"Oof," I wheeze as my poor back smashes against the brick wall behind me. While I'm busy trying to blink back the stars clouding my vision, a cold sliver of metal gently skates across my neck. A knife. Moving Monolith has a knife.

               "Listen here, chip boy," Moving Monolith speaks in a deep, gruff voice. He's a man. Really not that surprising. "This is how it's going to work. I'll ask a question, you'll answer. If you don't, this little scratch," he presses the knife harder against my neck, "will get a little deeper. Understood?"

               Normally, (not that I do this very often), I'd be nodding my head more frantically than a fish out of water. But since I'm a teeny bit concerned about bumping into that knife again, I settle for a croaky, "perfectly."

               "Good." I try to get a good look at his face while he talks. To give the police the most detailed report I can to ensure this guy does get whisked off to dank little cell. Unfortunately the guy's wearing a large black hoodie that's covering most of his face. At any rate, I can let the cops know he sure knows how to rock the creepy aura. "What's your name?"

               "Um . . ." Should I give him my real one or a fake? Why didn't I ever watch more of those police shows? He takes a step closer. "Phillip. Phillip Johnson." I splutter out so fast I'll be surprised if he's understood it.

                He relaxes the pressure of the knife on my neck. Slightly. "When will you take the sun? Arth's sun?"

               I blink at him. One of the few things I do recall from those police shows is how when the hero is facing the angry wrath of the villain during an interrogation, they always deny everything. There's got to be reason why they do that. Now, I don't know if you've ever been in a sticky situation like the one I'm currently facing, but if you have, then you'll understand how hard it is to say anything but the truth. Especially when your interrogator's as scary looking as mine. "I don't know."

               "You . . . don't know?" He asks slowly as if trying to work out whether or not he heard me correctly. Uh-oh. Wrong answer.

               "I'm telling the truth, I swear! I never even knew Arth existed till yesterday! Or how Bill plans to steal one of your suns, which I also found out yesterday!" I hate to say it, but my voice has gone up a couple of notches on the squeaky-O-metre. I'm panicking and he knows it.

               He takes yet another step closer to me. If he's meant to be intimidating, it's working. I cower back as far as the cold wall will let me. I could say something. Like further emphasising how I'm just a newbie to the stealing-sun-scheme or begging for mercy. The only reason why I am putting my self control skills to practice and holding back, is because I don't want to come off as annoying which would further decrease my chances of survival.

               Another ridiculously long minute filled with the sound of my nervous gulps pass before he speaks, "alright." Alright?! That's it? Whoopee! I might just  see tomorrow after all. "I'm about to give you something, Johnson. Keep it on you at all times and don't tell anyone. About any of this. Trust me, I'll know if you do. Not even a different universe can keep you safe. You can trust me on that too." Something warm and hard slips it's way into one of my clenched fists. Then he slaps his hand on my back as if we're best of buds, "Have a good day."

                I stare at his retreating figure dumbly. Well then. Slowly, I lift a hand to swipe the small dribble of blood off my neck. I press my other hand against my beating heart and slouch against the wall. Talk about traumatic experiences. I wait until my oxygen levels have returned to normal before looking at the object the creepy guy gave me.

               It's a silver disc. A warm disc. A warm oval disc about the size of my thumb. Two small tendrils of a dark grey colour branch off an edge of one side. They kind of look a bit like wonky vines. I'm not entirely sure what to do with it. Common sense says to do as he says. Undeveloped movie-watching-logic says to get it analysed or something before my pocket becomes the place it calls 'home'.

               Eventually I do pop it into my pocket, reassuring my inner-self I'll examine it more closely at home. I then swoop down to collect the dropped chip bowl and head towards the cafeteria.

               "What took you so long?" Bradley asks when I get back.

               I pause. A believable lie. I need a believable lie. I'm not sure if Moving Monolith was being serious when he said he'd know if I didn't abide by his rules, but considering how I never was one for the dare-devil side of life, I don't plan to risk it. "There was a big queue up."

               "Right." He says it in the type of voice where you can tell they don't really  believe you and they're silently asking you for more information on the topic. But I don't elaborate and he's forced to drop it. "Well, we'd better get going. As always, it was nice catching up with you Bill."

               "Yeah, it was nice meeting you." I lean across the table and firmly shake his hand.

               "Right back atcha." Bill grins.

               Bradley yabbers away the whole trip back to the portal. I think he's talking about some specials a clothing shop Arth has, but I couldn't be sure. I'm not really listening. I've got my hands shoved inside my pockets so I can fiddle with the object Moving Monolith (I'm dubbing it as his new official nickname), gave to me.

               We make it to a metre in front of the portal when Bradley stops me. "Hey, you okay? You look a little pale. A bit faint."

               "Huh?" I touch a hand to my face. "I am? Well, some people get car sick, I must just get universe-hopping sick."

               Bradley looks at me strangely. "Yeah, must be it. Weekend tomorrow. I'll give you those two days as recovery. Think things through. But come Monday morning, we have work to do."

               "Yes Sir. Looking forward to it." And maybe if this was yesterday, I honestly would be excited for it. However, after Moving Monolith's grand speech, I'm not so sure I am.

               Not so sure I'm sure about any of this.