In the very heart of the City is a certain skyscraper with a golden trapezoidal roof. Within this rooftop is found something odd indeed, in fact something that would be considered exceedingly strange by the vast majority of Earth people. It is a secret headquarters and laboratory, accessible only by an entrance sequence known to a select few.
In this hidden HQ one could find a plethora of scientific instruments and computer equipment, as well as an assortment of artefacts -- things both from the results of certain experiments here upon this planet and others from numerous alien cultures. Not the least of these latter is my own combination Spaceship/Time-machine, the DiTraS (pronounced “DYE-tress” and standing for Dimensional Transport Sphere), which in its outer form resembles an ancient Greco-Roman column.
On the morning in which our story begins, I -- Doctor Daniel Rumanos -- was seated here in the lab going over some recent updates we had received. I was clad in my usual finery; including a frilled poet shirt, purple velvet suit, and jungle boots. My panama hat and opera cape hung from a near by hallstand.
Seated close by was my beloved assistant Miss Millie Drake, an exceedingly beautiful young lady; petite and perfect with luxurious chestnut hair, lovely violet eyes, and sun kissed skin. The pink dress she wore only served to highlight the wondrous lines of her slender adolescent figure.
Also with us was Kit-10, our mobile personal computer that resembles nothing more or less than a small mechanical cat.
“By the Triple Star!” I swore upon perusing some printout. “This is scarcely believable!”
“What is it, Daniel?” enquired Millie concernedly. “Have you found out what it was that was stolen from that government warehouse in Washington, DC?”
“Indeed I have, love,” I replied, “and it appears from this that our mission is going to be a danger-fraught one indeed. The stolen object is said to be perhaps the greatest and most storied artefact from ancient times; a relic of extreme and in fact divine powers. My dear, it is said to be -- The Ark of the Covenant!!” …
My name is Doctor Daniel Rumanos. I carry within my blood the vastly superior genes of the legendary Watchers of Algol, the most intellectually advanced race in all of the known galaxies, whose technology is so sophisticated it appears to be miraculous to lesser beings.
Whilst most Algolites live in elitist seclusion from the rest of the Universe, I am an operative for an organisation known as the KOSMIKOS. Assisted by the beautiful Miss Millie Drake, I protect Earth from all manner of menace. I am -- The Daemon-Star!!! …
“Really, Daniel?” stated Millie Drake in wonder at what I had just revealed to her. “The Ark of the Covenant? The object that was built by the ancient Israelites according to the instructions God gave to Moses?”
“Quite so, Mills,” I confirmed. “You see, it is said that the Ark was taken from the Temple in Jerusalem by the Prophet Jeremiah shortly before the Babylonians overran the city. It was hidden in a cave for safety in what is now Jordon.”
“So how did it get to be in DC?”
“In the years just preceding the beginning of the Second World War, it became known that the Nazis were seeking to find the Ark, that they might make use of its powers in order to conquer the world. Fortunately, the combined intelligence forces of the British and United States governments managed to find the Ark first -- and they then hid it in a nondescript box in that very same secret warehouse just outside of the US capital city!”
“And now it has been stolen!” concluded Millie. “By someone who managed to get away with it without even being seen! But who could have done that?”
“One shudders to think,” I admitted. “In order to break into that facility, positively identify the crate containing the Ark, and so quickly abscond with it would take an amazingly high level of intelligence, hmmm?”
“So is it someone who wants to use its powers like the Nazis would have? Someone who wants to rule the world?”
“More than likely, and the powers of the Ark are considerable, to put it mildly. According to the Torah commentaries, it was constantly surrounded with flashes of golden light, and was inhabited by myriads of spirits both divine and infernal.”
“But could someone manage to control that power?” queried my companion. “How could they manage to not just be destroyed by it?”
“Only by usage of some quite specialised knowledge, hmmm?” I pondered. “The Nazis, you will remember, had access to various books of black magic that they had acquired by plunder from around Europe and the Near East. I believe our thief to be someone with similar knowledge, and indeed with the ability to use it!”
“Then it could be… Oh my gosh, look!”
I whirled around to see what had so frightened Millie Drake and beheld an horror indeed -- in sooth something that was a portent of terror far exceeding even that which we had so far been pondering. It was like unto an huge disembodied face, floating in midair several metres high, and surrounded with flashes of scintillating golden energy.
It was a face as unto that of a man seemingly of middle years, his countenance still showing signs of handsome distinction despite being marred with the marks of seeming lifetimes of extreme unhallowed wickedness and iniquity beyond all sane imaginings. His hair was long and dark, and his visage decorated with a thin moustache and goatee. Most of all, his pale eyes shone with an absolutely hypnotic glow.
Of course, I recognised this disembodied face immediately. I recognised it as that of my oldest and most dangerous enemy, as that of an intergalactic felon beyond all others, indeed as that of the infamous renegade Algolite whom has become the most notorious criminal in all of Time and Space. It was the face of Don Wingus!
Then, as quickly as it had appeared, the evil face again vanished.
“Daniel,” said Millie Drake, “was that really the face of… ?”
“Don Wingus!” I said his name. “I should have known. So he did escape from the Hellfire.”
“And he stole the Ark of the Covenant?”
“So it appears, love. This is a dangerous situation indeed. Wingus, as an Algolite, will be able to assert some control over the powers of the Ark, as he has done here by manifesting his own image right here inside our headquarters. No doubt that was just an attempt at bravado, but it does show that he has achieved some success with wielding the Ark’s energies.”
“We need to find out where he has taken it!”
“Quite so. Kit-10, can you get an energy trace from the residual of that manifestation?”
“Accessing, s--,” replied the mechanical cat in her simulated yet pleasantly feminine voice. “Energy seems to be emanating from the building that once housed Bolton Street Synagogue, three blocks west of here.”
(It should be noted here that Kit-10, in addition to her other catlike characteristics, is completely unable to openly show respect to anyone. In truth, the closest she can ever come to it is by addressing me with a slight “s--” noise -- for “sir” -- and Millie Drake with “m--” -- for “ma’am”.)
“Come along then, Mills, Kit-10,” said I whilst fetching my hat and cloak. “We need to get over there right away.” …
We arrived at Bolton Street Synagogue on that foggy day and approached the building. It was old but one could still see the stained glass window from outside, on which was a multi-hued Star of David.
“So this synagogue is no longer in use?” questioned Millie Drake.
“Correct, my dear,” I returned. “The congregation merged with another a neighbourhood away. That was a couple decades ago, hmmm? The building has been occasionally used as a community centre, but not really for years now.”
The front door was open, and thus did Millie, Kit-10, and I enter the old synagogue. As soon as we came into the front hallway, it became obvious that the interior of the building had been the victim of vandalising over the years. There was much debris on the floor, and mixed graffiti on the walls said everything from “Hail Satan!” to “Roman Catholics rule!”. The shadows were deep, the only light dimly filtered through the dusty windows of the building.
“Be cautious, Mills,” I admonished. “If Don Wingus has truly brought the Ark of the Covenant here, there is no telling what traps he may have set for us.”
Little did we know at that time that a figure was watching us from the shadows of the synagogue’s front hall. It was the figure of an insanely voluptuous teenage girl with raven hair and luminous blue-green eyes. She was wearing a scarlet halter-top and miniskirt, and stood atop spike heels.
The girl eyed us narrowly, and then reached into her cleavage and took out a switchblade knife, extending it into a long, razor sharp stiletto that she then quickly aimed and threw directly at Millie Drake!!
The knife whizzed through the air directly at Millie and, just before it would have reached her, Kit-10 shot a beam of her nose laser that caught it in midair. The remains of the knife then clattered to the floor.
I looked and briefly beheld the figure of the girl who had thrown it before she once again disappeared into the shadows.
“Are you all right, Millie?” I queried concernedly.
“Yes, I’m okay,” my companion confirmed. “Good shooting, Kit-10!”
“Of course, m--,” replied the computerised kitten.
“Daniel,” said Millie Drake. “That girl! Wasn’t it… ?”
“Yes, indeed it was,” I affirmed. “Anastasia ‘Stacy’ Wingus, daughter of the notorious villain and herself an expert in assassination.”
Millie, Kit-10, and I then continued our search of the old synagogue, soon entering its main sanctuary. It was there that we saw them.
Don Wingus was clad in a black vestment robe on which was embroidered, in crimson red, three interlocking inverted triangles. His daughter had joined him and now stood by his side before the table they had set before them.
On the table was a sight indeed, for it was the Ark of the Covenant itself, made of wood covered with gold plating. Around it played the flashing golden light of its arcane powers.
“Kit-10,” I said, “blast them.”
At this, the robotic cat sent a beam of her nose laser directly at Don Wingus, but it was to no avail. A flash of the golden light appeared and deflected it from him.
“Greetings, Rumanos,” said the villain, his voice a sneering mockery. “We have been expecting you. You interference is at an end. The powers of the Ark of the Covenant are mine, and I shall utilise them to become the supreme ruler of planet Earth -- but first, I shall use them to bring about your final destruction!”
As he spoke, the powers darting about the sanctuary intensified, and soon we were witness to an amazing display of scintillating golden light, in which were flashes of the phantom figures of distorted and grotesque spiritual entities both divine and infernal. Then, before Millie Drake, Kit-10 and I could even further react, the entire conglomeration of powers suddenly shot forth directly at us!
“Now you shall die, Daniel Rumanos!” bellowed the villain amidst peals of insane laughter. “I, Magister Don Wingus, do declare your death!!”
Do you at all recognise the extreme unmitigated horror, forsooth the supreme unfettered terror of this situation, my dear friends and most appreciated readers? There we were; the wonderful Millie Drake, the robotic Kit-10, and me -- Doctor Daniel Rumanos. There we were, facing the evil Magister Don Wingus and his wicked daughter Anastasia. There we were, about to be pummelled by the very powers of the ancient Ark of the Covenant; powers the force of which are unmatched upon planet Earth -- powers that Don Wingus intended to utilise in his plans to subjugate the entire world!!
“You will now die, Rumanos!” continued to exult the wicked Wingus whilst the powers of the Ark shot to-wards us. “You will die, that you may no longer interfere with my plans. You will die, and I shall use the powers of the very Ark of the Covenant to establish rule over this world!”
“Father, no!” suddenly interrupted Stacy Wingus. “Please don’t kill Doctor Rumanos! I like him! I want to have him for myself when you become the master of the world! Please! Oh please don’t hurt him, Father!”
“Anastasia, you clueless tramp!” raged Don Wingus, slapping his daughter hard across the face. “I am absolutely exhausted by dealing with your ridiculous adolescent obsession with that damnable old Rumanos!”
Then occurred a bizarre thing indeed. The energies that had been flowing dangerously to-wards Millie Drake, Kit-10, and me suddenly changed direction and, in their full force, began to in stead shoot forth to-wards the evil Magister Don Wingus and his daughter Anastasia!
“No!” bellowed Wingus angrily as the powers surrounded them. “No! No! You cannot do this to me! I am Don Wingus, the rightful ruler of all existence! The powers of the Ark of the Covenant should be mine to command! No! You cannot do this to me! You cannot… !!”
Then, within a very few moments, it was all over. The scintillating golden energies of the Ark, together with the flashing forms of numerous otherworldly spirits both divine and infernal, completely surrounded both Don Wingus and Stacy. I heard Wingus again bellow with rage, and his daughter scream in fear as the powers completely obliterated them from sight. Then the powers themselves also vanished completely. There was no sign of the villains, and all was now quiet in the old abandoned holy place.
I looked at the Ark of the Covenant and, as if in response to my gaze, it suddenly disintegrated into dust.
“Daniel, what happened?” asked Millie Drake. “Is it all over?”
“Indeed it is, my dear,” I answered. “Stacy’s distraction caused Don Wingus to lose control of the powers of the Ark, and they naturally turned upon him, removing both of them from this plane of existence.”
“But where did they go?”
“Perhaps their very beings were obliterated, hmmm? It is difficult to say, but suffice to understand that the plans of Don Wingus to use the Ark of the Covenant in his ideas of world domination are at an end. Kit-10, are there any signs of the energies?”
“Negative, s--,” replied the robot.
“But what about the Ark itself?” enquired Millie.
“It just disintegrated, hmmm?” I pondered. “It was ancient, after all. More than three-thousand years old, and without the divine energies to hold it together, it simply fell to dust.”
“So it really is over then. But why do you still look so concerned, Daniel?”
“I was just thinking, Mills. For the Ark -- the very Ark of the Covenant itself -- to be stolen, and for its divine powers to be used in such a diabolical plot. There is something quite wrong with that, hmmm? The powers of darkness must be on an ascendancy like never before.”
“So we’re going to have a lot of work to do, right?” asked Millie Drake.
“Forsooth,” I agreed as we left the old synagogue building, “the forces of evil are still here and present upon the planet Earth that we are sworn to defend. They must be fought and vanquished, that this world and its people are protected. My love, it appears that retirement for us is not an option!”
***** DANIEL RUMANOS AND MILLIE DRAKE SHALL RETURN
