[ WP ] Twisted Paths

`` Just walk the path.'' 
 
 Frank had stood at the entrance for hours every day since he landed on Kerberos-VII months ago. It was n't on the general survey of the system, but when he landed, it called to something deep inside his being -- pulled him inextricably to the mossy stone archway. Beyond, bathed in a mellow blue light, three-foot stone cubes twisted, shifted, and floated in some unknown march, forming and reforming pathways across a massive underground gorge. 
 
 At first, he tried to descend down the rock face, but each time he dropped rope more than a foot beyond the bottom of the cubes, they would swarm the offending cord and slam against its end until he pulled it back above the unmarked boundary. Similar attempts at circumventing the path with a line hooked across the gorge were met with merciless pummeling. His curiosity demanded he know what hid beyond the door at the other side, but primal fear snapped him back from running across during one of the stone's many iterations. 
 
 Frank remained though, setting up a base-camp nearby and reporting his extended stay on the planet as, `` necessary floral investigation''. Just as unknown desire drove him to learn the secrets of the path, an equal urge stole away what reason he had concerning proper regulations. Each pre-human artifact found was to be reported and quarantined, but Frank needed this more than some survey position at Galactic Exploration LLC, and he was n't going to let some suits have their jab at the path first. 
 
 None of that had changed his cowardice in facing down the twisting death-trap that buzzed in front of him now. Technology either failed or fizzled in examining the pattern the stones used to form each new iteration. Whether by design or insanity, the path was greater than the sum total of human advancement. It had beaten everything else, and so Frank determined it required a less logical approach. So he stood at the entrance, day-in and day-out for several weeks. Just staring. He hoped that doing so would allow his fear to sate, to form some bond of courage in the face of the puzzle. 
 
 The time had come. Whether he was ready or not did n't matter, it was do-or-die. `` Just walk the path.'' Frank took the first step onto the stones without hesitation. A cacophony of gray rock flew about him as he took his second step, but he did n't falter. Like hornets they whizzed by, snagging his clothes and twisting his body at times as he stepped. 
 
 Somewhere mid-way, Frank noticed a stone careening toward his current stone. Most of them moved about to his sides, yet this one came head-on toward the walk-way he was moving along. Searching in desperation, Frank looked for an off-shoot to the path, but none had formed in this iteration. Forward was the sole way, and in seconds that way would find itself reshaped by this new painful addition. 
 
 Frank did the only thing he could think of. He screamed. The cry echoed off the stones, down the gorge into the unknowable gray below, probably out into the field beyond the stone archway. Eyes closed, he waited the breaths-worth of life he had left. Yet the moment never arrived, no feeling of stone slamming against his skin. No cracking of bones, or tumble down into the abyss below. When he finally opened his eyes, the stone floated like a bubble inches from his face. He pressed a palm against the stone, its chilled, rough surface grating under his touch. A wild thought wormed its way into his mind, and Frank gave a light push. 
 
 The stone drifted a few feet forward then froze mid-air, hanging -- a stone fruit waiting to be plucked. He shifted several other nearby stones, sending them skittering forward with similar results. All the fear slipped away, falling down below to be forgotten with the old Frank -- the man controlled by those emotions. Stones danced in his hands, and the path bent and formed into a walkway to the other side. Stepping down onto the ledge, Frank let out a heavy breath, and pushed against the carved door with a strength free of doubt and fear. 
 
 A warm glow snaked through the crack that formed around the frame edge until it consumed Frank as he stepped into the golden light beyond. 
 

