Chapter 1: Elevators
15 year old Ben Anderson and his friend Jake had been through a lot but this was definitely the worst. They had just been wandering in a field when Ben had spotted an old rotting shack. The door had almost fallen off of its hinges and it looked to be in bad condition. Walking forward Ben noticed an elevator. "Hey, Jake come check this out." Ben called out.
Jake ran over to Ben and saw what he was looking at. "Uhhh Ben let's just back away from this thing ok." Jake said in a worried tone.
Ben approached the elevator and brushed of the top seeing an insignia and noticed that there was some writing. After brushing and blowing some faded letters became visible. the letters spelled out "Aperture Science Enrichment Center." Parts of the glass were cracked and worn and the metal frame had seemed to have started rusting and corroding away.
Ben slowly stepped into the elevator carefree thinking that nothing would happen. It did look to be jammed into place. The second he was all the way in the doors sealed and the elevator plummeted downward into the ground. Ben screamed and pounded on the door trying hard to get out but the door was sealed. Dirt and rock flew by at amazing speeds. As the elevator shifted its weight a loud screeching noise started to be produced. Eventually the elevator reached the bottom and jerked to a stop. The doors opened and Ben walked out. "Welcome to the Aperture Science Enrichment Center." said a robotic voice.
The place was in ruins and looked like it had been abandoned for years. A few feet away was a the empty shell of an A.I that had written on it that Aperture Science across it. In the hands was what looked like a sort of gun. Ben approached the shell reaching for the gun when a voice resonated throughout the chamber. "Hello my name is GLaDOS. What's your name. the Cake is a Lie." Said an A.I that seemed to be floating.
"W-What is this place and what is that?" Ben asked quite scared.
GLaDOS answered in a happy tone, "This is the Aperture Science Enrichment Center. And that there is a Portal Gun. Go ahead pick it up."
Ben walked over to the A.I. shell and pried the gun from its hands. Lifting it up he felt the weight of it in his hands. In pressing a button, a beam was shot from the gun making a hole in the wall surrounded by blue. In pressing another button an orange orb shot from the gun and made a hole in the floor this one seeming to reflect the surroundings of each area the place that the portal was. Ben looked at it carefully edging toward it. "Walk into it and see what will happen." GLaDOS chimed.
Hearing GLaDOS's reassurance Ben jumped into the portal on the ground and was shot out the other portal. A wave of nausea washed over him but was gone in a second. "Now, umm what's your name." GLaDOS said in a questioning tone.
"My name is Ben. Look I just want to get out of here and go back up to the surface. Wait a minute I know you. Your that rogue A.I that killed all the scientists with the neurotoxins! Jake told me about you. Get away you beast!"
"Ben listen, I need your help and you need mine. I need to find someone named Chell. You need to get to the surface. And you need my help." GLaDOS explained.
Ben grunted and pondered the thought then said "Fine. How do I get to the surface."
GLaDOS sighed and explained. "You need to get through the test chambers. You will then be at the control room where we need to wipe the control center of it corruptivity." she said.
"Then lets start the tests and get this over with." Ben said as GLaDOS started hovering over to a large door.
When the door opened it revealed what looked like a wrecked overgrown puzzle. "Let the testing continue!" GLaDOS cried. And so they begun...
Chapter 2: The Chambers
Ben stepped through the doors with GLaDOS and it sealed shut. "The tests are now starting. Thank You for your participation and patience." said an automated voice.
Ben whipped around to see the door seal shut tightly. Turning around to see the first test he immediately found the solution. there was a platform to the left and a door at the other side. First he tried to shoot straight to the door but the orb of energy faded away before it could hit it. He then tried to shoot a portal at the wall near the platform. the portal opened up and showed the void just like before. Then he shot a portal at the wall and it showed the other side. All of a sudden he started running toward the portal at a full on sprint. "No! Ben stop! You'll fly th..." GLaDOS tried to say but Ben had already flung himself through the portal.
He came out the other side at extreme velocity and overshot the platform. Before he could scream he hit the ground and landed on his leg. "God dammit that hurt a lot."
GLaDOS floated down to him and said "I told you not to jump through. If you die then thats not good because I need to find Chell."
Ben stood up and shot a portal up to the ceiling near the door. "Remember to BenD your knees." said GLaDOS.
Ben shot a portal on the ground and he fell through the portal Bending his knees to create shock. GLaDOS floated up after him singing "This was a triumph. I'm making a note here: HUGE SUCCESS. It's hard to overstate my satisfaction. Aperture Science. We do what we must because we can. For the good of all of us. Except the ones who are dead."
"GLaDOS I'm at the door so what do I do now." Ben yelled down.
He looked around trying to find a button or something in that genre but he had no luck. By the time GLaDOS had hovered up he found a hidden switch and pressed it. The door opened for a split second then slammed shut. "I'll press the button and you shoot the portal." said GLaDOS.
"Aren't you just supposed to oversee the tests and not assist?" Ben asked.
"Right sorry," GLaDOS said apologetically. He looked around for a cube, or something to hold down the button long enough for him to escape. He tried to leave his shoe on the button, then again, physics was not really his thing.
"So that fails, what else could I do?" Ben asked himself. GLaDOS inched closer to the button. Ben pointed at GLaDOS with a 'stay back you demon expression' on his face. Then, he got a brilliant idea, since all the buttons in Aperture Science are so old, they can easily triggered with a immense amount of force. He shot a portal on the ground and then shot one at the ceiling and jumped through the portal. Gathering momentum he flew at the the button with his legs tucked in and slammed into the button and broke it, opening the door and keeping it opened. With the door jammed he dashed for it and made it through, GLaDOS following Ben behind closely. the next test was even more complicated. "GLaDOS how many more tests are there." Ben asked.
"Well when the Aperture Science Facility was just opened there were just over about a thousand tests, but ever since it was destroyed there are only about fifty to a hundred tests left." she replied.
Ben's jaw dropped. How was he supposed to complete a hundred tests while helping the once rouge AI help find a person named Chell. He still felt like he remembered the name from somewhere but he couldn't remember where. "How am I supposed to complete around 100 tests. I already almost broke my leg and it still hurts so what the fuck am I supposed to do GLaDOS? Just keep jumping off of stuff till I break my legs off!" Ben screamed, enraged and mad.
He walked through to the next test realising that it was going to be a long time before he saw daylight again. He walked through the door to see the test and had some trouble figuring it out. He eventually saw that the button was on the wall. Ben would have to shoot a portal at the ground and one at the wall gather up enough momentum to be shot into the wall and be able hit the button. "GLaDOS did you design the tests to KILL people! That jump is dangerous. I might get killed." Ben yelled.
GLaDOS didn't seem to care. "Chell made it so you can too. Oh wait you don't have the knee braces. Follow me Ben." called GLaDOS as she floated away forward. When Ben caught up he was standing in front of a corpse that had odd looking boots. Ben ripped the boots off of the skeleton and put them on. To test them out he shot a portal on the ceiling and on on the ground right under it. He fell through it in continued loop and couldn't stop. "GLaDOS Help me! I'm stuck!."
"I'm sorry Ben I cannot help as I am only a supervisor." She mocked. "I can give tips though. Try pressing that red button. It sho- ... Oh thats not good."
At that moment the portal gun flew out of Ben's hands and slammed into the wall producing a loud cracking noise. A second later there was an explosion and Ben was launched across the room and thrown into a wall therefore leading to him being knocked. The second Bens head hit the wall the sound of a thud resonated throughout the room. For Ben, the world around him went black and there was nothing...
Chapter 3: Tragedy
He woke up a couple hours later and felt blood trickling down his face at a slow rate. Over in the corner of the now charred and blackened research facility he saw GLaDOS on the ground short circuited. Crawling over to her, he opened a flap near the back of her frame. The wires were badly damaged and horribly severed. Trying to do something to help he touched a wire and tried to put it together though it did not go well when a spark jumped from the demolished wire, zapping Ben. "Ugh Dammit." He muttered in annoyance. He picked up GLaDOS being very careful not to touch the wires that were now frayed and looked at GLaDOS's damaged shell. Stroking GLaDOS he realized that they were both going to get out of there and make it to the surface. Then a voice boomed across the intercom. It was a deep raspy voice that sounded like it had been through tough times. "I heard an explosion. I'm guessing it was a turret." asked the voice.
Just then GLaDOS opened her eye just enough to look at the ceiling. Although Ben hadn't even known GLaDOS for a full day, it brought tears to his eyes seeing her in this horrible state. "Its going to be alright GLaDOS. I'll figure it out." Ben said his voice quivering.
GLaDOS just said one word and fell back into her slumber. "Cave." She said in weak whisper.
By then GLaDOS had fallen back into her coma state and had fallen still. Ben held her in his hands, his body limp, afraid that GLaDOS could not be fixed. He sat there for about an hour thinking about what he would do if GLaDOS did not come back. "Get a hold of yourself Ben." he told himself wiping a single tear from his eye and stroking GLaDOS's damaged and dented shell.
Slowly Ben got up from the spot he had sat at and looked around, observing his surroundings thoroughly for a way to get GLaDOS to the next test. But the more Ben looked the more he got discouraged. All there was in the room that used to be a pure white color, was rubble and a length of rope. All of a sudden he realised he could use the rope. He cursed himself for not thinking of the rope sooner. He started to walk over to the it, trying to avoid tripping over rubble that was lying everywhere. While walking Ben took in how much destruction he had made and was astounded at how stupid he had been. Now he had no portal gun and GLaDOS was in horrendous condition. "At least nothing can get worse, I mean how the hell can things get worse than this" Ben muttered to himself while avoiding rubble.
He was about halfway to the rope when he heard a robotic voice. Ben nearly jumped out of his skin when he heard the metallic electronic, voice. Immediately he dropped to his knees and grabbed a piece of debris from the ground around him. The slender, charred piece of serrated steel was about the size of a butchers knife. Ben whirled around, the makeshift knife still firmly in the grasp of his hand. Taking a look at his adversary he had to say that he wasn't to worried. It was just a small black A.I with a red eye in the center. Then it pulled out its guns and weapons. Thats when Ben got worried. His instincts kicked in and he ran for cover. The only problem was that there was no cover.
Ben tried to make some protection with the debris laying around but he was too late. The turrets lock on laser was pointed straight at his chest. He wouldn't be able to save GLaDOS or ever get back up to the surface. Ben braced and prepared for the shots to shred him to pieces. Click click click! The shots resonated through the room like someone had just shot an empty gun. He opened one eye, and then another and found that the shots were blanks. Another click followed by the turret going "Blam Blam Blam!" as the turret kept firing one after another.
Soon the little creature gave up and released almost a sigh. "Look if anyone asks I killed you."
At this point Ben laughed and started back over to the rope to finish what he had started. At this point the defective turret had scuttled away out of fear that Ben was going to catch him. Ben finally made it over to the rope and yanked it out of a pile of rubble. He examined the rope making sure that it would do its job. Although there was a small tear in the braided twine, Ben thought that it would hold for his purpose. GLaDOS weighed about 20 pounds so he thought the rope would hold her. Ben jogged over to GLaDOS at a medium pace and tied a noose around what was left of her poor crippled body. Taking one last look at the poor demolished A.I. Ben whispered into her earbud jack "Don't worry. It will be ok."
With that he tied the rope around his shoulder and looked at the challenge ahead. It was a massive wall that had been weakened by the blast. The metal of the wall had been melted and turned the once thick wall into a thin sheet of Osiricar. Pieces of the wall had been blasted out of place making footholds just large enough to climb up. "Well it looks like this may be a challenge." Ben mumbled to himself annoyed.
With GLaDOS still strapped to his back, Ben walked over to the ten foot tall wall. Unfortunately there was no pattern or anything like that to the damaged bulwark leaving it to Ben to figure out how he was going to climb it. Looking at it it seemed pretty straight forward and easy to do but he was mistaken. As Ben walked up to the wall he grabbed hold onto one of the footholds.
For the first couple of fissures everything went smoothly. The blasphemous wall held fast and Ben was able to climb up the wall with little trouble. Then about half way up is when it got harder. The cracks became rigid and sharp, slicing open Ben's hands and producing blood making it slippery to cling on. Then his luck ran out. He was about seven feet in the air when the structure of the weakened wall gave out and Ben was smashed into the ground by the absolute brute force of the hit. Ben was knocked out, sprawled under the metal tarp that shrouded him...
Chapter 4: The Escape
Ben awoke to the sound of the click click click of metal feet across the wreckage that used to be the second test. Lying there under the heavy sheet of metal, Ben wondered how he had not been crushed under the weight of it. He sat there exhausted and wondered how long he had been out. As Ben started he looked around he remembered that GLaDOS had been with him. At that point he started freaking out and thinking 'Oh no where's GLaDOS'. So he started yelling, "GLaDOS are you ok?!"
In response he did not hear her robotic voice that he had grown so used to, but instead a series of high and low pitched beeps and sirens. "Veem bleep viep."
Sitting there waiting without breathing, hoping that the A.I's would not find him he saw GLaDOS about four feet away from him in even worse condition than she had been in before the destruction of the wall. "I could get her if I could move my arm." Ben said quite aggravated under his breath. Then the debris started to clear up and light flooded in like water fills a punctured bottle. Ben saw first two metal fingers that curled around the steel and then an eye. He cowered back into his skin and felt scared of the eye that seemed to be boring into him. "Eiie Viee Griee" said the A.I. almost as if it was in a different language.
Then Ben heard another sound that was almost like the other A.I but in a more masculine form. "Grugle Ruh." it said as if confirming something.
That is when Ben was able to get a good look at them. They were not like the turret that had been firing blanks. In some way they seemed more civilized. One of them was tall and rather slim with its eye being an orange color and seemed to have the same relative shape as a turret. The other A.I was more round and was shorter than the other A.I with a blue eye instead of orange.
The two A.I's started to clear out more metal all at the same time releasing more and more of his body. Soon they freed his arm and the first thing he did was reach for GLaDOS. His arm was about half a foot away when spark jumped from one of her wires which sparked a fire. The flame soon consumed around the back of GLaDOS's and Ben grabbed her at in extremely fast snatch and tried to escape. The problem being that the two A.I's hadn't freed his legs yet so he was trapped beneath the sheet of steel. Tearing at his legs rapidly, he got them out of the lock and got up. Took a split second to observe his surroundings and found that the fire had spread increasingly fast. He realised that the fire had made a circle around them and that they were trapped. He also saw that this was not like any fire he had seen before. There was no smoke in the room.
Drifting away from that thought he didn't know how he would get out of this test alive. Thinking was not easy when the roar of fire is in your ears. The room was getting increasingly hotter soon almost to the point where it felt like they were sitting in a massive sauna on a blisteringly hot sunny day. The heat was so intense that he started to sweat gallons of the salty substance.
Though Ben was worried he couldn't help but have an astounded facial expression that the A.I's were not even phased. Instead of being afraid and cowering in a corner they were working to put out the fire. Ben hadn't noticed that they had portal guns with them. He had been too preoccupied with the fire and how they were going to get out alive that he had never noticed that the A.I's had the one thing that would get them out alive. The only problem was that the door on the other side was still sealed shut. Portals wouldn't help here. The flames crept up on the threesome, vicious tendrils snapping, trying to get in close enough range to sting them.
The two A.I's were struggling and trying to shoot portals to the door but alas the orb faded away before it could reach the gateway and there ticket to getting to somewhere where Ben could take a second and try to help GLaDOS , who was still tucked in under his arm. There had to be some way that they could get out of this god forsaken situation. He looked around and looked at the room again but taking in more of the details still aware that the fire was spreading towards him. All there was, was the button on the wall, the pillar in the center of the room and the platform that lead to the exit on the far side. There was nothing useful there. Then a thought crossed Ben's mind. An ingenious idea. 'The pillar', he thought as he got quite excited. 'I can just knock it down and climb up it. If the wall is so weak that it fell over on top of me, then the pillar is probably weaker.'
He didn't have much time before the dancing flames, would envelop the pedestal and make there destruction inevitable. Not knowing if the A.I's understood the human language, he also used hand gestures to make his point clear. "We," he said pointing to them all. "have to push." He made a pushing gesture. "That over." he finished pointing the the obelisk hoping that they would understand him. They stood in the same spot, blankly for a second, trying to process what was going on. Then something clicked in there minds and they seem to understand what Ben was doing.
They trotted over to where Ben was and started to push the tower of weakened steel. Putting GLaDOS, careful not to hurt her anymore than she was, he ran over and helped push the pillar that was blackened and obviously quite damaged. The lofty obelisk swayed back and forth from the potency of the stress and extortion, produced by the threesome's sinew. As it swayed the fire grew closer and closer like a snake honing in on a target.
Then the sound that they had been hoping for, reverberated through the room. A loud screech followed by the crash of metal and smoke. The gale produced by the fall put out fire that was around the now bridge to safety. The A.I's were celebrating but Ben knew it was only a matter of time before the fire spread to around the bridge and consumed it. Whipping around, he saw the demon like tendrils snaking towards GLaDOS. Jumping into action, Ben ripped off a piece of his dirty shirt and whipped it at the fire, as if driving it back to where it came, all at the same time, grabbing GLaDOS. Ben picked her up by the front of her shell and carried her up the fallen damaged pillar and to the area where the ground leveled out.
P-Body and Atlas started walking up the slope when the fire started rushing towards them. One of the A.I's squealed. "EIIIE VEEEM DEEEIII!" Screamed the one with the orange eye. They ran up the platform in wide strides trying to get away from the fire that was now almost half way up the makeshift ramp and was at the A.I's heels. The room was now so hot that his skin was starting to form blisters. Taking one last stride they all made it to the door's entrance with there lives. One of the A.I's stepped on the button as the other one shot a portal at the closest wall and to the hallway wall like they had done this before. Ben and the slim turret looking A.I walked through the door as the other one came through the portal.
They come to a hallway that was mildly large. The only thing there was, was a door that was a grey steel color and had written on it 'Assembly line. Authorized personnel only.' The door was propped open with a box that had a heart in the center. The A.I's turned to Ben and spoke in sort of rough english language. The one with the orange eye pointed to itself and said "P-Body," and then pointed at the smaller one that had a blue eye and said "Atlas."
At first Ben was confused but slowly came to realise that these were the names of A.I'sand that they wanted him to address them by there names. "Ok. So your Atlas," he said pointing at the shorter rounder A.I that had a blue eye. "and your P-Body?" he said pointing at the taller A.I with the orange eye. They seemed to nod as if assuring that he had gotten it right.
Ben looked at GLaDOS who was still in horrible condition and needed to be repaired before it was too late. P-Body and Atlas seemed to understand what he was thinking and they ushered him in. The second he walked in he was astounded by the magnitude of the room. There was a conveyer belt that went the length of the room with turrets on it that were only half built and crates of ancient ammunition that were covered in cobwebs and minute particle of dust. In one of the corners were a couple of turrets playing poker. "I fold." said one of the turrets putting his cards down onto the makeshift table that was a piece of plywood and a milk crate.
One of the other turrets raged and screeched "NO, DON'T FOLD!" clearly knowing he was going to lose some chips.
The turret whipped out his guns and fired at the other turret. These weren't blanks. Ben laughed as the turret who had been shot looked at his shooter with a 'Really man?' look on his face. As he turned around he saw that P-Body and Atlas were far ahead of him so he jogged to catch up.
He advanced on them just as they had made it to a door. It seemed to be locked with a eye scan mechanism and a padlock. Ben was amazed at how well the two A.I's worked together, coordinating everything they did. This was shown by how P-Body had her eye scanned while at the same exact time Atlas worked on unlocking the padlock. After a couple of minutes fidgeting with the complicated locking gadget, Atlas finished it and the door swung open, producing a loud, long shrill of the doors ancient hinges. As the door opened a cold breeze rushed at Ben and to be perfectly honest, he was fine with it. After being in a room the temperature of a sauna times two, he was sure he wouldn't mind some cold air.
Stepping in Ben realised why the A.I's had brought him here.
Chapter 5: I'm GLaD I got repaired
The place was filled with plates of Osiricar that were scattered across a table and circuit boards that were shiny and polished. On the wall there were damaged turrets and other A.I's that seemed to have been failed experiments of some sort. Behind the dark mahogany desk, was a man with white, frilly hair and a strong, respect demanding face. He had a mustache that was still a brown color with tendrils of white hair. "So..." He said in the raspy that Ben had heard over the intercom. 'So this is Cave...' thought Ben getting quite anxious to help his new friend and nurse her back to health. The man continued on.
"why and how are you here. Not to add who are you?" Said the probably old employee of the wrecked facility.
Ben locked eyes with the elderly man and tried to contain his raging anger at the old hag. GLaDOS was dying and he was interrogating him?! Ben had had enough. "Look , I need your help and your are going to help me. GLaDOS needs help so are you going to f***ing help!" Screamed and put GLaDOS on the table.
The senior's eyes widened larger than tennis balls and he put his hand out toward GLaDOS. Just as he was about to touch her Ben slapped his hand away with extreme force and anger that was all pent up. "How can I fix her!" he said his eyes narrowing and his fists slamming onto the solid surface of the redwood desk.
The man did not respond but instead, snatched her away from Ben's reach and opened up the panel on the back of her shell. The man grabbed a screwdriver and jammed it into a crack that he then continued to pry open. Ben watched in horror as he saw the man, slowly, excruciatingly, pry her poor lifeless body open. He squeaked and his eyes got watery as her wires sprawled out over the table, damaged and frayed.
The horrid man then proceeded to pull out a motherboard and a chip from the mess and destruction. Putting them in a steel tray to sit and make sure that they didn't get lost, he moved onto the eye. "No please stop!" Ben screeched tears running down his face like streamers being shot up during a new years party.
The man ignored him and stabbed a rotisserie drill into the crags around her eye. Ben's heart jumped into his throat. He circled around the eye, slowly and very precisely, careful not to damage anything. Soon the parts were all on a tray and the man threw the shell aside, like he had no use for it anymore. Ben looked at the pieces and stared. 'That is all that is left of her.' he thought sadly, wiping a tear from his face in fear that the crazed oldtimer didn't know what he was doing. "You take it from here." said the old man who took a few strides and was out the door before Ben could ask anything.
Raging and furious he didn't know how he would fix her. All he knew was a bit of wiring and a bit of engineering that he had learned from Jake. He remembered how they had roamed and roamed until they had seen a survivor. He was a man who was quite silent but had given them some rations. The survivor had rectangular like glasses and had carried around a crowbar, seeming that he was always ready to defend himself in anything came out from behind a crook or cranny.
As they had gotten to know him he started to talk a bit and had taught them how to weld a little bit. 'Thats it!' Ben thought. 'He took out the motherboard and the memory chip so that I could create the shell.' "Veem Deee." said P-Body who he had forgotten was there. His heart jumped when he heard her familiar voice.
"Jesus, P-Body I forgot you were there." he said quietly, trying not to hurt the A.I's feelings. Then again, did artificial intelligences have feelings?
He put the the A.I's to work on grabbing hammers, sheets of thick Osiricar and spare wires as Ben started sketching out a basic design of the shell. With this the threesome got to work without stopping on repairing GLaDOS.
It was a oval shape that would not need any welding but would infact need Ben to use white bolts to screw into the metal sheets. The rivets would hold fast on the metal but it might be difficult to screw it in. The legs and arms would be made out of strong and stiff but flexible wire that was a compound of carbon and rubber that was in the corner. Wires that were writhing out from behind the chair, that looked like snakes reeling for an attack, were just what Ben needed. He got up and before walking over to the stash of disorganized wires and cable he flicked a switch that made a click, which did much more than he expected.
Yes it was a sort of slow process but what it did left Ben gaping at the sheer technology that was used in the extraordinary facility of where he was. The panels on the wall flipped over, its ancient gears grinding and granulating against each other, shedding rust and corroded metal onto the floor of pure white color. The panels slowly protruding out and the wall flipping, almost like a mosaic with tiles being placed on to the wall, all in unison.
What was most astonishing though was what was on the panels when they flipped. Circuit boards, wires, a wide variety of metals, power cores, eyes, chips, USB ports, weapons and portal guns, all having there own place on the fifteen foot by fifteen foot panels that now covered every part and waking space of the room. The panels held there merchandise with hooks and, in some cases, just cabinets with glass holding in the contents.
Walking around he noticed that the lights had also turned on, a device that was silver and black had protruded from the table. Last a monitor came from the ceiling and a miniature version of the central control console came out and started to talk. "Hello, My name is Shelly. I'm here to help you with any and all controlling of this room. I can do scans, checks, and room sweeps to help you find materials." said the voice in an upbeat tone that sounded like it was having a good time.
Ben ignored her knowing that he had to do his job and repair GLaDOS from her sad state. Getting to work, he started to rivet some Osiricar, trying to make it a pod like shape. By then the two A.I's had gathered all the materials and had left out the door, swiftly and silently, leaving the room with him and Shelly, the upbeat A.I in it.
While she was spinning around, uselessly not doing anything productive, Ben was looking over some of the very technological machines, trying to find a machine that may make welding easier. The tools of technology had buttons and switches, none of which Ben knew what any of them did as the instructions on all of them were in Chinese. "God dammit why does everything have to be made in China." Ben proclaimed, quite irritated by this setback of the repairs.
As Shelly had said she would, she answered the question with so much information that Ben forgot what he was thinking about previously. "Well," Shelly started. Ben didn't know that it would be a speech. "The only reason that 70.834 percent of all products are made it China is because of the sheer amount of material that are able to be found there. Another contributing factor is that there are 23% more factories in China then there are in the U.S and the population is big enough to fill all of the factories. Want me to explain it again" she finished seeming to be satisfied with her explanation.
Looking around Ben said in sheer terror that his head would explode from TMI, he said in the nicest tone possible but very quickly, with a smile on his face "No no Shelly I'm good."
Turning around to go back to work, he turned on a machine with the flick of a switch and a press of a button, putting a couple of pieces of Osiricar onto the tablet of stone, while all at the same time a laser drill fell from the upper level of the apparatus, heating up and preparing to fuse the metal. But Ben didn't know what the machine would do.
Little did he know that this instrument was worth millions of dollars and that to do its job, it hacked and split apart the atoms in less than a picosecond. Then pieced them back together again like a puzzle, fitting each atom into the correct spot, making sure that it was tightly locked in a pattern.
The machine made a sort of pleasant humming noise, almost as if it had a tune stuck in its head that it wanted to sing. Slowly, the cone shaped metallic burner, was pressed up against the metal where the humming turned to a tapping quiver. On the monitor hanging from the wall were a couple of options. One of them was disintegrate. The second option in a blue text said 'Compact'. In the third option, the screen said 'Fuse'.
Thinking thats just what Ben needed he went to chose that one. The only problem was that there was no keyboard or mouse. He started to look around in the desk and in corners. He opened redwood drawers and even looked in the containers that had once been the tiled panels. Alas, he found nothing that would help him in selecting the option.
'Wait a minute,' Ben thought to himself, not really wanting Shelly to give an explanation. 'Its probably touch screen.'
Letting the thought settle in onto his shoulders and becoming more confident, he leaned forward, trying not to fall over the desk, into the screen. As he neared the touchscreen, Ben tapped the red Fuse option with the flat of his index finger, using his other hand to put on the sturdy solid desk as a substratum for balance. Instead of the machine whirring to life, the monitor flashed a green, then a blue, a red, a orange and last a pink.