The Descent

By the time plans were laid for the descent into the Aperture facility the sun had fallen from its noon position to hide behind the horizon leaving the sky an ever darkening blue. Only Chell and the red head were unable to contribute. Of course, now that she actually wanted to talk to these people she couldn't. As it was she could only watch, listen, and nod when she agreed.

It was decided that Dr. Patel would remain with his patient while the others started the search for survivors and secrets. Hank collected a few more rifles from the wreck. Chell and the pilot took them when offered, but Ganesh refused to take one.

"I am a pacifist, and I will not kill the people I am here to help."

Hank just grunted and removed the weapon's ammo. "More for me then."

"Do remember that this is a rescue mission," Ganesh chided. "We ask questions before we shoot."

"They shot first." He clearly didn't appreciate the doctor's tone anymore than his opinion.

"Let's get moving," the pilot cut in before things could escalate. He diverted Hank's glare from the doctor as he pushed past the two and headed for the door. He didn't make it far as Hank grabbed his shoulder before he reached the entrance.

"Who put you in charge?" The question drew groans from both doctors and Chell (at least she could manage that). The same question had been raised in the planning phase three times, and the only reason the shouting matches died down was that Hank turned his attention to shouting at Patel for moving around too much.

"I don't care if you outrank me," Hank said before the pilot could raise the same argument he'd used three times before. "I have the most combat experience. I should be the point man."

Despite his earlier reluctance to argue with the soldier the pilot had grown bolder throughout the planning phase. Now, the gun in his hand seemed to affirm his confidence.

"You have the most combat experience because you've seen action twice against the Combine! I'm every bit as qualified to take point as you, and I'm less likely to shoot the first person I see in there."

"I have more experience because I was in the military. You didn't have any training before the Combine came. You were just a pilot for channel seven before-"

"I forgot how damn annoying you are!"

"Quiet!" Ganesh surprised everyone with his sudden assertion. "We are not accomplishing anything here. Chell will lead us through the facility. She has been here before, so she will know better where we are going." He looked back at Chell, a pleading look in his eyes.

She couldn't say no (even if she could speak). It was true that she'd been here before even if she'd never really been above ground. It wouldn't be too hard to lead them down, and it would prevent pointless arguing. She nodded.

With that the glares fell on her as she followed Ganesh's gesture for the door. She passed the threshold, careful to avoid brushing the still sparking control panel. The others followed with Hank pushing past a grumbling pilot after a quick jostle for the position and Ganesh bringing up the rear with a sigh.

Beyond the door was a dimly lit stairwell. As she took the first step of the descent Patel called after them, "Good luck!" He already sounded so far away. At the bottom of the first staircase was the source of the dim light: a glowing sign on the right wall. One arrow pointed down toward more stairs, another pointed at a door labeled ACCOUNTING, and a separate red arrow pointed back the way they had come.

"We should check each floor," Ganesh suggested from the back. "They could be anywhere after all."

His suggestion was met with a grunt from the pilot and a nod from Chell as she opened the door. It was darker beyond this door. A few orange computer screens illuminated desks and cubicles, but beyond that the floor was dark. They stepped into the room, three guns at the ready. While the others searched for signs of life or hostility, Ganesh searched the wall for a light switch. His efforts were met with a click that brought a brief smile to his face until he realized the lights were still out.

"What was that?" The switch flipping also caught Hank's attention. Chell wouldn't have been surprised to see him shoot the switch had the doctor not intervened.

"Relax. It is just the light switch," he said, flipping it a few more times. "But the power must be out."

"Then why are these computers still working, doc?" The pilot protested. He prodded one of the machines with his rifle. "They don't look like laptops."

"I assume they are running on emergency power," Ganesh replied. "If Patel's information is right, and it usually is, then Aperture's vital systems are designed to operate on as little as 1.1 volts."

"Apparently the lights don't fall under the 'vital' category at Aperture," The pilot muttered as he poked around one of the cubicles. They weren't making much progress. Chell was trying to think of a way to tell them that when Hank had his own idea.

"Hey! Anybody here?" He shouted, eliciting a cringe from Ganesh and a roll of the eyes from the pilot, but not a single response from the dark expanse of the room.

"Well, I guess we can just assume that there's nobody here. It's not like they'd be hiding for any reason. Or injured. This place seems peaceful enough, the distress call didn't hint at any kind of threat, and the welcoming committee definitely reinforced that image!" The pilot shouted.

Before Hank could retaliate, "We get it. We still have to search the floor, but it was worth a shot. Let's split up and-"

"I thought we were following the mute," the pilot grumbled. His foul mood was starting to irritate Chell. Maybe splitting up wouldn't be such a bad idea.

"Fair enough," Ganesh sighed. "What do you think?"

In the faint illumination of a nearby computer she nodded.

The pilot grunted. "Fine then. How do we do this, huh? A game of charades in the dark. Sounds great."

"It is not as though this requires much instruction. She could just hold up her fingers to show how many people go where. Or-"

Chell tuned out what the doctor was saying. There was an idea that was nagging at her that she just couldn't place. She wanted some way to communicate more specifically with everyone. She wanted to tell them what threats to expect from Aperture's security. She had to tell them how dangerous GLaDOS could be. She needed to tell them that any test subjects would be in the Enrichment Center underground. She had been trying to think of some way to communicate these things to them. Then it hit her. With so many computers giving off the only light in the room she should have thought of it sooner. She sat down at one of the desks and started typing.

An elbow from Hank brought the doctor's attention to an option he hadn't considered. He smiled sheepishly, not unlike Patel had earlier. "I suppose that is an option as well."

It had seemed like a reasonable way to communicate, but Chell quickly realized that the computer required some sort of password. The three men gathered around her realized this too.

"You wanna hit this one, too?" The pilot said to Hank.

"Thinking about it," he said, sounding a bit too serious for Chell's liking.

"Do you have any idea what it might be?" Ganesh inquired. Chell shrugged.

She thought she might be able to just use the password login to tell them what she wanted to say, but the letters came out as dots on the screen. She tried typing everything that came to mind: cjohnson, caroline, password, glados, combustiblelemons, she even tried typing out what she remembered of the turrets' song. Nothing worked. Finally she sighed and gave up.

Apparently this was Hank's cue to whack the computer, knocking it onto the floor. The pilot's "what the hell, man?" was met with a simple, "worth a shot."

Maybe she could just point at the keyboard. It would be difficult in the dark, but it would get her message across. She was about to get their attention when Ganesh shushed the other two. He pointed at the computer on the floor. The orange screen flickered once, then changed to show an image that was all too familiar to Chell. A single yellow circle lit up on the screen. The rest was white. She was the only one who recognized the close-up of GLaDOS. The others had no idea what they were seeing. Their confusion only increased when the computer spoke.

"Aperture Science Log mmddyyyy: A package arrived today from Nevada. A man in black dropped it off outside the main entrance. I sent a Party Escort Associate to collect it. There was a note attached. It said use this wisely. There is no wiser use for anything than Science. Testing will begin immediately."

The voice cut out and the image returned to the orange screen from before.

The four stood in silence for a moment, although Chell felt a burning desire to explain what they'd seen. Even if she didn't know what the package might be, she wanted to at least explain who had been speaking.

Then the pilot broke the silence. "Seriously? Do you solve all your problems with violence?"

"It works," was Hank's only response.

"Well, that was interesting, but perhaps we should focus again on how to communicate with our guide. We can come back to this odd message later."

Before Chell could bring everyone's attention to the keyboard, another voice came from the computer. This time it was the masculine voice of the PA system, and it came from every computer in the room.

"Attention. Unauthorized access to recording files is prohibited. Assuming Black Mesa protocol. Lethal force authorized to repel Black Mesa spies. If you are in fact an Aperture employee and you have simply forgotten your password, just type your password into the automated defense emergency deactivation terminal. In the case that you lack level 3 clearance, God help you."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Demanded the pilot. He got his answer when Hank tackled him to the ground.

"Down!"

A beep was their only warning. Chell realized what was happening then and pulled the doctor to the floor with her. She was reminded of her first time outside of the Test Chambers. She'd forgotten entirely about this threat.

As the pilot shouted obscenities, a projectile whizzed over the four and smashed into one of the cubicles. It exploded sending papers, desk parts, and bits of cubicle flying everywhere. The resulting boom drowned out the pilot's most recent exclamation and Ganesh's gasp.

"What was that!" The pilot practically screamed. "What the hell was that!"

"It sounded like a rocket," Ganesh said as another beep was followed shortly by a second exploding cubicle. Minced office supplies rained down on them.

"We've gotta get outta here!" The pilot shouted over a third explosion. He could barely be heard over the boom.

"If we crawl back the way we came we should be fine. Whatever is firing seems to be firing parallel to the ground."

"Good thinking, doc." Hank shouted. "I'll catch up with you three once I take care of this bastard."

"It's a machine, Hank!" Whatever protest the doctor might have had in mind went unheard by the soldier as he crawled toward the source of the rockets. Ganesh sighed. "Should we help him?"

"Let's just get outta here," the pilot suggested as another boom shook the room. "Hank can take care of himself. If he says he'll catch up with us he will."

The doctor sighed again. "Very well. Lead the way."

The three crawled for the door they'd come from. Just as they reached it there was a series of bangs that reminded Chell of the more common turrets. Then an explosion from further away in the room was met with a triumphant, "Ooh-rah!"

Hank walked into view shortly afterward, making his way over the remains of a smoldering cubicle and kicking half a computer out of his path. "What're you lying around for?" He asked the three of them. Let's move." He stepped over each of them and headed for the stairs going down.

"What about searching the rest of the floor?" Ganesh asked, jumping to his feet. Chell and the pilot followed.

"If no one came out to help us after that they deserve to get left behind."

"Makes sense to me," the pilot muttered and went after Hank.

"What about splitting up and-"

Before anyone could argue further, Chell cut in with a shake of the head. The doctor saw this and nodded.

"I suppose we should stick together then. No sense in putting ourselves in more danger."

As they went after the other two Chell pointed down. Not just down the stairs, but straight down. Ganesh pondered this for a moment, then said to the others, "I think she wants us to go to the main floor." She nodded.

"You don't wanna check for more death traps, doc?" the pilot asked sarcastically, to which Chell suppressed a groan. She'd had her fill of sarcasm.

"I believe there is something important on the ground floor that Chell wants us to find." Chell nodded again, although no one was looking this time. Hopefully there would be some way into the test chambers from above ground. There were elevators all over the Enrichment Center from what she remembered. At least one of them must lead to this building. How else would that robot have been able to drag her back into the relaxation chamber?

"Whatever, doc." Hank's voice was tinged with apathy. The pilot just grunted. These two were really starting to get on Chell's nerves. At least Hank had been helpful, but that didn't make his attitude any less irritating.

As they reached the next floor, a muffled beep and a boom that sounded more like a thud emanated from behind a closed door labeled TEST ANALYTICS. Similar noises echoed up the stair well.

"That's a good policy," the pilot griped. "Tired accountant forgets his password and you blow the whole place up. No wonder someone sent a distress signal. They probably caused this disaster themselves." The pilot had no idea how right he was. Chell knew Aperture had caused plenty of its own problems under Cave Johnson's lead and GLaDOS's guidance, and the time Wheatley was in control nearly lead to a nuclear meltdown. What had GLaDOS done now that she needed help?

The four kept moving past other doors on their way to the ground floor. Nothing eventful happened during their descent accompanied by the cacophony of explosions until they reached the second floor. There, the door blew off its hinges and a rocket flew into the stairwell. Luckily the group was still on the stairs leading down, but the explosion still shook them and sent the doctor tumbling down to rest near the door. He groaned slightly as he rose to his feet.

"You okay, doc?" the pilot asked as the others made their way to his position by the doorway.

"Fine," he replied weakly. "I have never had the best balance. I only bumped my head. I have hit it much harder before."

Hank lifted him to his feet. "Let's get moving before it aims at the door again."

The final leg of the descent brought them to a vast area with blue tiled floor and dead potted plants. Along the wall to their left were a few revolving doors; the massive 'r' was visible beyond them blocking the exits. The other side of the room was shrouded in complete darkness. A single secretary's desk across from the stairs was one of the few features of the room and the only light in the room came from the computer sitting there.

"I don't like this," Hank muttered. "It's too open. One of those auto turrets could pop up anywhere. They could be waiting on the dark side of the room for us to move where there's no cover."

The pilot nodded, but Ganesh's attention was elsewhere. Chell looked where he was looking. The pilot and Hank followed suit. The four of them stood thinking for a moment until Ganesh finally said, "Well that seems out of place."

Chell had to agree. She'd seen other graffiti in the test chambers, but this looked different. It seemed to be a chalk drawing of an arrow shaped like a lightning bolt. It was drawn across the front of the secretary's desk and it pointed off into the darkness.

"What do you suppose it means?" When Hank looked at the pilot like he was crazy, he got defensive. "Well it looks like a deliberately drawn sign. Aperture doesn't seem too big on aesthetics," he said, waving a hand toward the bare white walls. "So it must be there for a reason."

"I think you are right," Ganesh muttered, a hand stroking his chin. "This arrow is not a normal part of this facility's signage. Someone has drawn it here for the sake of directing us, or perhaps for the sake of other employees. Regardless, if my hunch is correct, then this sign may be pointing toward the fuse box or some other means of reactivating the electricity."

"Just because it's a lightning bolt, doc? That could mean anything." Hank wasn't assured.

"Either that is where the power is or it is warning of electrocution, and if it were the latter then why make it an arrow?" While the doctor had intended this statement to reassure his companions, the pilot now seemed put off by the possible threat of electrocution. "We should follow the arrow."

"I'm not so sure about that, doc," the pilot said.

"Seems like a trap to me," Hank said firmly. "Why should we blindly trust Aperture when their turrets have already tried to kill us twice?"

"If we do not find the power, we are just going to keep arguing here in the dark, and we will never find anyone," Ganesh protested.

"Sounds good to me. I say we forget about Aperture personnel and just worry about getting the hell out of here."

"Yeah, why should we give a damn about the people trying to kill us?"

"We could not leave even if the helicopter was not a smoking wreck. We must complete the mission assigned to us. Then we will worry about how to leave. And we have already been over the fact that Aperture's employees are not the ones trying to kill us. Perhaps the emergency is the fact that the automated systems are out of control."

"Well if the automated systems are out of control, maybe there's a reason the power's off, huh?"

Suddenly the three men found themselves blinking back tears. Chell had gotten tired of their bickering and slunk off in the direction the arrow pointed. At first it had been hard to see, but her eyes had adjusted to the darkness and she was able to follow the wall to a metal box at shoulder height. It, too, seemed out of place. There was some writing on it, but the letters didn't spell any words Chell knew. It probably just said high voltage. Chell shrugged and pulled the switch.

Hank was the quickest to recover, sweeping the room with his weapon ready to fire as soon as his sight returned. He could now see Chell where the room had initially been pitch black. Two other new developments were visible as well: The little metal box next to Chell and the larger metal rectangle embedded in the previously unseen wall.

Once Ganesh recovered, he found himself smiling despite the slight irritation in his eyes. He had hoped Chell would make the group's decision for them. She seemed more like the type who preferred action over words, though not just because she couldn't speak. As he surveyed the room, he saw the pilot wiping his eyes with his hands and Hank moving past Chell toward what looked like an elevator. Chell noticed this too, and the doctor could see a look of triumph mixed with something like reluctance. This must be their ticket to the missing employees in distress. He said as much to the pilot.

"I think we are another step closer to finding Aperture's missing personnel."

"I think we're another step closer to getting killed," was his grumbled response as he blinked his vision clear. "How do we know the elevator won't just drop us to our deaths?"

The sound of static filled their ears accompanied by muffled coughs. "Ten bucks says you all die." Another cough was cut off as Hank snatched up a radio from his belt.

"Fifty bucks says we live," he deadpanned.

"You're on!" The redhead was interrupted by another fit of coughs and then another voice took his place.

"The signal isn't very strong, but I thought you'd like to know our patient is stable," Patel said confidently. "We've been hearing a lot of noise from down stairs, so I figured I should check in on you, too. Mr. O'Neil's timely recovery is just a bonus."

Ganesh rushed over to the elevator and Hank relinquished the radio.

"Yes we are all fine. Even if the patient is conscious he should still rest. It's too dangerous to descend those stairs with the automated defense system online. You'll want to stay put until we return. We should be able to find some way to deactivate the turrets."

"What model are they?" Patel was off in his own little world again. "Are they the failed commercial line, or the-"

"Focus on the patient, Dr. Patel," Ganesh scolded. "Now, we have found an elevator which I assume will lead to some subterranean portion of the facility. Perhaps there is some sort of panic room and if so it serves to reason that there might also be some way to control the automated systems. If we find a way to shut them down we will. Until then, stay put, and see to it that the patient remains in stable condition."

Without waiting for a reply, Ganesh returned the radio to Hank. He was about to say something to Chell when the pilot asked, "If there's a way to deactivate the-"

"Only speculation on my part," Ganesh conceded. "If it keeps Patel from running into a rocket while we are gone, then that is good enough."

"So they're the rocket models! Very interesting. I thought they'd discontinued-"

"If it actually exists, even better. It would be reasonable, after all. Unfortunately I don't think reasonable is the norm at Aperture. Regardless," he turned to Chell. "Do you think it is likely that we will find survivors or whoever sent the distress call beneath the facility?"

She nodded with certainty. It was clear that there wasn't a doubt in her mind. The doctor accepted this with a nod of his own, reaffirmed by a grunt from the pilot, and pointed to the button that sat on the wall beside the elevator doors.

It appeared oddly out of place; a simple red button marked DOWN did not seem to belong in a place where high-tech lethal sentries guarded offices with rockets. Then again, the bizarre emergency power contingency and the assault-to-access password interface didn't really fit the image of a revered technological industry either. However strangely simple the thing might seem, it didn't really matter. After all, Ganesh mused, the simplest of actions could lead to quite complex situations.

Those were the thoughts that crossed Ganesh's mind as Chell pushed the little red button. With an almost instantaneous whoosh the doors opened and a transparent cylinder locked into place having risen from below. The cylinder's own doors slid apart to allow the four to enter.

"Here we go then," the pilot muttered. "Looks a bit cramped.

"You'd better have that fifty bucks ready for me when you hit the bottom," the redhead coughed.

"I'm not losing any more money to you today," Hank shot back into the radio.

The four shuffled into the waiting elevator a bit awkwardly. Chell had remembered the elevator being much more spacious when it was just her running through test course after test course. Something told her that the portal tests had not been designed to test four people simultaneously.

Somehow they all managed to squeeze in without crushing each other. Chell endured the pilot's complaining, Hank's stoic refusal to move once inside, and Ganesh's peculiar desire to make his way from the front to the back and around the entire car. Finally they all settled in with Chell at the front, the pilot and the doctor standing next to each other, and the soldier in the back. Once they were all settled in, Ganesh asked the question which he had been looking to answer.

"How do we make it close?"

His question was answered suddenly when the doors hissed closed and the cylinder dropped. It was falling at an alarming rate, but it was a controlled descent. The pilot was the last to realize this, and so he was the last one to stop screaming profanities.

The first was Ganesh, who seemed a bit shocked with himself. "Excuse me," was all he said after that.

Hank was the second, though he wasn't swearing for the same reason as the others. He wasn't screaming either. He just kept mumbling, "Damn, I can't afford this," until he realized that they were slowing down without hitting something solid first.

Chell, though she said nothing, was the third. She couldn't voice her thoughts, but they were her thoughts nonetheless. In her mind she was screaming. The sudden drop reminded her of her fall from GLaDOS's chamber. She hadn't been quite so scared at the time. Sure, there was a moment of brief terror when she'd thought I'm going to die, but then she remembered the portal gun and the long fall boots and she realized she would survive just as she'd survived every other pit fall, literal and figurative, that she'd faced.

This time there was no portal gun and there were no long fall boots. It was just her and gravity, and gravity was looking for payback after all the times she'd defied it. The worst part of this was that she couldn't think of a way out of it. Every other time she had managed to think quickly and take action to escape what would normally constitute imminent death. Now, despite all she'd been through, she was about to die in the place she'd only just escaped.

Except she didn't die. She realized as the doctor placed his hand on her shoulder that their fall was slowing gradually. She also realized she'd been cringing. She felt pathetic thinking back only a few moments ago. She took a deep breath and regained her composure. If she was going to be stuck here again, she would just have to remain as stoic as before. She wouldn't show any more signs of weakness, and she wouldn't give up like that again.

"Are you okay?" the doctor asked over the shouts that Hank was trying to muffle from the pilot. She just nodded, the fear in her eyes replaced by determination. Then the lift stopped.

It was rather abrupt and the whole car shook. Ganesh had to grab the pilot's shirt and Chell's shoulder to remain upright. As he embarrassedly apologized the doors slid open to reveal a round room. The wall was covered by darkened screens with the exception of a few that showed the black and white dots that accompanied the faint hum of static. The stairs that Chell knew led to one of the test chambers were dark as was the door beyond them. Stale air filtered into the car. It was tinged with a smell that made Chell feel queasy, though she didn't let it show. The pilot did with a grimace as did the doctor.

"Something's rotting down here," the pilot grunted. "Things just keep getting better."

A distant moaning caught the group's attention. It was followed by a muffled bang. Someone was knocking on the door.

The pilot and Hank eyed the room beyond the elevator warily while the doctor only patted Chell's shoulder. He smiled nervously.

"Ladies first."

To those of you who have set alerts for this story: First, I thank you. Second, I hope you're enjoying. Third, I apologize if my updates are not as frequent as you would like.