A short introduction
Hello, I am Nimja and I am a hypnotist on YouTube.
I already have over 100,000 subscribers there.
I live in Amsterdam and work there as a programmer for a large website in the Netherlands.
My real name will not be revealed to you.
I'd like to keep some secrets :)
A Game becomes Reality
"It's already 23:30, please come to the end.
Okay... hugs for everyone.
This was Nimja Live. Wake."
I snap my fingers and finish the Nimja Live. The chat continues a little further and I thank everyone for being here.
After I cut the hypnosis part, uploaded it to my page, and changed the thumbnail of the livestream on YouTube, I also close the chat and look for comments I can answer.
After that, I turn off my computer and meanwhile my gaze falls on the game Portal, which can be seen on my desktop.
Portal is my absolute favorite game. I should really play it again...
But now I should go to bed first. The day has been long enough already.
I wake up.
Somehow my bed feels different than usual.
I open my eyes. The light is very bright! Quickly I close them again.
Slowly opening my eyes, I notice that I'm in a strange room. A room with walls made of glass.
Where am I? And how did I get here?
I get up and look around.
The bed I was in looks a bit futuristic. The room also has a side table and a toilet.
On the side table are a clipboard and a radio.
This is very familiar to me...
Wait a moment.
Am I... in Aperture Science?
For anyone who does not know Aperture Science, this is a company, from the games portal and portal 2
I turn on the radio and it automatically plays the familiar music from Portal.
It is a slightly modified version of the song "Still Alive".
As I look down, I notice that I'm wearing an orange jumpsuit.
Am I a test subject?
I take a closer look at the clipboard.
Test subject No. 1229
Name: Nimja
Age: 37 years
Gender: Male
Size: 187 cm
Has not been tested yet.
They know quite much about me... What else do I expect from Aperture?
Well... they did not write down where I came from, what what my job is or that I'm a hypnotist (at least as a hobby).
Another sheet on the clipboard describes various Aperture hazard symbols and their meanings.
I put down the clipboard again and think about how I got here.
Yesterday was the livestream and then I went to bed. In my bed in Amsterdam. I listen to the radio for a few more minutes, until it goes out by itself and a voice speaks that I'm very familiar with, but I never expected to hear it in reality.
"Hello and welcome to the Enrichment Center at Aperture Science, I hope you enjoyed the time in your relaxation chamber and you are now ready to begin the tests.
The portal will open and the tests will begin in 3-2-1.
Please step through the portal."
A portal opens in front of me.
"Hello, GLaDOS."
"Why do you know my name? Do I have to know your name, too?
If so, well... with or without a name, the following tests will not be shorter or easier for you... Maybe there'll be a bit more cake, if I'll remember your name until the end of the test track."
I smile and look for the camera she watches me with. "Do you know GLaDOS?", I'm thinking of telling her about the computer game portal, but no. "I've already heard of you."
"Alright." GLaDOS seems a bit confused, "Please step through the portal now so we can start testing."
I go to the portal and step through it. Now I'm outside the glass chamber. What is missing now is a portal gun.
I walk around the glass chamber and through a oval door that is open.
In front of me is a round pressure plate and a little bit away a cube from Aperture. Somehow they looked a little smaller in the game.
I pick it up and put it on the pressure plate. At least he is not too heavy. Another door opens.
"Well done", says GLaDOS, "Please step through the door and into the elevator.
In front of you is an emancipaton grill and all objects that should not leave this test chamber will get vaporized when they touch it."
I enter the elevator and it goes down.
When I step out of it, I realize that about 4-5 m in front of me is another room, which is about 3 m below me. There are no stairs leading down.
Before I jump down, I assure myself that I'm wearing Aperture's freefall boots, otherwise I'd probably risk breaking my legs in a jump...
Since I carry some, I jump down and be cushioned by the boots on the ground.
I am in a room in which three of the four walls are made of glass and through these I can look into other rooms.
In front of each glass is a button and behind me on the wall is an orange portal.
I take a closer look at the rooms behind the glass. In the first room is a cube, in the next a pressure plate and in the last is a closed door.
I know what I have to do here... :)
I press the button in front of the glass with the room in which the cube is laying and in this room appears a blue portal. I step through the orange portal and get the cube out of the first room.
Next, I press the button in front of the glass, behind which lies the pressure plate. I put the cube on the pressure plate and hear the door open in the last room.
I press the last button and go through the portal and then through the door.
I already knew the room from the games Portal and Portal 2. :)
In front of me there is another elevator. I enter it and it drives down. When the doors of the elevator open again, I go to a glass wall in front of me and look through it.
There, below me is a portal gun...
"You are doing very well." I did not expect GLaDOS to say something and it scares me slightly.
"Please note that blood taste or pain is not anticipated for the test, which could be a consequence or side effect of the emancipation grill."
"It's all right, GLaDOS," I interrupt her.
She is silent. This message does not seem to interest her... One should probably expect nothing else from her...
I go downstairs and take the portal gun. After all, I can now open blue portals with it.
I cannot wait to finally jump through my own portals... :)
"Well done." Again, GLaDOS. "With this device you can create portals. Please do not look directly into the device and do not do anything else with it, which could be dangerous for you in any way."
As if I did not know that by myself... :)
I shoot my first portal at the wall and go through it. I come out of the orange portal a bit higher than before and enter the next elevator.
When I come out of it, there is a camera hanging in front of me. And with a shot of my new portalgun it falls off the wall. One camera less. :)
"For your own safety, please do not destroy any Aperture test equipment!", warns GLaDOS.
Slowly, the question arises in me, whether she is able to go into trance...
"GLaDOS?", I ask, "may I test something?"
"Alright... what?" She seems a bit unsure.
"Drop!"
"What?" Now she seems to be even more confused.
Too bad. It could've worked... :)
Next test chamber...
Oh. A radio!
I pick it up and carry it around with me.
Suddenly the music stops and it starts to beep. I found a secret!
I lay the radio down at the ground to pick up a cube.
After I've solved the test, I pick up the radio and listen to the music while walking to the next elevator. While doing so, I forget the emancipaton grill and the radio vaporises.
Too bad.
After the next test GLaDOS talks to me again: "You *subject name here* are probably the pride of *subject hometown here*."
"GLaDOS?"
"Yes?"
I correct her: "I am Nimja and I am from Amsterdam."
"Whatever..."
Did I expect a different answer from her? Not really...
A few test chambers later GLaDOS warns me: "I apologize that this test chamber is unfortunately unsolvable."
Unsolvable? We'll see... :)
"Stop it and there will be cake now!"
Cake? No way! The cake is a lie! I don't trust her in that.
Anyway, I'm done with this test chamber now. So not unsolvable, right? :)
On to the next test chamber!
Again, I have to jump through a few portals again.
And now it's time. There it lies. The portal gun with which I am able to shoot both portals.
The blue AND the orange portal.
I'm looking forward to holding it in my hands.
I'm getting closer to it.
10 steps,
9 steps,
8 steps,
7 steps,
6, 5, 4, 3, 2,
1 more step.
I lay down the old portal gun and take the new one.
From now on I can shoot two portals and I already know, what I will do now... :)
I put a portal above me and one under me and fall.
And I fall and fall.
It feels... interesting.
Similar to going deeper into hypnosis as you keep falling.
And that is a feeling that I rarely experience because I am very difficult to hypnotize.
I'm trying to shoot a portal to get out of this endless fall and after a few tries, it works. I'm being catapulted out of the portal and land on the ground. That was fun! :)
But you should not do that too long, because then there is the danger that you will become a bit sick.
I go to the next elevator.
GLaDOS says: "You're doing very well, almost as good as one of your predecessors."
Chell?!
"I'd like to introduce someone to you"
With these words, the doors of the elevator open and I carefully walk along the corridor in front of me. The corridor turns to the right and in front of me is a room where two robots are standing.
Atlas and P-Body ?!
The characters from the co-op of Portal 2?
The two robots wave to me with a slightly choppy movement.
"Those are Atlas and P-Body," says GLaDOS.
"I already know that." I say.
GLaDOS is astonished: "Oh yes, from where?"
"I've heard about them before," I avoid her question. It would probably be weird if I told GLaDOS that she comes from a computer game...
"Okay", GlaDOS does not sound very convinced, "Anyway, I want to test the cooperation between humans and robots. And for this I built new test chambers."
I go to Atlas and P-Body and greet them with a nod of my head.
So we start in the first test chamber.
Together, we go through several test chambers where we pass lasers, light bridges, turrets and more.
We three are a very good team. Even if we were four for one test chamber... We found a companion cube, but shortly before we could reach it, GLaDOS vaporized it.
Poor companion cube.
After a few test chambers, Atlas got used to hugging P-Body and me after the end of a chamber. This is sometimes a bit exhausting, especially since his hugs are a bit to tight...
But... hugs for everyone!
Like in my livestreams. :)
In the meantime, I partly think about what my colleagues think at work.
My boss.
I did not have the opportunity to contact them to say that today I am not able to come to work...
What day is it?
Is it Monday?
Anyway, I went to bed on a Sunday and then woke up here... I just hope my boss will understand that when I'm able to contact him.
"That was your last test chamber", sounds GLADOS' voice, "Now I want to give you a cake as a reward."
Cake?!
Something is wrong here...
We go through a door that opens in front of us and into a corridor until it is splitting into two corridors.
"Atlas, P-Body... Please go to the right", says GLaDOS, "Test Subject *Name here*... Please go to the left"
Strange.
Why is she separating us?
We follow her instructions and I turn left and walk carefully through the corridor. In front of me is a door leading into a large room. I go through the door and immediately it closes behind me.
I go a little further into the room.
I feel a bit uncomfortable.
Could this be a trap of GLaDOS?
I look around.
There are six gates in this room and the door through which I entered the room. Hanging above me are pipes through which various objects of Aperture Science are transported. Slightly underneath the pipes are rails that help cores to travel.
Suddenly a gate opens behind me and I turn around, only to see that there is a turret behind the gate.
"Target acquired!"
Just before the turret starts shooting at me, I put a portal behind it and below me, landing on the top of it and knocking it over.
"I don't blame you."
Even if they are quite dangerous, these turrets are somehow cute.
I hear something moving in the middle of the room. It sounds like something rising up.
I look. There in the middle of the room is a platform. And on it lies...
A cake?!
Incredulous, I go to the platform and watch the cake up close. I touch it carefully. It is hard like rock.
But I thought so! This cake is...
"It's scientifically proven that this cake is not a cake."
What? Who spoke?
"This cake is a lie."
I look around. Nothing.
I look up and see two cores. Now I know who spoke...
The fact core. One of the three cores that help to defeat Wheatley in the final battle.
"What are you doing here?", asks the second core.
The adventure core.
"Are you on an adventure, do you need a companion, I can help you, my middle name is adventure!"
"Do you maybe know a way out of here?"
Just a question... It's worth a try.
The fact core replies, "There is a door behind this gate, on the opposite from the open gate."
I go to the gate. "How do I open that?"
"Maybe," says the fact core, "by pressing this button next to the gate..."
I didn't notice the button yet...
I press it. All gates open.
In front of me is a cube. And there is the mentioned door. But that is closed. All around me the voices of several turrets suddenly sound.
"Gotcha"
"There you are"
"I see you"
With a jump I save myself behind the cube.
"Searching"
"Is anyone there?"
But one is still shooting at the cube...
Carefully I look where it is and I put a portal behind it and next to me and jump through the portal. I knock it over.
"Whyyyy?"
Somehow I'm feeling sorry for it...
Carefully, I look around for the other two turrets and put a portal under each of them.
"Shutting down"
"I don't hate you"
Good... Now all the turrets should be gone.
"That was an adventure!" The adventure core has spoken.
Looking for a way to open the door, I find a pressure plate.
I get the cube and put it on the pressure plate. The door opens.
Just as I'm about to go through it, I hear the adventure core call, "Take me on your next adventure!"
I think...
It wouldn't be too bad to have someone with me.
"OK"
The adventure core detaches itself from its track and I catch it.
"On to the next adventure!"
Now I'm going through the door with him. This part of Aperture is not part of the test track anymore. I enter a corridor. At the end of this corridor is a small room with large windows, through which you can look outside and if you go further and turn to the right, there is another corridor.
I know where we are! Here's the corridor in front of GLaDOS' chamber. Carefully I walk through it, the adventure core in my arms.
With each step I get a little bit more nervous...
(Which does not often happen...)
"Where are we? Are we on a mission?", asks the adventure core.
"We are on the way to GLaDOS," I explain.
"That's what I call an adventure!", says the adventure core, " I think you're the second test subject that has ever come this far, I can help you, you know, I've helped the other test subject to defeat somebody."
"I know," I say.
We enter the chamber of GLaDOS.
"Oh", GLaDOS says, "you're here, and you brought someone with you. I've been thinking...
Honestly, I do not want to fight you. I have made this mistake before. With another test subject a few years ago. Here's an elevator to the surface."
A few meters away from me is an elevator whose door opens.
I go to it. I hear GLaDOS laughing and look to her.
Then I notice greenish smoke from the neurotoxin, which slowly waft through the room. I accelerate my step and see the door of the elevator slowly closing.
At the last second I save myself in the elevator.
"You have passed the last test, it shows me that I should not underestimate you, because you should not get a wrong idea, this lift will bring you to the surface," GLaDOS says and the elevator starts to move upwards.
"Thinking about how they put you in a potato?" I ask.
GlaDOS recoils: "How do you know about that?"
Slowly, GLaDOS is obscured by the swaths of the neurotoxin. I am glad that the neurotoxin doesn't drift into the elevator.
"You know, GLaDOS," I mean, "I know about this other test subject.
Chell.
I won't say how I know her, because you wouldn't believe me anyway."
I wave to GLaDOS as the elevator continues to rise. It goes higher and higher, leaving GLaDOS and Aperture Science behind...
"Where are we going?"
I have completely forgotten about the adventure core and that I'm still holding the portal gun.
"We are going to the surface," I tell him, "where I come from."
"Okay...", he says, "Are there any adventures?"
"Perhaps"
With this word, I step out of the elevator...
I wake up...
Where am I?
Where is my portal gun?
Where is the adventure core?
I am laying in my bed
At home
In Amsterdam
Wait... This was all just a dream?
I look at the clock
It is morning
Monday
My alarm clock should ring in a few minutes.
I think I have a new idea for a video on YouTube.
Something about my dream.
And in the next Nimja Live I will definitely have something to tell ... :)