ESCAPE GAME
SEASON FIVE
Round Two: The Truth Is Out There
FOUR TEAMS REMAINING
27
Carter
Carter pulled off the blindfold. They were in a small concretebunker with a single desk and a locked door with hazard tape around the edges. Above, a light bulb flickered in a protective cage. A digital clock displayed 00:02, the seconds steadily ticking upward.
Adi moved to the opposite door. “Four-letter combination on the lock.”
Carter went to the desk and picked up a notebook, flipping the pages. “This has symbols, maybe an alien language? But I don’t see a key.”
Beck took a closer look under the desk while Sierra paced around the room, examining the walls.
Carter handed the notebook to Adi and inspected the black and yellow stripes on the caution tape.
Beck ducked out from under the desk with a strip of paper. “Found a note. It says:To keep civilians from getting into the bunker, we’ve locked the door. Find the code, get in, stop the attacks. And remember: they may be from outer space, but they’re using our resources.”
“Any letters marked in the note?” asked Sierra, still pacing.
Beck held the strip of paper up to the flickering light. “Doesn’t look like it.”
“Wait. Here,” said Carter, one finger jabbing the hazard tape. “There are markings and—oh, it’s the key for Morse code. Is there any Morse code in the room? That could be the lock combination.”
They continued searching. Beck examined the message on the strip of paper more carefully. The minutes ticked steadily up.
“This is nuts,” said Carter. “It’s only the first part of the room. What was the clue again?”
“The enemy of your enemy is your friend,” said Adi, tugging on the lock. “Our enemy is this damn thing.”
“The clues are always for a big part of the room,” Beck said. “I don’t think it’s for the lock combination.”
He, Adi, and Sierra began to talk at once. Carter squeezed her eyes shut, trying to concentrate. The flickering light bulb was giving her a headache. The eyeglasses were hurting her face.
A four-letter code. She tried to imagine she was sitting crosslegged on top of her duvet cover, her laptop propped on a stack of pillows, watching this episode play out on her screen. She would pause it right here. Consider what they’d found so far. A notebook. A message in strange symbols. A four-letter padlock. A note about civilians and resources. A key for Morse code.
Come on, Solve Specialist. The puzzle pieces are there. You just have to put them together.
“I can’t think,” she muttered, ripping off the glasses and slamming them onto the desk. “Someone should fix that darn light—” Her eyes flew open. “Everyone! Everyone, stop talking!”
The room fell silent. She pointed upward. The light would flutter, then stay on for a second or two, then flutter, flutter, flutter, stay . . .
It only took a few seconds for the others to get it.
Sierra cursed. “How did I not notice that?”
Beck joined Carter at the hazard tape, but Adi raised his hand. “I’ve got Morse code memorized,” he said. “Give me a second.”
Carter followed along with the key in the hazard tape.
Flutter, flick, flick, flutter—the equivalent of a dot, two dashes, and another dot—was the letterP.
Pause.
