A DANIEL RUMANOS MYSTERY
“The Spear of Achilles?” wondered Millie Drake. “Daniel, is that really what was stolen?”
“Quite so, love,” I affirmed. “According to the legends concerning it, at least, the relic stolen from the Hellenic Heritage Museum was indeed believed to be the spear belonging to that ancient Grecian hero of the Trojan War.”
We were at our headquarters, located as it is in a secret chamber within the golden trapezoidal roof of a certain downtown skyscraper, the interior of which contains our electronic equipment along with numerous strange objects that we have obtained in our ongoing career defending Earth from various bizarre threats.
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.
My companion, Millie Drake, is an exceedingly beautiful young lady; petite and perfect with luxurious chestnut hair, enchanting violet eyes, and sun kissed skin. The pink dress she wore only served to highlight the wonders of her slender teenage figure.
Also with us was Kit-10, our mobile personal computer that resembles nothing more or less than a small mechanical cat.
“So Daniel,” continued Millie, “you say this Spear of Achilles is rumoured to have strange powers?”
“Indeed so,” I affirmed. “The Spear of Achilles, said to have been made from ash-wood by his father, Peleus, supposedly became empowered with a type of psyche-mentalist force due to its long use by the hero in battle. Achilles, you see, is said to have had as his mother one of the goddesses of the ancient Greek and Roman pantheon, hmmm?”
“Oh my gosh!” Millie exclaimed. “The Greek ‘gods’ were actually the alien race known as Olympianoids!”
“Quite correct, my dear,” I approved. “The Olympianoids being that immensely powerful group of extraterrestrials -- distantly related to our own Algolite race -- that visited Earth during the Bronze Age. The Spear vanished soon after the end of the Trojan War in the thirteenth century BCE, but this relic that is believed to be it was unearthed by an archaeological expedition in the 1970s.”
“Receiving information, s--,” suddenly interrupted Kit-10 in her simulated but pleasantly feminine voice. “Receiving information concerning a transmission of what appears to be Olympianoid energy emanating from the NY Lofts apartment building.”
(It must be noted here that Kit-10, in addition to her other catlike characteristics, is possessed of the total inability to openly show respect to anyone. In fact, the closest she ever comes to it is by referring to me by a slight “s--” sound -- for “sir” -- and to Millie Drake by “m--” -- for “ma’am”.)
“By the Daemonian Spires!” I swore. “If someone is actually activating the powers of the Spear, this could be one of the most dangerous days the planet has ever faced!”
“We need to get over there and stop them!” announced Millie.
“Indeed we do,” I agreed, fetching my hat and cloak. “Come along, Mills, Kit-10, we are going to find the Spear of Achilles!” …
My name is Doctor Daniel Rumanos. I carry within my blood the heritage of the mysterious Watchers of Algol, whose technology is so sophisticated it appears as magic 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 wonderful Miss Millie Drake, I protect Earth from all manner of menace. I am -- The Daemon-Star!!! …
A short time later on that overcast day, we arrived at the building on which was a sign proclaiming “NY Loft Apartments”.
“Kit-10?” I said. “Can you verify the presence of Olympianoid energy?”
“Scanning now, s--,” replied the mechanical feline. “Affirmative. Systems showing definite energy signals of that type, emanating from an apartment on the fourteenth floor.”
“Daniel,” said Millie Drake, “who could activate something like the Spear of Achilles?”
“Doing that would require quite a bit of mentalist ability,” I replied. “The thief must indeed be an individual of quite advanced psychic skills.”
“Oh my goodness! Do you think it could be… ?”
“Now now, my dear. Let us not speculate until we have more evidence, hmmm?”
“Danger, s--, danger!” suddenly interrupted Kit-10.
Millie and I whirled around to see what the little robot was indicating and beheld an horror indeed. It was an huge mass of blood-red energy descending directly upon us!
“Olympianoid powers!” I said.
Kit-10 fired a shot of her nose laser at the falling energies, but it was to no effect. I then heard Millie Drake scream as the horrid conglomeration of crimson terror continued to approach us.
Then, as suddenly as it had appeared, the red mass vanished.
“By the Triple Star!” I swore. “That was only a warning, a mere preview of the terrors we -- and indeed the entire planet -- will be experiencing if we do not succeed in stopping this madness.”
With this, my companions and I entered the building and proceeded by the elevator lift to the fourteenth floor. Kit-10 then indicated the apartment from which the emissions were coming, and we entered it, the door lock yielding quickly to my escape artist skills.
We then soon faced the obscene criminal duo that had brought this horror about. They were standing behind a table in the very centre of the small, dimly-lit apartment -- a table on which was the ancient Spear of Achilles itself!
One of them was an insanely-voluptuous young brunette with her mouth painted like an inviting scarlet gash. She wore only a flimsy black negligee and spike heels that made her appear several inches taller than she actually was. She smiled seductively when she beheld me.
Next to the girl was a man seemingly of middle years, clad in a black business suit, his face still showing signs of handsome distinction despite being marked with the results of lifetimes of extreme unhallowed evil. His hair was long and dark, and his countenance decorated with a thin moustache and goatee beard. Most of all, his pale eyes shone with an absolute hypnotic glare.
“Greetings, Rumanos and Miss Drake,” he said, his voice tinged with absolute madness. “My little cutie and I have been expecting you.”
Of course, I recognised him immediately. I recognised his as my oldest and most dire foe, the renegade Algolite who has become the most dangerous criminal in all of Time and Space.
It was Don Wingus!!
“You!” I exclaimed. “Don Wingus. I should have known. So you did escape from the Neon Knights, and have reunited with your daughter Stacy here to purloin the Spear of Achilles from the Hellenic Heritage Museum.”
“Oh of course,” replied the villain. “Of course. Why must you be so excruciatingly dramatic, Rumanos? Are you now going to tell us one of your ‘weird adventures‘ stories? You can add half-naked young girls to it in order to titillate the audience.”
“Wingus,” I said, ignoring his taunts, “you are utterly insane. You cannot control the powers of the Spear of Achilles for whatever diabolical plan you have concocted. It is drenched in the horrors of war and this has turned the energies into complete chaos.”
“Oh, but you are wrong, Rumanos,” returned my foe. “You are wrong. I have complete control over the energy of the Spear of Achilles, and I shall use it to take my rightful place as supreme ruler of the world!”
“Daniel!” cried Millie Drake. “Look!”
As if in reply to the screed of Don Wingus, the blood red glow had started around the form of the Spear. It soon began to grow in size and intensity until its pulsating essence threatened to fill the room, accompanied with a noise as of the clashing of armies.
“Do you see, Rumanos?” queried the evil Magister Don Wingus amidst peals of his maniacal laughter. “Do you see? The powers of the Spear of Achilles are mine to wield according to my will! I shall utilise them to establish my empire on this planet; but first, I shall use them to destroy you!!”
With this, the crimson mass of Olympianoid energy suddenly focused itself and, within an instant of time, began to hurtle directly at Millie Drake, Kit-10 and me!
Kit-10 shots several beams of her nose-laser at Wingus, but it was to no avail, he being protected by the Olympianoid energies at his command.
“Now you will die, Rumanos!” pronounced Wingus. “You and your companions will die!!”
I am wondering if it is at all possible, my dear friends and most loyal readers, that you can even begin to understand and comprehend the sheer terror, forsooth the extreme and unmitigated horror of what we were experiencing. There we were; the beautiful Millie Drake, the robotic Kit-10, and me -- Doctor Daniel Rumanos. There we were, facing the villainous Magister Don Wingus and his dangerously seductive daughter Anastasia. There we were, as the awesome Olympianoid energies of the storied Spear of Achilles hurtled to-wards us -- energies that indeed the criminal Don Wingus intended to use in his insane plot to rule the world!!
“You will now die, Rumanos!” repeated the evil one. “You will now die, along with your friends! You will die, and I -- Magister Don Wingus -- will become ruler of the planet Earth!”
The blood red energies had by now reached us. Kit-10 began to spin and malfunction, whilst Millie Drake and I started to fall to our knees under the pummelling of the powers from the Spear of Achilles.
“It is your end, Rumanos!” continued Wingus. “The Olympianoid power is mine, and this is the day of your final end!”
Then an odd thing happened.
“Father, please don’t do this,” suddenly interrupted Anastasia Wingus. “Please don’t kill Doctor Rumanos. I like him! I want you to make him my plaything when you become ruler of the world. Won’t you do that, father? Please don’t kill him. You can kill that silly Miss Drake and whatever that metal cat thing is, but please don’t hurt Doctor Rumanos! Please! I want him! Please don’t do it, father! Please! Please, father! Please!”
“Stacy you dumb demi-monde!” thundered Wingus whilst slapping his daughter hard across the face. “I am so utterly sick and tired of your ridiculous teenage crush on that damnable old Daniel Rumanos!”
“Daniel, look,” whispered Millie Drake to me. “The energy is changing.”
I immediately perceived that this was indeed the case. The pulsating Olympianoid powers were no longer directing themselves against us. There was no more pain, and we could now again stand firmly on our feet.
“Kit-10,” I called. “Blast him!”
At this, the robotic cat fired a shot of her laser directly at the midsection of the already-distracted Don Wingus. It hit him squarely and caused him to stumble and fall back a few paces.
It was then that the powers of the Spear of Achilles turned on Wingus and his daughter. The energies surged to-wards them and surrounded them, swirling and pulsating with the very power of war.
“No!” cried the wicked Don Wingus in sudden realisation of his dilemma. “No! You cannot do this to me! I am Don Wingus, the rightful dictator of all! All things must obey me! No! No! Nooooooooo!!”
Then, with one final scream from Anastasia and a bellow of rage from her evil father, the energies suddenly vanished from the apartment -- taking the villains with them.
I looked around the room. All was quiet.
“Are you all right, Millie?” I enquired concernedly.
“I’m okay,” she assured me.
“What about you, Kit-10?”
“All systems undamaged and functioning normally,” returned the mechanical kitten.
“So, what happened?” Millie Drake queried. “I know the energy turned against Don Wingus when he was distracted, but where have they gone?”
“The energies of the Spear of Achillles have taken Wingus and his daughter out of existence, hmmm?” I explained. “They have gone to a type of underworld, a land of eternal darkness as spoken of in the old mythologies.”
“But what about the Spear? Is the energy it had gone now? I mean, since it was so old and everything.”
“Kit-10?”
“Scanning, s--,” replied the robot. “Systems show no signs of residual Olympianoid energy.”
“Then all is well,” I announced. “The Spear of Achilles can now be safely returned to the Hellenic Heritage Museum, and we can go back to our headquarters -- until our next case!”
***** DANIEL RUMANOS AND MILLIE DRAKE SHALL RETURN
