Infinity Cube

Elizabeth

I don't remember when I had fallen asleep but I must have been out for a while. I could tell it was already past sundown thanks to the window in the corner of the room. I tried my best not to groan as I slowly pulled myself into sitting upright; I failed. Letting out a long held breath, I closed my heavy eyes just for a moment to give myself some time to recoup.

Fuck.

My eyes shot open as I pulled out my phone only to see a heart-dropping number of unread messages and missed calls. God, I wanted to cry. It was my anniversary with Winston, we'd planned on going out for dinner at seven and then to a small local concert at eight-thirty. Now it was just past eleven PM...

I just stared at my phone in silent shock and horror as tears began streaming down my face, ruining the makeup I'd put on earlier for the date after cleaning up the lab. Though considering how long I was out it had probably already been smudged while I'd slept. As if it really mattered now. I wanted to punch something so bad, to scream, curl into a ball, snap my phone in half. It hurt so much knowing just how much I fucked up... Winston.. God, I was pretty sure he was going to propose.

Before I could pull myself together enough to finally bite the bullet and call Winston back, the door to the lounge room burst open. "Elizabeth! You've gotta see this!" Ryan yelled like he'd won the lottery. The energetic young man skidded to a halt when he saw the mess of a woman before him, but his pause was momentary. "Elizabeth look! It's incredible! After you left there was a freaky power out-"

"What?" Elizabeth said looking at him like he was insane but she also didn't seem fully there... Still dazed and confused from the anguish she'd felt only after just waking up. It was difficult to remember anything like this, but she definitely didn't remember leaving... No, instead she had walked into the lounge room for a short nap after putting on her makeup and getting ready for dinner... Right?

“Oh yeah I totally forgot, or maybe you forgot?.. Or maybe just don't remember? Probably something like that, minor details. It’s all because of this!” Ryan exclaimed, stepping deeper into the room. The boy was neither particularly bright nor notably mature; Elizabeth chewed his ear off on a constant basis, only keeping him around because she was for any modicum of assistance in finishing her magnum opus: The small cube in his hand- Or it was in his hand; the moment he dropped his palm the cube remained in it's position in space. The object denied gravity, the air in the room, conservation of momentum, the strong , the weak , the electromagnetic .

It defied the laws of the universe.
It broke them.
It re-wrote them.

“What the hell?! That’s not…” Elizabeth began, having momentarily forgotten about missing her anniversary. She was a particle physicist and engineer; she knew something was not right. There had to be some kind of explanation, some trick to the impossible phenomenon before her. “Tell me what’s going on… It's not supposed to be able to do that Ryan!” She yelled a little louder than she’d intended, scaring both of them.

"I um.." He began sheepishly. "Oh right! I've been doing some tests all day, um let me show you." He said awkwardly bypassing her question for a supposed demonstration. He wasn't smart enough to truly know how anything he'd done today was possible, he was only volunteering in the lab because his Father, the Dean of the university needed to dump him somewhere all day and with everyone being so busy he ended up as the only person able to assist Elizabeth on her PhD project.

The cube suddenly began to transform, the smooth panels and intricate notches silently whirred while expanding outwards, connected to the round core of the device by black strings of some unknown substance or maybe energy. The entire scene looked like it was straight out of some kind of anime that Ryan would blabber about while Elizabeth worked.

Elizabeth's eyes widened in shock as she watched the cube shift impossibly before her eyes. This almost didn't seem like the same device she'd been working on at all. Though through it all, the one thing that scared her most at the moment was the look in Ryan's eyes as he smirked at her. He was enjoying himself, and he wasn't at all phased by the cube's actions, not even when a thin white light suddenly outlined her body, reminding her of something she'd seen from one of Winston's videogames... Fuck she forgot about Winston!

"Your name is Alice." Ryan said with a giddy confidence which made Elizabeth's stomach turn.

"What? Ryan, my name is Elizabeth..." I countered, baffled but.. I felt weird; as if the words coming out of my mouth felt wrong somehow.

"Your name is Alice."

"N-no my name... is.. A-..Elizabeth..?"

"Your name is Alice." He continued repeating.

"My name is... Alice? No that's not right.. please stop.." I pleaded sheepishly.

"You have always been Alice."

"I have? No, I'm.. I was... E..Eliz.. I don't remember.."

"You have always been Alice."

"I.. I have always been Alice." I said feeling a little lightheaded.

"You adore your name, Alice. It fits you." Ryan was having fun with this but I couldn't concentrate on anything... except..

"I adore my name. Alice.. It fits me." Of course it did, I was named after my Great Aunt.

"Your name comes from Alice in Wonderland."

"Oh.. I'm named after Alice from Alice in Wonderland.." I can't believe I'd forgotten.

It was my Mothers favorite book, she would read it to me all the time when I was a little kid and I would pretend it was about myself. The story fed into my curiosity and was a factor that pushed me to pursue science.

Suddenly the cube seemed to settle down though it remained.. Activated? The glowing on my body dimmed slightly but it stayed as well. "What just.. Happened you said.. Um.." I was really confused and it hurt my head trying to figure out why, but the cube had something to do with it.

"Are you ok Elizabeth?" Ryan said feigning innocence while flashing the biggest shit eating grin.

"Ryan, what the fuck? I'm not ok! This whole situation is just.. Wrong! And my name isn't Elizabeth! It's Alice! What is going on with you?" I said, I was trying my best to keep my composure but it was difficult, it was all too much. "I missed my anniversary and now..Now this.. I don't even understand what 'it' is even supposed to be, that thing was not my project. It was just supposed to detect subtle vibrations between different realities, that's all! It's not even halfway finished!" Alice took a second to catch her breath, but for some reason she didn't get up. She couldn't, or rather she never considered that it was a possibility. Because it wasn't. Not with the glow on her.

"Oh! Uh fuck." Ryan for the first time in a long time, looked sincerely worried or was it shame? "I'm sorry Eliz- Alice. I wanted to make sure you were still here so I could show you... I didn't realize it would make you miss something so important..." He breathed a heavy sigh and kicked his foot at the ground glumly. Just as the cube started up again. "Maybe I can help explain with this?" He questioned aloud, mostly to himself while looking at the impossible object next to him before returning his attention to me.

"You understand the cube and what it does."

"I...UnderstaAHHHH!!" I yelled, clutching my head while my butt was still firmly rooted to the couch. My head was burning, as if my mind was being branded by hot metal.

"Y-you understand the cube and what it does." Ryan hesitantly repeated.

"I... Ahh.. I understaaANNd!!" It hurt so bad but I think I knew why...

"You... Fuck.." He stammered, losing composure before wincing and looking away.

"I-I fuck?" I said, confused but something about it seemed right..

"You understand. The cube. And what it does." Ryan said, clearly forcing the words out of his mouth while trying his best to ignore the pain he was putting me through.

Finally, it took, and the pain subsided enough for me to speak properly. "I understand the cube and what it does." I finally said with a certainty that even surprised myself. Knowing the urgency of the situation I looked at the cube to check its condition. The device seemed like it was struggling but that made sense considering what he'd just done with it. It eventually deactivated and began to close, with Ryan barely managing to catch it before it dropped out of the air.

"Ryan, give the cube to me," I said firmly but carefully. I knew what it was capable of.

"Why should I? Can you at least explain what it is first? Please?"

"Jesus, you really are ridiculous. Fine." I let out a breath. I needed to stay calm and do my best to not escalate things. "I'll explain but then you have to give it to me. No exceptions. Do we have a promise?" I tried, smiling as convincingly as I could manage, which honestly wasn't very well.

"Ok ok." He said sheepishly, holding the cube defensively. I wasn't going to risk scaring him into using it again so I stayed where I was. He almost seemed more nervous about it than I was. He was a child playing with powers far beyond average human comprehension.

"It's my project, but... It was tampered with." I said slowly; the information seared into my brain was a lot to handle. This went far beyond my expertise as a university student but now, I was the only one who could have made any sense of it. "A being of some kind... Maybe a god? Some kind of cosmic entity or whatever you want to call it. Used their abilities to.. I guess remake it into a device that can warp reality by filtering through a consciousness. First, it needs to link to the last person that touched it, then it needs something to use as a conduit." Ryan looked puzzled at that last word, jeez he was an idiot. Best I got the cube away from him ASAP. "A lightning rod, a target to change reality around. It's not complete yet, so it's a bit limited." I added to make sure he got it as slowly stood up.

"Ok Ryan, you promised, now hand it over." I continued calmly, reaching out in a non-threatening way.

"Yeah ok.. I guess it is kind of beyond me." Ryan nearly whimpered like a sad puppy as he stepped closer.

"Wait... My Anniversary... You said I had left." It hit me, with my newfound knowledge it made sense why I had slept so long. I had left on time but this fucker changed reality and which is why I'm still here. Since Ryan was linked to the cube he was shielded from its effects. Didn't he call me Elizabeth? "You fucking asshole-!"

My outburst would be my undoing.

I couldn't move.

The cube had activated.