Aperture Science Afterlife
A Portal FanFiction by E1craZ4life
Part I: How it Started
Chapter One
It was a pleasant day on the farm. The Earth had been free of the Combine's rule for nearly a year, and everyone, including myself, was doing their part to rebuild what could be redeemed for Earth. It was my job to grow and harvest wheat to contribute to feeding the slowly replenishing population of Earth.
One of the consequences of the Combine takeover was an almost year-round summer climate, even in places where it there had been a temperate climate; while this did pose a hazard in terms of overheating in the sun, it proved beneficial to farmers like me, as we could grow and harvest goods year-round.
I had acquired a large tract of land in Upper Michigan after the Combine was overthrown, which I used to grow my wheat. My house and barn were located a ways beyond the eastern edge of the field, with a long paved driveway leading to a small town where I traded out my wheat for goods and tender.
The field was so large that I had set up tool sheds throughout it stocked with supplies that I could use in case any of my equipment had a problem. Each section was marked according to the shed situated within it, and their locations were mapped and numbered for quick and easy navigation through the field.
Living and working alone, I had amassed a great fortune that I kept stowed away in the basement of my house. And it stayed that way until one day during one of my harvests.
I was driving my special margarine-fueled combine through one of my fields, and I was getting ready to sow new seeds after I had finished. I kept a large bag of wheat seed in each shed, and the sheds had a handful of security features to prevent unwanted hands getting the shed's contents filthy.
The last scraps of wheat had been harvested, and I headed up to the shed to grab my seed. I typed the security code into the door, and the door pushed itself open to reveal shelves lining the back walls of the corrugated metal shed. I stepped inside and hoisted the bag of seed across the manhole cover in the middle of the floor before heaving it into my arms.
I set the bag of seed by the outside face of the door and walked around back to close it. Pulling the lever set off the familiar sound of the door slamming shut. But on this occasion, I heard something I wasn't used to: I heard a woman stirring as if she had been woken from a deep sleep. Walking back out to the front, I saw that there was indeed a woman sprawled out near the shed. It did intrigue me that I hadn't noticed her the first time I had been at the door.
She was blanketed in soot and smears of what looked to be paint. She was lying on her stomach on a large sooty crate that looked about half as tall as the woman sleeping on it and came up almost to the top of my thighs but not quite. She looked either Hispanic or Japanese, with her dark hair tied in a ponytail. She was wearing a white tank-top, an orange jumpsuit tied around her waist, and a pair of metallic white boots with springs on the heels.
I eyed one face of the crate, which looked as though it had once been white, and on it, I could just make out an upside-down heart shape. When I nudged the crate with my foot, I could tell that it was fairly heavy but still light enough for a person to carry. I gently tapped it with my toe until the woman woke up.
Almost as soon as she saw me, she got so scared that she fell off the crate and landed in the wheat grass behind it.
"What're ya doin' out 'ere, lady?" I asked her as she got back up.
She looked around as if she were doubtful about the integrity of her surroundings. "What year is it?"
I was somewhat taken off guard by her question. "Yer askin' what year it is?"
"Uh, yeah."
"Where you been da lass twedy-seven years, huh?"
She looked back at the shed. "Was I really down there that long?"
"To answer yer queshin, da curr'nt year iss twedy-twedy-eight."
"2028?"
"Yes, ma'am."
She picked up the crate in her arms. "So, how did you get out here?"
"I ashed you firss."
She rolled her shoulders and took a deep breath. "I just escaped from an underground science research facility where I had been held as a test subject by a crazy homicidal robot."
"Ah, Black Mesa's all da way over at New Mesico, an' dat place 'as long since bin d'stroyed."
"No, I was at Black Mesa's rival company."
"Ya mean da folks dat built da Borealis?"
"I believe so."
"Dat wuz, uh... Amateur Science, was it?"
"Aperture Science."
"I see. So, d'ya really 'spect me ta b'leev dat dere's an entire science lab under dis 'ere shed?"
"Do you expect me to believe that a small tool shed in the middle of a vast field of wheat has any practical purpose?"
"Dere're tool sheds built all 'cross da field, and I keep a bag o' wheat seed in each one, as well as tools for ma' combine harvester-" I thumbed the vehicle parked behind me, "-so I don hafta head back to da barn."
"Did you build those sheds?"
"Yes, I did. Da foundations were ar'dy dere b'fore I built dem, an' ma' guess is dat dere'd been some sheds 'ere b'fore dat got d'stroy'd by a swarm o' aliens dat took over da planet fer twedy-sumtin' years."
She opened her mouth to speak, but was interrupted by her stomach grumbling.
"Wuss say ya hop in 'ere, an' I can take ya ta ma' house an' getcha sum eatins for ya."
"Okay." She hauled herself into the passenger seat of the combine with the crate in her lap, and I brought the combine back to the barn.