Not A Hero

Not A Hero

By R. Richard © 2024

Published by R. Richard at Smashwords

Copyright 2024 R. Richard

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Not A Hero

By R. Richard © 2023

Chapter 1: An Assignment

I was just five feet, five inches tall and maybe 140 pounds in weight. When you’re that size, it isn’t easy to get or even keep a job. People don’t seem too comfortable around those who don’t look the same as they do. I have just been laid off from a job where I was doing well and I really need a paycheck coming in, to pay rent, buy food and that sort of thing.

I hit a few employment places and then stop by an office where they have a ‘Help Wanted’ sign posted on the door.

I go in and find out that the Help Wanted place needs a guy who can do some spreadsheets and maybe a bit of light programming work. Despite my small size, I convince them that I can do that and I hop back onto the paycheck train.

The place that hires me is a normal business office type place, but some of the people that I see come and go through the office are fairly weird.

There are a few people of the type where they do palm readings, psychic readings, that sort of thing. Then there are a few large strong looking young men who check in a few times and then are never seen again.

Since I’m not very big and there are people in the city who prey on what they think are the weak, I take advantage of a gym in the back of the place. After work, I put on my workout clothes and use the machines and weights in the gym. I sometimes see one or two of the large strong looking young men working out. Of course, the large strong looking young men totally ignore someone my size.

Fairly soon, I’m very quietly looking for another job, mainly because of the large strong looking young men who check in a few times and then are never seen again. I have this enormous fear of being charged as an accessory to murder.

One day, the woman who’s the Office Manager tells me, The boss needs someone to do a job. The job has to be done right now, it’s an emergency and I can offer you a years pay for a few hours of work.

It sounds like a sucker play to me. I laugh and ask the OM, What kind of legal work earns a year’s pay for a few hours work?

The OM says, You have to go into a place and retrieve a very important object. There could be some danger, but the danger should be minimal at this time.

It still sounds like a sucker play and I ask the OM, Where’s the work to be done?

The OM tells me, You get to the work site through a door in the back of this office area.

Okay, the office where I’m working isn’t in all that bad an area. I have been accosted a few times, while just walking around the city and I can handle the usual punk who figures that I’m easy meat because of my size. None of it seems to add up to a year’s pay, but a year’s pay would certainly improve my financial standing.

I say, There has to be a catch.

The OM says, There’s possibly some danger, but not too much. You also have to talk with the boss.

I have never talked with the boss, but for a year’s pay, I’m at least willing to talk."

At the direction of the OM, I go and dress in my workout gear. I’m then ushered through a set of double doors, into darkness.

The OM says, Just go through the next set of doors and talk to the boss. She then closes the outer double doors.

I’m in darkness and I begin to get the idea that I’m in the wrong place. However, I feel my way to the next set of double doors, open one of them and go through. I can feel carpet under my feet, but the place is totally black, no light at all. I then hear this very deep voice lecture me.

I need someone to go into an area and bring me back an object. The job is very important. Right now, there is minimum danger. The object looks like this. (A picture of a sort of milk white cylinder with rounded ends appears in my mind.) The object is in a ruined building. (A picture of a somewhat decrepit building appears in my mind.) You will exit a portal, go down the side of a ridge, across an open area, cross a stream and then cross an open area to the building where the object is located. You will find the object, place it in a container and bring it back to me. I’ll then pay you a year’s wages and also give you medical treatment that will increase your height by an inch and a half, or so. Now go!

A staff or something is then thrust into my hands, something is looped about my neck and I walk/am propelled into what I think is a very dark hallway. I walk a few steps along the hallway and I find myself in a sort of shallow cave.

I look out of the cave and see a sort of desert landscape, dimly lit by starlight and the pale light of two small moons. Okay, I’m obviously not on Earth and I am in the middle of a sucker play!

I might have turned and run. Even with a year’s wages at stake, I might have turned and run. However, with an inch and a half of height also at stake, I move forward.

Out in the open, I find that I have a spear, a coil of rope and some sort of container looped about my neck.

I’m standing on a steep sided ridge, above the desert. I can see, hear and smell water running down a canyon in the ridge and then looping out across the desert.

I can also see, hear and smell some sort of ursinoid creature below me in the canyon. The ursinoid isn’t at all friendly and its growling makes it very clear to me that it would like a little snack of short guy. My spear doesn’t seem like it would get the job done against an ursinoid creature of any size at all.

I search around the area of the cave mouth and find a place where there’s what appears to be a tree branch sticking out of the rock. The ‘tree branch’ is smooth metal or maybe some sort of ceramic.

I could tie the rope to a hook near the mouth of the cave and let myself down that way. However, the ursinoid would then catch and eat me. My spear has a loop attached to it and I place the loop over my head. What I then do, instead of climbing down, is to tie a loop in the rope, place the loop over the ‘tree branch’ and then I swing back and forth. As I swing, I let myself down the rope a bit until I swing far enough to reach a real tree on the other side of the canyon. I grab a branch of the tree and then pull myself into the tree. I tie the rope to a branch of the tree and then climb down the tree on the far side of the little stream. I’m very watchful for danger and I figure that I can maybe climb up the very steep side of the ridge and avoid the ursinoid that way.

The ursinoid creature wants me, but it halts at the edge of the stream and won’t try to cross it to get at me. I make a mental note of that last.

I then move down the far side of the canyon and onto the flat desert land. I have only my spear to defend myself, but the ursinoid won’t try to cross the stream, even when it would seem that all the creature would have to do is to wade a bit, to get at me. I continue to wonder why the ursinoid is afraid of the stream.

I move along the far side of the stream and across the flat desert land. The land does slope up a bit and after a little while, I can see a low building in the distance. I walk at a fast pace, until I stand before the building.

I find a large, sturdy looking door, that’s locked. I then move around to the far side of the building and find that there’s a pile of stones against the far wall. I climb the pile of stones very carefully and then peer into the nearly roofless interior of the building. I use my spear as a sort of walking stick. I place the butt on the floor of the building and then try to lower myself down the spear shaft. My clever plan doesn’t work very well and I wind up on the floor of the building, with the container smashed and useless, under me.

I search the interior of the building and find a very dusty case. Inside the case is the milk white cylinder with rounded ends that’s the object that’s the purpose of my trip. I’m wearing sweat pants, with no pockets to hold the object. I do have a chest pocket in my workout shirt, but I don’t trust it to hold the cylinder safe. Instead, I place the cylinder down the back of my shirt. I feel a strange sort of sensation, as the cylinder settles.

I then hear the sound of someone/something climbing the outside of the back wall of the building. I go to the front wall and find a cabinet of some sort against the front wall. I climb the cabinet to the top of the front wall. As I get to the top of the front wall, I glance back and see a dark figure lowering itself from the top of the back wall. I kick over the cabinet and jump from the top of the front wall. I hit on a sort of dirt pile against the front wall and slide down to the desert soil.

I run for the bend in the stream, as fast as I think I can cover the entire distance. I over estimate my endurance and I have to slow to a walk for a bit as I round the bend. As I puff and pant, I glance back and see that the dark figure is moving across the flat desert land. The figure is tall, with long legs and covers the ground between us at a fast rate.

I then put on a panic inspired burst of speed and get back to the tree, where I have tied my rope. I climb up the tree, just ahead of the dark figure. I then swing back toward the side of the ridge where my cave entrance is located. I have to swing back and forth and the tall, dark figure nearly catches me, but I climb as I swing, with my spear looped over my head, leaving both hands free for climbing.

As I swing back high enough to land on the far side of the ridge, I see that the tall, dark shape has found a place where it (he?) can get up enough speed to leap the dark stream.

The tall, dark shape can get up enough speed to leap the dark stream, but it doesn’t have enough speed to escape the ursinoid creature. The battle is brief and I no longer have the tall, dark shape pursuing me.

I look out across the desert landscape and see five more tall, dark shapes moving to the stream. They have paused briefly and then one of them tries to swim the stream. The stream apparently contains some sort of creature or creatures that like to eat tall, dark shapes and probably ursinoids as well. The remaining tall, dark shapes seem to lose all interest in trying to cross the stream, as did the ursinoid earlier.

I carefully return to the cave mouth, from which I entered the world in which I find myself. I keep under the top of the ridge, in case the tall, dark shapes can see in the dim light of the two moons. I get back into the cave mouth and enter the darkness. I feel a sort of electric tingle that slows and stops me for a few moments and then eases so that I can walk back into the dark room where I started my journey.

As I get into the dark room, I again hear a deep voice.

The voice says, You obtained the object that I sent you for, but you did not bring it back in the container I gave you.

It’s pitch black in the room, but the owner of the voice can somehow tell that I have the milk white cylinder with rounded ends. The owner of the voice also somehow knows that the object isn’t in the container.

I tell the voice, "I walked a few steps into a dark hallway. I then found myself in a sort of shallow cave. I could see out the mouth of the cave and I saw a desert landscape, lit only by starlight and the dim light of two small moons. I could see, hear and smell water running down a canyon, off to one side. I could also see, hear and smell some sort of ursinoid creature down the ridge that descends from the cave. The ursinoid wasn’t at all friendly. I used the rope to swing from the ridge, across the stream. I was then on the far side of the stream. The ursinoid wouldn’t cross the stream, for whatever reason. I then crossed the desert land to the ruins of a building that I saw from the mouth of the cave. The building door was locked and I had to climb up a pile of rocks in the back. While I was trying to lower myself into the ruined building, I slipped and fell, crushing the container. I managed to locate the object that you sent me for. I had no pocket to put the object in, so I put it inside my shirt. As I slipped the object inside my shirt to carry it, I detected a tall, black shape climbing into the ruins. I got out, over the front wall just as the tall, dark shape entered the ruins. I then ran for the rope that I used to escape the ursinoid. The tall, black shape followed me, moving faster than I could run. I managed to get to the rope and swing back without getting caught, although it was pretty close. I then returned to the mouth of the cave.

The tall, black shape leaped across the stream and then encountered the ursinoid. End of tall, black shape. I then saw five more tall, black shapes moving to the stream. One of them tried to swim across the stream. Something in the stream ate him, really messy. I then knew why the ursinoid wouldn’t cross the stream. I then came back here, via the cave."

The deep voice says, Give me the object.

I then manage to extract the object from my shirt and then feel something take the object from my fingers.

The deep voice says, Good, the object is undamaged. The object is of enormous power. It may have damaged you. Let me check.

It’s as if I black out for a moment. I’m just dimly aware that I have been essentially unconscious and that things have happened to me.

The deep voice says, I have done an in depth examination of you. The object has made some changes to your being. Some of the changes would have been damaging, but I managed to correct things. I am not able to foresee exactly what the effects will be in the future. However, I will monitor things. You will grow in height and also in strength. There will be some pain, but not too much. I will check you about once a week. I will furnish you a diet that you need to follow over the next few weeks.

I venture, There was mention of a year’s pay for the mission.

The voice says, Yes, a check in the sum of one year’s pay will be furnished to you, next payday.

Thank you very much. I will say that I did earn the pay.

The voice says, "Yes, you did well. The ursinoid was a random event. It probably wandered down the stream from the higher mountains. Avoiding the ursinoid was an accomplishment. Also, I have certain rivals. The rivals and I are each searching for certain objects. When one of us finds an object, the others quickly become aware of the existence and the approximate location of the object. The tall, black shapes, that you mentioned, work for one of my rivals. They are very dangerous and you did well to escape from them. I had just discovered the location of the object that you brought back. Normally, it would have taken a little time for my rivals to become aware of the location of the object. Somehow, they learned of the location, much more quickly than usual. The competition of my rivals is one of the dangers of the search for the objects that I must have. You were exposed to a great deal more danger than I intended. As a