The lost door. Part 2
The second item in my collection was a ring. It didn’t come to me by chance. I bought it for a lot of money from another Collector. That's what they call themselves, with a capital letter. As it turned out, there’re quite a few people who know about the ship and artifacts. In search of information, I contacted some of them. Most of them prefer to use anonymous accounts and hide their data in every possible way. As I understand it, even the very first patrolmen who entered the ship took out of it the first things with strange features. I was told about glasses, which look completely ordinary, but if you walk around in them for a while, then you can see scenes from the life of a family who used to live on the ship. Like recorded memories, that are abrupt and useless. They also told me about the communicator from the ship. It also looked ordinary, but all calls from it were connected to an unknown addressee that was either crying over the phone or breathing heavily. Sometimes, he was crying for help. The collectors believed that it was the voice of one of the missing persons.
In total, quite a decent number of such artifacts were sold. No one knew the exact amount. Each item had its own characteristics. Most often they were completely useless. But each object was marked with a mysterious sign. Eventually, I couldn’t resist buying this ring from one of the Collectors. The simplest ring, but it was marked with a sign which meant that it could potentially have special properties. But what exactly these properties are is unknown. The ring hasn’t revealed its secret yet, but I wear it on the little finger of my left hand just in case. It doesn’t fit on any other of my fingers.
And now that strange drifter sold me another artifact. The watch. He offered it himself and gave it away at a pretty cheap price. I turned the clock over. On the back cover was the same semi-oval with a dot inside. There was no doubt that it was an artifact from the yacht. I rubbed the ring. It was clearly heating up while the seller was nearby. A curious experiment. Did he come to me himself or did the ring bring him to me?
I thoughtfully pulled out the same very coin from a special pocket. I have a theory — a combination of objects can change their properties. This idea, of course, isn’t mine. I honestly looked it up from the Collectors. They’ve checked it many times. And each time the results were different. Some attempts were successful. One thing connected to another in a certain way changed certain properties, but it was all in the form of rumours. I also experimented a lot with the ring and coin and didn't manage to see any new effects. Actually, the first time the ring showed anything was today. And the only thing the coin warmed up was my beer.
The experiments took at least an hour of my time. But it worked! If you put the coin on the table, and put the watch on top of the coin so that the coin is pressed to the case as much as possible, then the watch doesn’t just start showing random time. The result was exactly the same! I counted five readings that repeated themselves.
Eight minutes past four.
Fifteen minutes past eight.
Sixteen minutes past three.
Twenty three minutes past four.
Forty two minutes to twelve.
Could someone explain to me what this means?
The ring suddenly warmed up, and I raised my head, looking up from my notes and experiments. Now there was another customer at my table. It was a pleasant-looking young man. He was smiling sweetly. But his steely eyes told me that he was a killer.
— Do you mind? — he began politely and continued immediately without waiting for an answer. — I see you have a watch in your hands, would you sell it to me? The thing is that this is my grandfather’s watch. It was stolen from me. As I understand, the thief sold them to you at a cheap price. I’m willing to buy them back for double the price. This watch is dear to me as a memory. — He looked me in the eyes. And I clearly read in them: “you either sell it to me or you’ll die”.
— I’m afraid you’re mistaken. — I smiled without looking away. — This is my old watch, and I’ve had it for many years.
The stranger was a little taken aback by my impudence. He clearly didn’t expect me to resist, so he had to improvise.
— How interesting, they look so similar. Maybe you could sell them to me anyway for a good price?
He was clearly playing for time. And when his hand reached for his pocket, I sharply threw a small table in his direction. I was unarmed. But I think I hit him hard enough on the wrist with the edge of the table. Suddenness and running away, these are my strengths! Yes, I managed to escape, and after five transfers on gravibuses, I even felt a little safe. The man didn’t shoot at me. I think that we will meet again. And he thinks the same way.
But it was not this nuisance that occupied my curious mind. I was still thinking about the numbers and time. What could they mean?