We had gone to Ocean City, New Jersey, in response to some strange phenomenon emanating from the area. It was the off season, with few people to be found on the boardwalk; and it was a darkly overcast day there on the beach, perhaps a foreboding of the eldritch horror we were about to experience.
“So is this where the strange energy reading was detected?” enquired my companion, known as Miss Millie Drake.
“Quite so, love,” I replied. “According to our equipment back at headquarters, it is emanating from exactly this section of the Ocean City boardwalk.”
I was clad in my usual finery; including a frilled poet shirt, purple velvet suit, jungle boots, panama hat, and one of my favourite opera capes. I took the transonic mezuzah from the pocket of my jacket and then began to scan the area.
Millie Drake is an exceedingly beautiful young lady; petite and perfect with luxurious chestnut hair, enchanting violet-blue eyes, and sun-kissed skin. The purple dress she wore only served to highlight her slender figure.
“By the Stellar Trinity!” I swore upon reading the resultant display on the transonic before returning it to my pocket. “According to the results of my scan, the energy is coming from a structure here -- under the boardwalk!”
“But what kind of energy is it, Daniel?” queried Millie.
“That is the strangest thing of all, my dear Mills. The energy reading seems to be… Lemurian.”
“Lemurian? Like from the advanced civilisation that existed during Earth’s prehistoric times in the Indian Ocean?”
“The very same. Apparently someone -- or something -- has been utilising the technology of Lemuria right here. We need to find out how and why, and then…”
“Oh my goodness!” Millie suddenly cried. “Look!”
I whirled around to see what had so upset my assistant and beheld an horror indeed. There were several human-sized creatures like bipedal lizards with webbed feet, approaching us quickly across the beach.
“Reptilians!” I said. “Millie, run!”
My young companion and I hurried to escape the approaching Lizard-Men the only direction we could -- to-wards the unknown darkness below the boardwalk! …
My name is Doctor Daniel Rumanos. With the heritage of the legendary Watchers of Algol, whose technology appears as magic, I protect Earth from all manner of menace. I am -- The Daemon-Star! …
We ran on underneath the boardwalk with the Reptilians in pursuit. We found what appeared to be a cave and entered it, continuing down a tunnel. I looked behind us and saw that the creatures were no longer following.
“We seem to have lost them,” said I.
“Were those really Reptilians?” questioned Millie Drake. “I mean of the kind that ruled the Earth ages before human beings existed?”
“Quite so,” I affirmed, “but they have lost their intellect and become seagoing creatures, living in colonies along the coastal areas of the world.”
“So the technology that the emissions are coming from isn’t theirs?”
“No, it could not be. There is still someone else involved in this; someone with superior intelligence and technological ability.”
“I wish Kit-10 were here to help.”
“I too miss the presence of our robotic cat friend. Nevertheless, you know that seawater negatively effects her circuitry.”
I took the transonic from my pocket and programmed some sequences into it.
“There,” I said, “I have alerted our contacts at the Coast Guard, hmmm? They will be interested in the presence of the Reptilians here. Now, let us continue our search!”
I returned the device to my jacket and we proceeded down the darksome stone tunnel. We soon beheld a light shining ahead of us and, when we reached it, found the very thing we had sought. The tunnel debouched into a lofty chamber in which was an huge assortment of bizarre electronic equipment. When we entered, a man clad in a black suit turned to face us.
He was apparently of middle years, his face still showing definite signs of handsome distinction despite carrying the marks of lifetimes of extreme unhallowed evil. 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 absolute hypnotic glare.
Of course, I recognised him immediately; I recognised him as the renegade Algolite criminal who has become both the most wanted terrorist in the Universe and my own most bitter foe. It was Don Wingus!!
“You!” I said. “Don Wingus. I should have known. So you did escape from Silenus the Satyr, and are using revived Lemurian technology to control these Reptilians, hmmm?”
“Oh quite so, Rumanos,” he sneered, “and I am well guarded against your interference, as you can see.”
By now, the Reptilian horde had entered the chamber and surrounded us on guard for the criminal Don Wingus.
“As you know,” said the villain, “the prehistoric Lemurian humanoids developed a system of electronic impulses with the ability to control the Reptilian mind. They only used it to keep pet dinosaurs, but I have now revived the technology and modified it to give me complete control over these Lizard-Men.”
“You are mad, Wingus,” I charged. “You are utterly mad. These creatures are just mindless animals now. To what purpose do you intend to put them?”
“They shall aid me in my conquest of this planet. There are hidden colonies of Reptilians all along the coast if this country. I shall have them all under my control, an entire army of Lizard-Men who shall march across the United States and subjugate it to my domination. Today, America -- tomorrow the world!”
“Wingus, you cannot control the Reptilians to that extent. Their brains are bestial and chaotic.”
“You are wrong, Rumanos. Through the use of the Lemuruian technology I have here assembled in this machinery, I have achieved complete control over the Reptilians -- a control I shall now demonstrate by using them to kill you!”
It was then that the hideous Lizard-Men began to advance to-wards Millie and me, their horrid hissing accompanied by the insane evil laughter of Don Wingus.
“Now, you will die,” he taunted, “and my Reptilians shall rip apart your flesh!”
Do you understand the utter horror of the weird and darkling debacle in which we then found ourselves? Can you even begin to comprehend the sheer ungodly terror, forsooth the utter abject horror and complete unholy fear of this supremely grotesque and absolutely strange situation? There we were, the lovely Miss Millie Drake and me -- Doctor Daniel Rumanos. There we were, facing that horde of hideous prehistoric Reptilians controlled by the evil Algolite criminal and terrorist who is known to eternal infamy as Magister Don Wingus. There we were, as the horrid Lizard-Men continued to approach us, their goal to violently prevent us from stopping the wicked Wingus in his mad goal to invade the United States of America -- and then the entire planet Earth!
“Now, Daniel Rumanos and Miss Drake,” repeated the insane intergalactic felon, “you will die!”
Millie held on to me in fear as the horrible Reptilians approached us, their sickening lizard eyes ablaze with animalistic cruelty.
Then, just before the creatures would have reached us, there was the sound of an explosion as the very cavern shook violently.
“What in the Six Stars is that?!” ejaculated Wingus.
“That,” I returned, “is the United States Coast Guard. They have been alerted to the presence of Reptilians here, and are following the President’s secret military mandate to destroy them immediately!”
Then another blast hit the chamber, rocking it hard. For the moment that Don Wingus was again distracted by this, I retrieved the transonic from my pocket and aimed it to-wards the machinery, activating my device for just a split second before again returning it to my pocket.
Immediately, the Lizard-Men turned away from Millie and me and began to stalk to-wards Don Wingus in stead.
“Daniel,” said Millie, “what did you do?”
“I switched the polarisation of the machinery’s neutronic stream, hmmm?” I explained. “In stead of empowering Wingus to control the Reptilians, it is now causing them to turn on him!”
“No!” bellowed Wingus in sudden horror as the horrendous Lizard-Men closed upon him. “No! I am Don Wingus! I am your master! I… !”
There was another bomb blast to the cave, and the stone ceiling began to fall in.
“Daniel, I think we’d better go!” pleaded Millie Drake.
“Quite so, love,” I agreed, taking her hand. “Come on!”
We turned and ran from the chamber, hearing one final cry of outrage and terror from Don Wingus before it fell in completely. We then hurried down the tunnel and exited to the area of the boardwalk and the beach beyond it -- just as the cave entrance vanished completely from the effects of the successful military bombardment. …
A short time later, Millie Drake and I were enjoying a meal at a local pizza establishment.
“So, Daniel,” said Millie after taking a sip of her soda. “I know the military will search for and deal with the other Reptilian colonies, but do you really think that this time we’ve really seen the last of Don Wingus?”
“We shall see,” I replied whilst helping myself to another slice of excellent cheese pizza. “Even if he somehow managed to escape from the Lizard-Men, the US Coast Guard bombardment completely obliterated that cave system. I know he has survived seemingly impossible situation before, but as I said, we shall see. As for now, let us enjoy our brief respite, hmmm? After all, even alien secret agents know that the best pizza can be found on the Jersey Shore!”
***** DANIEL RUMANOS AND MILLIE DRAKE SHALL RETURN
