I loved Aperture Science. Ever since Cave Johnson had asked me if I'd like to be his assistant. Of course, I eagerly accepted. Oh, how I remember the first day.
The weather was pefect. I'd felt like the sun was shining just for me. Mr. Johnson had told me to wait for him at the makeshift entrance, a shack. When he saw me, he smiled. "C'mon Caroline, let's go do some science." The ride down on the elevator was quite long, considering the entire facility was over 4000 meters underground. Did I mind? No, I did not. This way there'd be nothing to distract me from getting the science done.
At last, we were in the lobby. I felt butterflies in my stomach. Cave led me to a glass window. "These are well, our hits and misses. We've gotten second place, thanks to Black Mesa." He scowled, but got over quickly and grabbed my wrist. "This is a portrait of me. I want everyone to be reminded of their founder." I smiled, and let out a small chuckle. He seemed nervous, too!
We went up a long set of stairs, to reveal yet another elevator. After more waiting and walking, we arrived to a small office above a testing track. A man in an orange jumpsuit waved to us. "Alright!" Cave boomed into the microphone, "Show Caroline what the gel does!" The man ran onto the gel, and BOUNCED? I felt a rush of excitement creeping up my back.
"T-that's a-a-amazing!" I stuttered.
"What til you see this. Show her what the device does." On his back was a large, black box. He was holding a tube of some sort, with two triggers. He shot a blue oval at one of the room, and an orange at the other...I coudn't believe my eyes. Those weren't real! Or were they? I gasped, and couldn't catch my breath. "That Caroline, is the Aperture Science Quantum Tunneling Device." That's when I realized Aperture was beyond amazing.
The first week flew by with ease. Mr. Johnson had made it clear to the other employees they had to listen to me. At the time I'd just blushed, and I assumed everyone would take advantage of me. But-to my surprise-they treated me like they did him. "Hey, Caroline!"
I turned, to see a male employee. "Sorry 'bout that. I'm one of the lab boys. M'names Phil. I just wanted you to come see this." He led me a room full of offices. "Look, it's a formula for a new type of gel we were thinking of. It increases velocity. Will you give it to the boss?" I nodded, and took the paper.
On my way to Mr. Johnson's office, I had been to busy observing the paper that I bumped into someone. Of course, I bumped into the person I was looking for. "Um, Mr. Johnson? One of the lab boys, Phil, wanted you to look at a formula for a new gel. He said it increases the velocity of things..." I was muttering things, again. Mr. Johnson laughed.
"That's funny, 'cause I was looking for you, too! We're going to make a couple of pre-recorded messages. All you need to say is a couple of 'Yes sirs!' and that'll be that.
Being in his office made me giddy inside. I don't know why, but I liked sitting there with him. I wasn't paying much attention to him, though. My mind was rambling on about the new gel, the 'portal gun', as I had dubbed it, and everything we did at Aperture. One bit caught me by surprise. "She's as pretty as a postcard too!" He looked at me, and grinned, and I proceeded to blush. Mr. Johnson also had an apparent sense of humor, because he said I was married to science.
Before I could realize it, my first month at Aperture Science had past. So much had happened! Our attempts to make the portal device smaller, the new gel, more testing tracks, I could've gone on and on. On my way to the offices, Mr. Johnson stopped me. I let out a small yelp. He startled me! How embarassing. "Caroline, I was teasing ya!" I blushed. "I just wanted to give ya a little 'congrats!' on your first month. Everything's been going so smoothly since you got here!"
"Thanks, sir!" Was I still blushing? Gee, I hoped not. We went our usual ways for the day. Today, I was going to watch someone test out the orange gel, which we had finally named this morning at a meeting. Propulsion gel. Mr. Johnson followed behind me. "Sir, what are you doing?" I asked, giggling a little.
"I've got nothing else to do. I need to see how the gel's comin' along. Lead the way, Caroline." I did. Boss's orders. Another Aperture employee, Sarah, blocked the doorway. She was smiling, but was laughing when we came along. Mr. Johnson was, too.
"Step aside, Sarah. Let us have a look." Mr. Johnson ordered, and told me to close my eyes. "Alright, open." On the wall was a framed portrait of Mr. Johnson and I. Shocked, I gasped, and started to cry. "Why're you crying?" He got on his knee and put me into the chair.
I wiped my eyes with my arm. "N-nothing sir. It's just so pretty. You know, you didn't need me in that picture." He shook his head.
"Of course we needed you. After all, you're the back bone of Aperture. Really, we couldn't deal without you." He smiled. "Alright, let's test out this gel!" The team raised their fists.
x-x-x
Meetings were just so boring. I sat in my usual spot, beside Mr. Johnson as he lectured everyone about beating the odds, and Black Mesa. But on that day I decided to spice things up a bit, by baking something simple. Brownies. I showed up with a platter, eagerly awaiting the moment I could pass them around.
At the meeting, Mr. Johnson let me pass my brownies around before we got started. Luckily, I got good reception. To my surprise, the most from Mr. Johnson! "Caroline, you're such a good baker!" He praised, "You should really consider making it your fall-back." Yet again, I blushed.
Today's going to be another boring day. I thought to myself as I made my way through the corridors. Then I paused. Mr. Johnson was setting up his desk to record. "Ah, Caroline! Come here. It's obvious what you have to say." He was making a recording that would play whenever a test subject completed the testing and left. "Say goodbye Caroline!"
Surprised, I quirped "Goodbye Caroline!"
"She is a gem."
x-x-x
Sometimes things just fly by, yet you don't realize it. I fell victim to that. I was oblivious to everything as I worked on science. "No, that doesn't need to go there!" I'd mutter. "That's not it. No, I need to rewrite the formula.." Sadly, I'd give my own self migraines, and it got worse. To the point where I had fallen asleep at my desk.
"Huh?" I said groggily, then suddenly, it hit me. "Oh my god." I bit my lip, which started to bleed. Mr. Johnson was at my side.
"You sure needed that. You always look so tired. I got worried." He laughed. I looked at the clock. It was four in the morning.
"It's four a.m." I muttered.
"I wasn't tired." He whispered.
"Neither was I.." I muttered, then giggled. "Okay, I was. That's kinda obvious, isn't it?"
"Yup." He nodded then pulled me in close.