Updated: 3/7/13


Industrialization of 1942

Cave Johnson

(50 years earlier)

"At the young ages my life, all I wanted to do was profound the fabric of America. And how was I going to do that? With science! Experiments! Robots! And Explorations! (Along with a little bit of cash would do us well) Anyway, every single day people in the world are put to some sort of a test. Every damn day! Wither it's by their bosses, co-workers, family issues, whatever. All those are what I like to call personal problems. And we learn from those…most of the time. And you know what? That's what got us here today. By learning! So when that coal mine exploded in Michigan, I saw the perfect opportunity to conduct my very own tests on society. Just to see how far the human race could go. To see how well they would do. And to do that, we build this. The Aperture Science Enrichment Facility Center!"

Cheers erupted from the crowd of thousands. I felt as if a giant weight was lifted off my chest. I quickly checked my straight black hair and readjusted my bowtie on my shiny black tuxedo.

Most people would say that I am the "idol for the world" in 1942. I originated from a very wealthy family, due to my fathers 'expertise' which no one really knew about. I however, considered myself as a pioneer, a person who would stop at nothing to find the answers desired. To others, I could be seen as a madman. A person who wouldn't think for a second about any person's well-being, as long it was for science. This might be true, but the few that understood my passion for science knew otherwise. For some reason they practically worshiped me, and my ideas. I had won countless Nobel Prizes for work with the scientific community. Which in itself some people thought was an achievement for a person only in his early 30's. But nothing from the past even stood close for what I was in the process of making. And my most recent work.

"I present to you fine people…" I tried to project this hooker line as breath holding as possible, despite the fact my knees were perpetually shaking from anxiety.

"The Quantum Portal Tunneling Device!" In front of me was a light blue cloth that from the perfect angle would shade itself orange. As I pulled the cloth away, I revealed a round, white, blush gun. A symphony of "ooos" and "ahhhs" marinated from the crowd, as the gun sat upon a spinning round table. A cloth lay underneath the brilliant gun, similar to the one that originally concealed it. At the very tip of the gun were 3 prongs. These prongs were protruding from the outer edges of a large hole. This hole was glowing with a soft change of color from orange to blue, in contrast to the cloth that is under it. In the very back of the gun was a chamber for the user's forearm and trigger.

"This device is singlehandedly capable of making the testing much more efficient for everyone that takes part in our new facility."

A roar of clapping and cheers comes from the standing crowd before me. I stood on the stage, lights shining on my face. Just then a sudden feeling of warmth started to wash over me, symbolizing the presence of another person sharing the same moment. Now standing directly next to me, is my young assistant Caroline. She is just 26, but still highly pronounced in the scientific community for her work with me at Aperture Science. I always knew she was different. Not exactly in the 'innovator' type of way like I am, but something about her just seemed so perfect. Some others however, thought she was purely hired for her excellent looks. I always thought of those types of people as the insults to humanity, who are purely barbaric without any sense of social class. But I will admit that these are the same looks that may have…swayed the management's inspectors' results on the facility stability countless times in the past. But as always, that was certainly no matter that needed to be spoken of.

I started to come back into reality, realizing that both I and she were still standing on the stage. I saw that she had the brightest and most beautiful smile I had ever seen stretched across her face. It was starting to dawn on me just how gorgeous she really was. I mean… both her parents were successful actors, along with her mom being a supermodel in the mid 1920's. However just 2 years after Caroline's birth, both parents died from strange case of neurotoxin poisoning. It was said that the released gas came from beneath the "Earth's crust". Yet somehow, they were the only ones worldwide who were affected. It was now also dawning onto me that Caroline and I grew up quite differently. I ended up living my life with my parents mostly alive. They are both still alive today, but things would not be very different if they were dead. Due to my fathers' prominence, neither he nor my mother spent much time with me. I started to think back to all those years where I would sit alone with a birthday cake in front of me. The candles on the cake slowly burning away, parallel with my doubts on whether or not to continue with the forsaken journey of my life.

"This eventually led me to be the person I am today." I would tell myself, but I could never believe it. I truly did want to think that the coarsely stubborn, but confident person that thousands of people respect and follow is the effect of a troubled and self-reliant childhood. Some say that it may also explain my love for science. Even at a young age I really did enjoy learning, but there was no one to teach me. In result, I figured out that science was the only thing I could teach myself. It was constantly evolving and changing. And over the course of my life, I ended up trying to teach myself as good as possible. At the age of 12 I built my first computer, and by age 16 my first aircraft engine. But just three days after I turned 20 (over ten years ago) I created what is known today as the Aperture Science Laboratories. This was all part of my plan, my life-long goal to make improvements to society by using a famous quote "Keep moving forward". I put all the effort I had day and night into that saying. Sometimes I would lay awake all night, staring into the framed paintings on my walls. The paintings soothed me; the rich colors of the water on the sparkling lake gave me peace. I hold on that feeling everywhere I go. I just knew that someday everything will change. The drive to complete my goal was vicious. However there was one feeling I cannot deal with. It's a feeling of worry and contempt, that I've had my entire life.

Even while on stage, the same nagging sensation returns to me. I start to panic as my pulse rises, and the crowd slowly blackens around the edges of my vision. A small voice inside my head started speaking to me, from deep inside. She was repeating a certain phrase to me which I've heard many times before "This is the feeling that is later going to tear the quilt of the society that was once meant to be sewn". It can't be true….It can't be true.

Sorry for the update, the full chapter is on its way! (were still trying to get a team together to help us write this thing) I can Personally promise it by Monday, March 11. See you guys then!

Andrew,

TeamCudou