Nowhere To Hide Trivia Quiz

Answer: The Presidian

The Presidian is an intergalactic contest held between the seven worlds with intelligent beings. It is held every 1000 Earth years, and involves one contestant from each world. In 'Contest' this is the seventh Presidian, and only the third in which Earth has taken part.

The contestants are highly trained warriors who have been individually selected by their home planets for their hunting skills. Because the people on Earth are oblivious to the Presidian, the organisers choose the person they think would have the best chance of winning.

Answer: New York State Library

In the interests of fair play each Presidian is held in a different world. This time, on Earth the labyrinth is the NY State Library.

In 'Contest'(1996) the library is one hundred years old and heritage listed, much like the real NY Public Library. Reilly's State Library has three floors (four counting the ground floor) and two sub-levels. The two sublevels house the staff-accessed bookshelves and offices and also share space with two small underground car parks. The library is surrounded by a grassy area with oak trees and a rotunda.

The real NY State Library is located in the Cultural Education building, an 11 storey structure in Albany, NY.

Answer: Selexin

Selexin is a short alien around four feet tall and is dressed all in white. Due to the size of the people on his planet, they are too small to participate in the contest but volunteered to act as guides and witnesses for every Presidian, sending info back to the officials who act as referees.

It is pitch black when Swain first meets Selexin and he has no idea where he is or what's going on. Once the light is switched on he sees Selexin and realises they are at the top of a stairwell. All Swain wants to do is get out and go home, but Selexin explains that no-one can leave until the Presidian is over.

Once admitted to the labyrinth, contestants are unable to leave. The building is electrified, as much to prevent people leaving as to prevent them entering.

Answer: Be the last contestant alive

The Contest is a fight to the death where the winner literally takes it all - meaning his or her life. So you do NOT want to be a loser. The contestants are highly skilled hunters and warriors who are proficient killing machines. All are, except for one. Stephan Swain is a radiologist, not a hunter. He is a doctor trained in saving lives, not taking them. The true role of the guides is revealed- to verify any kills.

The previous Presidian humans were warriors selected for their fighting skills. The first contestant was an army captain from the Roman era, the second a warrior from the medieval era. But neither was good enough and they were both the first to be eliminated. This time the contestant - Swain - was chosen for his adaptive intelligence in times of crisis, a formidable asset to have in the contest.A few weeks prior to the Presidian, a group of five armed gang members stormed Swain's hospital in search of an under-cover policeman. Swain somehow managed to overcome the five, although one was killed.

Of course there is no free ride for the last person standing. They still have to overcome the third element- the Karanadon. The Karanadon stands around 14 feet in height, has the head and ears of a jackal and has impossibly powerful arms. If they choose not to fight the Karanadon, they must find the teleporter before the Karanadon finds them. While the teleporter is in the labyrinth during the Presidian it is initialised or activated only when there is one contestant remaining.

Each contestant must wear a grey metal band which not only identifies them as contestants, but it also keeps track of how many there are. The Contest begins once all seven contestants are in the labyrinth. The band also informs the contestants when the Karanadon wakes up.

Answer: A telephone receiver, a Zippo lighter and his daughter

Contestants are not permitted to bring projectiles like guns, but knives are allowed.

When Swain is transported to the labyrinth he is holding his eight year old daughter Holly while speaking on the phone to his friend. He was also giving his friend a hard time because he had borrowed the jeans Swain was wearing and left a lighter in one of the pockets. Swain later finds out that the lighter doesn't work. The telephone was of the old fashioned land-line, non-cordless variety and the transport beam sliced through the cord, leaving Swain holding the receiver.

It was lucky Swain and Holly were both completely inside the transporter beam or they may have lost a body part.

Answer: Reese

Swain sees something moving at the bottom of the stairs and follows it down to the stack, the large room of bookshelves in the sub-basement. Reese looks like a very long alligator or crocodile at first glance, very dinosaur-like. She has black-green pebbled skin and a four-sided jaw with four rows of teeth. She has no eyes but uses her highly developed sense of smell to track her prey. From her head are two swaying antennae with which she uses to hypnotise her victims into paralysis. She also has a spear like point on the end of her tail which rears up like a scorpion to kill its victim.

When Swain follows Reese he sees that she is threatening a policeman (Hawkins) who was on duty in the library. He calls to Hawkins and Reese is diverted by Swain. She chases them and is about to catch Swain when she realises he is a contestant and stops her pursuit, allowing our hero to escape to the stairwell with the other humans.

Each contestant is prohibited from touching another contestant until the contest begins. They can, however, follow them in what is known as sequencing. This gives them an advantage when the Presidian begins- they are able to catch and kill their opponent quickly.

Answer: Bellos

Bellos is an amorphic Malonian which means he is able to alter his external form. And Malonians are the most lethal huntsmen in the galaxy. Since this Presidian in held on Earth, Bellos changes his appearance to look more human and allow him to manipulate things like door knobs and negotiate stairs. Of course, being human isn't enough, so Bellos is close to seven feet tall and has two curved horns rising out of his head. Bellos has the added pressure of being the Great-grandson of a former Presidian winner which is why he sneaks in his Hoodaya (Hoods).

Hoods are remorseless and vicious hunting animals which resemble skeletal dogs with scaly skin, round heads and wide jaws with needle-like teeth. They live for the kill. Their first victim is Konda.

Answer: Balthazar

Swain (along with Holly, Selexin and Hawkins) runs into a deserted underground car park to stop Reese following them when the final contestant arrives and the Presidian begins. Reese follows them and is about to attack when another contestant walks up the ramp of the car park. This is Balthazar. He is amorphic and has chosen to resemble human form as well. He is also a Crisean and very skilled with knives and has many hanging off his clothes like a medieval Rambo.

Reese senses he is the more dangerous than Swain and attacks him, spilling as much flesh as blood. Despite him being mortally wounded, Reese goes in for the kill. Swain gives Holly to Hawkins and tells them to get into one of the lifts in the corner. He then launches himself at Reese, deflecting the sting, which he manages to break with the aid of Hawkins's maglight. When Reese backs off to straighten her broken stinger, Swain helps Balthazar to the elevators and they escape.

Balthazar's guide rounds on Swain telling him that since Balthazar is injured and cannot even defend himself, he should kill him, as per the rules of the Presidian. Balthazar hands Swain his own large knife, resembling an alien sword, with which to do the job. But Swain refuses and takes Balthazar along with him.

Answer: A bomb on his wrist band will detonate.

The night before the Presidian a thief breaks into the library to steal some computers. He accesses the building through a door that leads from the stack to a subway tunnel via a booster valve room. Since the door cannot be opened from the library side, he props it ajar with a book. Once inside he is startled by the security guard and the Karanadon (which was transported to the labyrinth in advance of the contestants) is woken. It kills the guard and leaves the thief with a complete mental breakdown. Because the door is not closed when the building is electrified, the door is the only safe way in or out of the building.

Unfortunately, once Swain and the hood get through the door, it closes and electrifies, leaving them outside and the others, including Holly, inside. Once his wrist band isn't surrounded by the electrical grid, the detonation countdown begins.

While Swain kills the hood by handcuffing it to the subway line (which is conveniently handy) and having a train run over it, he still needs to find a way inside. Outside the library he sees the National Security Agency in full force, trying to find a way in, so he pretends to be a wino asleep near the building. Using the phone receiver that has been in his pocket all night, he breaks a window and uses the magnet inside the receiver to create a hole in the electrical grid. While only a small gap, it's enough for Swain to wriggle through and re-enter the arena just before the countdown reaches zero.

Answer: It is aborted due to contamination.

During the Presidion three of the hoods are killed, but the remaining hood is threatening Holly when Swain finds her. He initialises the portal window in Selexin's helmet and the white beam cuts the hood in half and transports part of it back to the contest. This alerts the contest organisers to the fact that the Presidian has been compromised and they abort the contest, despite Swain being the last contestant standing. This means that not only is the Karanadon left behind, the teleporter is not activated, leaving Selexin behind on Earth.

However, they find the transporter Bellos had brought as a way of sending his hoodaya back when he is declared the winner and Swain sends Selexin home. With the contest aborted, the building is de-electrified and Swain's wrist band again begins the countdown to detonation.

The Karanadon chases Swain out of the library and in the fight the wristband comes loose and Swain clamps it onto the Karanadon. When the bomb goes off (with Swain and Holly safely out of blast radius) the Karanadon is vaporised, along with the other contestants when their bombs are activated. The entire library is destroyed along with all evidence of the Presidian, and the NSA agents inside.