Delta

Chapter Seventeen: The Spiral

"Flip on your visor!" I yelled to Adrian. He pulled down his visor and after a second of looking around, ran to the middle of the room. He turned around to see if I was following. 

"Go!" I yelled. "I'll come after you!" 

Adrian jumped onto the invisible cube and jumped up, grabbing the first ring. He pulled himself up and grabbed onto the next ring. After he was out of my way, I pulled down my own visor, and once again was faced with the same weird situation. I was looking through the eyes of another person. This time, I directed all of my focus onto my own body. I jumped onto the box and sprang up, grabbing the closest handle. With my free hand, I pushed my visor up and looked up. Adrian had climbed all the way up by this point. The next handle was too far away for me to reach. I looked down. The walls were now less than an arms length away. I braced my feet against the side and straightened up. With the added height, I was able to reach the next handle.

I swung my legs up and braced my feet on the handle below. Just as I was reaching for the next handle, the walls below me crashed together with a final bang. A second later, I felt a jolt, and the wall I was hanging onto started moving towards the one across from it. I frantically jumped up and grabbed the next bar. Since there wasn't much space in between the walls to begin with, the two walls were now close enough that I could brace my feet against either one. 

I straightened up and grabbed the next bar. I climbed as fast as I could. The walls were so close that I could barely grab the handles anymore. Finally, the ledge came into sight. Adrian was waiting for me. I knew that I had to get out or I would be crushed in less than a second. I jumped up and Adrain grabbed my arm, yanking me onto the platform. I crashed into him and we tumbled back.

"Thanks." I breathed, rolling over and pushing myself to my feet. Adrian stood up too.

"That was pretty close." He said, crossing his arms. "Now tell me what happened to you down there." 

I shifted uncomfortably on my feet. "Um, I don't know...It was really weird." 

He stared at me pointedly as if awaiting further explanation.

"When I put on my visor, everything kind of changed. It's hard to explain. I was in the same room, but it was like I was looking through someone else's eyes...You know what, just see for yourself." 

I removed the headset and held it out for Adrian to take. He stared at me for a second, then took off his own headset and handed it to me. We exchanged headsets and he slid mine over his head and pulled the visor down. I watched closely to see his reaction.

"Woah." He said under his breath, holding out his hands and looking at them for a few seconds. He looked up and stared at me for a few seconds, before turning and looking around the room. After a few more seconds, he finally flipped up the visor again and removed the headset.

"That was so...weird." He said, handing the headset back to me and accepting his own. His eyes were wide with fascination at what he had just seen. "That's amazing. The way I'm experiencing things through a different persons perspective. If I focused hard enough on my body, I could control it too."

"Do you have any idea about what it is?" I asked, sliding the headset back on.

"I have no clue." He said, putting his own headset back on. "There's so much to think about. Has this ever happened before with this headset?" 

I shook my head.

Adrian paced around in a slow circle. "It must have been triggered by this room then."

"You have idled in this test chamber for too long." A computerized male voice suddenly announced, causing Adrian to look up from his attempt at contemplation. "Please proceed to the next chamber. Otherwise, certain methods will be employed to encourage you to advance to the next chamber."