Have You Wished Upon a Star?
Science Time with GLaDOS Chapter 1
Shiro Byakko
Characters: Wheatley and GLaDOS: Humans.
Settings:Aperture AU. Does not follow /Portal/ happenings. Instead they're scientists working in Aperture.
"GLaDOS, have you wished upon a star?"
That was one of the dumbest questions Wheatley had ever asked her.
"No." GLaDOs told him, "seeing as there's no point to it."
"What d'you mean that there's no point to it?" Wheatley asked, his eyebrows meeting.
"There's no point to it. It's just a fictional belief. Your dreams and wishes won't come true just because you wished upon a star. And besides," she paused with a shrug, "most stars up there ared dead. Just like most of the dreams and wishes of people." She said nonchalantly.
"What?" Wheatley gaped at her. "Are you sure that most of the stars up there are dead?"
"Most of them are dead." GLaDOS told him.
"Then how can you explain them twinkling now?" Wheatley protested. GLaDOS rolled her eyes. "How can you explain that they appear every night?"
GLaDOS shook her head and smiled, this will be a long lesson.
"Wheatley, can you see that star, over there?" GLaDOS pointed at the brightest star twinkling in the sky. Wheatley nodded, "That star is 8.6 lightyears away from us."
"Lightyear?" Wheatley asked, confused. "Lightyear is a mesure of distance?"
"As a matter of fact, yes." GLaDOS said, taking out her notebook and pen. "Lightyear is the distance light travels in a year." She drew a circle and a lines. While scribbling more lines and words, she said, "The distance light travels in a year is roughly 10 trillion kilometers or 6 trillion miles."
GLaDOS looked at Wheatley, whose face was red. "What's the matter?" GLaDOs asked him. "If you're wondering what's the distance of Sirius from Earth, it's eight point six times ten to the thirteenth power."
"Wow," Wheatley exclaimed, dumbfounded. "That must be a lot of zeroes."
"So let's say Sirius died two years ago, we wouldn't be able to know that until its last light reaches the Earth, which would be in a couple of million of years."
Wheatley was still red with his face all twisted up, trying to comprehend what he just learned. GLaDOS rolled her eyes, "let me explain it in a simpler way."
GLaDOS pointed out the window towards the sun, "Assuming the sun's light miraculously disappeared without any trace, we wouldn't know. We would only find out 8 minutes after the event, when the last light rays reaches the earth." She said. "I presume that's clearer."
"Oh." Wheatley said dully. "Why were we talkin' 'bout stars again?" GLaDOS mentally face palmed herself.
"You asked me if I've ever wished upon a star."
"Oh, right."
GLaDOS kept her pen and notebook. "I don't see the point in wasting time wishing upon stars." She told him. "Nothing will happen.
"Maybe nothing happens," Wheatley replied nonchalantly as he stood up, "bu' we live in hope tha' our dreams can come true."
Hope. GLaDOS thought, Hope. Expecting something that may never come.
Author's Note:
OMF is this true Cate?!
As a matter of fact, yes. It is true. Stars' light that we see today are from millions of years ago? So we can never know if a star had died until the last light reaches us. The thing about if the sun disappeared would be true too. Assuming it's day when that happens, if you see the world go dark in that moment, most people would conclude, "the sun disappeared now." when actually it disappeared 8 minutes ago. Though not exact, estimates are that the sun's rays reaches the earth in 8 minutes.
This is a /short/ chapter because I'm pouring my concentration on the next one. :3
About the human heart, for your information :3
The photo to your right is how the characters should appear, though Chell won't be seen in the series (until I find a way to put her in it)
