Mu. They were vaguely humanoid of shape, small of stature but muscularly built, their skin a lime green of colour, themselves horned and sometimes winged.
“A strange disturbance in the Source I have felt, Garschwin,” said the first of these, his raspy but kindly voice resplendent with the wisdom and logic of the Gargouellio race.
“Felt it also I have, Gorschatt,” said the second, his own voice even calmer than the other, although the happening of which they spoke was of great and unspeakable danger. “It involves the beings known as the Drittiffs.”
“In truth does it,” agreed Gorschatt. "Yet of our time it is not. Of a time far beyond the existence of us it is.”
“Truth you speak,” replied Garschwin. “An impression it is that received we have from the Time Corridor of the Source. Of the future time of the race known as Human it involves.”
“Something more about it there is, however,” responded the first Gargouellio. “Aided by another evil the Drittiffs will be.”
“In great peril the world will be in that time,” stated the other. “Will a way be possible to with it deal?”
“In the time of the Algolite agent known as Rumanos it will be,” Gorschatt rejoined. “Shown great ability in defeating other such things he has.”
“Indeed has he. Send a signal down the Time Corridor we shall, to assure that alerted of the problem he is.”
“We indeed shall. Beyond that we can hope that the Source with him will be as this evil he faces.”
“Truth you speak,” said Garschwin. “May the Source with him be.” …
My name is RUMANOS -- DOCTOR DANIEL RUMANOS, Extraterrestrial Espionage Agent and Intergalactic Man of Mystery. Even though I have the physical appearance of an human being, I am in fact several thousands of years old and do carry within my blood the vastly superior genes of the legendary Aeternusians or “Watchers” of the Daemon-Star ALGOL. Originating ninety-three light years from Earth, we are the most intellectually advanced race in all of the known galaxies, whose technology is so sophisticated it often appears to be “magic” and “miraculous” to lesser beings.
Whilst most Algolites tend to keep to themselves, preferring to live in elitist seclusion from the rest of the Universe and thus merely observing the goings-on of the myriad races of the vast reaches around them, I am an Operative for a secret organisation known as the KOSMIKOS or Cosmic Intervention Department, tasked with maintaining peace and order throughout the farthest reaches of Space and Time. You know, “plausible deniability”, and all of that sort of thing. It is our ongoing mission to defend the weak, the unfortunate, and the innocent from those who would harm or exploit them.
Currently assigned to Earth, I protect its people (both upon their own planet and across the eternal void) from the hideous manipulations of the arch-villain known as Magister Don Wingus, along with his dangerously-seductive daughter, Anastasia, and his occult terrorist organisation, Spectral Paranormal; as well as from alien invasions, mad scientists, and indeed all manner of menace. Assisted by my friends -- the beautiful young Hollywood starlet Miss Millie “The Girl From Beyond” Drake, and our catlike robot known as Kit-10 -- I am the living icon of Algol on this world. I am a Knight of the Eternal Spires. I am the sword of justice from the planet Daemonia. I am the cosmic crusader. I am the stellar swashbuckler.
These are my memoirs. This is my story.
I am -- THE DAEMON-STAR!!! …
I drove my canary-yellow and specially-modified Edwardian roadster, affectionately known as “Lizzie”, into the underground parking garage of the Capital Hotel in Washington, DC, and found a parking space. I was clad in my usual finery, including a frilled poet shirt, purple velvet suit, military boots, sunspecs, panama hat, and one of my favourite opera capes.
In the passenger seat was my beloved friend and companion Millie Drake, an exceedingly beautiful young lady with luxurious chestnut hair, enchanting blue-violet eyes, sun-kissed skin, and luscious red lips, The tight, short, magenta-coloured dress she wore only served to highlight the soft curves of her slender adolescent figure.
Between us was Kit-10, our mobile personal computer that actually resembles something no more or less than a small mechanical cat.
I parked the car and we began to walk across the interior of the parking garage to-wards the lift.
“So this is where the mysterious signal we detected at our Headquarters said to go?” enquired Millie Drake. “The Capital Hotel?”
“Quite so,” I affirmed. “The signal was rather garbled and I cannot be certain of its source, but it was of a frequency once utilised by the Gargoyles or Gargouellios of Mu -- the incredible race of beings that protected the Earth in prehistoric times, forsooth countless ages before the human race came into being.”
By now we had reached the elevator, and I touched the control for taking us to the hotel’s main floor and lobby. A few moments later, the lift door opened and we stepped out into the artificial opulence of the Capital Hotel.
“In like Flynn,” I quipped.
“What does that really mean again?” teased Millie.
“I shall show you later, love,” I winked.
We looked around the hotel lobby. There were a few guests coming and going, an elderly woman desk clerk, and signs marking the way to the lounge and restaurant. A burly African-American security guard briefly glanced at us and, deciding we seemed to pose no threat, continued his beat.
I took the transonic turnscrew, an highly-advanced scientific instrument somewhat resembling a large writing pen, from the pocket of my jacket and used it to scan the area.
“Hmmm,” I said upon examining the resultant readings. “Nothing appears to be out of the ordinary. Anything unusual showing up on your sensors, Kit-10?”
“Negative, s--,” required the mechanical feline in her simulated yet pleasantly feminine voice. “All appears to be within the parameters that would be expected.”
(It should be noted here that Kit-10, along with her other catlike characteristics, is possessed by the singular inability to openly show respect to anyone. In point of fact, the closest she ever comes to it is by referring to me by a slight “s--” sound -- for “sir” -- and Millie Drake by “m--” -- for “ma’am”.)
“So what could it be?” asked Millie. “What could the signal have been about?”
“I wonder,” replied I. “If it were indeed from the Gargouellios, then it must be something of extreme importance; something that is likely a threat to they very planet and that we must deal with -- but what? We must find out as soon as is possible!” …
At that same time, in the very penthouse suit of the Capital Hotel, a man stood before a large looking glass tying the tie of his black silk suit of Victorian make. His face still showed signs of handsome distinction despite being marred with the marks of seaming lifetimes of extreme ungodly evil. His hair was long and dark, and his countenance was decorated by a thin moustache and Mephistophelean goatee. Most of all, his eyes shown with an absolutely hypnotic glow.
“We cannot fail in this endeavour, Anastasia,” he stated amusedly, his voice tinged with madness and wickedness beyond imagining. “Our new allies will overrun this pathetic planet and prepare for our subjugation of the human race. Then we can utilise this world as an home-base from which we can launch our conquest of the Galaxy.”
The one to which he spoke was an insanely voluptuous teenage girl who lounged in complete nudity on the bed behind him, idly caressing her wondrously-full breasts with one hand whilst her other held a glass of red wine. Her hair was raven-black, and her eyes a lustrous blue-green of hue.
"You are right, Father,” she said, her voice like unto an irresistibly seductive purring. “We have already performed the rite to raise the energies. It will be so great to rule the world.”
“Indeed it will, my little cutie,” replied the villain. “Our time has come at last, and I -- Magister Don Wingus of Algol -- shall be supreme lord of all!” …
Back in the hotel lobby, Millie Drake and I had continued our survey.
“It appears we shall have to search the entire hotel,” I pondered. “Whatever the signal was about has to be here somewhere, hmmm?”
“The signs say it has eighteen storeys,” noticed Millie. “So if we start now, we can… Daniel, look!”
The girl’s voice had suddenly taken on a note of cold fear. I whirled about to see what had frightened her and beheld an horror indeed - forsooth a thing of extreme eldritch terror beyond any and all sane imaginings.
It was a creature dark green of hue, about the size of a large man but made up entirely of leaves and vines and branches. As it approached us from a scant few metres distant, the horrid thing breached out its rustling leafy limbs like grasping arms directly at us!!
“Kit-10!” I called.
At this, the little robot immediately shot forth a blast of her nose laser at the monster, hitting it squarely in the middle.
“Run,” I said, taking Millie Drake by the hand.
Kit-10’s laser blast had caused the creature to lurch backwards slightly. It was obviously that the horrible thing was not greatly harmed, but the results were at least enough for Millie, Kit-10, and me to get some distance between us and the monstrosity. We accordingly ran to shelter behind a large standing sign that advertised the hotel’s rewards programme.
“Daniel, what is that thing?!” asked Millie Drake.
“Astounding as it seems to even say so,” I replied, “it appears to be a Drittiff.”
“A Drittiff?” echoed the lass. “What exactly is that?”
“The Drittiffs were a race of sentient plants that existed as the dominant life-form on Earth more than four-hundred-millions of years ago. They were finally overthrown by the superior military powers of the Devonian Fish-Men.”
“I suppose fish men would have quite a navy,” returned Millie Drake.
“Oh indeed. Indeed,” I agreed. “The Drittiffs only survived in much smaller numbers, but they attempted a further uprising during the Jurassic Period, after which they were wiped out completely by the Gargouellios of Mu.”
“But if they were wiped out by the Gargouellios, how did that one get here?”
“Someone must have brought it through Time,” I explained.
“But who could -- and would -- do such a terrible thing?” queried the girl. “Oh my gosh, you don’t think it could be… ?”
“Let us not speculate until we have more evidence, my dear Millie,” I counselled.
“S--,” interrupted Kit-10, “more of the creatures are approaching.”
Millie and I looked out from behind the sign and, to our extreme horror -- we beheld several more of the Drittiffs now shambling into the hotel lobby. The staff and guests had by now cleared the area, but the security guard had remained and, as we watched, he raised his gun and emptied six shots into one of the Drittiffs. The thing was not at all fazed by this, and it then reached out its horrid green limbs to the guard, then quickly surrounding the security man and crushing the very life from him. When it let go its grasp, we saw the man fall to the floor, hideously mangled and lifeless.
“Daniel, we need to do something!” shouted Millie Drake.
“Yes,” I agreed. “This must be stopped here and now. Earth’s modern defence capabilities are not prepared to deal with this menace. If the Drittiffs are in any way allowed to escape, they will multiply and completely overrun the entire planet, feeding upon all other life-forms -- including mankind!”
I ran out from our hiding place and raised the transonic turnscrew to-wards one of the lobby’s overhanging light fixtures. The light hurtled down and hit one of the Drittiffs, briefly enveloping it with flame. This however was soon extinguished and the terrible thing appeared unharmed.
“They are far too healthy and moist to catch fire,” I explained to Millie and Kit-10, who had come to my side. “If only we could… ”
It was then that I heard a low and unspeakably evil laugh from behind us. It was a voice and tone that I knew and recognised all too well.
Millie and I turned around and faced the pair that stood there. One of them was my oldest and most bitter enemy -- the notorious Algolite renegade who has become the most feared villain in the entire Universe -- clad in a black silk suit and holding a sleek laser gun directly on us. With him was an insanely voluptuous teenage girl wearing only a transparent negligee and high heels. Her eyes were well nigh shining with intoxication and lust, and her mouth was smeared with a blood-red lipstick.
“Don Wingus and your daughter Anastasia,” I uttered. “I should have known. So you did escape from Draconis.”
“Indeed so, Rumanos,” returned the villainous Magister Don Wingus. “Indeed so. I see you have met my friends, the Drittiffs. They are going to aid me in conquest of this world, and you are not going to interfere!”
With this pronouncement, Wingus raised his laser pistol and fired it point blank at me!
The laser beam hit my transonic device, immediately sending it flying to land on the hotel floor several metres distant.
“Wingus, you unhallowed fiend!” I spat. “How have you managed to bring the Drittiffs here to present day Earth?”
“Is it not obvious, Rumanos?” rejoined the villain. “I brought them forward through the Time Corridor of the Gargouellios.”
“By the Triple Star!” I cursed. “To do that would have taken an extreme amount of psycho-sensual energy. Just to generate it would require committing some sort of absolute iniquitous perversion, like perhaps an act of… “
At the sound of my voice then trailing off in complete and utter disgust, Don Wingus chuckled evilly whilst young Anastasia “Stacy” Wingus smiled an astonishingly seductive smile that was openly aimed directly at me.
“Really, Wingus?” I continued. “Your own daughter? Oh well, at least you have finally had a young girl, hmmm? One that did not immediately object to being included in one of your unmentionable occult rituals, I mean.”
“The appropriate rite has been performed,” returned the villain, totally ignoring my absolutely deserved insult of him by resuming his usual unholy boasting, “and now there is nothing that can stand in the way of my complete domination of all Time and Space. We will begin by the Drittiffs subduing the human race. Those who oppose us will be eaten by the Drittiffs, and those who choose to openly submit to me will be used as my slaves and soldiers. We shall then build a fleet of spaceships with which we shall go forth and conquer galaxies!”
“You are utterly mad, Don Wingus!” I told him. “You indeed are totally, utterly, and irredeemably mad! The Drittiffs are uncontrollable and will feed on all other plant and animal life. Eventually they will break free. Even the Gargouellios could not manipulate them, and had to annihilate them in stead, in order to assure the future of the planet.”
“Oh, but I have managed to achieve quite a rapport with them, Rumanos,” answered Wingus. “I can assure you that the Drittiffs are completely under my Algolitish psychic control. In fact, I have arranged a demonstration -- a demonstration that will not only prove my mastery over these prehistoric plant monsters but one that shall also succeed in ending your meddling interference in my plans once and for all!”
Suddenly, I heard Millie Drake scream:
“Daniel! The Drittiffs are all right behind us!”
Indeed it was so. I turned around and beheld that he entire group of plant monsters had moved around and were now approaching us from the rear.
“Spires of Daemonia!” I swore. “It appears that Wingus has in truth achieved a sort of mentalist control over the things.”
“I have indeed, Rumanos,” mocked the villain. “I have indeed. The Drittiffs are mine to command, and now they shall bring your doom!”
Kit-10 attempted firing a few shots of her nose laser at the approaching creatures, but it was to no avail whatsoever. The horrid Drittiffs barely noticed it and continued to-wards Millie and me. We heard an increasing sound of the rustling of their leafy protuberances -- the very same terrible green limbs that were now reaching out to grasp us!!
Is it really at all possible, my dear friends and thankfully loyal readers, that you can even commence to recognise the supreme satanic horror of this terrifying situation? Can you even begin to understand or to realise the very terror and unholy grotesquery of these unspeakable and monstrously unprecedented circumstances? Forsooth, is it possible for you to appreciate the extreme unspeakable peril that we -- and in truth the entire world -- were now facing? There we were -- my beautiful Miss Millie Drake, the computerised Kit-10, and I -- there we were in the lobby of the Capital Hotel in Washington DC. There we were surrounded by the deadly prehistoric plant monstrosities known as the Drittiffs, creatures that were under the control of that evil Algolite criminal known to eternal infamy as Magister Don Wingus -- and which he intended to utilise in his mad scheme to conquer the planet!
Millie Drake screamed again and clung to me in absolute abject horror as the hideous creatures approached us, their horrible and unnameable rustling sound increasing as they grew closer and closer.
Then, to my sudden and complete surprise, I heard a voice from behind us. It was the voice of Anastasia Wingus.
“Father, no,” she pleaded. “Father, please no. Please don’t do this. Please don’t let them kill Doctor Rumanos. I like him. Let him live and I know he will like me then, too. All right, Father? Will you do that? Please do that for me. Please, Father? Please?!”
“Stacy, you damnable little slut!” shouted Wingus furiously, his head turning to face his daughter. “I am sick and tired of your sexual obsession with old Rumanos here! No, I will not spare him! Not for you or for any other reason! He has meddled and harassed me in my plans for far too long, and today he must die!”
Realising that Wingus was thus distracted, I then quickly whirled around and, with a lightning-fast Daemonian kung fu move, I kicked the laser gun from his hand, sending it across the hotel lobby to land over near the front desk.
It was then that I noticed something out of the corner of my eye. It was something several metres distant that seemed to be emanating from another part of the hotel lobby. It was a sparkling multicoloured glow, red and blue and gold and silver and purple beyond purple. I quickly realised that it was coming from where the transonic turnscrew had hit the floor earlier.
I took a running dive to retrieve the transonic device and then quickly raised it in the direction of the advancing Drittiffs. The strange energy glow then shot out from my device and covered the horrid plant monsters, surrounding them and enveloping them entirely within a few seconds.
The energies grew stronger and brighter as the monstrous Drittiffs disappeared from sight, and the sparkling multihued glow briefly spread farther across the area before then itself fading from view.
All was then quiet in the lobby of the Capital Hotel. The Drittiffs were gone, and so were Wingus and Anastasia. Only Millie Drake, Kit-10, and I remained. I returned the transonic turnscrew to my jacket pocket.
“Are you all right, my dear Mills?” I enquired concernedly. “I pray you were not hurt in any way.”
The dear little lass flew into my arms.
“I’m okay, Daniel,” she said. “I’m okay now. But what happened? What was that power and how did it destroy the Drittiffs?”
“That, my love, was the power of the Gargouellios,” I explained. “It is the power they wield from what is called the Source, an ancient energy field that exists on some inter-dimensional level between the stars. They sent a portion of it down the Time Corridor to the transonic, knowing that I could then utilise it to destroy the Drittiffs. An excellent people, the Gargouellios. I have always been honoured in the opportunities I have had to work with them.”
“But what about Don Wingus and his daughter?” enquired Millie Drake. “Were they also destroyed by the Gargoyle energies or did they get away?”
I looked over and noticed that his laser gun was also missing from were it had hit the floor earlier.
“If only we could know for certain,” I pondered. “Of course! The penthouse suite! If Wingus was using some part of the hotel for his laboratory, he would have chosen nothing else.”
Millie Drake, Kit-10, and I ran to the lift and took it to the top storey of the Capital Hotel. We soon entered the large penthouse suite, my transonic having made short work of the door lock.
My companions and I then cautiously looked around the rooms of the suite. There was no one there now, but there were definite signs of its recent occupancy by both Don and Stacy Wingus. There was a discarded pizza box and several empty sushi containers. The bed had been used -- but not slept in -- and there were also several empty wine bottles and the type of paraphernalia that is associated with cocaine and/or heroin use.
“Daniel, look at that!” Millie Drake cried. “On the mirror!”
I turned and saw that she was pointing to the large looking glass on the bedroom wall. On the mirrored surface of the glass was something written in blood-red lipstick. It was obviously inscribed in a young female hand, and it was made up of three short words:
“Be seeing you.”
***** DANIEL RUMANOS AND MILLIE DRAKE SHALL RETURN
