Chapter 7

I, Hamilton Specter, known as "Ham" to my friends and "The Specter" to my enemies, was cleaning up and relaxing from my last assignment when I got a somewhat unexpected call through the AI symbiote riding shotgun inside my head.

Ham, there is an urgent need for your services on an obscure planet known as Urth. The Octopoid is moving in to take over. So far, he has not moved in any of his minions. He is trying to make do with the locals—The Center has no idea why.

OK, I was looking forward to a little R&R, but I'm up to a new assignment if I have to be. Can I go in my normal human body, it has been so long since I last used the shape that I have gotten a little nostalgic for it.

The Center says that we can start off that way. The people of Urth look so much like humans that we won't have any problem blending in. The Center wants to know if we can leave right away. I'll brief you on what little is known about the situation as we travel.

Inter-universe travel was a cinch for the technology owned by The Center, so there was no apparent time lost by the transition to the new universe. It looked like this assignment could be more fun than usual, since the topography of Urth was virtually identical to that of the Earth where I had been born. It's been a long time since I visited my home planet in my home universe, World War Two, to be exact, when it came time to put Adolph Hitler down. The Octopoid had been involved in that one too, but the humans had been enough to make quite a mess on their own.

According to my briefing, Urth was a pretty homogeneous society resting squarely at a middle ages culture level. The governing aristocrats ran a pretty loose feudal society, with a king, barons, yeomen, and peasants. While I am here, I may shake that up a little, but that is not my main assignment.

I have my old body as my outward appearance, but my cyborg constitution can change that as necessary. I am 6'-1" tall, weigh 183 pounds (my internal anti-gravity device can also adjust that as needed), have very dark, almost black hair, and brown eyes. My features are handsome by some standards, but I think that I look pretty ordinary.

Currently, I am dressed in all leather, black and very shinny. My internal temperature compensation keeps me comfortable, no matter what the external temperature may be, so there is never a problem with my clothes or lack thereof. I am armed with a bastard sword (that means it is designed for use in one hand or two), a buckler on my left forearm, and various knives and daggers scattered about my body.

I have my standard flame thrower in my right forefinger and my .44 caliber high velocity bullet thrower in my middle finger. If I point one of my fingers at you, and I am pissed, you have breathed your last! I try to stay with the armament that most of the locals are familiar with, but I am not above using my "magic" in an appropriate situation.

A "horse" had been provided for me by The Center. The horse, too, was actually a cyborg with an AI of its own. I was very happy to have Charley along, since we had worked together, before. Of course, in Charley's case, the AI did all of the thinking, but Charley was allowed to exercise his normal horse sense whenever it was appropriate.

Honeybunch, my AI, had suggested that we head toward Mulgoth, since that town, or maybe I should say "city," seemed to be the current focal point of The Octopoid's plans. The Center's intel had it that The Octopoid had seduced and taken over the city government. The mayor was now an enthusiastic supporter of The Octopoid, and the city council went along, also because it wanted to. It's my guess that all of those characters are due for an early funeral. Graft and corruption were running rampant through Mulgoth, and there was nothing that the citizens could do about it. I guess I would know what to do when I got there.

All of a sudden, seemingly out of nowhere, there came a blast of fire! Honeybunch and Charley's AI put up our heat shield field before any of us could be harmed by the blast, but the surprise was damn near enough to make me dump my bowels. I pulled my sword from its sheath on my baldric and turned toward the source of the flame.

There it was, the spitting image of a dragon from Earth's mythology. Before I could do anything that I would regret, I heard a voice in my head, I am terribly sorry, I mistook you for somebody else. Please, can you find it in your heart to forgive me?

None of us were hurt, and the apology was obviously heart-felt, so I thought, Sure, you just caught me by surprise. Who were you aiming for?

The wall around Mulgoth was truly impressive. It must have been close to 30 feet high and was made of stone, which meant that it had to be at least 10 feet thick at the base, and I was prepared to bet that it was even thicker than that.

I met some city guards at the gate, and they acted like the assholes they looked to be. I swear, my experience in the U.S. Marines was enough to make my stomach roll over when I saw and smelled them. Were I their sergeant, I'd have them washed, at least, before I let them back out in public.

Their surly conduct was in harmony with their appearance, and my patience wore thin very quickly. "Sirrah, you and I both know that you should be more polite to a knight. If you continue with your surly manner, I will be forced to teach you some manners."

"Ha, how do I know that you are a knight. I only have your word for it, and that is not good enough for me."

"OK, that does it!" With one smooth motion, I pulled my sword from its scabbard on my baldric and lopped off the head of the guard. In other circumstances, I would have simply hit him in the ear with the flat of my sword, but I needed to make a point, so I had to take his life. The other guards were so surprised that they did not react, except in surprise. They probably had never seen a sword drawn that fast and were still marveling at the events.

I was holding my sword in one hand and pointing it toward them, since the fools were standing in a close bunch. It takes a lot of strength to hold a bastard sword at arm's length with one hand as rock steady as I was doing. Of course, the cyborg skeleton that I was now built around, courtesy of The Center, was responsible for my strength. Nevertheless, if you did not know of my cyborg capabilities, you would be absolutely impressed.

The guards quailed when I said, "You will stand out of my way. NOW MOVE!" They fell all over themselves moving to one side. I sheathed my sword and haughtily rode past them through the gate. Once inside and out of their sight, I couldn't help smiling at the reputation that I would get throughout Mulgoth.

I rode into the town and started looking for lodging. I really did not need a room to live in, since the weather could not seriously affect me. Nevertheless, life would be a lot more comfortable if I had a bed to sleep in. Likewise, Charley did not need a stable stall, but he would be more comfortable with one; therefore, I wanted to find a place for both of us before dark.