Mastermind

Mastermind

“Solve the puzzle.”
The irritating voice echoed through the iron abyss. He looked at his “puzzle”; a tightly clad spin of string into one larger, thicker strand. Yes, it was a rope. A rope went in a loop no larger than a watermelon, tied in a tight knot, supposedly the only knot known to man to be impossible to untie. He was trapped in this cylindrical tower, it had no doors, nor windows; no way out. The iron walls extended to 300 feet, making escape impossible, just like untying the rope. The cramped little tube was illuminated by a red light and had nothing but a small fan behind him – the metallic walls easily converted the prison into an oven. Other than him, there was nothing in the prison but this rope, this knot, this “puzzle.”
         
It had been three days already, his hunger was beginning to make itself known. The intercom sounded again.
“No food until the puzzle is solved.” He knew that.
“You were told at the beginning that you would have exactly three and one half days until you’re failure begun.” He knew this as well.
“Have you wasted these 83 hours and 55 minutes?” No.
“Perhaps this puzzle is unsolvable.” Now he was just being taunted.
“You have 30 seconds until your first victim falls at your feet.” He was aware of this.
“Solve the puzzle.” Working on it.

His eyes never left the knot in the rope. He knew that untying the knot, if it were possible, would require both ends of the rope, and that wasn’t available. Therefore the task of untying the rope was not the puzzle. Every puzzle must be solvable; if a puzzle has no solution, it is not a puzzle at all. However, if the task of untying the rope was not the puzzle, then the puzzle had something to do with the rope. It being the only object in the cylinder, the only other possible reason for it being there was for his escape of this prison without solving the puzzle. The deal was to solve the puzzle. If he did not solve the puzzle, the only escape was death.

Much like the death that had just landed at his feet, the intercom announced it.
“Victim number one. You have four victims remaining. Next victim falls in one minute.”
That was the second penalty. As his time ran out, his “victims” reminded him. Once he ran out of victims he would be killed.

This first victim; a bloodless, emotionless, faceless, and pointless head looked up at him blankly. He pushed it aside with his foot; it had no meaning to the puzzle, nor any purpose for his attention. It rolled across the floor and he returned his stare to the rope.

Perhaps it represented something. Rope, no, the knot; an entanglement, a disruption, a circumstance which prevents progress or change. The rope could resemble life, the knot, a situation, a point in life where there is struggle or difficulty. Possibly losing a job, a relationship failing, a mid-life crisis. Maybe the knot, the disruption, was a person. A family member, relative, or perhaps an enemy that causes trouble, ruins your plans, blocks your progress. In which case the knot would need eradication, it would need destroyed by the logic of reason. It, much like those who had prevented him from reaching his level of knowledge and wisdom, would need removed from the picture. But then, if the knot were to be removed, it would need untied, which was impossible.

Thump. “Victim number two. Third falls in one minute.”

Perhaps he was over-thinking the symbolization of this knot. It could be that the knot was simply there to hold the loop in place. If that be the case, what then did the loop represent? Loop – a constant repeat and replay of a circumstance, an infinite reoccurrence of specific events. The loop could be a time in one’s life of contentment and satisfaction, therefore one would not attempt to change or alter the “loop” in any way. He’d reached this point as well, as he had finished his quest for the ultimate mind, the true meaning of a mastermind. However, if the loop resembled a content and satisfied period of life, what then would need correction?

Thump. “Victim number three. Fourth falls in one minute. Solve the puzzle.”

He longed to destroy the intercom, to block out such nuisances. It reminded him of those who stood in his way throughout his efforts to reach the level of a mastermind. As he had dealt with them, so he would deal with this puzzle.

He examined the “victims.” Faceless, pointless heads lay at his feet. Why? What was their reason for existence? What did they resemble? Consistency – the void of similarity lasting a given period of time. Perhaps they symbolized the ever-constant effort of man to be alike to one another, to be “in with the crowd,” and not to stand out, like he did as the greatest mind.

Thump. “Victim number four. Final victim falls in one minute. Solve the puzzle.”

If one looked deeper, the heads could represent existence itself. They were the fetuses in the womb, each looks as another, until creation has ceased and growth has begun. Or perhaps they were made to resemble honesty. The truth lies beneath the face. These manikin heads had no faces. They were simply there, honest and true to themselves of what they were and why they existed.

The final victim hit the floor. “You have 30 seconds to solve the puzzle.”

He looked at the other heads, and then at the fresh one. It was not like the rest. This one had a face, and hair, it had life. The life it had lost. Then he noticed he felt as though it was a mirror staring back at him. This new head looked just like him. It finally made sense.

“20 seconds.”

The four faceless heads were all the lives he affected, he ruined, in the pursuit of his own life. His head, the final victim, was him. It had lost its life; as he had wasted his on the mastermind. He looked at the rope. It did represent life. It was the lives of others, the existence of the world he’d destroyed in becoming what he was. The knot, the knot was the mastermind. The loop was his continuous effort to reach the mastermind, and his constant belief from one point that he had reached it. He was the knot, he was the mastermind, and he was the final victim.

“10 seconds.”

To save, to correct this existence which he had so viciously and carelessly destroyed, he must eliminate that which he had destroyed it with, in his strive to become. He must eliminate the mastermind. The rope, the loop, the knot; combined to represent the savior of existence, of life, of himself. For the first time in 84 hours, he moved.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The countdown reached zero. A high beeping filled the control room. The operator pushed the button to turn if off. He then spoke into the microphone, “Time’s up,” he switched the elevator to bring up the world’s smartest man, “I’m sorry sir, but you’ve failed to solve the puzzle, and the penalty is –.” The elevator reached the control room, and there he hung, the mastermind, in the noose. The operator smiled, “Congratulations sir, you’ve solved the puzzle.”

End