Cubed

Short Story | Duration: 10 Minutes

Ruby solved the Rubik's Cube in five seconds flat.

She tossed it into the basket with its ninety-nine brothers and pressed the pause button on her stopwatch: eight minutes and thirty-three seconds.

She reclined on the sofa and sighed. 'Not good enough.'

She'd been solving puzzles all night in preparation for the World Puzzle Championship the following day. Logic toys, playing cards, and board games were scattered about her room. No matter how much she practised, however, she still felt inadequate in comparison to Ulrich Voigt, the German ten-time World Puzzle Champion. He made her feel a mix of determination, anger, fear, envy, joy, and implacable curiosity every time she watched him play.

Ruby looked at a lonely star through the window. What she really needed was an anime-style puzzle death game to get her in the zone that Ulrich Voigt seemed to live in....

A chill wind howled in from the window.

Ruby shivered, got up from the sofa, and closed it. Well, Budapest wasn't likely to deliver anything like that at three in the morning; she was better off just getting some sleep and hoping for the best.

She lay down on her bed, snuggled under the covers, and waited for sleep.

***

When Ruby woke, she was inside a large, cube-shaped room with colourful, square-pattern walls.

Something small floated up to her.

It was a little Rubik's Cube.

The Rubik's Cube spoke in a masculine Hungarian accent. 'Hello, young lady.'

Ruby didn't know what to say at first.

Then it all came flooding out.

'Hello. Who are you? What is this place? What's going on? Am I dead?'

The Rubik's Cube laughed. 'A curious one, aren't you? But then, I wouldn't expect anything less of a puzzler. I am Rubik, this is my Cube, and I would like you to solve it for me. You're not dead, but you will be if you don't solve my Cube within six lives. If you do, you may return safely to your own world.'

Ruby's eyes widened. 'Why are you doing this to me?'

Rubik laughed again. 'Silly girl. You wished upon a star, remember? Now, enough questions. You have three puzzles to solve. The first is how to get to the other end of the abyss.'

Ruby looked around at the empty room. 'What abyss?'

The floor parted so that there was a ten-meter-wide abyss of total darkness in the middle of it. Three bronze cubes the size of sofas floated up from the darkness and hovered in the air parallel to the floor.

'This abyss,' said Rubik.

'Oh.'

Ruby stood and saw that her hands were now snow white. She pulled her sleeves back; her arms were white, too. She must have been white from head to toe. Not only that, she felt oddly unemotional, focused, and determined to solve the Cube despite her circumstances. Was this a part of the puzzle too?

She shrugged. Better this than freaking out.

Clearly, she was meant to jump on the bronze cubes to get across.

She took a run-up and jumped on the first bronze cube.

She landed successfully, steadied herself, and tensed her legs for the next jump.

Then she realised the cube was descending.

She tried to jump onto the next cube, but she was now too low to reach it and ended up just colliding with it instead.

She fell into the abyss.

---

---

Ruby woke up where she had been sitting before.

Her skin was now blue.

Fear welled up inside her. She started to cry. 'What's going on?! Did I fail?!'

Rubik floated up from the abyss. 'Yes. You've used up one of your six lives.'

'Oh no!' Ruby wailed. For some reason, she felt terrified. 'I don't want to do this anymore!'

Rubik laughed. 'You can't go back on a wish, young lady. If you quit, I'll just kill you here and now.'

Ruby wiped her tears on her sleeve and stood. Clearly, Rubik was a psychopath. She looked at the bronze cubes and gulped. The problem last time was that the second she had touched the first bronze cube, it had started to descend into the abyss under her weight. Maybe if she quickly hopped from cube to cube like a player in a platform video game, she could get to the other side. It was worth a try. Plus, if she waited any longer, she'd have a nervous breakdown.

Ruby took a deep breath and ran.

She hopped onto the first cube, hopped onto the second cube, then hopped onto the third cube, slipped—and grabbed the edge of the other side before she fell into the abyss.

Panting, she pulled herself up and crawled over to the far wall.

'Well done,' said Rubik. 'You have solved the first puzzle. Now for the second. Find a way to destroy the Mother Cube.'

The abyss closed up, so the floor was whole again.

A big silver cube phased out of the ceiling.

It started to spin. It shot out dozens of little silver cubes, which floated toward Ruby.

She screamed and ran away. The longer she ran, however, the more baby cubes the Mother Cube produced. Soon, she was trapped in a corner of the room with hundreds of baby cubes closing in on her.

A baby cube touched her hand, and a cube-sized chunk of it disappeared.

Ruby shrieked as the rest of the baby cubes closed in on her.

They ate her arms.

They ate her legs.

They ate her eyes.

They ate her screaming mouth.

***

Ruby woke up furious.

Her skin was red.

Rubik floated up to her. 'Four lives left.'

She punched the little thing with everything she had and sent him crashing into a wall. 'SCREW YOU, ASSHOLE!'

The Mother Cube phased out of the ceiling.

This time, Ruby ran in and fly-kicked it before it had time to give birth. It crashed against the far wall and cracked slightly.

Ruby grinned. 'I SMELL BLOOD!'

The Mother Cube began spinning out its baby cubes.

They floated towards Ruby.

She ran straight through them.

Though she lost chunks of her right shoulder, stomach, and left hip in the process, she managed to reach the Mother Cube.

Ruby hammered her fists into the big silver cube over and over and over. The spinning stopped, and the cracks spread. As the baby cubes closed in on her, she lost chunks of her left forearm, upper right leg, and even her left eye so that she was half-blinded. She powered on, driven by pure rage.

Soon, the cracks were everywhere.

A group of baby cubes ate her left foot and made her fall to the floor.

The Mother Cube floated away.

'OH NO, YOU DON'T!' Ruby kicked out her right foot and caught the Mother Cube in its corner.

The Mother Cube and its babies shattered to pieces.

Rubik hovered up to Ruby. 'Well done. You've solved the second puzzle. Now for the third and final puzzle. You must find a way to defeat...me.'

Rubik morphed into a tall, dark, handsome man wearing a gold suit.

It was Ulrich Voigt!

'OH, EFF OFF!'

The floor parted between them so that there was an abyss in the middle of it again. Once more, the three bronze cubes floated up.

Rubik smirked and produced a baby cube from his pocket. 'Watch your brain!' He hurled it at Ruby.

'WAIT, WAIT! I CAN'T EVEN STAND!'

The baby cube ate her brain.

---

---

Ruby woke up.

She was green with envy.

She stood and pointed at Rubik. 'Why do you get to start with the baby cube, huh?! How's that fair?! I should start with it!'

'Three lives left.' Rubik drew his arm back. 'Watch your heart!' He threw the baby cube at her.

Ruby held out her hands to block it—and caught it!

Looking at her undamaged hands in amazement, she noticed her nails were silver like the baby cube. Maybe it couldn't eat her hands in this puzzle?

She looked at Rubik. She was jealous of the guy's throwing skills; he'd managed to fastball it at her twice, giving her no time to dodge. She couldn't replicate his talent...but she could fake it.

'Watch your brain!' She feinted, throwing it at his head, grinned evilly as he held his hands up to block, and then threw it at his heart.

Rubik snapped his hands down and caught it. He grinned. 'Nice try! Watch your right knee!' He hurled it at her.

Ruby leaped to her left.

The baby cube barely missed her right knee.

She banged her head on the side wall and tumbled into the abyss.

***

When Ruby woke up, she was yellow, mellow, and oddly happy.

She sighed.

I don't know what mood I'll have on my final life, but since this one is so serene, this is probably my best and last chance of beating Rubik.

She scanned the room, noticed the floating bronze cubes, and smiled.

'Two lives,' said Rubik.

Ruby jumped up. 'Ready when you are, partner!'

'Watch your—'

Ruby took a run up and hopped onto the first, second, third bronze cubes—

Startled, Rubik hurled the baby cube at her head.

Ruby jumped on him, and the baby cube went through her chest instead.

She caught Rubik by the shirt. He looked stunned.

'You're coming with me!' said Ruby.

She pulled him down into the abyss with her, laughing all the way.

***

Ruby woke up.

Orange.

Curious.

Relieved.

Rubik rose out of the abyss, once more a Rubik's Cube. 'Well done, young lady. You have solved the third and final puzzle and the Cube itself, albeit in a rather unorthodox manner. I really wasn't expecting you to throw one of your lives away.'

The abyss closed up, so the floor was whole again.

A white door materialised on the wall.

'You may return safely to your own world now.'

Ruby exhaled. 'That's good.... But I'm curious about something, Rubik. What was the meaning behind all this?'

Rubik spun in the air. 'Come, come. A puzzle with an obvious answer is not worth solving.'

Ruby got up. 'I suppose.'

She walked over to the white door and opened it.

White light.

***

Ruby woke up.

She was back in her bed in Budapest.

The sun was shining in through the window.

She got up and rubbed her eyes.

What a weird dream.... Well, whatever. At least now I have the right mindset to defeat Ulrich Voigt.

She smiled to herself and got out of bed.

***

Rubik watched Ruby from the pinnacle of the Matthias Church as she walked down the Danube River. 'Attagirl.'

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About the author:

Hello, I'm Joe Gold, a writer of web novels and short stories. I'm the author of the web novel Slashers, an action comedy about 100 horror movie slashers fighting in a death game across 1980s Texas.

Follow Joe Gold here:

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Cubed is a work of fiction. Names, places, characters, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblances to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales are entirely coincidental or are made with the utmost respect.

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