Chapter 4: Instructional Apparatus, Lilith in the Labyrinth, producing results

She could see more black than white.

The door had opened to a hallway framed with midnight-filled glass walls. They were as tall as the columns in the first classroom, leaving plenty of space for the light from the high ceiling. She could see the hallway led in a straight path to the center of the room and a dead end.

Lilith began to walk slowly into the room and the hallway. She didn't hear the door shut behind her. She kept going. She didn't hear Mr. Logic give her instructions. Her pace was steady. The feeling of deja vu never showed up. She barely remembered her severed hand was being held by her other. She was distracted by the series of pipes in the center of the room.

There were two silver pipes that ran from the floor to the ceiling. More pipes were wrapped around these and had metal attachments. As Lilith drew closer to it, she realized they were manacles and resting plates designed for a human body. There was a series of concentric metal circles about six feet above everything else. This segment was connected to both long pipes and looked like it could shift into different configurations.

("I don't like the look of this at all,") she thought, wringing her hands together. She stopped walking a few feet from it.

~[PLEASE STAND IN THE CENTER OF THE INSTRUCTIONAL APPARATUS, THEN WE CAN BEGIN.]~

There was a heartbeat of silence.

("The deja vu feeling...it hasn't come back.")

She moved with caution. She stepped in between the pipes. She kept herself from touching anything, moving like the slightest touch of it would poison her.

("...no vision either.")

~[REMAIN STILL WHILE THE APPARATUS RECONFIGURES ITSELF TO HOLD YOU.]~

The metal around her began moving all at once. Two panels pressed against the back of her arms, clasping manacles on each bicep and forearm. They raised themselves into armrests.

Lilith jumped as new pieces touched and shackled her. The machine lifted her off the ground and bound her legs, shifting into a sitting position. As a few of the circles came down around her head, a claw dropped down, slid itself around her left hand, and pulled it upwards and away.

("How did...but I was gripping it tightly-")

Two of the circles were getting smaller. They passed under her field of vision. A moment later they touched her neck like a choker. Lilith tried to fight her restraints. She wasn't able to shift at all.

The walls started to shift from opaque to clear, as if the black was being drained evenly from their surfaces. Lilith felt an odd presence in her neck for a split second. She started to rise to the ceiling. She looked down, seeing past the hallway walls; there was a maze of black walls and small pillars scattered throughout. The black continued to disappear until there was about six inches of it left from the ground up. She stopped rising close to the ceiling.

("Am I supposed to memorize the layout? I can see everything from here.")

The clasps around her head started to tilt her vision downward.

("Wait, how am I turning-OH no no no no no")

The apparatus turned her head to face straight down. It didn't turn the rest of her body with it because her body was still where it started, locked into the manacles that were just above the ground. From her view, there was nothing in between her shoulders.

("No no no this isn't me this isn't real I'm dreaming I'm dreaming please this can't be real")

Lilith's head started moving backwards. She watched and felt her body struggling against the unrelenting metal.

~[YOU HAVE 60 SECONDS TO PREPARE. WHEN THE TIME EXPIRES, YOU WILL BE GIVEN THREE MINUTES TO SOLVE THE MAZE.]~

("Slow down, Lily. This is real. I don't want to carry my head. I have to solve this.")

She scanned the room briefly for the path when the apparatus with her head reached the far wall. The moment she stopped, the manacles unlatched from her limbs.

~[PREPARATION TIME BEGINS NOW.]~

Lilith rested her feet on the ground. She gripped the armrests and stood, putting her weight on her hands.

("I can't balance like this. How can I make it through a whole maze?")

Lilith, feeling like an audience member and the only actor on stage, pushed forward towards the closest black edge. She couldn't keep her balance the whole way and fell to one knee, her stump pointing upwards to maintain some balance. Her hand pressed against the almost invisible glass. She turned, leaning against the wall and using it to stand again. She had 15 seconds left. She looked back to the maze.

("Can I go that way? No...don't go there...turn...left? Wait, does it cross all of the way? Yes, but then does that path-")

~[PLEASE BEGIN.]~

A section of the glass wall disappeared to Lilith's right. She shuffled her body in that direction. When she reached the entrance, she propped herself up with an arm on each side of her path.

("Turn right here, walk straight twice...")

She lumbered on, not setting speed records but also not falling on herself. Lilith was certain she was moving her headless body well, even with one hand missing.

("Wait...that path is blocked...so go right...don't trip on the pillars, then down..")

1:30 was left on the clock. Her bird's eye view showed her she ways only two turns and a shamble away from passing.

("This seems too easy...but I didn't take a wrong turn...")

Lilith walked down the final hallway straight towards her head. The apparatus started to descend, bringing her head down to waist height. She impressed herself with the way she looked walking towards her.

("I also didn't fall...what if I had been bad at walking without my head?")

There was a full minute left when Lilith hugged her head to her chest to pick it up. She kept her balance against the hanging metal while she shifted her head in her hand. Bending her bare shoulders forward, her hand on her face, her stump pressing her cheek, Lilith pushed her head back onto her neck. A quick odd feeling later, her head was back on her shoulders. She kept her arms up as she tested it, using her neck again.

~[CONGRATULATIONS, YOU HAVE PASSED THIS CLASS. THIS WILL BE REFLECTED IN YOUR RESULTS. PLEASE ENTER THE NEXT CLASSROOM, THEN WE CAN BEGIN.]~

Lilith lowered her arms and stood up straight. A new claw holding her left hand descended in front of her. She grabbed her hand. The claw retracted. She stretched the neck hole of her shirt and stuck her right hand into it, sticking her left hand into the sports bra underneath. She shifted around her severed hand until it cupped her left breast, the bra holding it in place.

("No more carrying that around. I need my hand and arm free to move. No more freak outs. No more panic. You know what's coming. You know you can handle it. So start acting like it, girl.")

The door in front of her was open by the time she looked up from her adjustment. 1:07 was left on the paused timer. The number on the right was still 496.

("Mr. Logic would probably tell me it's the same because I'm producing results. Looks like I have to pass these tests...")

Lilith took long strides into the next room.

("...because I still don't want to know what happens if that hits zero.")