The Watch – Part 166:

Door three. The third and final door. I’m dreading what the questions will be since this set will be the hardest of the three doors. I know now that he doesn’t know I can communicate with the watch from within my own head, so I can use that to my advantage and figure out any question he so wishes to throw at me. Of course, I have to make it appear that I’m figuring them out. It would look suspicious if I immediately said the answer upon viewing the questions, and I only just got away with my excuse. Even though that was a solid explanation, it won’t be so effective if I kept to it for the next set of questions.

‘This door’s question will involve trivia questions. And difficult ones at that,’ he chuckled. Great, they could literally be about anything, and I’m not very good at trivia based questions in my own world, let alone in a parallel world where the answers could be something entirely different. This might not go well. And if I’m right in thinking, I’ve only got two more chances left before he hurts my friends, which means I’ve got to be on point with each and every question. I may need the help of Interface with this one; I refuse to get any wrong.

           

What is the name of the dog on the HMV record label?

How should I know? I didn’t even know the dog had a name to begin with, let alone what the name actually is. I can see why this is the hardest door of them all. Anyone can figure out the odd one out and the riddles, but when it comes to trivia questions…

There will always be a question hidden within a quiz that will stump someone. How many times have I heard someone say pass on a TV quiz show because they simply do not know the answer? Too many to count.

I’m extremely thankful that he doesn’t know that I can interact with Interface from within my head; I would be well and truly stuck if I couldn’t. Before, I resented the fact that a voice other than my own was inside my head, but now I cannot be more thankful for that.

‘Interface,’ I called.

‘Yes, Sebastian,’ he said.

‘I need your help with answering this question. Can you search the internet or whatever to find the answer?’ I asked.

‘I can,’ he said simply. ‘Searching now, Sebastian.’

‘Awesome.’

In the meantime, I can contemplate what would actually be a good name for a dog that accompanies the logo for a music shop. It must be something that represents music in some way. Something that is catchy and rolls off the tongue and is easy to remember once you’ve heard it.

‘Nipper,’ Interface said, unexpectedly.

‘Thank you,’ I said.

‘You are welcome.’ If he was beside me, he would have nodded.

‘Nipper,’ I said aloud.

‘You’re correct,’ he said. The question vanished before another one took its place.

In a deck of playing cards, what is the only king without a moustache?

I didn’t even know that any of the kings within a deck of cards had moustaches. I mean, I’ve seen many packs of cards, but why would I even notice that the kings had moustaches, let alone one without. I just played cards.

‘Same again, please,’ I called to Interface.’

‘Certainly, Sebastian.’

I wonder what must be going through his mind right now, the person behind the microphone, that is. He believed in my excuse, which is something, but when he accepted it, there was a small hint of disbelief in his voice, or it might have been because I was expecting him to completely refuse it that I imagined him having a small percentage of disbelief.

‘The King of Hearts,’ Interface said.

‘Thank you.’

‘You are welcome.’

‘The King of Hearts,’ I said aloud.

‘You’re annoyingly good a trivia questions,’ he said. ‘But I must warn you, no one has ever gotten all of them correct.’ I can quite believe that. The odds of someone getting them all are slim to none, but isn’t impossible. I can be that person and use that excuse. Surely he can accept that.

What is the world’s longest venomous snake?

Oh, I know this one.

‘Ki–’ wait a minute. I know the answer in my world, but how can I be sure that it is the same answer. For all I know, it could be a species of snake that I’ve never heard of before. I have to make sure that I don’t get this one wrong.

‘Interface, you know what to do,’ I said.

‘Of course,’ he said.

I wonder what the next challenge will be. It could literally be anything. It will obviously be something different to answering questions… Maybe. How far in the opposite direction from questions will the next challenge be?

‘King Cobra,’ Interface said. I knew it.

‘Thanks again.’

‘You are welcome.’

‘King Cobra,’ I said aloud.

He didn’t say anything. I was getting on his nerves.

What do the letters on the sweet, M&M’s stand for?

Yep, that would certainly stump any professional quizzer. I thought they were just called M&M’s because, well, because they were called M&M’s. If I weren’t in this particular situation, I would have considered this to be a really interesting question, but considering that I am in this situation, I just want to get the answer and move on.

‘Interface,’ I called, ‘can you do the honours?’ I asked.

‘I can,’ he said.

‘Thank you.’

Ever since I came to this place, I’ve been playing the pronoun game. I have no idea who that person behind the microphone is except that he is a ‘he’, and being from a parallel world, he could literally be anyone, including someone I know from my world. That would be somewhat interesting to know and extremely disturbing at the same time. It was bad enough when my enemy of that robot world was called Sebastian. I’m so glad he didn’t look like me; that would have been on a new level of disturbing. Oh, heck, what if the person on the other end of the microphone is… No, I can’t let my mind focus too much on that possibility. I really don’t think I could handle the surprise if that ever was true.

‘Mars & Murrie’s,’ Interface said.

‘Thank you.’

I said the answer aloud and the question disappeared to indicate that I had gotten it right.

‘You have one more question to go before you have completed the first challenge,’ he said.

‘And I’m guessing that you are going to question how I was able to get all the questions correct without at least one stumble,’ I stated. He didn’t answer. That was all I needed to know.

How many gallons of fresh water can one gallon of used motor oil ruin?

That sounds like a maths question. I suck at maths. I can times by 2, divide by 2, and add and subtract easily enough, but when it comes to anything other than the basic of maths, then I haven’t got a clue.

‘You know what to do,’ I said to Interface.

‘Certainly, Sebastian,’ Interface said.

The sooner I’m out of here, the better. It’s only because I’ve been thinking intensely that I’ve successfully distracted myself from worrying about my two friends. Of course I haven’t completely rid myself of the worry as that would be impossible, especially for someone like me. The first thing I’m going to do when I reunite with Amy and Tom is apologise for letting them get caught up in all of this mess.

‘One million,’ Interface said.

‘Thank you once again,’ I said. ‘One million.’

‘And this is the part where you can explain to me how you were able to successfully answer each and every question correctly without a single slipup,’ he said angrily.

I explained to him what I had thought of earlier about even though the odds of answering every question correctly first time are slim to none, there is always that possibility that someone will do that, and it so happens to be me.

He didn’t say anything, making me think whether or not I had convinced him. The door slid open.

TO BE CONTINUED…

Thanks for reading

Antony Hudson

(TonyHadNouns)