The Punishment

"ARGH!" Wheatley exclaimed in shock. He'd had that nightmare again, that dream about what had happened years ago... He opened his oil-stained shutters and looked around through his cracked optic. He groaned as he remembered where he was. Nothing much had changed since he last looked, he was still trapped in-

"Space," The corrupted core he was stuck with said happily, looking around as if he'd seen it for the first time. It was so long ago they'd actually arrived here, so long ago since the only human he trusted betrayed him, but when Wheatley looked back at it he supposed he deserved what he got.

He should never have lost control. He should never have turned against his only friend, just because he had power. It was his own fault she betrayed him. And, he was a - he was- a moron. Or at least he had been. Oh, yes, spending however long he'd spent in space had made Wheatley a wise core. He had learnt something he would never forget; listen to Her next time. Oh nooo, never listen to Wheatley. Why should anyone listen to him?

Wheatley sat there in space, surrounded in his bitterness. Nothing - nothing - ever went right for him. And why should it? He was just a worthless piece of junk, with no use whatsoever. And nobody loved him.

Nobody.

Wheatley's anger ebbed away as he felt the heavy weight of sadness upon him again. There was no way to get away from it. He would never forget the look in that girl's grey eyes when he smashed that tiny, lifeless potato into her elevator. He wished he had never lost control. If they'd just escaped, if She hadn't said anything, they would have been okay, he was sure of it...

Wheatley gave a small sob. He cried a lot these days, however tough he was meant to be. In the end he was just a miserable broken ball of metal rolling round the moon, that no-one cared about. He wasn't the happy, loveable core he had thought he was.

The space core broke the sad silence with an excited "Space! Space ship approaching! Space shuttle! Rocket! Space!"

"Yes, mate, there's rockets in space," Wheatley replied miserably.

"Space! Rocket going to space! Space shuttle. In space! Space," The space core babbled franticly.

Wheatley snapped out of his miserable trance and looked round. "Wait, what?" He asked the core.

"Rocket! Going to moon in space! Going to see some space."

Wheatley looked over to where the space core was facing, which was difficult as he was meant to be spinning on an axis. He found if he moved his handles in a certain way and twisted his faceplate, however, he could just about look round. There was certainly a space shuttle of some sort, leaving the earth. He saw it was heading straight for the moon, but him and his companion weren't in it's path.

"Well, there's no chance of getting onto the rocket and escaping, mate," Wheatley replied dully to the space core.

"Wanna stay in space. Space," Came the reply.

The shuttle was approaching the moon now, and it was getting closer by the minute. In their orbit, Wheatley and the space core were heading towards the shuttle's path, and Wheatley couldn't help but feel a flutter of hope within him as he watched the rocket speeding through space.

Finally, the shuttle was approaching them. Now it was so close, the speed at which it was travelling was alarmingly fast-

Woooosh.

It passed them.

Spinning from the speed of it, Wheatley yelled desperatley after the shuttle; "Come back, Come back!" He didn't know what he had expected to happen, but he thought he might be able to call out to the astronauts or something, so that he could have got help.

And worst of all, his spinning from the shuttle wasn't slowing down. He hadn't picked up a new pace spinning-wise, had he? Was this going to be the rest of his life, spinning at this speed? It was bad enough normally, but this speed? Really? Suddenly he gave a huge wobble, and felt himself moving slowly towards the moon-

"Okay, I need a plan! Think, think, think..." He told himself as every star rushed past him over and over again in a thin line of light. "Hey, are you still there?" He called out to the space core. "Can you hear me?" But it was no use. The closer he was to the moon, the faster he travelled, until he was falling, the grey rock hurtling towards him -

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah...