The Watch – Part 165:

‘This door will present you with five riddles. Remember, you only get three chances,’ he said still not elaborating on whether or not it is three for each door or across the board. I geared myself up for the first riddle. If they are as bad as the first question, then I need to be very careful with my thinking. The screen went blank before the first riddle flashed up on screen, which read:

I have keys, but not locks.

I have a space but no room.

You can enter, but can’t go outside.

What am I?

I replayed the question over and over again in my head, but making sure that I didn’t make the words become meaningless. What have keys, but no locks? I have a space but no room. I can enter, but I can’t go outside. What is it?

What have keys, but no locks? Obviously you can make a set of keys which don’t fit any kind of lock, but that’s not what the riddle is hinting at.

I have a space but no room. This sort of ties in with the third line: I can enter, but can’t go outside. So I can enter some space but cannot leave. No, I don’t think that’s right.

I’m getting this strange sensation as if I should automatically know this one. It’s strange to describe. It’s as if the answer is so obvious, it’s extremely hard to figure out. Staring me in the face. Hidden in plain sight.

Let’s break it down further. I have keys. What has keys? Something’s telling me that it has to be some kind of equipment that has keys you press instead of the keys you open doors with. Keys you press… That… actually makes sense. Keys I press doesn’t have any locks. Keys I press that has a space but no room. Keys that I press to enter but can’t let me go outside.

It’s a keyboard.

‘Keyboard,’ I said aloud.

‘Correct,’ he said over the speakers. I could sense he doesn’t like me very much.

What comes once in a minute, twice in a moment, but never in a thousand years?

‘What comes once in a minute, twice in a moment, but never in a thousand years?’ I said aloud to better my understanding of the question. Once in a minute. Twice in a moment. How long’s a minute? Sixty seconds. How long’s a moment? Much shorter than a minute. So I have to figure out what comes twice in a period of time that is much shorter than a minute, of which that thing comes in only once. Makes sense.

Have I heard this one before? I don’t recall hearing or reading this anywhere. Are all of these riddles going to have answers that are either staring me in the face or I’ve already heard before? That would be nice, but I’ve gotten a bit side-tracked.

Minute = sixty seconds. Moment =…

Minute. Moment. Minute. Moment. Why am I only focusing on only those two? I’ve still got to figure out what that thing that comes in both those… I’m getting confused.

Whatever the answer is, it comes twice in a moment, once in a minute, but never in a thousand years. That furthering the maddening of the unhelpfulness.

Minute. Moment. Thousand years.

Minute. Moment. Thousand years.

Hang on… Minute = M-I-N-U-T-E. Moment = M-O-M-E-N-T. Thousand years = no M.

I smiled as the answer popped into my head.

‘The letter M,’ I said proudly.

‘Correct,’ he said even angrier.

We hurt without moving.

We poison without touching.

We bear the truth and the lies.

We are not to be judged by our size.

What are we?

What hurts without moving? A lot of things if you run into them.

What poisons without touching? Anything in the air. Spores.

We bear the truth and the lies. We are not to be judged by our size? I like that part. Kind of poetic.

What hurts without moving, poisons without touching, bears the truth and the lies, and not to be judged by its size.

Oh, of course.

‘Words,’ I said.

‘You’re starting to get on my nerves.’

You know that moment when your brain suddenly works it out and you have no idea what made it do that or the train of thought you were on. Yeah, that happened to me just then. It’s strange when that happens, isn’t it?

Smell me, buy me, and deliver me.

I won’t change.

Now we’re talking. This is the level of difficulty that I was expecting from these riddles.

Smell me, buy me and deliver me. Three very different occasions, but the answer is the same.

So I can smell it. So this thing has some kind of scent.

I can also buy it. What can I buy that has a scent and I can also deliver it?

A scented candle has a strong scent. That’s the whole point of a scented candle. I can buy a scented candle and I can also deliver it. Somehow, I don’t think a scented candle is the answer.

An incense stick is also something that has a scent and I can also buy and deliver. No, I don’t think it’s an incense stick either.

What else can you smell, buy and deliver? I don’t think it’s anything that is particularly smelly. Going by that logic, cheese is a strong candidate, but now we’re just clutching at straws.

So it’s not anything smelly, but I can still buy it and deliver it.

What can I buy? Everything.

What can I deliver? Everything.

That doesn’t narrow down my answer at all.

So I’m looking for something that isn’t smelly, but I can still smell, buy and deliver.

That last part is confusing me: It won’t change. That obviously means it is the same thing, but…

Surely if I can smell it, it has some kind of scent. A flower maybe. A flower sounds plausible. It won’t change. Well, if I buy it before it sprouts, then it will change by the time I’ve sent it to someone else.

A plastic flower? No, that won’t smell of anything.

Smell me. So it has some kind of scent… Maybe. Buy me. So it’s something that I can… cent. Deliver me… Sent.

I don’t believe it. I actually am struggling to contemplate how I was able to say the answer to this riddle over and over again and not pick up on it.

Scent. Cent. Sent.

‘Scent. Cent. And sent.’ I said. How am I getting these right without getting at least one wrong? How? I am completely stunned as to how well I’m doing. How long will I be able to go before I do get one wrong? No, I can’t get cocky; that’s the easiest way to lose.

‘And your final riddle is,’ he said not pleased at all. He was expecting me to struggle. He obviously needs to set much harder riddles, then.

I can’t get cocky. Come on. Pull yourself together.

If I have ten ice cubes and you have eleven apples.

How many pancakes will fit on the roof?

I couldn’t believe my eyes. I had to read the question again to make sure that I had read it wrong. What are the odds? Of all the questions he could have asked. Of all the incredibly difficult, impossible questions he could have asked, it had to be this one.

My disbelief was vented from my body through laughter.

‘What’s so funny?’ he asked. His disbelief at my laughing made me laugh even harder.

‘Tell me why you are laughing or so help me your friends…

‘Alright, alright,’ I said quickly pulling myself together.

‘The answer is purple, because aliens don’t wear hats,’ I said.

‘Sorry, that’s not the right answer.’ He said sounding so happy. It was his turn to start laughing. My reaction from his perspective must have been priceless. If that’s not the answer, then what the heck is it? Do I actually have to work out how many pancakes will fit on the roof?

How big are the ice cubes? How do apples help me work out the parameters of the roof? How big are the pancakes? I can’t… I don’t understand… I… I thought I had gotten the answer.

‘You have two more chances,’ he said. I could tell he was practically bouncing up and down at finally catching me out.

What am I going to do? There’s absolutely no way I’m ever going to figure that out. It’s impossible. If only I had the use of my watch right now. I can’t use it to help me figure out this question, for he would then hurt Amy and Tom. I have to think of another way…

Of course. I can’t use the watch, but he meant physically. He might not know that I can communicate with the watch inside my head. One thing led to another and I was caught up in all of this that I just didn’t think to interact with the watch from inside my head. I guess I still have to get used to the fact that I can do that?

‘Interface,’ I called in my head.

‘Yes, Sebastian,’ he said.

‘Is it possible for you to find out the answer to this question?’ I asked.

‘What is the question?’ he asked.

I reread the question inside my head to Interface who quickly went about finding out the answer. A couple of minutes passed with no sign of an answer. I wasn’t thinking about the answer to the riddle. Instead, I was trying to make it look as if I was thinking about it by rubbing my chin with my forefinger and thumb in an act of concentration, and because I wasn’t thinking about the question, an idea popped up. Why don’t I just activate the necessary powers from inside my head and then bust my way out of here, rescue Amy and Tom and then go home? The trouble I have with that scenario is I don’t know their glass boxes that they are in are kept. For all I know, they could be miles away. And the second problem is I don’t know what he has in place to make sure that I don’t use my watch. He could do anything to hurt my friends. I cannot take that risk. Despite how simple the solution is, I will not take it since I will not let my friends be hurt. If I make my way through this puzzle system, the better it will be for them.

‘Seventeen,’ Interface said suddenly. I really wanted to ask him how he worked it out, but I didn’t want to stay here any longer than I had to.

‘Seventeen,’ I said aloud.

‘What did you say?’ he said, surprised.

‘Seventeen,’ I said casually. I knew that was the answer by his reaction.

‘What did you do to get that answer?’

‘Worked it out,’ I said simply. He doesn’t know that I can talk to Interface from within my own head. I can use that to my advantage.

‘Oh, but you must have done something to get that answer. Your reaction to when you found out you had the wrong answer was genuine, even you know that, so you must have done something in clear breach of the rules. You will tell me what you did or your friends will suffer the consequences.’

‘Can’t you just accept that I just worked it out?’

‘I would if you didn’t say such a crazy answer beforehand. I mean, purple, because aliens don’t wear hats. That doesn’t make any sense. I nearly chocked on my own oxygen when you said that. That’s why I can’t accept that you just figured out the answer. Now tell me or you I will hurt your friends.’

I did not see this coming. What do I do? Tell him that I used the watch or not? If I tell him that I did use the watch, then he will hurt my friends anyway. I can’t win either way.

‘Tell me. You have three seconds. Three. Two.’

‘Alright, alright. I’ll tell you,’ I said.

‘Good,’ he said.

I told him how I worked it out.

TO BE CONTINUED…

Thanks for reading

Antony Hudson

(TonyHadNouns)