It wasnt that he LIKED the humans, but he did find the constant nagging of them to be comforting compared to this deadening silence that now was like a veil over aperture. As he exited the hallway, the temperature dropped even more and so did any means to actually move forward. Any rail that had been there corroded away long ago due to the caustic liquid down below the offices, speaking of which... When was there ever a caustic liquid down here? I know aperture had a water problem, but didnt the scientists and engineers install industrial pumps down here to keep out all the water before it eroded the base structure of aperture? He even knew that if water got to the salt bed aperture resided on, everything would collapse. Pretty stupid idea, making an unimaginably huge and complex facility on a salt bed, with water problems. I guess it was cheap for a salt mine but there is other options, right? I shouldnt be rambling on anyways, gotta find someone atleast...
So the Aperture Personality Construct made his way back into the offices where he found another rail, leading in the opposite direction. Looks like there's a way after all! I sped down the rail as fast as my motors would allow, and my system without burning out a vital piece of my shell. I approached a new door marked with... Whatever the sign read. Truth be told I can't read, never could. There was just no reason to learn how to when everything you needed to know could be explained in symbols. The symbol looked like a sleeping human though... Maybe there IS someone down here still? I tried to open the door but it wouldn't open. It was rusted shut and any mechanisms that were there originally were removed or eroded away... Maybe there isnt anyone there, I should probably go and find a computer that isnt water damaged or corroded beyond repair.
I stumbled upon a room full of old computers, they looked brand new to me technology-wise, but their shells were corroded and fading. How long have I been inactive? My internal clock said 15 years... But how does a facility fall apart this bad in only 15 years? It looks like it's been centuries. I found one computer that was still in a marginally better state than the rest and tried powering it on. Nothing. What the hell! Everything is going wrong now. I tried doing maintenance on the computer but my schematics didnt match this computer. Weird, considering the model numbers match... Maybe someone replaced components with the wrong one? I opened the shell of the computer (or rather, tore whatever metal and plastic sheathing was left off the weld joints and screws) and I saw all mismatched components, like someone who didnt understand computers tried fixing it. Oh well, hopefully if I fix this I can find out what happened and some other way out of this hell hole. I opened up what was left of some nearby computers and salvaged some parts that werent too badly damaged. A motherboard from one two racks down, a power supply from one computer that was in progress of being built, some RAM from a nearby computer of similarity, annnd voila! A near perfect replica that should work in theory. Let's just... turn it on... and nothing. Again. What the hell! I just spent however long trying to repair this thing and what, it still doesnt work? Goddamnit! I spun around on the rail for a second trying to figure out what still didnt work when I noticed a black cable running on the ground, so I followed it to an outlet where it was unplugged. Now I'm in a pickle, I could use my maintenance arm to pick up computer components but I can't reach the cable without lowering myself, which I can't do due to the permanent rail... Ugh.
Maybe theres some other way...
Oh! I know! When the cable goes into the computer it is raised up, just close enough for me to reach! If igrab it from there, and then go back with the cable in my hand, maybe I can find a new outlet closer to me! Brilliant idea there, that is! Ooh this is exciting. I grabbed the cable and looked around for a new outlet. Aha! On one of the desks, is an outlet that is moderately still useable! I plugged in the computer and waited to hear a noise, any noise to signal to m- I heard a loud beep and fans spinning up! Oh man, this is exhilarating! Time to plug in and see whats going on... As I inserted my cable to the proprietary Aperture Construct Connection Port, hundreds, no THOUSANDS of warnings and alerts popped up on my display at once, all alerting me to the same issue.
Author's note: hey again! new chapter, also written during a short period of time, I'm starting to enjoy writing these! this one's a bit longer. I'm hoping to get each chapter up to atleast 1k words each, but this is my first timr doing this.. as usual tell me how I did! good, bad, things to improve, hell you could even tell me what your favourite portal fanfic is! (please do I love reading them) anywho, cya in the next chapter as usual!
-geo