Man-Droid

[Blimble]

HALF HUMAN... ALL KILLER

 

Sergeant Ace is the veteran of many blood wars fought on alien planets, but after being mortally wounded in combat the only way to save his life is to cybernetically reconstruct his body, turning him into more machine than man - a Man-Droid!

 

Discharged from his Squad Ace returns to his home world struggling to deal with his new existence. When his family are subject to a vicious attack his bitterness turns to anger, and he takes to the streets to dispense brutal vigilante justice. Bur there's room for only one Law in the Universe.

 

The very 1st account of Cybernetic enhancement ever attempted in the Galaxy is now available to all readers.

 

Coming Soon

[Blimble]

Chapter One

 

ONE WAY TICKET

 

There were ten passengers in the little pressurized cabin of the electric bus that shuttled between the rocket field and Marsport. Tenmen, the driver--and Ace Lincoln.

 

He sat apart from the others, as he had kept to himself on the ten-daytrip between the planets core and surface with the yellow stub of his ticket still stuck defiantly in the band of his hat, proclaiming that he had paid his passage without his permission being asked. His big, lean body was slumped slightly in the seat. There was no expression on his face.

 

He listened to the driver explaining to a couple of firsters that they were actually on what appeared to be one of the mysterious canals when viewed from space. Every book gave the fact that the canals were either an illusion or something which could not be detected on the surface of the planet.

 

He glanced back toward the rocket that still pointed skyward back on the field, and then forward toward the city, sprawling out in amess of slums beyond the edges of the dome that had been built to holdair over the central part. And at last he stirred and reached for the yellow stub.

 

He grimaced at the ONE WAY stamped on it, then tore it into bits and let the pieces scatter over the floor. He counted them as they fell; thirty pieces, one for each year of his life. Little ones for the two years he'd wasted as a fighter. Shreds for the four years as a kid in the ring before that--he'd never made the top. Bigger bits for two years also wasted in trying his hand at professional gambling; and the six final pieces that spelled his rise from a special reporter helping out with a republic shake-up coverage, through a regular leg-man turning uprackets, and on up like a meteor until.... He'd made his big scoop, allright. He'd dug up enough about the scandals to double circulation.

 

And the government had explained what a fool he'd been for printing half of a story that was never supposed to be printed until all could be revealed. They'd given Ace his final assignment.

 

He shrugged. He'd bought a suit of airtight coveralls and a helmet at the field; he had some credits, and a set of reader cards in his pocket. The supply house, planetside, had assured him that this pattern had neverbeen exported before. With them and the knife he'd selected, he might get by.

 

The Solar Security office had given him the knife practice, to make sure he could use it, just as they'd made sure he hadn't taken anything extra with him beyond the regulation amount.

 

"You're a traitor, and we'd like nothing better than seeing your guts spilled, " the Security man had told him. "That paper you swiped was marked top secret. But we don't get many men with your background, tinhorn, fighter--who have brains enough for our work. So you're bound for the City, rather than the mines. If... "

 

It was a big _if_, and a vague one. They needed men who could act as links in their information bureau, and be ready to work on their side when the expected trouble came. They wanted men who could serve them loyally, even without orders. If he did them enough service, they might let him back to his family. If he caused trouble enough, they couldstill ship him indeffinately.

 

"And suppose nothing happens?" he asked.