Upward Spiral

Mina Ramirez

What you think you know about the world is wrong. No one likes to think about it, but the facts have never added up—not even once. The reason you’re reading this is because you sense this. You’ve felt it your whole life, like a splinter in your finger. I will do my best to elucidate everything, to show you the truth of this world. I don’t have much time, but I have to start at the beginning.

I grew up like everybody else. Our house was just like everybody else’s, and I went to school and got good friends and grades. Not once did I suspect that the laws of reality were so very different from what I had learned. This is the part of the story where, ironically, the ball starts rolling.

When I graduated high school I applied for the physics degree at our state college. I got in with flying colors. Physics had always fascinated me; I felt like some kind of wizard, able to understand the background noise of the universe, the fundamental rules that governed existence. It made me a social pariah eventually, always with my nose up a book or testing new scientific models.

The day was a late summer day in August, the beginning of my first semester of junior year, when my professor, Dr. Pulser, approached me. “It’ll be great to have you in class again, Sophie. Have you put any thought towards applying for an internship?”

I put my finger to my chin thoughtfully. I was so wrapped up in my experiments I had failed to notice any internships around campus.

“I have just the thing,” said Dr. Pulser, as if sensing my trepidation. He handed me a flyer. “Here, take this. It’s an internship run by my colleague, Dr. Mayes. She has an interest in the practical side of physics, like you.”

As he turned to walk away, I saw something that tempted me, for a moment, to drop of out of school entirely. His face morphed into that of a grinning joker, darkened with a twisted smile. I blinked and he was walking away, the same professor as always. Had I really seen that? Who was Dr. Mayes? What was lying in store for me at the internship?

I went to the internship the next day. I entered a large university building and ascended marble stairs to the internship room, Room 4219. There were three other students there. I sat down with my messenger bag next to one of them.

“My name’s Sophie,” I said. We shook hands.

“I’m Michael Biscuits,” he said. “You’re here for the physics internship, right?” His voice dropped to a murmur. “I hear Dr. Mayes can be really hardcore.”

I scoffed. “I was built for hardcore. I’m ready!”

Just then a beautiful older woman in a white lab coat walked through the door. She smiled warmly at us, though she seemed a bit tired.

“Looks like everyone’s here,” she said, almost singing. “Welcome. I’m Dr. Mayes. I’m sure my reputation as one of the university hardasses precedes me. Please rest assured you will be gently eased into the work we do here.” She looked around the room. Her piercing gaze settled on me; I blushed.

“You’re Sophie, right?” she intoned. “I’ve heard great things about you from Dr. Pulser. Would you like to be our first volunteer?”

I nodded eagerly. We followed Dr. Mayes down a long hallway to a dark gray door that stood in the center of the wall. She unlocked the door via keypad and swung it open, straining against its weight. She pulled a lever and lights came on one by one, revealing a massive laboratory. In the center was a large computer terminal with a chair built in; straps and buckles dangled loosely from the armature, and the whole console was encased in a glass dome. We filed silently around the device.

“This is the MBU 16 Physics Simulation Terminal,” said Dr. Mayes proudly. “I built it myself. It is designed to perfectly simulate physics beyond those of our Euclidean three dimensions. For this internship, we are going to test it, and see just how far human progress can achieve.”

My heart skipped a beat. I felt more nervous than I ever had before, even more than when I had been bitten by dogs as a child. The trepidation crept up my spine like a chill. I took a deep breath. You can do this, I thought to myself.

“Please approach the console,” said Dr. Hayes. I followed her instructions; the glass dome unsealed itself and lifted off the floor. I ducked under the rim and settled into the chair. It was cushioned and warm.

“To avoid any incursions on the simulated world we must hermetically seal the console chamber,” said Dr. Mayes. All of her earlier warmth was gone; the students took frantic notes while I strapped myself into the console, finishing with a large metal dome over my head, cutting off my vision. I could feel power beginning to surge through the machine as the console booted up. Dr. Mayes pressed numerous buttons around me.

“Get ready,” she said. “Commencing test in five, four, three, two—”

The experience that happened next was indescribable. It was like I was suddenly placed into a sensory deprivation chamber. I screamed, panicking, my earlier bravado fading. Then a light emerged, and what I saw next astounded me.

It was like a temple in the clouds. Arcane sigils spiraled overhead; the bright, heavenly world had no sun, only stars all around me. A flat, colorful stone bridge floated in midair, connecting to platforms, ramps, elevators, and spirals. It was breathtaking. Then I realized I wasn’t breathing. I wasn’t looking—or seeing—but I knew what was there in front of me. I tried to look down but couldn’t see my feet, couldn’t move my arms. I tried looking around but couldn’t feel my neck. All I heard was the sound of marble scraping on stone.

I was panicking again. I tried to run but I just moved forward smoothly—like I was rolling. The rolling felt amazing. I would have laughed like a maniac if I had kept my mouth. But then the perfect simulation would have been flawed. No. Better to be this way. Better to be smooth across a flat world in the sky. Better to be a marble.

I solved obstacle courses with ease. I found I could jump, something a marble could never do in our limited universe. Even gravity could be manipulated! No matter the course laid out for me during my time in the console, I always knew exactly what to do. Sometimes I rolled with amazing speed. Other times I collected red gems. Those gems… they were more powerful than any drug.

Every so often I could hear Dr. Mayes’ beautiful voice. It always accompanied a change in my marble-self: “Mega Marble!” she said proudly as I became enormous. I took to the skies as a flying machine, to which Dr. Mayes announced “Gyrocopter!”

But all dreams must end. The console eventually powered down. Dr. Mayes lifted the helmet from my head.

“Thank you for your participation, Sophie,” she said. Her warm smile seemed cold. Where was her marble surface?

I tried to roll and fell down hard, bruising my chin. All the other students laughed at me. This body was wrong. Why couldn’t I roll? Where was my celestial labyrinth, floating like a dream, like a memory? This cruel world tethered to the ground chilled my bones. I understood now; I had to become a marble in real life.

As if sensing my thoughts, Dr. Mayes said “Well, it seems like you’ve become accustomed to the MBU. I understand. You needn’t worry. After all, that was only phase one…”

I felt my body begin to change even before she finished talking. A wave of nausea washed over me as my bones began to soften all at once, unspooling my tendons and ligaments. My muscles pulsed and writhed under my skin, skin that was hardening, polishing itself. I moaned in unimaginable agony as my face stretched across my grotesque new form, becoming more spherical with each passing moment. My vision descended into darkness. Then I awoke with that same clarity as I had in the machine. I saw the students backing away in abject horror. Dr. Mayes looked on with great pleasure. It was done. I was a marble.

In a berserk panic I tried rolling towards the door. Michael Biscuits stood in my way and hesitated. I’ll never forget his screams, cut short as my marble body rolled over him, breaking his spine into bloody pieces. I crashed through the door, a trail of viscera behind me. I rolled down the stairs, bouncing with dangerous force. Dr. Pulser was coming up those same stairs.

“Sophie,” he said, a mad glint in his eyes. “I see you’ve discovered the truth!”

My marble was too fast. I decapitated him on the way down the stairs. My marble couldn’t cry; it could only drag more gore along as it rolled. No—as I rolled.

I managed to escape, even as security guards began to pursue me. That was three nights ago. The transformation wore off just long enough for me to write this all down. The horror of being a marble in real life; the indescribable wonder and terror of the MBU’s heavenly puzzles; the smell of blood I can’t seem to wash off. It all feels like a dream, but it’s real.

The sound of helicopters closes in. I can sense Dr. Mayes nearby. It takes all the effort in my body to remain human—to not become spherical. My strength is waning. My mind may never be my own again. Please, if you read this—remember my story. And don’t ever trust the world you see.