Alright, this is the first time in literally years I have written a fan fic for anything but Class of the Titans, so it will be interesting. But seeing as I've basically sold my soul to GLTAS it seems only fair that I write something for it. And it fits so perfectly into the Portal universe.
If you're on tumblr you may have seen some of my posts relating to this AU. I will be posting more art as the story goes on, which will all be tagged 'Appature'. The link to my blog is on my profile.
A group of around five individuals had all gathered around a rectangular table. The room they were in was almost entirely white, though despite its clean paint job, the room was a mess. Cords, computers, disassembled machinery, hunks of metal, and masses of nuts and bolts were all scattered across the floor.
But none of the people in the room seemed to care. They were all working furiously on some sort of spherical, metal object. One of them, who was substantially larger than the others, was hammering at a hefty piece of metal in an attempt to shape it. His face was somewhat reminiscent of a boar's, though it was far less elongated. A young woman next to him was typing rapidly at a laptop, which was connected to the sphere via a small cord. She looked to be a normal human, with short, dark brown hair. Another man stood on the other side of the table. He had light orange skin, and what appeared to be some sort of bird beak. The boar like man next to him had handed him the shaped metal, which he was now screwing on.
The last member of the group was standing further back from the table. His eyes constantly watched the people in front of him working away. A smile was growing on his face as he looked on, nodding his head. He was quite happy about where the progress they were making. Then the bird beaked worker took a step back, before wiping his hands. "I'm done." The girl then put down the lid of her laptop, and unplugged the sphere from it. "I'm finished too." She remarked. Slowly they all took a step back from the table, to look at the completed work.
"Wait, you mean it? We're finished?" The man who had been observing them replied, shocked. They all nodded.
"Though that is assuming our calculations were correct, of course." The bird man added.
"Well, are we just gonna stand here yakking or are we gonna switch it on?" The group all turned to face the human man.
"Wait, you want me to do it?"
"Well, you are the one who started this whole thing. You should be the one to finish it." The woman next to him said.
"Alright then…" He slowly walked up to the metal sphere. It was white, like the rest of the things in the room. Except for the two handles attached to the top and bottom of it, which were black. He leant over and pressed the small button underneath it. He held his breath, waiting for something to happen. A few seconds had gone by, and nothing had happened. Fearing the worst, he opened his mouth, ready to ask what was wrong. But just as he did, the sphere flared into life. A circle in the centre which had previously been covered by metal had opened. Inside it was a bright turquoise ball, with a white circle of light in the centre. The man grinned, elated that all their hard work had paid off. "She's working!" He said.
"She? Why is it a she?"
"I dunno. She seems like a she." 'She' momentarily closed the shutters over the turquoise centre, an action that seemed oddly reminiscent of a human eye. "So, what are we gonna call her?"
"Hal it's just an AI. It doesn't need a name…" The boar man commented.
"Of course it needs a- I've got it!" He turned back to the sphere. "Hello Aya."
"New designation accepted: Aya." The machine responded. "Hello Hal Jordan."
"Well, her facial recognition software is working." The young woman replied.
"What am I?" Aya asked.
"You're an Artificial Intelligence," The bird man was the first to answer. "You were created to replace the current faulty AI currently in control of Appature Science Laboratories."
"What is wrong with him?" It was then that Hal decided to interrupt.
"Well, he's bit of a dick. Went and killed his creators and now wants to eradicate all organic life."
"I do not understand. According to my database the faulty AI is referred to as the 'Anti-Monitor', not 'Richard'." He couldn't help but laugh at the robot's confusion.
"No, that's not- Forget I said anything."
"Well, it looks like she's working properly." Hal said, turning back to the other workers. "I say we take her over and get rid the old boss before he knows what hit him."
"Are you sure that is wise? We haven't fully tested 'Aya' yet. What if she turns out to be even worse than he is?"
"I don't think anyone could be worse than the Anti-monitor Tomar-re. Besides, if we don't stop him soon he'll probably just end up killing us before we can do anything." Hal replied, but quickly changed the subject as something caught his eye. "Hey Kilowog, what you looking at?" The said man was glancing around the room suspiciously.
"Do you smell something?" He asked.
"No I don't… Hey now that you mention it, it does smell kinda funny in here." The woman next to him began to cough loudly. "Is it just me or is it getting kinda hard to breathe in here?" In the background Tomar-re's body began to sway, before hitting the ground with a thud.
"Tomar!" Hal cried.
"I am detecting high levels of neurotoxin coming from that ventilation shaft." Aya stated.
"That stinkin' poozer found out about us!" Immediately Hal raced to the door and began to pull on it frantically.
"The bastard locked the doors too!" He kicked the door multiple times in an attempt to break it down, but to no avail. Another soft thud sounded throughout the room as another one of the workers collapsed. "CAROL!" He quickly raced over to the woman's side, only for the toxins to overcome him as well. In a matter of minutes all of them were reduced to lifeless heaps. Except for one.
"Hal Jordan?" The AI was frantically scanning the room with her eye like mechanism.
"Kilowog? Carol Ferris?"
"Anyone?"
