"If you won't cooperate, I will just have to convince you."
Chell's eyes darted around the test chamber.
Was it a trap? Did GLaDOS attempt to manipulate her into submission with reverse psychology? With this neurotoxin-crazed maniac overseeing you at all times, you will never be able to be sure.
The subject rubbed her fingers against the nylon jacket tied around her waist. She is constantly playing a game of chess with her robotic supervisor. Perhaps GLaDOS is looking for tells showing on her face that gave her plan away. Or in this case, a thought process.
"Don't talk. Don't show any emotion. Don't let her know."
She looked at the illuminated panel behind her next to the entry door.
"Test Chamber 19."
Internally, Chell laughed at the irony. Her friend had already tried to kill her. When she showed herself in this exact chamber. This is almost too obvious. Her insanity knows no bounds in her relentless pursuit in attempting to claim her life. Yet she had been brought up to have a strong desire for her own survival, and her dear killer herself gave the tools for her lab rat to escape her wrath.
"Oh," GLaDOS became impatient, "If your last resort is to simply stand there and look around like a moron, I suggest you to behave normally, and maybe you'll earn a little trip to the surface, where you can stand there and look like a moron among the beautiful wildlife on the ground. The only difference is that the deer wouldn't care about your sad little life."
Chell took the Excursion Funnel. It began to hover her over the bottomless pit on the ledge adjacent to the door. The fall back down wasn't as much as a worry now.
The door opened itself. Beyond it stood a huge dark void. She was taken aback.
"Excellent," GLaDOS smirked, "Someone that can't get over nothing. Literally nothing. If I were you, I would have jumped in, and enjoy my untimely death."
She turned to look down the abyss. The blue-tinted pit will guarantee death. But not the door.
She turned back to face the door, and ran into it. The light rays behind him slowly narrow, eventually diminishing itself into complete I existence, filling her vision completely with complete darkness.
All of a sudden, her feet floated up, flipping her sideways. She is levitating.
Or so she thought.
She felt the force of gravity. She began to fall. Her hair began to fly wildly. The darkness ended, replaced by a landing in another excursion funnel.
"Let's go see your parents. And no, you are not going to be in a room again with confetti."
She was almost too scared to move. There was nothing to support her from falling into the abyss if she moved. Eyes shut tight, she's prepared for the worst. She can't escape either way.
"We're there."
She opened her eyes again, and climbed out of the funnel. Almost a surprise was she was atop solid ground.
"Right."
A door appeared. Chell slowly walked towards it, and pushed the lever down. The corridor inside was relatively worn-down. Cracked walls, chipped paint coating aged doors and switches, with amber-colored lights swing from the ceiling. Such a peculiar sight that's distinct from the world outside.
She came across a room with a giant window. A woman in a white dress inside had her hands cupping her head, while she sobbed quietly, occasionally raising her head to catch her breath, her eyes swelling red, with tears hanging from her cornea. She looked rather familiar.
GLaDOS was suspiciously absent from the scene.
Go in, she told herself. Indeed the door might very well be simply another trap to murder her. The glass may as well be a projection simulating a room. She decided to open the door to examine the interior first.
The glass wasn't lying. The inside looked exactly as it was indicated on the panel. The cracking of the hinge alerted the woman inside.
"Please come talk to me."
Chell slowly, with a hint of uncertainty to trust her, made her way to the sofa where the lady was seated.
"Is that—" She wishfully looked up at her.
"Who are you?" Chell stared at her.
"My name is Caroline," she sobbed again despite her efforts to stop herself from crying.
"I used to work here, as a secretary."
"Portrait. In Test Shaft nine."
Caroline nodded.
"I heard a lot about you," Chell began to use her voice again, "Your boss wanted your intelligence to be uploaded to a computer."
"I told him not to." Caroline hanged her head down again.
A sympathetic vibe hit her. The company has done everything to hurt her, and all she could do to relieve the pain is to endlessly cry. There's no one to talk to in this seemingly abandoned setting. Why was she sent here? Did Aperture assign someone to imprison her here on the false pretense that she was on the verge of creating something to bring her— and the business, to new heights? The sheer disappointment that must've brought her.
Chell can feel it.
"My name is Chell," she offers her hand.
Caroline took it. She places a second hand on her gesture.
"Thank you," she bit her lip to contain herself, "I just wanted to apologize."
Chell took a chair with her free hand, and sat down. She had seen her on the portrait, heard her voice and interactions with Cave Johnson, realized that her mind was planned to be uploaded to a computer, and now sitting alone, crying to herself, and when she entered the room, the look of relief on her face. She looked into the woman's eyes, still with a hint of tears, apologetically.
"I have something to tell you."
Chell prepared for the worst, and closed her eyes.
"You are definitely more vocal than I have previously thought." GLaDOS' voice returned.
She jumped from her chair. A pane of glass slammed into the room, segregating her and Caroline.
"No!" Caroline yelled as GLaDOS began to torment her, "She's lying! Don't trust her!"
"Well, I've had enough of your two," the robot complained, "Let's get your friend out of here."
The glass panel sandwiched her between the now-torn sofa, and the wall, and began to recede away.
Chell had her Portal Gun ready.
"Don't trust her!" Caroline's final resort was issued as she was whisked away.
"Finally," GLaDOS responded, "We get to test again."
She sense that the room is closing in onto her, and began to run.