Hi there guys, this was just something I thought up at midnight last night and then edited today after my exam. It doesn't tie in with my other Portal fanfiction by the way, it's just a little standalone thing that I wrote when I couldn't sleep. So if it's not very good, I apologize now - but I have always wondered - what is the story of the little turret you hear crying out in 'Reconstructing More Science'? So I decided to write down my interpretation of it, and then give him a happy ending. Takes place during Portal 2, during/after GLaDOS' activation. Enjoy!
~Lagiacrus
Sleep Mode: Deactivated. Welcome Back, Turret no.4279.
His optic flickered on slowly like an age-old light being forced on by an unexpected switch press. He was still trapped behind the same panel – in fact, he hadn't even shifted. He could feel the dust that had settled on him. He had been trapped down here for what felt like eons. It had been several years since he had last thought about his predicament. One day, he had stopped hearing Her voice in his mind and after that, he had neglected to think about much at all. The facility fell apart around him, yet there was nothing he could do about it. He was vaguely aware of the Oracle Turret predicting such a catastrophe, but he remembered ignoring her at the time – as he followed the vines that hung in emerald cascades from gaps in the ceiling with his one red eye, it hit him like a tonne of bricks – the Oracle Turret had been right. Something had happened to Her – the one their human masters had called GLaDOS.
Feeling his age-old processors kick into gear at long last, after what must have been several years in sleep mode, he heard his voice in his mind for the first time in a millennium. I never liked her.
This was the first time he had bothered to come out of Sleep Mode for over twenty years, since he had fallen behind this wall panel and become trapped. He felt like something had woke him up – why the heck would he bother to wake up of his own accord? He was still trapped. There was nothing to do, no humans to kill. It was boring back here. He couldn't remember how he had got himself trapped behind this tile – he had a feeling that one of the Test Subjects had something to do with it – but he could remember some of what happened after he was trapped. He had sent a distress signal to Her, asking for help and she had obliged, promising to set him free from the tile prison at the first opportunity – but then something happened, there was a rumble underneath his trapped body and she was gone, her voice silent.
And he was never rescued.
For the first time in a long while, he thought he heard movement outside the panel – could it be? Was that the entry door? He may have only been programmed for one thing but he knew that the entry doors only opened for Test Subjects. Suddenly, GLaDOS' voice rumbled to life as a Test Subject rushed past the hallway far below him. The panels all around him began to withdraw and fix themselves – she was back. GLaDOS was back online. Testing could begin again.
He could not compute whether or not this was good news as he tried to cry out for either Her attention or the test subject's.
"Hellooooooh…" His soundcard was damaged from years of no use, but he barely noticed as his red sniper beam traced the feminine form of the test subject. She didn't seem to notice his desperate pleas for help. He was about to give up when he felt the panel shift slightly. He felt the need to gasp as the panel was removed, much like all the others had been, and in its movement he was knocked from the small compartment where he had been stuck. He fell from it and hit the floor of the hallway, letting out a distorted "Owww!" as he landed. There was an unamused "Oh." Somewhere high above him and one of GLaDOS' maintenance claws stretched down from the ceiling, grabbing hold of him and hoisting him up through the maintenance tunnels.
"I forgot about you. Well, consider yourself lucky that the panel you were stuck behind was in the worst condition of all the panels in that hallway, no thanks to you. Otherwise I would have never found you." He was almost relieved to hear Her voice in his mind again. He was dropped from her claw onto a conveyor belt where several other wrecked and damaged turrets were lying beside him. He found himself back in the turret assembly bay, a place he hadn't been since he was but a few nuts and bolts. He was scooped up by another claw, shoved into one of the reassembly pods, and was fixed up – refilled with bullets, white armor was polished, eye was fixed, soundcard replaced – everything was in working order. Then, he folded up his legs while the arms on either side of him covered him with a protective and cosy polystyrene shield and then wrapped up into a Sentry Turret box. Then, he was sucked up into the pipe and began a long journey to wherever GLaDOS needed him now. Hopefully, he wouldn't get stuck this time.
Yeeeeeah, this was just a short thing. I hope you enjoyed it anyway!
~Lagiacrus