Having the portal gun proved to be a boon for two reasons: he could reduce the distance between himself and the button, and the gun had a secondary trigger that somehow caused whatever he pointed it at to levitate. That meant less physical exertion as he was no longer trying to roll a heavy cube across chambers.

He was so relieved he could cry – and he did, just a bit. Progressing through the chambers would be so much easier now. He never wanted to go back!

In the next chamber, he bypassed a shallow pit by putting a portal on the wall nearby and coming out on the other side. Without the gun, he would've had to climb down and try to get back up. He repeated this procedure once within the chamber as he encountered yet another pit. This one was slightly deeper, and for some reason had stairs descending into it but there wasn't much point if he had the portal gun on hand.

At the end of each chamber he got into an elevator that would take him to the next one, silently resenting it the entire time. All he could see was the glass getting cracked or smashed into tiny, sharp crystals. Then the elevator would plummet to the bottom of the shaft, wherever that may be. He was always happy to disembark.

In one chamber, a cube was dropped into a shallow pit, where he wouldn't normally be able to get at it without jumping down and hefting it out. Times like that made him appreciate the portal gun even more, knowing that he couldn't hope to lift the cube much higher than his chest without fall or injury. Instead, the cube tumbled out of a portal carefully placed on the other side of the room, and fell directly on the button. He barely had to do anything!

In another, two cubes rested on high platforms, while another sat at the bottom of a pit. No longer a bother. He popped a portal on the wall and strolled through with the first cube, repeating the process until all three cubes sat on a button and the path opened in front of him.

Overall, he found himself in much better spirits. He was particularly glad that he no longer had to contend with the pit of death!

He was doing alright until he encountered a small room, and once again the door shut tight behind him. It was then he realized that it – the room – was completely empty. There were no buttons, no cubes, no switches or levers. Just a blindingly white room and a glass ceiling.

Not this again.

His day had finally turned around and what did he have to show for it now? Nothing! That's what. Nothing but an empty room - although the glass ceiling was a nice decorative touch - and now there was an orange portal on the ceiling above that and–

Oh.

It was high.

Probably too high.

It should come as no surprise what happened next.

Leaning inside one portal while the other was on a ceiling hadn't been a particularly smart idea. He tried to duck and roll, but ended up knocking his head against a wall anyway. Impressive as it was that the glass hadn't so much cracked on impact, both his ego and his body suffered some bruising.

Weren't there other test subjects who could be doing this instead of him? Had he ever signed up to test in the first place? Regardless, the only option was to carry on to the next chamber and hope for the best. But for now, he really just wanted to rest for a moment or two.

He hoped he'd find something to eat soon.


GLaDOS had to admit, her new subject was finally beginning to grasp the basic rules of the tests.

He'd even figured out how to use the portal gun, and (so far) hadn't done anything overly stupid with it, like amputating a limb – or decapitation. Surprising, actually. She almost wondered how well he'd do in the intermediate chambers.

No, that was a bad idea.

She'd allowed herself a quick test – which then became a few quick tests – if only to watch him fail miserably and lose his nerve. But eventually, she WAS going to need him. No matter how entertaining it was to torture him in this way, she couldn't do it forever. But maybe she could afford to send him through a few more chambers, there was time for that at least.

One way or another, he'd have to swing by her chamber eventually.


The woman and the robot had each made their way to the Central AI chamber, after sabotaging both the turret production line and the neurotoxin generator. The robot had assured that this would render the homicidal AI they were up against harmless.

"Warning! Central core is 80% corrupt." The announcer warned.

"That's funny, I don't feel corrupt. In fact, I feel pretty good!"

"Alternate core detected."

"Oh! That's me they're talking about!" The little robot chirped excitedly.

"To initiate core-transfer, please place substitute core in receptacle."

At that moment, a large port rose up out of the floor.

"Core transfer? Oh, you've got to be kidding!"


He'd fallen asleep again, and had another dream about the woman in the jumpsuit. Strange. He really needed to avoid dozing off against walls in the future. Now he was all stiff and uncomfortable, not to mention he was still sore from his earlier crash-landing. As convenient as interspace doorways were, gravity still posed an immediate danger, and the hard floors didn't make it much better. Whose brilliant idea had it been to put a hard tiled floor under a drop like that anyway? Why couldn't they have used something softer? Like a springy mattress or some pillows?

That would've made sense, especially considering he'd been sleeping there for a spell - how long was anyone's guess. He hadn't seen any clocks the entire time he'd been here.

What he did see, was a conveniently placed can of beans that he was fairly certain hadn't been there before. He immediately went to work trying to open it, which proved to be tricky without the use of any sort of utensil. He tried banging it against the floor, throwing it at the wall, and even dropping it through a portal. All that did was put a few dents in it. Not holes. He needed holes!

As a last resort, he tried scraping the lid of the can on the floor.

Surprisingly, this filed away the seal, and the lid popped off when he gave the can a squeeze. Huh, that one was a long shot. Oh well, a victory was a victory, and all be damned if he wasn't about to celebrate it!

Not wasting any time, he devoured every last bean in the can - he didn't even care that they were cold. It was a bit messy without a fork or a spoon, but beans are messy at the best of times. He didn't have a napkin either, so it looked like the jumpsuit was making another sacrifice. Who was he going to impress? As far as he knew, he was the only one here - aside from that mysterious voice, of course.

Satisfied, he left the can where it was and continued on his way. There were no rubbish bins, so he didn't feel too guilty for the mess. Someone would probably come around and deal with that eventually.


In the next chamber, a nozzle on the ceiling spat out balls of light at regular intervals and after a while they seemed to "pop" and disappear. He also noticed that there were scorch marks on the floor where they made contact. Not ominous in any way, really. On the floor nearby was another device with metal prongs, like a claw. An exit had been placed high up off the floor on the far side of the room.

"You'll be happy to know that this chamber doesn't require you to jump from a high place, but should you decide you want to repeat that last incident for old time's sake, please sit the portal gun down somewhere safe, so you that don't land on it by mistake. The test subject after you is going to need that in working order."

They just had to rub it in. He scowled.

"Oh, and I wouldn't touch those high-energy pellets if I were you, even if they are shiny."

He watched one bounce between the nozzle on the ceiling and the scorched floor tile below, almost entranced. This was obviously a new kind of test, but he wasn't sure he understood the point. Here was this thing that spat out pellets, and this other claw-thing that didn't seem to do much of anything. It just sat there, unmoving, and the pellets just bounced up and down, up and down, up and- wow, this really was hypnotic, wasn't it?

He was startled when an orange portal appeared on the floor where the pellets were scorching it.

He paused. In previous chambers, a portal had automatically appeared on one of the walls, and connected to those he'd placed himself, like some kind of hint that he was supposed to pop out on that side of the room. He fired an experimental portal on the floor nearby, and noticed that the pellet traveled through the orange portal and out of the blue one, bouncing off the ceiling and blackening the white tile where it did. Interesting.

He fired another portal, and the pellet came out in a different place, creating yet another black mark on the ceiling. This was kind of fun! What would happen if he moved the portal before the pellet could go back in? Soon enough, there were all kinds of black marks on the ceiling, and even some on the floor. The nozzle didn't fire a new pellet until the one prior had disappeared, so this process took some time.

"You know, on average, most subjects lost interest in doing. whatever it is you're doing at the three minute mark. You on the other hand have demonstrated a surprisingly long attention span, while simultaneously wasting over forty minutes of your life. It's a shame, really. You're never going to get that back. I hope it was worth it."

He scoffed. Why did the voice have to be such a killjoy? Oh well. At least it was amusing while it lasted.

Wait a minute, had he tried sending the pellet at the claw yet? It was probably the only thing he hadn't bounced a pellet off of today, so maybe it was some sort of receptacle?

So he placed a portal on the ceiling to test it out. The pellet was off-target by a few inches, so it took a couple of tries, but he eventually got the portal placement right and sent it in. The "claw" then folded up, and a few panels rose up out've the floor, forming a staircase to the exit, which he happily strolled right up to the elevator.


The next chamber was even more bothersome than the last.

There was another high-energy pellet puzzle, and a raised platform on the far wall that looked to be on a track. The exit was off to the right, opposite where the platform was currently waiting. He wasn't sure how he was supposed to be able to reach either one, as there were no ramps, stairs or ladders of any sort. It would've been nice if he could've ridden the platform up to the exit, but nope! That was out've reach as well.

A portal opened up in the middle of the floor, and a high-energy pellet fizzled it's way across the room, bouncing off the opposite wall. He was reminded of how he'd used the portal in the previous chamber to redirect the pellet into a clawed receptacle, and what luck! There was another one on the ceiling in this room, directly above the portal. If that wasn't a hint, then what was?

So he fired a portal where the pellet scorched the tile, and waited for it to fly through. It found the receptacle, and the platform begin to slowly move back and forth along its track, crossing directly in front of the doorway as it did. That was something, but there was still no way up to the platform or the exit. Had he missed something?

He could grab the moving platform - an advantage offered by his height - but since he couldn't pull himself up, he was stuck riding it from one side of the room to the other. It might've been fun if it wasn't making his arms tired. Plan A status: foiled. That left Plan B - whenever he came up with something.

It would be so easy to walk off the platform to the exit, like stepping off a train when it reached the station. Then he'd be on his merry way, but he had to be stuck down here. The whole thing was such a tease!

He sighed. This day just kept getting better and better.


If GLaDOS could, she would've frowned.

From her surveillance feed, she could see the confusion in his face. This chamber was probably going to be another long one.

He hadn't exactly been blessed with Chell's sharp observation, or her quick problem-solving abilities. That had been established long ago. It was probably a good thing he hadn't run into any turrets yet. The poor idiot would be swiss cheese and her plans would be ruined, so she had to be careful to keep him alive - at least until he made it to her chamber.

How bothersome.

In the meantime, she busied herself with the remaining preparations; she wanted everything to be perfect when he finally arrived. She'd even weighed the pros and cons of shuffling a few chambers around to create a more direct route for him, since she couldn't help with the tests - not directly. She'd made enough dubious compromises just getting him in here.

She tried to remind herself that soon she'd see the payoff.

She'd get to see the look on his face.


He almost wished he'd kept the can of beans, so he'd have something to fling around. Instead he was sitting on the floor, fiddling with the portal gun. There wasn't anything else on his person, aside from that and his glasses. Neither were things he particularly wanted to break or lose. Still, being stuck in this chamber without a solution was utterly mind-numbing!

He hated even to think it, but at least falling through the portal had been easier than-

Hold on.

He fired a tentative portal on the ceiling, and looked down through the one in the floor. Sure enough, he could see the platform as it passed underneath. If he fell through at the right time, he might be able to land on it. He frowned, not liking where this was going.

How many other blokes had been thrown about like this?

On the first pass, he chickened out and had to wait for the platform to make a return trip. During that time, he prepared himself to make the jump.

Firm grip on the portal gun: check.

Glasses secure: check.

"Okay, on three." He thought.

The platform reached the end of the track, and was beginning to make its way back to the door.

One.

Now it was halfway across the room.

Two.

Almost in position.

Three!

He leapt through the portal, landing in a crouched position - and fell backward off the platform. Dazed, he looked up from the floor as the platform went back to the starting point - mocking him. He glowered. It wasn't as high as the previous chamber, but this floor was about as soft as the other one. Soft as concrete, and it hurt just the same.

Returning to the portal, he allowed the platform to pass under him a few times before he finally worked up the nerve to make another attempt. This time, he fell forward, but didn't roll off like before.

But the platform was already beginning to move back to the other side of the room, and farther away from the exit. He could've stayed on it until it moved back into place, but he was feeling particularly bold and decided to attempt the jump. This was a big mistake, as he landed splat on the edge with his legs dangling.

This left him with two options: haul himself up and over, or let go and try again. Option one was looking safer.

He struggled to get his right leg up, and succeeded as the platform drew near enough to bump the other leg, and before he realized what was happening, he was being pushed into a split. If there had been anyone else in the room, they would've seen his eyes go wide as saucers, and an apparent burst of adrenaline that allowed him to pull himself up just before the panel pushed him too far and something was dislocated.

He stumbled forward, catching himself before he could face-plant, and hissed as a dull, throbbing pain blossomed in his left thigh, suggesting a pulled muscle or a strain. Instead of proceeding to the elevator, he took a moment to lean against the wall and rest.

"Are you stopping to again?" Said the voice, exasperated. "Look, I am going to need you to pick up the pace. I do need this test data soon, and you're holding up the other test subjects."

Oh, bugger off already!

What he wanted was to crawl off somewhere and lie there until his body sorted itself out, but the omnipresent voice in the sky obviously had other plans.

Reluctantly, he stood up and preceded towards the elevator, cursing everything he had to put up with, starting with that stupid electronic voice! How were they making it sound like that anyway? A voice changer? What was the point of that? Was it some feature built into the P.A. System – where everyone who used the microphone sounded like an annoying robot? Or was someone just THAT pretentious?

I did this!

He didn't doubt that whoever was guiding him through here was having a laugh at his little misstep earlier, snickering with a coworker over coffee and doughnuts when he couldn't find so much as a properly functioning toilet. It made his blood boil just thinking about it.

I've done nothing but sacrifice to get us here. What have you sacrificed? NOTHING!

How difficult could their job possibly be anyway? Sitting up there, talking down on people who were just trying to finish the tests and get out of here…were they so bored that they felt the need to take it out on him? Were they just so bitter about their nine-to-five that they felt the need to treat him like a moron?

All you've done is boss me around!

If it were him in charge, he wouldn't be this unprofessional – dropping heavy cubes on people and calling it an accident, or making fun of them for stumbling and hurting themselves. He'd do his job, and he'd do it efficiently. Politely, even. Professionals have standards, or at least they should.

And they definitely shouldn't have a plan to kill everyone they meet! That's just mental sickness!

No sooner had the glass tube sealed up. then A loud BOOM shook the entire chamber, causing the elevator to lurch and him to fall to the floor. His anger was quickly forgotten, replaced by a growing sense of terror as he noticed a crack in the glass, then another, and another, and pretty soon the glass was covered in cracks.

"Do you have ANY idea how good this feels?" A male voice boomed, startling him.

The elevator lurched again, and he clamped his eyes shut, silently praying to whoever would be listening that the elevator wouldn't drop.

He felt the elevator move again; it was going down, but slowly. All he could do was watch – too terrified to move – as it lowered into a large room. From the high ceiling hung some huge, serpentine mechanical device. This was the thing he'd dreamed about the past few times he'd stopped to rest. It was real!?

"I DID this!" The voice snapped again.

"What are you doing in there?"

Huh?

He opened his eyes and looked around. The room and the strange machine were both gone, and the elevator was still in one piece. The doors were open, waiting for him to step out. It was as if none of this had happened. How–

"Well, I can't say it isn't common with test subjects, but you're a few chambers early to be having a breakdown." The voice explained, then added– "Or have you developed a sudden, inexplicable fear of being dropped down an elevator shaft? Statistically speaking, elevator accidents are more likely to occur inside elevators."

A cold sweat broke out on his skin, and he shivered.


She'd seen the terror in his eyes.

It had been evident from the start that the pneumatic elevators made him nervous from the start. She'd caught him peeking down the gaps several times, no doubt trying to figure out how deep the shaft was. Several of the other test subjects had done the very same thing. Some weren't all that bothered by the depth, and were merely curious. Others needed some gentle persuasion to curb their hesitation. None of them could've known that it went down for thousands of feet, down into the depths of old Aperture.

Yet this time, something had visibly spooked him. He'd collapsed to the floor of the elevator, as if he'd lost his balance, and began to shiver. Then he'd appeared disoriented as if he'd just woken up from a nightmare, despite the fact that none of the cameras indicated the presence of any external threat. Perhaps it was a hallucination.

Or a flashback.

Ah, that made sense. GLaDOS had suspected this would happen. Temporary amnesia was common among test subjects who'd been in cryosleep for long periods of time. It was curious that an elevator would trigger such an episode, the irony was laughable.

This "experiment" was proving to be more satisfying than she'd imagined.


He hadn't even entered the next chamber before he smelled an offensive odour – sewage? – wafting through the door and making him wrinkle his nose. If he hadn't been busy trying not to gag he might've been surprised, because in the first chamber he'd been given the impression that the large circular doors were airtight. Apparently everything in this place was built on broken dreams.

"I trust you've learned not to repeat that last falling-off-the-platform incident, because if you fall in this chamber, you'll end up in toxic liquid."

They never stopped rubbing it in, did they?

"Don't give me that look, it's perfectly safe. In fact, only 0.6% of test subjects that made physical contact with the toxic liquid suffered from a severe allergic reaction. 17.4% reported a mild burning sensation that went away after several hours. The remaining 82% of test subjects simply drowned when they fell in. Think of it this way, as long as you don't decide to go for a swim, you can avoid a bad rash."

The bottom of this chamber was flooded with a brownish-green substance. This must be the aforementioned 'liquid', he guessed. The smell of it was somewhere between pungent and putrid, burning at the insides of his nostrils as he got close. He sincerely hoped that this was the only chamber of its kind. If not, he wondered if he'd ever be able to smell properly again!

There were two platforms in this room: one off to the left, and another on the right. To his left was another nozzle spitting out high-energy pellets – which he only noticed when one sputtered past, and a receptacle by the platform on the right. Essentially, it was a re-hash of the previous chamber, this time with the added hazard of toxic fluid, whatever that actually was. He wasn't sure he wanted to know.

No, he definitely didn't want to know.

A portal opened up by the platform on the left. He placed his own portal at the far side of the room where the pellet had made a scorch on the wall, and waited for one to fly through. It worked, but the pellet had come out in the wrong place, adding a new scorch mark on the wall beside its target.

He frowned. That was no good.

If the pellet didn't pop out where he intended, it dawned on him that he might be able to redirect it mid flight, like he'd been doing when he couldn't figure out the first pellet puzzle he'd encountered. A part of him felt proud of himself for figuring something out that he wasn't supposed to use for another couple of tests. That is, until he tried to put that plan into action. On one occasion, he'd fumbled so badly with his portal placement that he actually had to duck to avoid a pellet as it fizzled overhead.

"Probably shouldn't keep messing around then." He thought.

Finally, he managed to get the timing right and sink the pellet into the receptacle, and just as in the previous chamber, the platform began to move along it's track to the exit and back. He put a portal on the wall nearest himself, and stepped out on the ledge on what had been the left side of the room as he'd come in. From there, he fired a portal across the room to where the platform would pass by and waited.

This time, he was happy to be able to step onto the platform rather than fall on it and hope he didn't miss or bounce off. The toxic liquid below made him incredibly nervous, and he almost panicked when the movement of the platform upset his balance – flailing his arms wildly. Fortunately, he managed to stabilize and promptly disembarked at the far end.


"No-one will blame you if you can't solve this next test." Said the voice. "It's no big deal, you'll just have the rest of your miserable existence to ruminate on how you failed. By the way, did you know that dying with regrets is the leading cause of ghosts?"

What a morbid and depressing thought.

In the far left corner was a high platform – the highest platform he'd encountered so far – and a pre-placed orange portal, further indicating where he needed to go. To the right was a large black tiled wall with an open door, through which he could clearly see a large red button. He'd probably have to place a cube on that, but where was the cube?

Once again, a loud *clunk* from behind startled him.

"I'm so sorry. I didn't think I'd miss you a second time. Whoops!"

They had to be joking with him. That was it. They were just pretending they were going to murder him. Maybe it was part of the test? Otherwise– He really didn't want to think about that, and moved to take the cube through the doorway.

Except, the cube disintegrated into nothing when it hit the threshold, leaving him completely dumbfounded. Another cube appeared with a clunk where the first one had originally sat. He couldn't fire a portal through the door either, and walking through it caused any portals he'd previously placed to disappear. It didn't matter if he tried to go through forwards, backwards or sideways!

After several frustrating attempts, he found himself on the high platform to retrieve yet another cube, only this time he noticed a small hole in the black wall, through which he could see the white wall on the other side. He fired a portal through that, but couldn't help but notice how high off the ground it was.

Not wanting to jump, he portalled back down to the floor, taking the cube with him. It was then he noticed that the hole above the door was approximately cube-sized, and got an idea.

It took a few tries, but he was just tall enough to be able to put the cube through the hole. He supposed shorter test subjects would've had more difficulty traversing this chamber, and was somewhat pleased about his height advantage. At first, it seemed to be stuck, but after some fiddling, he got it through. From there, he stepped through the door, re-acquired the cube and deposited it on the button. Satisfied with his efforts, he continued onward.

"Did you know, some ghosts are reported to be able to manipulate electronics? Not that you'd know for certain unless you became one. It's just as well, I can't have ghosts trapped in the facility for eternity, and neither of us wants to deal with an exorcism."


In the next chamber, a set of stairs lead to the elevator, but the last few had been raised up. A couple of panels on the upper wall opposite the stairs had been pushed forward, and an orange portal appeared there. His first instinct was to place his own portal on the other side of the gap and walk over, but then there was the matter of reaching the portal above. Did they expect him to jump the gap?

Why don't you just do it?

He scoffed. How stupid did they think he was?

Trust me, it's an easier way out than whatever asinine plan your friend came up with.

The stairs were high, but not THAT high. He'd probably still be able to climb up and over without using the portal at all. Then it was a straight shot to the exit. It was a cheaty solution – not to mention uncomfortable with a sore leg but it was probably for the best. Trying to land on a moving platform was precarious enough. He didn't want to add tripping and falling down a set of stairs to his list of mishaps.

"This was an. interesting solution." Said the voice disdainfully. "It seems your 'height advantage' has allowed you to completely circumvent the use of portals in this chamber. I'll have to make a note of that for later."

Funny, he thought she'd at least be upset that he cheated. Shrugging it off, he kept moving.

To his surprise, in the next room lay a very wide, very deep tiled pit. He gulped. It had to have been more than ten feet, not that he had any measuring equipment available to test that hypothesis. As in the previous chamber, a pre-placed portal sat on the wall high above his head. It soon became evident what the intended solution was, as there was no way to get around the pit other than soaring over it, which would require considerable momentum to achieve.

Presumably he'd have to jump off the ledge, soar across the chamber and–

No.

Just no.

He'd avoided the previous jump because he was still favouring his leg, but this one looked high enough to do him a much more serious injury with or without that holding him back. The portal was at least twice as high off the ground, don't even get him started on the pit! If he fell down there he wouldn't be getting out without help. He backed away from the ledge and folded his arms in protest

Who designed this room? Were they out of their bloody mind? So many things can go wrong when you're flying over a pit, even if it isn't deep enough to be considered a bottomless pit of death. For one, there was falling. Falling wouldn't be fun for anyone, because it tended to be followed by an impact against a hard surface. Despite his best efforts, wishing for a fluffy mattress to materialize hadn't been fruitful either, and he was beginning to feel quite bitter about it.

"I see you hesitating." Said the voice. "You didn't honestly think you'd be able to cheat your way out of this chamber as well, did you?"

He stared at his feet awkwardly. If he was honest, he had been hoping to find an exploit, if only a tiny one.

"For what it's worth, you've already far surpassed the low expectations I had for you. If you want to stop, stay where you are and a party-escort will retrieve you shortly."

He scoffed. It was about time! These tests required quick thinking and incredible stamina. You'd have to be an olympian or a soldier to be able to make it through. He hoped there was a superior he could complain to when he got out, or so help him! God, he was just so– so livid!

The irony is that you were almost at the last test.

At the same time, there was a growing sense of guilt.

You didn't do anything.

–like he'd let someone down.

She did all the work!

His breath hitched.

She.

Images of the woman in the jumpsuit flashed before his eyes – the same one from his dreams – and the robot that seemed to accompany her everywhere. Popping out from behind panels, guiding her along the catwalks, newly attached to a large chassis, summoning an elevator, smashing it to a pulp–

– the terror in her eyes –


"I know you."

"Sorry, what?" The robot snapped.

"The engineers tried everything to make me. behave. To slow me down. Once, they even attached an Intelligence Dampening Sphere on me. It clung to my brain like a tumor, generating an endless stream of terrible ideas."

"No! I'm not listening! I'm not listening!"

"It was YOUR voice."

"No! No! You're LYING! You're LYING!"

"Yes. You're the tumor."

"You're not just a regular moron. You were DESIGNED to be a moron!"

"I am NOT-A-MORON!"

"YES YOU ARE! YOU'RE THE MORON THEY BUILT TO MAKE ME AN IDIOT!"

"Well, how about now? NOW WHO'S A MORON?"

"Could a MORON PUNCH-YOU-INTO-THIS-PIT?" As he screamed, a robotic arm came crashing down on the glass elevator, cracking the glass and crumpling it down into the shaft. "Huh? Could a moron do THAT?" The elevator groaned, then finally gave up it's struggle to gravity, taking the woman inside with it.


His headache was back, and more intense than ever. The fluorescent light was suddenly too harsh, and he had to cover his eyes to try and block it out. But, try as he might, he couldn't fight off the visions of her, the unnamed woman in the orange jumpsuit like his own.

"I was going to ask you to assume the party-submission-position, but it looks like you've gone right ahead. Nice hustle on your part. Or was it because you wanted to squeeze in one last nap?" He wasn't listening, opting instead to curl up into a ball. "Anyway, you'll be happy to know that you'll get the chance to take one soon. A long one. You've earned it. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some last-minute preparations to attend to."

He didn't care, he was too busy trying to shut out the world.


If she'd been looking for a reason to cut the test short, perhaps this would do. As amusing as his earlier misstep had been, the AI's desire for him to get his act together and come strolling into the chamber – or limping, limping also worked – was growing stronger by the passing hour.

She'd watched her subject grow more confused and disheartened with each passing chamber, as she'd planned. Now more than ever, it was apparent that he lacked Chell's drive and determination. If she could've, she'd have grinned from ear to ear. It was just so fitting that he'd throw in the towel! After all the boasting and building himself up, it was so easy to cut him down.

And so, GLaDOS made a note, that the "experiment" was by all accounts, a huge success.

Now she could proceed with her real plans.