Head Trip

‹ ONE ›

Hello?

Sid Louer looked down at clothes he had never worn before, hard-pressed to remember ever putting on a pair of gray pants, buttondown shirt, and a pair of similarly dull gray shoes that fit snugly.

The floor appeared translucent, like blue and green glass, blending almost seamlessly into walls that stretched down the expansive corridor with no end in sight. Bathed in solid white light, his surroundings appeared uniform. An eerie silence engulfed the space, boosting the sound of his steady breathing.

He looked all around several times. Nothing stirred and the silence remained. He didn't like this eternal hush—a level of quiet that had quickly gotten under his skin. However, the sound of his continued breathing discomforted him the most.

Sid cautiously took a step forward, not convinced the floor was real. He breathed a sigh of relief as his left foot firmly touched the glass-like surface.

He tried his luck again. Hello?

His voice sounded hollow and received only silence in reply.

This place, whatever it was, looked and felt like a dream. It was, hands down, the most surreal surroundings he had ever experienced.

Closing his eyes, he pinched his skin as hard as he could, hoping to wake up. Even after clawing into his wrist, it was as if he had no feeling at all, like he was indeed in a dream.

Sid took courage from the thought, stepped forward with his right foot, and decided it was safe to walk.

Suddenly, not far ahead of him, a noise like an electric drill cutting through wood signaled the rising of what looked like six plain, gray dummy targets attached to tiny pedestals. They looked exactly like targets at a gun range.

Sid froze.

Circles crossed through with an X covered the targets’ midsection. He carefully backed up, keeping both eyes on the targets while struggling to decide his next move. To either side of him, four more targets resembling young boys and girls ascended to eye-level.

More electrical drill noises sounded as the plain targets raised strange guns. The weapons were pointed toward the transparent ceiling and the seemingly endless emptiness beyond.

Sid looked up at the vast space. The mixture of varied blues and greens reminded him of the aurora borealis, like wisps of green and blue staining a clear night sky.

Whirring machinery grabbed Sid's attention again as the targets moved in unison. As one, they lowered their guns in his direction and fired. He looked away against the bright flash of light, cowering to his knees.

Long beams of light vaporized the targets on either side of him. He watched the plain targets through slightly parted hands as they raised their guns back toward the ceiling.

Seizing the chance, he immediately retreated.

Without warning, the targets bent their arms forward again to set their sights on Sid. His eyes spread wide and his breathing turned rapid as he lunged forward in a full sprint away from the swiveling assailants.

The space around him opened wider as he ran. With no cover to hide behind, all he could do was retreat, fearing he would be cut down at any moment.

No beams of death followed him, but he couldn't stop, fearing the targets would open fire any second. He ran even faster, charging ahead in blind terror until out of nowhere his shins cracked against a hard surface before toppling onto his stomach.

Shades of blue turned to black as his head struck the floor. His eyes closed tight as he instinctively rubbed his knees, feeling no pain whatsoever. The lack of any feeling made him question if this was really a dream, but it seemed too real.

Sid slowly rolled over onto his back. He looked toward the brick barrier. It was now half his height and stretched nearly the length of a small car.

Unsure of what to expect, he decided to edge closer for a quick peek. At once, bright beams of light soared over his head as he gasped and pushed himself backwards. The beams trailed off behind him, crackling with electricity.

Clearly, the targets hadn’t forgotten about him.

Rolling over onto his stomach again, Sid felt something jutting from the floor, pressing against him. He reached around with his left hand and pulled out a strange-looking weapon, similar to those used by the targets.

Holding the small handle on the bottom, the bizarre weapon felt light in his hand, with several contoured tubes running the length of the gun. It was like nothing he had ever seen before. The barrel was almost too small for the rest of the weapon. The large middle section looked like a crystal ball—it was clear enough to see a bright revolving white ball contained within.

Whatever the reason for it finding him, he had a sudden, inexplicable urge to test it.

Still lying on his back, Sid held the gun tightly, aimed its barrel toward the ceiling, and squeezed the trigger. The gun barely flinched as it made a soft foom sound, ejecting a single beam of white electrifying light, which shot toward the wide-open ceiling and out of sight.

He felt ready to fight back, assured of the weapon’s capabilities. He rolled onto his stomach and carefully crawled to the brick barrier. With the gun firmly in hand, Sid raised his arm just over the top of the barrier. Taking a deep breath, he rested his arms on top of the barrier for balance. Sid found the targets and fired in quick succession.

His first few shots missed the targets, prompting their return fire, sending beams of death straight at his face. Sid pushed away from the barrier again and rolled over into a different position. The targets shot swiftly, forcing him to aim precisely as soon as he looked over the barrier.

He took aim once more and fired repeatedly, taking care not to remain exposed for too long. His shots missed the targets and soared off into the space beyond.

Knowing the targets’ position before he fired made a big difference in his shooting. Sometimes he had to risk peeking two or three times before firing again. After a while, his shots struck the targets one after another, eventually vaporizing them into nothing.

The eerie silence continued to unnerve him. He waited, anticipating that more targets would pop up and take aim at him if he chose to abandon the safety of the brick wall. His arm nervously swept the area for any movement.

Sid clung to the gun, fearing it would disappear somehow and he would be left helpless. Exhausted, he rubbed his eyes with his free hand.

Without warning, the barrier under his elbows quickly descended into the floor. He stood up and tested the spot where the barrier had been, but there was nothing besides the translucent floor, flawless and unbroken.

A gentle chorus of voices broke the silence.

As hard as Sid tried to understand what they were saying, it sounded like gibberish. Sid looked around, but nothing had changed.

He remained alone.

Even so, the chorus of voices continued, becoming steadily louder. He fired a couple of warning shots, half expecting to hit the culprits behind the voices. His random shots collided with both walls around him and erupted in showers of sparks.

The room visibly rumbled, becoming so violent he lost his balance and fell forward. He rolled over onto his back, threateningly holding the weapon in the air and hoping for the earthquake to be over.

The chorus turned into three distinct voices, speaking one after the other. Their sound emanated from a single spot near Sid, evolving into evenly spaced shadows appearing like ghosts out of thin air.

The rumbling stopped.

Sid rose to his feet and aimed his weapon at the dark specters. He waved the weapon back and forth, hoping the voices would just go away.

The shadows continued to speak loud gibberish, their caved-in mouths moving faster and faster. They stopped speaking all at once, and then exploded into sinister laughter.

Who are you? Sid yelled. His voice was quickly lost under the loud roar of invisible laughter.

Three figures of men formed over the shadows, giving clear faces to the chorus of laughter. They wore the same drab, gray clothing as him.

The trio was identical. Their laughter ceased all at once, leaving the men transfixed on Sid, with unblinking eyes and mouths frozen open.

Confused, Sid repeated, Who are you? What is this?

Their stares were undeniably creepy, making him nervous about their intentions.

At his feet, a wooden post shot out of the floor, nearly smacking him in the face. His surroundings shook like an earthquake and Sid felt himself being lifted upwards.

He nearly lost his balance, holding tightly to the gun as he managed to cling to the thin wooden post atop the rising column. He looked down to see the trio, their mouths wide open and not moving, staring at him as he ascended.

The ceiling colors of green and blue he had only seen from floor level now raced past him, their appearance vivid and surreal. The floor below began to merge with the colors of his surroundings, making it difficult for him to judge how high the column was taking him.

He couldn't see the tiny black dots of the trio anymore.

The column's rumbling lessened as the structure slowly came to a stop. Sid heard more rumbling from below, but it wasn't affecting the column.

He looked down and watched as a massive structure ascended toward him. Whatever it was looked like a blur until it came to a stop, merging with the column.

It looked like some half-baked obstacle course, with winding stairs to his right and several pillars to his left. With the gun firmly in hand, he took a final look around, let go of the wooden post, and cautiously walked onto the structure.

He stopped at a large gap in the floor, braving a look over the edge. A vertical drop awaited any missteps.

Curiosity drove him toward the only passage across the gap and onto the stairs. They held together as Sid made his way toward the top of the structure.

The stairs snaked up and down, with nothing on either side to stop him from falling. Sid walked slowly at first, taking his time on the randomly weaving stairs.

As he continued, he became more confident, walking faster.

Sid briskly moved down more stairs to an opening into the structure. To his right, the top floor looked like some kind of obstacle course. Long walls and nets blocked parts of the floor, with circular holes cut into the floor leading to the level below. Light fixtures recessed into the ceiling illuminated the room.

Sid followed the stairs that led to the next level below. Several walls comprised of both wood and cement made up the room, illuminated by harsh fluorescent lights. Minus the lighting, the room reminded him of paintball arenas he used to compete in a while back.

Another set of descending stairs and a single television set was at the far end of the room.

He felt like a rat walking through an intricate maze, his destination unknown.

Sid took a deep breath, and then took his time walking across the room. The lighting was scattered and uneven, presenting many depressed rectangular holes in the floor. He peered into one of the dark spaces, spotting a single red light with a ladder leading down. There were also tunnels on each side of the tiny space, presumably leading to other holes present in the room.

Sid stopped in front of the old television set. In a flash of static, the picture cleared to show the straight-faced trio staring directly at him. Their faces made him feel uneasy, so he turned away.

A breaking sound jolted his attention back to the screen to see three small, circular platforms bursting out of the translucent floor at the men's feet. Guessing their intended path, Sid held onto the butt of the gun as he ran down the next flight of stairs. Behind him, the television screen imploded with a loud shattering of glass, pushing him forward with haste.

Sid ran through the next floor, relieved to find it free of holes.

There was no telling how fast the three men could move, and he didn't like his chances against them. Halfway through the wide-open room, his feet suddenly slipped out from underneath him. He landed on his stomach, the gun sliding away from him.

Cursing aloud, he tried to roll over, only to slip again. His hand had touched something extremely cold. Upon looking down, he realized the floor had turned to ice.

It was too cold to sit down, so he had to stand. He rubbed his hands together, feeling the first sensation he had felt since finding himself in this place.

With the image of the trio in the forefront of his mind, Sid took each step carefully.

After picking up the gun, the far wall came crashing down. Confused, Sid stopped, taking a moment to process what he had seen. Beyond the hole laid a familiar stretch of blues and greens.

Sid resumed his steady pace forward, only to be halted in his tracks by three rising pedestals just outside the fallen wall. The trio of men in gray attire stood there, recognizable weapons at their side.

With one hand on his own gun, Sid walked slowly backward, barely maintaining his balance as the trio stared. Without any cover, he would make for an easy target.

With alarming grace, the man in the middle of the trio abandoned the pedestal and hopped into the room. Scared, Sid misplaced his footing and fell on his back.

The man walked across the ice as if it wasn't there. Sid scuttled backward like a four-legged crab, all the while pointing his weapon, hoping it would scare the man off.

In a matter of seconds, the man would be upon him.

Sid took aim at his pursuer’s face and squeezed off a shot.

The beam of light shot through him and burned a hole into his left shoulder. Unfazed, the plain-looking man continued walking as the other two leapt from their own pedestals.

Back at the stairs now, Sid stood up and made a dash down to the next level. A beam of light flew past him and burned into the structure.

He ran down two levels and sidestepped into another room, reminiscent of the harshly lit floor he had traversed above. Stumbling over his feet, Sid sprinted to take cover behind one of the wooden walls. Like the rest of the walls present in the room, the barrier was thin.

Catching his breath, Sid heard footsteps descending from behind him. He peered around the side of the wall to see faint shadows creeping along the wall near the staircase. As he watched the stairs, though, Sid saw only two sets of approaching shadows.

The floor shook from something heavy landing behind him. Sid turned back to see the third man walking toward him. Somehow, the man had found a way around the stairs.

Wasting no time, Sid took aim and fired three shots. The first two missed, but the last beam struck the man in the chest and destroyed him in a split second flash of light.

Sid blew a sigh of relief, if only for a moment. His hands felt clammy as he wiped his brow free of sweat.

Emboldened by his temporary triumph, Sid aimed around the side of the wooden wall, only to be greeted with an empty room. There were three other wooden barriers between him and the stairs. The men could be hiding behind any one of them.

Picking one at random, he fired toward its center. The beam blasted through it and collided with the stairwell.

His shot was answered as a beam fired from the wall to his right, just narrowly missing him. Not expecting the gunfire, he snapped back behind the barrier.

Another shot followed. The wood splintered against his back as the beam ripped past, grazing his shoulder. The impact pushed him forward but he felt almost no pain from it. The fleeting sensation from the beam felt like a hot pan had been pressed against his shoulder.

Sid abandoned the wall and ran for another barrier to his left. Several beams flew past as he held the gun out, randomly firing to keep the two at bay.

Another shot skimmed past his arm, but he ignored it and sidestepped behind the wooden barrier. Crouching, Sid looked at his arm, relieved to see no visible damage.

A beam struck the left side of the wooden barrier. It was obvious the walls in this room were doing no good.

Sid looked around, spotting a rectangular hole with a ladder leading down fairly close by. It would be a dangerous run, but better than hiding behind the faulty barriers.

Sid put his arm around the side of the barrier and fired multiple shots in random directions. Pushing off the wooden wall, he sprinted for the hole in the floor, all the while firing behind him.

By running in a zigzagging motion, he was able to dodge the beams flying past. He could feel his heart beating faster and faster, driving him forward.

He nearly stopped as a beam of light burned through the side of his leg, but he knew he had to keep moving. He took a leap of faith over the ladder and into the pit, as another beam caught the top of his head and seared his hair.

The fall into darkness was short. His feet landed on the floor so hard it nearly cracked his ankles, sending him toppling forward onto his knees.

Sid looked around, taking note of the four tunnels on each side. A red glow slightly illuminated the space.

He picked a tunnel at random and silently crawled through it, following evenly spaced red lights. He clutched the gun, unnerved by the silence in and above the tunnel.

Sid crawled past multiple openings, remaining especially wary of the men seeking him out. The deafening quiet made him ever paranoid at each turn.

Entering another opening, he decided to try the ladder. Carefully climbing the metal ladder, he peered just over the hole. The area looked empty.

A shot from behind surprised him with a hint of pain reminiscent of a bee sting.

Sid nearly fell back down, swinging from the ladder with one arm. Another beam struck his elbow, feeling like a hot poker stabbing straight through his skin.

Losing his grip, Sid fell into the hole. The gun clattered somewhere out of sight. He pawed around for it in the dim lighting, but he couldn’t even feel his fingers brushing against the tunnel anymore.

The glow of the red light was enough to see half of his arm was now missing. The lack of any blood made his missing limb all the more surreal.

He wanted to scream, but footsteps above forced him to look around the tiny space for his gun. He spotted it lying in a corner.

From above, one of the men stepped into view, the minimal light revealing only a silhouette. Sid looked at the man, and then back at the gun. Before he could retrieve it, the man fired, disintegrating the weapon in a flash of light.

Sid ran for one of the tunnels. With a scream of shock, Sid fell just short of his escape as he landed on his face.

A shot had removed his leg.

Above, the second man stepped into view, taking aim at his chest. With one leg, Sid crawled toward the tunnel.

Stop! Sid shouted.

The second man fired. Everything went black.

The silence in his ears transformed into something even worse than before. It felt like he had been placed into a dark closet millions of miles underground, far from the world above. He tried to convince himself that he wasn't dead, that he would wake up any moment from the worst dream of his life.

As quickly as the darkness consumed him, it was replaced by the room he had just been in. He was looking at another wooden barrier and felt his stomach turn upon noticing that he was wearing the same gray attire.

He didn't have time to assess the events as a beam burst through the barrier, missing him by a few inches off to his left.

Sid noticed all of his limbs were whole again, which both relieved and frightened him. All of this seemed impossible.

Armed once again, he accepted what had happened and abandoned the wall to find another barrier. Beams flew his way, revealing the duo's positions.

Sid hoped it was just the two men and that more hadn't shown up.

As he ran forward, an opening appeared like magic in the floor. It was a staircase leading down to the level below. Sid didn't second-guess the trick before his eyes and made for the stairs, narrowly dodging more beams.

He ran down the steps as fast as he could without looking back. Upon reaching the bottom, he pointed the weapon up the stairs, but neither of the men was there. The set of stairs faded into nothingness, sealing the seemingly magical hole.

He was in a new room with bright lights covering the entire area. Blue and red tiles made up the floor just ahead.

Sid approached the tiles, wondering if and when the two men on the floor above would find him.

≈

With the push of a button, Hector Harris watched through a monitor as a set of stairs appeared in front of Sid Louer.

With an unnaturally skinny frame, sunken hazel eyes, and random black streaks in his wild white hair, his appearance was off-putting for most. However, his superior intelligence—recognized since he was very young—more than compensated for his looks.

As Hector expected, Sid followed the steps down to another level he had extensively planned out, though it had been time probably wasted.

This particular room hadn’t needed to be anything more than a simple obstacle course, but a kind of childlike enthusiasm had overtaken him during the development stages, and he had outdone himself.

The room was noticeably smaller than the others, and included everything a deadly obstacle course should have. Automated sentry guns, trip wires, claymore mines, trap doors, and many more interesting features made up the room.

Watching Sid through the high-definition monitor above the console, Hector pressed another button to ready the sentry guns. Sid seemed to be taking his time, standing still next to the tiled floor.

Hector was previously a chief engineer and simulations expert for Blackguard, a private weapons development contractor.

Blackguard worked mainly for the military, developing advanced weaponry and machinery of all sorts. Blackguard also dabbled in the development of enhancement drugs, improving anything from advanced hearing to maintaining focus in battle situations.

In Hector's eyes, Sid had made a decent test subject so far, but his performance had been a little underwhelming. Hector had expected him to run through these tests quickly and efficiently.

The teenager’s history matched what Hector had been looking for. According to his file, Sid was a bit of a rebel in social situations and had some experience with hunting and using firearms. Even though the virtual weapon had been created in one day, it had performed better than expected during the firefights.

The only issue was the unimaginative and brief death sequence.

The desired goal was to put on an interesting show, so the impacts and death sequences needed to be grislier and more realistic.

This current endeavor had been Hector's dream since acquiring his degree in engineering. Devoting all of his time to the simulations gave him much more freedom and less interference from others who did not share the same ideals or passions as him.

His younger colleague, Ben Linman, sat in front of the wall-to-wall console. He was busy readying several grislier, bloodier death sequences for use in the simulations. With unkempt dark brown hair and brown eyes, Ben's appearance was a bit more normal.

Ben was a specialist and low-level engineer previously employed by Blackguard, his most notable achievement being a developer for virtual enhancements like increased concentration within simulations.

Most recently, Blackguard began delving into virtual reality with the hopes of creating an authentic, true-to-life experience that simulated real-world battles, thereby serving as a substitute for traditional military training.

While Hector enjoyed developing mostly everything inside the simulation, Ben dealt with everything else in the real world, taking advantage of his toxicology degree. Whether it was designing a drug for memory loss or increased adrenaline, he was the man to do it.

In the virtual world they had created, participants could fight, run, fall, punch, kick, kill, and do whatever he or she desired without being injured or becoming tired. Soon, clients could be anywhere in the world with the ability to watch, via a highly encrypted server—at a price, of course.

Hector had decided to pull the last two virtual enemies from the simulation. One new enemy would be placed into the simulation with the new death sequence inputted for the final test of the day.

Ben glanced at Hector, busily working at the console, pressing more buttons to manipulate the room and everything around it.

≈

Standing close to the tiled floor, Sid debated over which one to choose, fearing the worst.

He stepped first onto a blue tile, then another, and then another. Stepping onto the third blue tile, an explosion erupted from underneath and engulfed him in a split-second torrent of flames.

The sound of the blast rocked his eardrums as he felt himself being lifted off the ground. A vile smell of burnt flesh invaded his nose.

Sid saw the suffocating darkness again, but it was short, and then he found himself looking at the floor of blue and red tiles again.

His vision couldn't keep up with all the changes, and he immediately fell to his knees to throw up on the floor. His eyes stung from the rapid transition. His ears had stopped ringing from the sudden explosion, but he could still faintly hear it.

He rubbed his eyes, only to see his regurgitated breakfast melt and vanish into the floor.

That's disgusting.

Fear gripped him as he wondered what all of this really was. Was it another dream or something else entirely? Maybe the answer would present itself if he kept going.

In his first attempt, he had automatically assumed the red tiles were bad. Now, he didn't know what to think. He could run across the tiles so fast that he might pass over the random exploding tiles and survive.

His eyes finally returned to normal after another furious rub with his hands. Looking at the floor, Sid noticed some of the tiles had turned purple.

Standing again, he decided to hop from random tile to random tile. As he stepped on a fourth blue tile, a red gun barrel pushed itself out of the wall opposite him with that same electric drill sound.

Sid sidestepped to a purple tile as the barrel followed his movements and shot a familiar beam at him. He stumbled backwards, landing on a red tile. As quick as lightning, a block in the ceiling slammed down on top of him, leaving him as flat as a pancake.

He felt like his head was rapidly being crunched into his legs, and a slight feeling of pain again transformed into black.

Then the light returned.

Sid stood looking at the same floor once again. He checked the wall behind him, but the staircase and opening in the ceiling hadn’t rematerialized. The only way to go was forward.

Damn it.

Surveying the tiles, he wasn’t sure what strategy to take now. There seemed to be dozens of deaths just waiting for him, no matter which tiles he chose.

A television set mirroring the one he had seen before rose from within the floor just beyond the tiles.

Sid formulated a different plan. He doubted that it would work, but even if it didn't, it was obvious that he would be given the chance to try again.

He shot into three of the tiles. None of them exploded, no gun barrels pushed out of