Chapter 1

Subject 4815SSF-P awoke to the sound of annoyingly cheery music coming from a futurist looking clock beside her bed. But it wasn't her bed. She stood up suddenly. It wasn't her room either. She was trapped in a four by four glass cubical with nothing in it but the bed a small table and a toilette. Yet, if this room wasn't hers then what room was? She couldn't remember, in fact she couldn't even remember her own name. She looked out past the glass. She saw a completely white room. It looked immaculate, sterile. It gave subject 4815SSF-P an uneasy feeling, which would be expected if you woke up in a strange sterile room with know memory of who you were. She fell back and sat on the bed, staring at her feet, trying to remember something, anything. But her mind was as spotless as the room.

She began to get angry she banged on the walls and started screaming for help. All the while the obnoxious music kept playing the same fifteen notes over and over again. If being stuck in a small glass room with no memory of who she was didn't drive her crazy that radio would. She ripped it away from the table and hurled towards the wall about three feet in front of her the music stopped and it fell to the floor. A crackling came from an unseen loud speaker. "Now, Now" said the loud speaker. "You can bang on the walls all you want; it won't do you any good. But the destruction of Aperture Science technology is strictly prohibited."


Frank Anderson stood in his small office with his hands folded behind his back. He was looking down into a blindingly white room in which there was a girl trapped in a small glass cubicle. This girl was subject 4815SSF-P and she was a very lucky girl, he told her so.

"You're a very lucky girl; you get to try one of our newest devices." Frank was the girl's angel; he was the one who watched over her and helped her through the testing. He told her this as well. "I'm going to be your guardian angel for a little while, just until the testing is over, then you get cake!" His official title was Aperture Science technology testing instructional supervisor, but everyone just shortened it to 'angel'. And under the official supervisor manual he was told not to have any interaction with the test subjects what so ever. The manual says, in these exact words:

"Under no circumstances should you speak to any subjects in a personal way. You are only there to give them helpful instructions to get them through the test. Speak with apathy, and stay away from the glass, your relation ship between you and your subjects is no more than that of a relation ship between a scientist and his lab rat."

But Frank didn't like being official, he liked getting to know his subjects; he liked treating them as humans. It was something he did to keep himself sane, knowing what's really going on in the laboratories. And the last thing he was worrying about was staying away from the glass; the only thing test subjects would be able to see anyway is his foggy silhouette. No one was complaining about the way he did his job, in fact he had one of the highest subject success rates of any angel in the Lab. But right now all his subject was doing was banging on the walls screaming at the top of her lungs.

He lightly placed his finger on the intercom button and spoke softly into it. "You know I can't hear you, and I told you, banging on the walls will do you no good, that glass was made to withstand bullets." She didn't stop or even falter while he spoke. Frank sighed and pushed his rather long red hair out of his face. She was going to be difficult, she always had been. "I'm guessing your screaming some combination of 'Who are you? Where am I? Let me out.' But I'm afraid my hands are rather tied, but I can tell you who I am." She stopped flailing her arms and put them at her sides. "That's better." He said "My name is Frank and your name is" he paused and leafed through her file "Subject 4815SSF-P, but that's so formal so we'll call youu… Sarah." That wasn't her real name of course for telling a subject your name is one thing, which most other angels would get fired for, but telling a subject their name is out of the question. Even Frank had boundries "So Sarah, I'm going to ask a small favor of you. There is going to be a box that will fall from the ceiling onto your bed." He pressed a key on his computer, and it was so. A small black box fell from the ceiling and landed on the bed "Would you please open that box and take a look inside."


Subject 4815SSF-P, or Sarah as she'll be called from now on, was confused. She didn't know where she was or who she was; all she knew is that she wasn't supposed to be here. And now a bizarrely nice man was helping her get through some sort of test. "I'm sure you're confused" Said the bizarrely nice man, whose name she had found out was Frank. "But everything will be made clear after you complete the test, and the first step is to open that box." Sarah was understandably apprehensive, but she didn't see any other option.

So she walked over to the bed, carefully lifted the top off the box and peered inside. There were two strange metal objects inside made of steel wires. "I'll ask you nicely to attaches those to each of your calves. Trust me; they're for your safety." Sarah picked them up and threw them against the wall. She could hear Frank exhale loudly in annoyance over the intercom. "Now what did I tell you about the destruction of Aperture technology" A large intimidating gun attached to a thick wire lowered itself and aimed at Sarah. "I know that gun looks scary but it can't kill you. What it can do is send a large painful shock through your whole body. So why don't you pick those up and try again, Hm?" Sarah decided to obey this time; again her angel left her no other option. "Yes attach them right there, just like that. Good." Said frank, as she attaches the contraptions to her calves. "You're going to be taking some pretty nasty falls through out the testing but those babies will prevent mussel and bone damage from just about any height." She stood up and walked around. The impact protectors forced her to walk on the balls of her feet, after a few steps they were already sore. "You'll get used to those eventually, and now that you've done what I asked we can finally start the test."

Nothing happened for a few moments. Sarah looked around the cubicle bracing her self. And then, an oval shaped hole bordered by glowing orange particles appeared directly in front of her. But what really shocked her is that she could see her right side through the whole. She looked to the right and saw another oval shaped hole beyond the glass, but the one was surrounded by glowing blue particles. She slowly took a step through the orange hole and, after a short wave of nausea, came out the blue. "Pretty cool, Huh?" In his small office Frank smiled.


The doors slid open with a futuristic 'whoosh' and Frank was met with a small sea of murmurs. Frank frowned, every angel in the whole center loved to gossip, not about each other but about the goings on of the enrichment center. Frank guessed it was because of Aperture's mysterious nature. They were all practically secret agents. Taking people, using them for test subjects, not saying a word about any of it to anyone out side the center. But the angels were almost as clueless as the outside world; all they did was play scientist and lab rat with their subjects. So if any piece of information about the plans of the company were overheard, the info was immediately dispersed through out the angel union. Frank groaned slightly as the doors slid shut behind him. For he did not like the gossip. Most of it was ridiculous, partial overhearings of the engineers that got regurgitated from person to person and eventually came out as an absurd new invention that no one could ever even imagine a practical use for.

"Hey Frank!" said a rather portly man waddling over to where Frank was standing. The greasy food stains on his shirt were made even more obvious be the immaculate white walls around them. He was a man who thought since his test subject would never see him his appearance didn't really matter, forgetting about the other angels he saw throughout the whole day. "Have you heard the news?" He was usually grinning with the opportunity to spread a rumor but his brow was furrowed and the corners of his mouth were lowered slightly in a frown.

"No Barney, what is the news." Frank's tone was clearly one of apathy, but Barney took no notice as he was practically stepping on Frank's heels, following him to the lunch lady.

"You haven't?! Well it's all around the office."

"Is it now." Frank walked past the two dozen or so other angels no doubt whispering about the gossip that Barney couldn't wait to tell Frank.

"The word going around is that they're replacing us angels." Frank faltered in his stride. "You're interested in this one aren't you?" Frank was, but he tried to shrug it off as more useless gossip.

"Barney, how many times have those rumors of yours been true? And we've always been threatened with being replaced by younger testers, why are you worried about it now." Frank placed his hand on top of the Lunch lady which glowed and then opened to reveal a sandwich. As soon as Frank took it off the counter its walls raised as it started to thank him for using the Aperture science nourishment cube.

"Because Frank! They aren't replacing us with younger angels they're replacing us with some sort of super computer."

"Blech. Mayonnaise, I keep forgetting to change my lunch order." Barney circled around Frank and stopped right in front of him.

"It's just a sandwich Frank. Your whole job could be at risk." Frank maneuvered around Barney to the table he wanted to sit at.

"Do you seriously believe that they're replacing over one hundred angels throughout the center with some sort of robot? I mean come on. That's far fetched even by your standards Barney."

"Is it really that far fetched Frank?" Barney was on the verge of screaming. "After the incident wouldn't that give them enough reason to replace us all?!" The room immediately went silent. All eyes were on Barney, standing up with his arms raised, and Frank, quietly chewing his sandwich. Barney slowly lowered his arms, and turned to look at a small man sitting alone in the corner. All eyes now turned towards him. The small man stood up, gathered his things and proceeded to shuffle out of the room with his head down.

"Bernard, wait! We know it wasn't-." Frank stopped talking when the doors whooshed open to reveal a tall imposing man. Bernard practically walked into as he was trying to leave and jumped. The man stepped aside and Bernard slipped passed him.

"Frank" The man didn't raise his voice particularly high but the name echoed through the lunch room. "Follow me." The man spun on his heel and walked into the hall. All eyes followed Frank out the room and the second the door whooshed close Frank heard an explosion of voices behind them.

"Is there something wrong Mr. Gerald?" Frank asked the man, who had already begun to walk down the hallway. There was no response as Mr. Gerald stopped, took out his security card and scanned it at the elevator in one fluid motion. Mr. Gerald stepped into the elevator and turned to face Frank. He truly was an intimidating man. His yielded no emotion and he stood stock strait in his blue suit. His hair was cropped short and in his left hand he held a black brief case.

"Come with me Frank." Frank hesitated and then entered the elevator. The doors snapped closed trapping Frank in a small prison with a very scary man. Frank starred at his reflection in the shinny metallic door, as did Mr. Gerald. Neither of them said anything for a full minute.

"If this is about the portal gun subject, I thought-"

"Your friend was right."

"What?"

"You're the top instructional supervisor, are you not?" Mr. Gerald's eyes remained fixated on his own reflection.

"I-I'm not sure, last time I checked I was."

"And why do you think that is?"

"Well, truthfully, I'm much more, um, friendly with my subjects then the other supervisors."

"We would like to use your instruction methods as a model."

"For the other supervisors?"

"Did I not say your friend was right?"

"I'm afraid I don't follow sir."

"The supervisors are being replaced."

"You can't be talking about the same thing as Barney, he thinks that we're being replace by a-a computer." Mr. Gerald remained silent not looking at Frank. "You can't really be firing all the angels because of one mistake that was made two years ago." Frank was angry now, and it showed in his tone. "You haven't even fired Bernar-"

"That" Said Mr. Gerald forcefully. "Is not the reason we've created the genetic supervisor, the project was started years before the incident. And no one is being fired."

"Then you really are replacing us with some sort of super computer?" There was and awkward pause.

"Yes" Frank pushed back his long bangs and grabbed his forehead. "Is it all that surprising Mr. Anderson? Are you not the overseer of the portal gun test? Surely if we can make that we can create a computer that can oversee all of the testing."

"Well what do I have to do with this, why are you telling me?"

"I've told you, Mr. Anderson. We want to use you methods as a model for the computer's personality"

"It's going to have a personality?"

"Yes" For the first time Mr. Gerald turned towards Frank, and did something Frank thought he would never see. He smiled. "Would you like to meet her?"

"Her?"

"Yes" Mr. Gerald turned back to his reflection and adjusted his tie. "Her name is GLaDOS." The elevator doors slid open and Mr. Gerald stepped out.


Thanks for reading. This is my first Fan-Fic so if you liked the story please leave comments so I'll know to write more, and if you didn't like it tell me why.