The horror of the situation reflected clearly in Wheatley's growing optics- er, eyes. He scrambled to push himself up off of the operating table, only for his knees to buckle under him and cause him to crash to the cold, unforgiving floor. Another stream of babbles escaped his uncoordinated lips, pure panic unable to cohere any of the jumbled thoughts streaming through his mind.
GLaDOS, of course, appeared unconcerned by his stress. "Do be careful, won't you? I worked so hard to preserve that body. We wouldn't want you damaging it before the test has even really begun. After all, we're just getting started," She purred out, her computerized voice echoing throughout the seemingly endless chamber.
"T-This- This can't be right-" Wheatley was having a difficult time grasping the situation. "I must be dreaming.. that's it, I'm definitely- definitely dreaming.. Do AIs dream?" He pushed himself into a sitting position once more, limbs wobbling with the weight of his body. "Bloody hell- they don't do they?" His hands quickly patted down the exterior of his fleshy cage, confirming that the structure of it was in fact that of a human. He might not have been very good at his job of tending to the test subjects, but he was definitely qualified enough to recognize one.
"The more I listen to you, the more I miss running on 1.1 volts of energy," Her time as a potato had been far from pleasant, but at least there were those times she could tune out what was going on around her for a bit, just by overriding the capacity of the battery. It was a relief knowing that she had been spared from some of his rants and rambles while she was out. "As much as I would love to see you struggle with comprehending the body on your own, we've hardly the time for that..."
Thus, the inevitable pleading began.
"No.. No no no no, no you can't do this to me-" He begged, limbs shaking with both fear and inexperience, much like a baby deer taking its first steps.. Though the deer would likely have more coordination than the lanky human all but flailing about in the middle of the facility.
"Can't I?" She questioned with a twinge of amusement in her tone. "You should be thanking me, really.. After everything you did to wreck my facility, I should have left you out there, or killed you on the spot. It's a wonder how I've left you alive for this long. I've even given you a promotion, all the way up to lab rat."
"Oh, what? Now hang on, I think I'm above rodent status! I was running this place while you were out of commission for however many years..." He hesitated momentarily, "Er...well, I certainly helped! I took care of every single human in the relaxation chambers for decades! Maybe even longer than that!" He defended himself, "Which, haha, by the way proves that I, in fact, am not a moron-"
The AI's voice went deadpan, growing weary once more of his babbling, "Yes, I'm sure the test subjects would thank you if they weren't already decomposing."
"You know what? I'm not going to fall for any of this. Nope! You're just trying to get into my head.. Yeah, that's it! I certainly won't let you. Nope. I'm far too clever for that. It's all the books, really. Does an AI some good.. Point is: I'm already warming up to this body! I don't miss my old one at all... No rail to tell me where to go.. No blinding flashlights... No battery life.. I'm faring quite well, if you ask me-"
"Quiet," Her ever-so icy tone needed not be raised to strike the right chord inside of the newly displaced human, immediately quieting him down. "Personally, I'd give you a few hours before getting yourself killed out there... But who knows.. Hypotheses aren't always correct..
"Either way...I'm eager to see how you screw this one up." A heavy metal claw descended from the ceiling, the very same one that had crushed his optic what seemed like ages ago. It swiftly latched onto the back of the patient gown he wore with a vice grip only capable of a machine under Her control, pulling him to an uncertain standing position. It then released him briefly, rearing back momentarily before jabbing him hard in the chest, causing him to stumble backwards several steps and into the expectant doors of the glass elevator, which thereafter slid open behind him, taking away the surface he had steadied himself on. The glass collided with his head with a dull thud as he fell backwards into the mechanism.
The surprise registered on his expression clearly as he processed her wording, "'Out there'? Out where? Out there as in... out there, out there?" The doors closing in front of him muffled his speech heavily, much to GLaDOS's pleasure. Wheatley spent the majority of his sentience attached to a management rail, or in the arms of the sole remaining test subject...The rest was spent flying aimlessly through the cosmos. He had never gotten so much as a glimpse of the outside world, what it was like outside of the facility.. He was only just warming up to being back under the artificial light of the facility once again, an environment he was accustomed to, and now he was leaving again?
Wheatley brought a fist to the glass in a feeble attempt to break free, immediately wishing he hadn't and cradling his now bruised hand against his bony chest. "Bloody hell! Are all humans this fragile?" The way the stone-eyed woman had moved and seeing all she had endured, he would have assured humans were much more durable than what was being demonstrated by his own body..
The impact- as weak as it was -sent his knees into another period of uncertainty, wobbling and falling out from underneath him, leaving him on the floor of the elevator as it abruptly shot up into the air, the ominous yellow optic of the facility's ruler trailing him with a sort of satisfaction about her as he was rocketed from her lair.
Did she call it a lair? He never really had heard what she referred to her chamber as. He certainly liked the feel of the term 'lair' when he was in charge, but-
Right, not important..
It felt like ages before the lift stopped in its tracks, jolting Wheatley unpleasantly as it ceased the rapid movement it had adopted for such an extended period of time. The flimsy metal door before him swung open, and the lift seemed to eject him before he had a chance to act. The sudden light that filtered through his pupils caused him to release a slight noise of distress as he was momentarily blinded. The sensation was quite reminiscent of his first time operating the built-in flashlight back when he was still...him. I thought we were done with the flashlights, he thought to himself indignantly as he tried to rub the bleariness from his sockets.
He fell to his knees once again, vision spotting back to life in time for him to swing around and gawk at the door just as it slammed shut behind him. With a throbbing in his skull, he managed to stumble to his feet, the body's legs weak from what was possibly centuries of inactivity.
The first thing he noticed about the world was yellow. A dusty sort of yellow filling his vision. The color was something he was unfamiliar to seeing in such a large dosage.. The same applied to the vibrant blue painting the backdrop. There was something...bright- impossibly bright, just behind a large, white pouf of...something, just hanging in the ceiling of whatever terrarium he was released into.
Abruptly, the object multiplied in its intensity, causing Wheatley to shut his eyes and look away, rubbing them frantically once more, caught off guard by the sudden bout of stinging pain. "What in the world is that?" Whatever it was, he didn't like it...
The second thing he noticed was how the area seemed to caress his body. It was as if a giant fan was starting and restarting somewhere in the distance, blowing puffs of air at him in uncertain increments. The facility had always been rather cold, as far as he could tell with what limited temperature sensitivity he had possessed at the time, but.. what came next was something the facility certainly didn't have.
As the harsh ball of light peeked out once again, the field of yellow twinkled and swayed with joy, leaning up to meet its embrace. A sudden warmth overcame him, and a brief moment of panic overcame him- the feeling rather similar to how his processors felt before his system overheated, and he quickly decided that finding shelter was a must, until whatever it was up there decided to hide again.
After the colors, after the harsh light, and after the odd sensations cascading over him from his surroundings, one other thing stood out blindingly obvious to him..
He was alone.
"Thank you all so much for the support I've received on the scraps of story I've posted so far! Hopefully, it'll evolve into a proper narrative soon enough, with your help! Feel free to let me know what you'd like to see come from this fic, as I'm always open to feedback! Thanks again!" -V
