The artifact: A shoe
The unlikely hero: some alien lifeform
The riddle: What has a tongue, but doesn't speak?
~~~
B'gigon picked up the tiny bowl with a handle. It had no idea what the tiny bowl with a handle was for. It knew that bowls held liquid, but this one was... well, tiny. Surely, it could hold no decent amount of liquid for drinking. It put it in its pouch anyway and would analyze the artifact later. Right now, the mission was to find this thing called "a shoe" and it needed to pay attention; it was the third to be sent on this mission this week.
B'gigon hopped through the deserted street, looking in windows of the shopping district. It had been told that it would find a shoe here. It was to bring back a matched pair. It had spent weeks studying all the files of information available on them. It had learned to identify several different kinds: tennis shoes, pumps, sandals, boots, loafers... he was hoping to find "high heeled boots" this trip. A pair of them would help round out their collection nicely.
A voice from nowhere startled it and it drew its weapon.
"Come, ask a riddle! Win a prize, if you can stump Marvin the Marvelous!"
The voice was coming from one of the machines! How fortunate to run across one on its mission; they were rare, and he had been told they were very dangerous. Of course, that meant that it couldn't resist; coming back with a prize from the machine would be a feat in and of itself. It had brought "quarters" just in case and slid one into the slot, as the instructions said do.
"Ask a riddle, win a prize!" Marvin quipped.
B'gigon thought for a long time before asking, "What has a tongue, but doesn't speak?" It was particularly proud of its command of the dead language, English.
Marvin the Marvelous was still for several moments before he began to shake. "You have stumped Marvin! Congratulations! Collect your prize!"
Slowly, a hollow cylinder emerged from a hole in the machine. A beam fired from it and B'gigon was vaporized.
"Sir, the alien has been eliminated," Marvin's voice said.
"Good. Carry on."
"Come, ask a riddle! Win a prize, if you can stump Marvin the Marvelous!"
YOU ARE READING
Short Breaks 1-20 - Complete
Short StoryA collection of twenty short stories from various prompts. Table of Contents: 1. List - What happens when a guy finds a "list"... with his name on it? 2. The Editor - Do you like to be "first"? 3. Day at the Office - Something interesting happened o...
