This is my first story here and also the first one I wrote in English. I'm aware that I might've done some mistakes but I hope there aren't many.

The Golden Sphere is set in a distant future, the fate of the Earth isn't important here but I may include some information later. Aperture Science is no longer located on our planet. New experiment has started and its purpose is unknown. Well... We'll see how it goes.


„Welcome to the Aperture Science. This is Session Number One" calm, soft voice was echoing in space.

It felt like waking up from a very deep sleep - the kind of sleep with dreams lasting eternally, from which none of them could be remembered afterward. Like they've been stolen from you…

A stone lifelike sculpture was standing in a middle of a gold sphere. There weren't any doors nor windows. Only one lever. Suddenly the humanoid figure opened the eyes. Its face expressed only slight confusion.

"Where am I?" asked the creature, looking at hands and touching the impenetrable grey skin. It felt odd.

There was a silence.

The sculpture sat hunched and pulled the lever. Small holes opened in the whole sphere. A moment later gold thin handles took out hundreds of loupes. A white book appeared on a pedestal in front of him and quiet clicking subsided.

"What is that?" this time creature's grim voice was louder.

After few moments the soft voice, which awakened the sculpture, sounded again. "The phone book."

What is going on? The phone book?, he thought annoyed.

"Who am I?" impatience slightly coming to creature's voice.

"You're Sten. Sten's mission is to discover and experimentalize. From now on you may continue the procedure fully under your control. Good luck."

"What kind of procedure?" asked Sten while opening the white book.

Once again there was an utter silence.

Inside the book was a block of text which didn't make sense for him - single words and numbers without any order. Who wrote this, thought the creature, He must've been totally mental.

He had so many questions and probably the only one person able to answer them was an owner of this strange voice. No memories from the past – if he ever had one. He shook his head to focus and started examining the magnifying glasses. They shone with light but there wasn't any source of it. Yet still the bright and metallic golden color of the sphere was clearly visible as well.

Those little magnifiers looked like they could contain whole other worlds. He didn't know why that thought occurred to him but it seemed appropriate.

The stone man turned his gaze upon one of these and looked closer.

His eyes widened in shock and full surprise. "That… can't be –"