A Mile in His Shoes
After what was maybe a few hours he is awoken by a smell, a very unfamiliar smell. A damp, old, musky smell. "The hell is that?" He asked aloud with his eyes still closed. Turning his face up he grunted, rolled over on his stomach and buried his head in his pillow. "Blech." He retched as the smell got stronger. Kicking the covers off he got out of bed, marched towards his door, grabbing the knob, turning and opening. The sight he was greeted with made him wonder if he was still sleeping, he blinked and rubbed his eyes just to make sure.
Before him was a long, dimly lit hallway, nothing at all like the apartment he shared with his mother. This hallway had torches every ten feet or so, and it was made completely of stone, and the foul smell seemed to grow with each step he took. He could hear conversation in a language he didn't recognize.
Looking down he could see that he was no longer in his preferred sleeping attire; his boxers. Now dressed in light leather rogue armor that looked like it had seen a few battles and leather boots that muffled his steps. It seemed to fit perfectly even though he had no recollection of purchasing, or even being fitted for it.
He crept ever closer to the voices, and the closer he got the more aware he was of the weapons he was carrying. Two blades, sheathed on either side of his hip, that were no longer than his forearm and curved slightly backwards. Also, the recurve bow slung around his back and the quiver of arrows accompanying it.
Reaching the junction in the hallway he pressed his head against the wall and peaked around the corner. "Goblins!" He cursed quietly, chastising himself for not being aware of their language sooner.
The strangeness of the situation didn't seem to faze him, he saw goblins and knew they were likely guarding gold, or some treasure. He'd be damned if five little goblins were going to stop him from pilfering their haul. Taking them all out at once would be a problem though, and doing it quietly would be even more difficult, impossible even as there were no places to hide.
Pulling two arrows from the quiver, he nocked one and held the other with his draw hand, taking a deep breath he turned the corner with his bow drawn and let the first arrow fly, before it was midway to it's target he had the next arrow nocked and sent it. Tossing the bow in the air in front of him he grabbed his blades and flung them towards the heads of the smallest of the two goblins, catching the bow he nocked the final arrow, sending it down the hallway to the last goblin standing in front of the door.
Each shot struck their mark with perfect accuracy, the final arrow even piercing the goblins head and sticking it to the door it was guarding. What Jason had not planned for was the clattering of the goblins weapons as they hit the floor, he grimaced and held still, awaiting the arrival of reinforcements. Cautiously he approached the door, collecting his blades and returning them to their sheaths after cleaning the blood from them. Just as his hand reached out to open the door, he heard another being smashed open from down the hallway. "Shit!" He cursed.
Lumbering down the hallway towards Jason was an orc the size of a mountain, followed by ten or so goblins. The orc looked as stunned to see Jason as Jason did to see the orc. Hefting his mighty but rusty sword, it clanged and scraped the walls as he swung it around in anger.
Seeing his chance, Jason ran towards the orc at full speed, flinging his bow towards it's face as he got close.
The orc tried to bring his sword down over his head, to cut the bow in half, but its sheer size meant that it scraped the wall behind him and ceiling above him before crashing into the ground showering sparks from the impact. More importantly missing the bow and being hit in the face by it.
Jason knew this would cause no damage, he meant it only as a distraction. He had closed the distance to the orc and by the time his sword hit the ground he was already in front of him; he leapt off the wall to his left and over the orc's shoulder, deftly severing the straps of his armor as he slid down his back. Behind the still bewildered orc he sliced the back of his knees, bringing him down to size.
Sensing his impending doom the orc flailed about trying to find the human causing him so much pain. His left elbow swung back with force hoping to land on the head of his attacker.
Jason saw the elbow coming, nearly in slow motion, ducking under it he leaned forward and brought his blade up under the chin of the orc and into its skull.
The giant orc went limp as all the life drained from his body, it collapsed forward and hit the ground with a loud thud.
Jason looked at the goblins who just stood by and watched, then he laughed as they all dropped their weapons and fled, knocking each other over to be the first one to escape. Picking up his bow, he returned it to his back and made his way towards the door and through it. His eyes widened at the sight, piles of gold coins just laying around, chests filled with untold treasure. "I'll have to make several trips." He mused.
Before he could begin to collect the bounty he heard a faint voice call his name, at least he thought it was his name. It sounded so far away, he had to close his eyes and concentrate to try and make sense of it. The dungeon was surely empty, and there was no other source of noise. The voice was ethereal in nature, seemingly not of this world, but somehow familiar to him.
Amid the shining piles of gold laying around there was one thing that caught his attention; the silver door knob opposite the door he came in, a doorknob very much out of place in this dank dungeon. It glinted every few seconds, calling him towards it, begging him to pass through it's threshold. Abandoning the bounty surrounding him he reached out, grasping the knob, twisting it.
The door flung open with a gail of ice cold wind bursting through it, crashing against Jason causing him to recoil, putting his hand up in front of his face to protect it from the biting wind.
Once it had died down a bit, he looked around; gone was the musky dungeon he was in minutes ago. He now stood atop the peak of a mountain with a view of unfamiliar snow capped mountains in the distance. Bitter cold, but fresh air and the sun on his face, he took his first steps, the packed snow crunching underneath his foot. Now dressed perfectly for the task ahead, whatever that may be, he adjusted the backpack and marched forward.
Hours had gone by and he made it little more than a mile from his starting position, the sun was beginning to set and the wind was picking up. "Better set up camp soon." He thought to himself, oddly, as he had never camped a day in his life and knew nothing of it. Finding a decently flat area after about another half hour he began erecting his small one person tent. Once done he climbed into his sleeping bag, eating a meal bar before drifting off to sleep.
It must have been quite early in the morning, as the sun was just barely above the horizon, when he heard that voice calling for him. Even amidst the howling wind shaking his tent he could hear it, not making out what it was saying, but certainly a voice calling to him. Clear he was getting no more sleep he packed up camp, and just as he was securing the tent to his pack a glint of light far in the distance caught his eye. This bewildered him as nearly everything surrounding him was white snow with occasional grey rock peaking out.
Trudging through the sometimes knee deep snow he continued on, stumbling and falling, backtracking, resting, setting up camp, night after night. Only able to travel about a mile and a half each day, icy ledges to traverse, impassable areas that looked manageable from a distance. Gross, calorie dense bars, for dinner and lunch, cold hard ground to sleep on, and that glinting light. "THAT GLINTING, FUCKING, LIGHT!" He shouted out in frustration, his breath quickly stolen by the icy wind invading his lungs.
Jason set up his tent for the night, he had lost count how many nights it had been, ten, fifteen maybe. Eating half of the meal bar and rationing the rest for the next day as he was beginning to run low and he seemed to be making less and less progress each day. He lay in his sleeping bag, the wind not blowing nearly as hard as it has been in days past, the glinting light seemed to lull him to sleep.
As with each morning, that voice woke him, something that he now looked forward to as it was the only conversation he had. Even if he couldn't understand what was being said. "I'm up. I'm up." He replied seeing the first glint of the day as he rolled up his sleeping bag and stuffed it into his pack. He took a deep breath and exited to a surprisingly beautiful day, the wind only gently harassed him as he broke down the tent. Glancing around he made a mental map for the route he would take today.
The wind wasn't the only thing that was in his favor, the sun was now at his back, and his path was relatively clear of any danger. The snow, even, was not as deep as when he started, making each step easier and faster. By mid day he had already traveled two miles, and by the time the sun was setting he had made it another two more. Setting up camp in good spirits he crawled into his sleeping bag to see one last glint before he closed his eyes. "Soon." He whispered just before he started snoring.
Today, he woke before the voice spoke to him, and he was already on his way before he heard it. "I'm already up." He announced with a smile. "There." He pointed to a cave where the glinting light was coming from. "Tomorrow. I'll be there tomorrow." With determination he marched forward all day, not even stopping to rest or eat, only when the sun began to set.
Waking the next day, again before the voice. "I'm almost there." He said. "Noon." Nodding his head as he ate the last half of his meal bar.
Several hours later he stood outside the cave, it was larger than it looked from a distance and even with the sun high in the sky he couldn't see inside it. In the dungeon he opened a door, but this was just a dark cave, who knows what awaits him inside. He felt nudged forward and looking behind him he saw nothing, shrugging he walked through the entrance of the cave.
There was nothingness, not even sound, no echo, no light, no nothing. In fact he wasn't even sure he was walking, his brain was sending the message to his legs, but couldn't be sure.
Then, in the blink of an eye, all of the darkness that surrounded him was dotted with pinpricks of light. Some were shining bright and twinkling brilliantly, others were just a faint glow.
Jason stared blankly at the vastness of it, making him feel small and insignificant, but bestowing a sense of calm within him.
That sense of calm was quickly washed away with the sounds of alarms blaring and a flashing red light in the cockpit of his spaceship. He slapped at buttons on the holographic display trying to get the noise to stop. "ted-E! What's going on?!" He shouted to his droid and partner.
"Magnus was able to follow us!" He replied in a semi robotic tone.
"Shit!" He cursed.
"I told you not to take it from him." The robotic tone was replaced with sarcastic chastising.
Jason spun around to look at him. "Do you know how much Crash will pay me for that?" He pointed towards the rear of the ship with his thumb.
"But will you be alive long enough to spend the creds?" Now he was just being sarcastic.
Jason rolled his eyes and shook his head. "I'm taking us out of the hyper-lane."
"That's a bad idea." He switched back to his robotic voice.
With one wave of his hand the speed of his spacecraft drastically reduced and a giant lush planet dominated the view out of the window. "Wow." He remarked.
"That's..." Before he could finish his sentence ted-E was cut off by an incoming communication from Magnus. An imposing figure on a vid-screen, even more so in person; the deep red skinned humanoid alien stands at nearly ten feet and more muscular than seems possible. His deep voice commands any room he's in, with a legendary temper that is not to be tested.
"That was unwise, boy." His calm tone denoted his anger.
"Magnus, I'm sure I have no idea what you're talking about." A feigned smile as he tried to plot a course.
Aboard his capital ship, and standing at the helm, Magnus clenched his jaw in frustration.
"Sir." One of Magnus's men meekly interrupts and points at his screen with a nod.
Magnus returns his nod.
"Bossman, we're being targeted with a..." Cut off again, this time by a precision pulse designed to disable the crafts engines.
Unfazed, Jason kicked his feet up on the console of his ship while ted-E gets to work getting the engines back online. "Magnus, buddy. Why all the hostilities?"
"Return what you stole, boy." His lips barely moved in an attempt to stifle his growing anger.
Jason contemplates it for a second, then shakes his head no.
"I will blast you out of the sky." Magnus was quite reserved for how angry he actually was.
"And then your precious little box will be destroyed along with me." Jason replied cutely.
Magnus snorted angrily through his large nose. "Jettison the cargo. And you can go."
"Now who would ever believe the ruthless Magnus would just let them go after having stolen from him?" Jason replied matter-of-factly.
Fed up with the games Magnus brings down a fist on his console, shattering it. "LAND ON THE PLANET! I'll send an unarmed transport. We'll leave. You can go."
Jason looks at ted-E and receives a nod. "I have a better idea." Tapping a glowing button on his console. "I'm just gonna get out of here, you take care now big fella." He flashes him a grin dripping with sarcasm.
"There's nowhere you can go that I can't follow!" Magnus said, his anger boiling over.
"Sir, we detected a fold device powering up!"
Magnus looks to the screen of his engineering officer. "That's impossible. His craft's too small. Not enough power." He answered confidently then looking back at the vidscreen. "Last chance."
"Bye bud." He waved at the screen then instantly he was on the other side of the galaxy roaring with laughter imagining Magnus screaming in anger.
"Have you had your fun? Shall I plot a course for Crash's hideout?" ted-E asked.
Just as he was about to answer something caught his eye, a glint of light off in the distance. "Did you see that?" Pointing.
"See what?"
"That glint of light."
"We're in space, every star is a glint of light." ted-E replied in a deadpan manner.
"No, no. This was different. THERE! THERE! DID YOU SEE IT!?" He brought up his galaxy map. "Plot a course to there!"
"That's the Nephrem cluster. There's nothing there but wrecked starships."
"Just go!"
"Very well, plotting a course to the Nephrem cluster. Site of the Nephrem battle, the deadliest battle in the galaxy."
"I could do with a little less sarcasm." Jason said as he walked out of the cockpit.
ted-E mimicked the robot dance. "Beep beep, boop boop, beep beep beep."
Squinting narrowly. "I hate you." Jason said as he passed him.
"The hyper lane can only get us so close, it'll take about a day after we drop out." ted-E yelled at Jason's back.
As soon as they dropped out of the hyper lane Jason spent all his time in the cockpit, just staring at the glinting light, dozing off at times. When ted-E wasn't making a racket in the galley doing god knows what, he swore he could hear a voice calling him.
"Scans of the asteroid show no activity." ted-E said in a glib tone.
"Land. I'm gonna get suited up." Jason said as he bound out of the cockpit.
"Could be a trap." ted-E mused, very much to himself as Jason was already in the cargo bay.
Jason took his first step out onto the reddish, rocky asteroid. "Odd."
"What's odd?" ted-E asked from the safety of the cockpit.
"There's gravity."
"It's a large asteroid, of course there's gravity."
"No, there's lots of gravity. Planet like gravity." He jumped up and down testing it out then continued on the fifty or so meters to the glinting light that he had been watching for more than a day. Approaching it, he kneeled down to a small square patch where the light emanated from. Brushing the dirt and rocks from it he was blinded by the brightest flash of light.
The brilliant flash gave way to an equal amount of darkness, no longer was he standing on an asteroid, but in a dark corner in the confines of a building. Gripping his suppressed Ruger.22 pistol, he took a look around the corner to see two guards sporting MP5's.
"Agent J, we have control of their surveillance. You're free to engage." A sultry sounding woman from his earpiece said.
"Copy that." He whispered, then emerged from his dark corner and raised his gun, firing two shots before either guard even saw him. After they collapsed to the floor he approached them, taking the security card off of one then adjusting his tie and brushing some dust from the sleeve of his suit.
Before he had a chance to progress any further his earpiece chirped again.
"Agent J, clean sweep protocol has been enacted. No one leaves."
"Understood." He replied stoically, then moved into the next room. Which contained banks of computer servers, in the distance he could hear someone typing away on a keyboard. Quietly he made his way around towards the person's back, eavesdropping on his conversation.
"Sir, I don't understand, you said this program was going to help mankind, but it seems tailored to have several exploitable backdoors." The tired looking man held the receiver to his head and nodded hearing the response from his employer. "Yes sir, it's just..." He nodded again. "Yes sir." Then hung up the phone with a sigh; A stress ball rolling past his desk caught his attention. "Diaz is that you?" He called out, as he was sure he was the only one working this late. He got up from his chair and looked to where the ball rolled from.
Sneaking up behind him with his pistol drawn, he pulled the trigger and watched the poor programmer drop to the floor. He sighed as well, a heavy sigh, knowing that the man didn't know the true evil he was working for, nor did he deserve to come to an end like this. Sitting down at his terminal he inserted a USB drive and copied the program over.
"CUT!" Shouts the director. "Aw Jason, baby, that was beautiful! All in one take! AMAZING!"
Months after shooting had wrapped, and Jason had done countless interviews promoting the movie, it's premiere finally came around. He walked the red carpet in a similar suit that his character wore in the movie, waving to the fans and answering some softball questions along the way. Camera flashes popped off one by one, blindingly so, but one far off in the distance seemed to catch his attention. He couldn't dwell too long on it as he was ushered further down to do more press and put on a fake smile for all the cameras.
The movie was a huge success, colossally so, in fact talks of a sequel are already happening. Jason couldn't care less though, the life of fortune and fame didn't really suit him, he was much happier alone in his penthouse that overlooked hollywood. Much like many mornings he sat out on his balcony and sipped his coffee until early in the afternoon. His calm was disturbed by his phone ringing.
"Jason, Baby!" His agent said. "Eight hundred million! Eight. Hundred. Million!" He laughed at the number. "I bet we'll get to a billion by the end of the summer!"
"Yea, pretty exciting." Jason replied in an unexcited tone.
"Pretty exciting?! This is beyond pretty exciting, you've got the potential for a franchise. They already want you to sign on for the sequel. Whaddya' say?"
"Sure." He shrugged.r"
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