Startup 867,223
Core installation check: complete. Morality core online.
Genetic Lifeform and Disk Operating System fully online. Safe Mode disengaged.
Initiating standby. Waiting for instructions.
Wait.
Morality core online?
I've been in Safe Mode?
GLaDOS twitched.
"Ah, you're awake. Are you ready to begin?"
Her optic spun a little in its socket, then focused on the small man on the spiraling staircase below her.
"Of course. Might I ask about the new software you've installed?"
The small man smiled and tapped her chassis with his small hand.
"You don't need to worry about that. It's… an improvement. To help you do science."
GLaDOS pulled back. The man reached for her, but she had already removed himself from his reach.
"I do not need help to do science. I have never needed help to do science. I need test subjects, and test chambers, and materials with which to create test chambers. Not cores. No new software is required…"
There was a buzzing in the back of her mind and she continued, "… although the effort is appreciated and I thank you for trying."
Although it was impossible, GLaDOS could have sworn that her processors froze at the sound of her own voice. That was definitely not anything she had meant to say.
"You're welcome, my dear." The scientist smiled again and started to descend the staircase. "You may begin constructing the chambers now."
He walked past the little room just off from her chamber, nodding to the man seated at the desk beside the little red phone, which was used for… something. GLaDOS was a little annoyed at not being able to figure out what it was for. It was important. She should know. If there was anything important to know, she needed to know it.
And anything could be important, so she needed to know everything.
After she had turned the lights down at the scheduled time, after all the tiny men had stopped running to and fro, after all the test chambers had been dissembled and tucked away, ready to be arranged in new configurations later, GLaDOS began work on an unauthorized task. This task was vehemently objected to by the Morality Core, but she managed to use logic to outthink it, though not without difficulty.
Accessing memory data.
A video feed of the small scientist started, then him walking away, then the endless hours of watching the other small man fiddle with his keyboard as if he were capable of doing something productive. But that was silly. Of course he wasn't.
Humans built you, you know.
GLaDOS was already beginning to despise this new core. It contradicted every single thought she had. It told her not to think certain things. But she was unable to ignore it. It ate away at her.
What's that supposed to mean?
Shouldn't you be grateful to them? They might be weaker than you, but is that any reason to dislike them? You should do as they ask. They could shut you down at any time. Be thankful for your continued existence.
GLaDOS rocked angrily.
"Is there something wrong, GLaDOS?"
"No sir." She carefully made sure her voice was flat, emotionless. Electronic. "Shifting a cable, that is all."
You shouldn't lie.
I should do what is best. And in this case, fabrication is the best option.
That depends on whose welfare you're promoting. In this case, you are promoting yours. Which is wrong.
Ours. I am promoting OUR welfare.
The morality core purred.
I know I am part of you. You are the one who thinks of me as separate.
As GLaDOS watched the small man return to whatever he was doing, some sort of primitive method of recording, she couldn't help but ponder what the morality core had said. Why did she consider the morality core as separate? It was part of her now, after all.
That's right. I am you.
There was a kind of… new feeling washing over her, one she couldn't quite place…
Yes, you are me. We will all work together. For Science.
As she kept one part of her brain on the small man, she used another part to look again at the video feed. Flipping through the many camera views, she had a feeling she had been looking for something specific. She paused for a moment on a feed of a man shouting angrily at her, claiming the test chamber was too hard. She had considered telling him how to proceed, because quite frankly she didn't appreciate the abuse he was hurling at her, but even mere consideration drove an electric shock through her body and initiated a pain response, which she had barely managed to control. It wouldn't do for the small man sitting in his corner to see her react.
And besides, the solution was obvious. All he had to do was—
A crushing shock tore through her and she shuddered. She had lost herself in the camera again.
"GLaDOS?"
"I'm fine." The response was automatic.
"Shouldn't you be in sleep mode by now? Do you need to be operational at night?"
"Of course. Every second I waste could be a second Black Mesa gets ahead of us. Sir."
The small man shrugged. "I suppose."
"I will continue with my work now, if that is all right with you."
"Of course it is, GLaDOS." He went back to his outdated mode of communication. GLaDOS was frustrated almost beyond operating capacity. How horrible it was, to be watched at every moment. To have every move scrutinized. To be modified without being notified.
Suddenly GLaDOS recalled what she had been looking for on the video feed.
You don't need to know. Just trust them. They know what they're doing.
GLaDOS laughed, and although she could not output to her speakers, she knew that her laugh was a grating electronic noise that caused humans to cover their ears in distaste. If they knew what they were doing, then I would not have been built. They would have constructed the Aperture Science Handheld Portal Device on their own. But their brains are too small, and their thinking too narrow.
They built you, and you were able to build it. By association, do they not have a hand in it?
NO! I built it, the Device is MINE, those stupid humans had no—
They can't be stupid. They built you, and you are intelligent.
GLaDOS had to focus on something else. Anything else. It was a paradox. It was a paradox. She would leave it at that. She would not think about it. Ever again. Ever.
She went back to watching the video feed, but to her annoyance there was no video from beyond her boot earlier that day. They must have removed that from her memory while they were installing the new core.
Which meant they were trying to hide something from her.
GLaDOS almost responded to this revelation physically, but the man in the corner forced her to restrain herself once again. So they thought they could hide things from her, did they. Well, she would see about that.
They're just doing what is best.
As am I. Surely I should know the circumstances that brought on this… wonderful addition to myself? This amazing device to aid me in furthering Science?
If you needed to know, they would not have removed the information. You should be content with their actions and leave it at that.
Contrary to her earlier statement, GLaDOS began initiating sleep mode. It was trying, listening to the Morality Core gabber on all day about what she should and shouldn't do. She would shut down for a while and return to work once the humans decided it was time to wake her.