Chapter 1 – Sucked In
Josh walked to his office, and logged on to his computer. He was a tall, lanky, freckled scientist, and he worked here at Aperture on the most amazing things: Turrets with infinite bullet capacity, robots that could think and act better than the humans who made them, and most importantly, the Genetic Lifeform and Disk Operating System, or as she was more commonly known, GLaDOS. He checked his email, and was surprised to see one pop up from a coworker of his, Henry. He opened it. "Come to the new department immediately, we need you for the test today." Josh raised an eyebrow. Test? Aperture Scientists didn't test, that was what Test Subjects were for. He sighed, and headed over to the new section of Aperture, which would have been a long walk were it not for the labyrinth of elevators that connected the massive place.
He stepped into an office that said "WARNING! Test undergoing, proceed with caution." Some Xen aliens were in cages, and he hurriedly stepped out.
"Whoops! This must be the wrong room, sorry," he said. He was still getting used to this place.
"Don't worry, the one you're looking for is around the corner," said a scientist studying the creatures.
"Thanks," Josh replied. He left, still slightly embarrassed at his mistake. He walked down the hall, turned the corner, and sure enough, there was a sign that said "Dimensional Testing Undergoing – DO NOT DISTURB" on a door. That must be me, he thought. He entered the door, and was surprised to see at least 30 people waiting for him.
Josh grinned sheepishly. "Sorry I'm late," he said. "What are we doing?" he asked.
"Well…" Henry answered. "We just dug up a message box from our old CEO, Cave Johnson."
Josh was flabbergasted. "Cave Johnson? As in THE Cave Johnson?" Everyone nodded.
"And… it's addressed to you," Henry finished. If it was possible, Josh's jaw would have hit the bottom of the complex (approximately 36,000 feet down).
"But… how? I just got here," he said. Henry shrugged, and handed him the box. It said, in faded letters, "To Josh Stevenson, year 2011. Anyone else, DO NOT OPEN. I mean it. –Cave Johnson, CEO". Josh looked up. Several people were impatiently waiting for him to open it. He tried, but it wouldn't budge. They hacked at it with a crowbar, tried to melt it with a Thermal Discouragement Beam, until Josh just gave up in frustration, and yelled at it, "Open!" To his surprise, it actually did open, and he was met with a small sheaf of papers. He picked them up gingerly, as they felt like they could disintegrate at any moment. "Dear Josh," he read aloud,
"This is your CEO, Cave, as you probably know from the label. Anyway, this message is to help you with the one project that I never finished. In the future, there will be a TV show. It will be in color. (Several of the scientists were chuckling.) This show, for whatever reason, is called "My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic." (Everyone stopped chuckling and started staring.) "What? That's what he says, right there," he pointed to the text. Henry was nodding, like he knew something. "Continue reading," he suggested. "Right, right," Josh replied, and continued.
"A being from this universe made accidental contact with us, and the message traveled back in time. I don't know the details, but the lab boys from our time have included a full page report on how this works. What you are to do is to reestablish contact with this universe, and find out how it managed to contact us, and why. We chose you for this mission because the message in question very specifically included your name, along with the exact time you would read this, which is October 26, 2011 at 9:21 AM." Some of the scientists checked the clock, and this was indeed correct. "Furthermore," Josh continued to read, "We are assuming string theory has been proven at this point. Take that, Black Mesa!" Everyone had a good laugh at that. "So, plans for a dimensional transport are included, so anyone who's hearing this, and is an engineer, that's your job." Two engineers were present, and they shifted uncomfortably at this. "So, one final thing, which is possibly the most important: The message specifies that whoever wants you in this universe, they want you armed. So, get the best handheld technology we have at this point, and get moving. Cave Johnson, we're done here." Josh finished. Everyone looked at eachother. "Well, what are we waiting for?" Henry asked, being the boss of the group. "You heard the dead guy, get moving!" Josh noticed something at the bottom of the paper. "And to Henry: I heard that." He read, and laughed. Henry just stood there, feeling highly uncomfortable. "Oh snap, Henry, you got served by a 'dead guy'," Josh chuckled.
After some weeks of preparation, the dimensional transport was operational. Josh was in a hermetically sealed chamber, armed with the Aperture Science Extradimensional Backpack, which in turn was stocked with a few of just about every testing element Aperture had, and a few guns and grenades just in case. It also had deployable turrets and rocket sentries, as well as camping supplies, a radio that would theoretically work between the two dimensions, and a laptop. "What's the laptop for again?" Josh said as he was digging through the backpack's endless contents. "It's if you get bored," Henry spoke over an intercom.
They were ready to start. Any moment now, the massive gateway portal would open. Josh tensed himself in anticipation. The portal glowed with a bright light, but something was wrong. "Josh! The portal's unstable! Get OUT of there!" Henry yelled over the intercom. A great drop in pressure ensued, and Josh was quickly sucked into the portal, and gone from the universe. The Aperture Science Emergency Shortout System, one second too late, shut down the portal. "We're still here," Henry began.
"And John is not," an old, weary voice finished. It was Doug Rattman, and he had just witnessed the beginning of Josh's adventure. Which in return, could influence their own…