The Third Wheel [Group Three]
Posted on 16 Feb 2021 @ 10:03am by Lieutenant Commander Natalia Reyes & The Narrator & Lieutenant Alexandra Dering & Lieutenant Cole Dering M.D., M.S. & Lieutenant JG Aleina Sun
1,363 words; about a 7 minute read
Mission:
The Quagmire
Location: Unknown
Timeline: Unknown
The third group headed to the northern tunnel, leading straight out and ahead. This one was very short, little more than just a passageway that led into a second cavern. This one also had pale "panels", large ones, that partly circled the top of the room. There were four, and after they had been in the room for a few moments, the one all the way to the left light up with words. Not just any words but ones that this small team could read and understand. At least the language, the meaning itself was a bit more...cryptic.
After the first showed up, the second showed a second message. The third panel something else. The fourth, something else. They stayed lit for a minute, then re-lit back up in the same sequence. This time, they remained, but the meaning of that was clear: four items, in an order.
(Second) I am old and I am young, but I am never adult.
(Third) Once in a minute, two in a moment, and yet never in a thousand years.
(Fourth) I am the beginning of eternity, and the end of time.
What are we?
Although they couldn't know it at the time, something was about to happen to them that had already happened to the other teams: the door through which they'd come, through which they could leave, vanished. The room was sealed, and only the demanding question lit up before them remained...
Meanwhile, Cole stared up at the questions feeling interested, albeit very concerned about their purpose. After reading the first one out loud, he raised one eyebrow, glancing over at both ladies beside him. "So I wonder what would happen if we didn't answer these."
Natalia Reyes was frowning deeply, turning in a slow circle to see that they were suddenly trapped in here. "Something tells me that we wouldn't be getting out of here any time soon..."
Lexi frowned as she looked at the words. Eyes narrowed, she grumbled under her breath. "Really? Abduct us, trap us here, and for what? To play Riddles?" She sighed, closing her eyes for a moment. Everything had begun to catch up to her, but she would be damned if she let it overtake and overwhelm her. She took several slow, deep breaths, calming her mind before opening her eyes again and focusing on the words.
'Trapped?' Cole mouthed, eyes wide, and then turned to see that they were indeed 'trapped'.
Lexi looked at Reyes. "Yeah, and it seems that the riddle is the only clue to what happens next." She sighed, looked at Cole then back to Reyes then to the words in front of them. "As I read them, they seem to be different things. Each one seems to describe something different. But the last line, the question, seems to imply that they are all one thing, or that combined they are one thing, tied together somehow." She was thinking aloud as she sometimes did when she was working on a problem. "So maybe we figure out one at a time then combine them? Or... maybe it isn't meant to be interpreted literally but as a metaphor?"
Cole had returned to staring up at the first question. His eyes narrowed. "It's a type of ontological mystery and meant to be interpreted," he said, sounding quite sure of that. "Sort of reminds me of the 21st-century film Fermat's Room, one of the many ontological mystery films of that time...only the room isn't shrinking..." he left that hanging. "Okay," he smiled, "I think I have the first question figured out."
"I'm terrible at riddles," Natalia offered with a small shrug. "What do you think it means?"
Lexi frowned. She didn't know the reference he had made, but as long as the room didn't start shrinking, she didn't really think it mattered all that much just then whether she had seen it or not. Give her anything technical, and she could work out what was wrong with it quite easily, but this? This was maddening! She glanced over at Cole. "Well, don't keep us in suspense, Love," she poked him in a half jesting half serious manner. "What do you think it means?" Maybe that answer would spark something for the rest in her mind.
"Breath," he answered loudly, while looking around them, "The last thing a baby does during birth, taking a last breath before dying."
Lexi smiled at her husband, grinned actually. "That's good! And it makes complete sense." She looked up at the second one. "Young and old but not adult?" She frowned. Maybe he had the right idea; take each one separately, then try to merge them. "Maybe time? Or the universe?"
"Are these going to be four separate things, then? Or somehow tie into one thing?" Natalia asked, still feeling a little lost as she rubbed the back of her neck. "Breath makes sense, though is that really the last of birth or the beginning of life?" She wasn't even sure if she was making sense.
"Who the hell knows," Cole responded, staring up at the question and feeling very disappointed. He felt that obviously, his answer had been wrong as nothing had happened to indicate otherwise. So placing his hands on his hips, he then quickly took in a deep breath, looking over each question again, recalling how they each were first presented one right after another. One thing Natalia had said went through his mind. Lexi had said something similar before.
Shit... "I was wrong and so narrow-minded, Lexi." She had been onto something and he should not have led her in another direction. "I should have listened better. I think you were onto something when you said something about the question implying they are all one thing." He looked over at her, "Let go of your doubts and follow your instincts. Recall how they were presented to us, to begin with; all one right after the other and then all together." Then he watched her as her mind worked.
Lexi frowned, but she wasn't frowning at her husband. She did that when she was thinking. She also thought aloud... a lot. She sometimes wondered if it bothered Cole, but now was not the time for those thoughts. One at a time, then all together. "And the last line, the question, sounds as if they're all tied together as one thing." She made a small hm'ing sound as she began to pace. "I think I've seen that third one before. Once in a minute, two in a moment, but never in a thousand years. The answer then was the letter m. It is only one time in minute, twice in the word moment, but not in the set of words 'a thousand years'. But if that's correct, then we have to assume that the rest are letters too. Hm..."
She paused and looked back at the other three questions again. "Using that logic, the first one would be..." She repeated the riddle again. "H. The last letter of both birth and death is the letter h." She read the second one again. "Old and young but never adult." She paused, processing the letters. "O appears in both old and young but not in adult." And the fourth? "Beginning of eternity and end of time." She grinned suddenly. "E! Holy shit! It's a letter puzzle. The answer would be, if my logic holds, home, the word home." That seemed too easy though, now that she thought about it. What if she was wrong? No, Lexi. Listen to Cole. He said put away your doubts and listen to your instincts. Well, that was where her instincts led her.
The words of the riddle swirl in a circle until they are nearly a blur, a giant Roulette wheel spinning around their heads, until it stops suddenly with the giant, glowing word HOME in front of them. Then the word explodes in light, and there's nothing to be seen for a long moment.
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