They spent the rest of that day testing more repulsion gel and propulsion gel. There were rumours circulating that there was a new gel being researched and manufactured. This intrigued most of the test subjects.
'What do you think it might be?' Chell asked, looking around. She had been persuaded by the other three to forget about the turret incident, and Chell found herself inclining to forget it as well- but she knew she couldn't. It had been far too real to forget.
'It could be bomb gel,' Nelson shrugged. 'You know, blowing things up.'
'I don't think so,' Thana said, slowly. 'They wouldn't want to arm us test subjects with explosives. God knows what we might do with it.'
Chell felt something ignite inside her. Explosives. I'd break out of here.
'You gonna eat that?' Nelson asked Chell, pointing at the box beside her pod.
'I am now,' Chell said, taking a deep breath.
She opened the box, wondering what she might find inside. There were two breaded fish fingers and exactly six circular pieces of carrots- not to mention the three grapes and another pill.
Suddenly, Chell felt extremely hungry. Without thinking, she stuffed the fish fingers into her mouth and took three carrots at a time, throwing in some squishy grapes for good measure. When she had finished, she quickly drank the water and took the pill, at the same time as thinking if she'd even not have it.
The clock hand was quickly approaching the blue section. Chell gave it another glance and decided to do something she hadn't done for a long time.
'What are you doing?' Thana asked, as she watched Chell remove her boots. 'You know, we're not supposed to do that.'
'These boots,' Chell said, defiantly, 'are giving me hell.'
She unlatched the clips and slid them off. They came off easily enough, and Chell bent over to place them beside the table. As she did, she noticed something etched into the ground under the pod.
Carefully, Chell took the time to run her hands over the floor. As it passed over the black marking, it fell into a kind of groove from where the scratches dug into the ground.
'Are you OK?' Thana called.
'I'm fine,' Chell told her. 'I just …'
'Just what?'
Chell didn't reply. Instead she stared at the black marking, trying to make sense of it.
G37 0vT z0M
What does it mean? What is it code for?
Then she realised. And as she did, her stomach tightened. Suddenly, those grapes were taking their toll on her.
It wasn't a code. It read: GET OUT NOW.
But that wasn't what worried her.
It was her handwriting.
But she didn't remember writing it.
Chell awoke with a gasp, banging her head on the glass painfully. Well, that woke her up proper.
It was the same old dream. The one where she was in the park and could faintly see her father, with the Sun shining behind him. They would hug and play catch, but then the ball would turn into a potato. She would look down at it, and then suddenly the scene would change. They would be at Aperture, where he had brought her in on his workday. She would sit at a workshop and write about her potato experiment, but then everything would darken, and she would be all alone.
Chell knew her father didn't leave her purposely. He was out there, alive, breathing, thinking of her. Yeah right. It was what she wanted to believe. But deep down, where the truth really stung, she knew- felt, even, that he wasn't coming back. Recently, these dreams were becoming more frequent, and the Sun was getting brighter each time. Her father would become more and more distance each time she saw him.
She closed her eyes and made a quick prayer, wishing her father the best, wherever he was.
The glass suddenly retracted and she got up, raising herself against the blue fabric. As she reached down beside the table to grab her boots, she instead grabbed air. They're not there.
Quickly, she looked down to her feet. She was already wearing her boots. 'I took them off,' Chell exclaimed. 'I saw! You saw!'
'I guess,' Thana yawned, stretching her arms.
Thinking quickly back to yesterday, Chell dropped to the ground, looking between the table and pod again. The message was still there, hidden from sight. She gulped, letting her worries take over for a moment.
Only for a moment.
Before long she snapped back to herself. I'll find out the truth, she thought, determinedly. Whoever wrote this message wants me to get out. Who?
Still thinking furiously, she ate some food and drank the water, slipping the pill down as well.
'Come on Chell,' Thana said, as the door opened.
'Right,' she replied, following Thana into the hallway.
They joined the flow and before long they made it to the boxes where the Portal Guns had been arranged. Chell chose one and pushed her right hand into it. Thana did the same.
Together they set off towards the platform where the scientists would read out the rooms and what testing they would be doing.
Since the scientists were always about five minutes late, this gave them some time to talk to each other. But this morning was different to the others. It soon became apparent that something was wrong.
A fight had broken out between two of the boys, and a ring of test subjects had surrounded them, almost encouraging them to fight. For the majority of them, this was the entertainment that Aperture had so little of.
'What's going on?' Chell asked, as she joined Flynn, who was watching with a look of concern.
'It started out as an arm wrestling match,' Flynn explained. 'But ol' Bill Reeves started accusing Harry of cheating. Things escalated pretty quickly and then into this.'
'It's silly,' Chell remarked.
'They're probably just really tired,' Flynn shrugged.
'Tired? We get the same sleep as them, and look at us.'
'Not that kind of tired,' Thana said, joining them both. 'Tired as in grumpy tired. It's the same for all of us. We wake up, we test and we go to sleep. Day in, day out, the same- all the time. It's driving some of us insane.'
'Hey guys,' Nelson said, calmly. He pushed through the ring and approached the two boys who were getting at each other in a crazy rugby tackle. 'Break it up.'
'Only if he does it first,' Harry snarled, pushing harder.
'I ain't apologising for your problem!' Bill yelled back, matching Harry's force.
'Guys!' Nelson said, raising his voice. 'I said, stop it!' With that, he prised his hands between the two of them, who had locked horns neck and neck. With brute force, Nelson easily pushed them apart, stepping into the gap he had created to stop them getting at each other. With a final push, he managed to shove each of them in opposite directions. They both clashed against the ring of test subjects, which broke at either side from Nelson's force.
The pulsating ambience died down and all adrenaline drained from the crowd, including the two boys. Suddenly, they felt exhausted.
'Thank you for that, Mr DeFalco,' a scientist said- Harkins. He had appeared from nowhere and no doubt had been watching. 'If someone could please escort these two young men to Sector CSV, then that would be perfect.'
Two volunteer scientists stepped forwards and took hold of Harry and Bill, leading them away through a door at the back of the room. A moment ago, their face had been full of rage and anger. Now it had been replaced with fear.
'What's Sector CSV?' Chell quietly asked Flynn.
'No idea,' he replied, flatly. 'I know about as much as you do.'
As Harkins took to the elevated platform, more scientists began to pile into the room, each holding a clipboard. The usual reading process began again, and started at 1R- the number representing the amount of doors up, and the letter was either R or L, for right or left.
'Room 3L,' Kelly called out.
Chell and the other three separated themselves from the crowd and joined Kelly upfront. She was much more organised today, and in a direct fashion, led them to the door where she expertly swiped her card over the box. It read the details the first time round and let them through.
'You again?' Nelson asked, as soon as the door shut. 'We don't get the same scientist two days in a row.'
'I'm new,' Kelly said, walking onwards, carefully inspecting each door. 'I get a permanent group … for now.'
'Kelly,' Chell said, slowly. 'What's Sector CSV?'
'I wouldn't know,' the scientist replied, looking at her clipboard and then to Chell. 'I've never had a reason to go there … so I'm not allowed to be there.'
They came to a halt.
'Here we are,' Kelly nodded. 'It's paired testing for you four today. Chell, you're testing with Thana, if that's alright.'
'It's fine,' Chell said, smiling at her friend.
'OK then, off you pop.'
Thana and Chell opened the door and walked along the bridge, through the emancipation grille and into the lift.
It was time to start testing.
Testing Status: In Progress | Percentage Complete: 86%
'No, no!' Chell shouted, frantically, pointing at a button half way across the room. 'Over there!'
They were on their last test, and this was proving to be tougher than the rest. They had been separated, with Chell on the platform connecting to the exit and Thana left stranded on the other side.
There was a massive wall of laser in the middle of the room which would incinerate skin at the first contact, so flinging over was out of the question. There were no portal panels on Chell's side, so Thana couldn't simply portal over. There was a solution, but Chell could barely see anything through the lasers, which were immensely red and bright. She could, however just about see the button. And it needed to be pressed.
Unfortunately, Thana was too far away to hear her.
'Hang on!' Thana shouted, looking around wildly. 'I think I can see a way out. Bear with me!'
Chell casually wandered to the exit. It was locked, and would remain so until both subjects were in front of the door. In the corner of the room were several panels. They had been disconnected from the wall and left leaning against the steel caging. Chell could see a thick flow of wires bulging behind the caging, which had a circular hole cut out of it. A black rubber handle stuck out of the wires.
She gripped her hand around it and tugged. The item fell loose with the wires and Chell took it out, holding it to the light to see what it was. It was a hammer. An engineer must have been trying to make repairs but clearly gave up.
Without hesitation she stuffed it into her jumpsuit.
Inside her head, a voice scolded her. What do you think you're doing? Put that back right where you found it!
Not a chance, buster, Chell thought back. I'm going to get to the bottom of some mysteries, and this will be very handy.
'Ouch!' she heard Thana wince.
'Thana,' Chell shouted. 'Are you alright back there?'
'I'm good,' her friend called back. 'This ought to do it.'
There was the sound of a button being pushed and suddenly, the laser wall vanished. Out of the speakers, a ticking noise began.
Moments later, Thana was soaring through the air and safely through the danger zone, but only just- as the laser wall reactivated just as she passed through it, nearly frying off her leg.
'Good work,' Chell commented, as she ran to Thana, who was lying on the ground exhausted.
'I'll say,' her friend said, wearily. She accepted Chell's hand and was pulled to her feet. 'I think I've sprained my ankle … badly,' she grimaced.
'Lean on me,' Chell offered.
'Thanks,' Thana flinched, as she put some weight on Chell.
Steadily, they moved to the exit, with Thana limping and Chell keeping her balanced. The door recognised their presence and swiftly opened for them. It was slow and painful work, but they made it across the catwalk and into the lift, where they took a breather and some time to catch their strength.
'I appreciate that,' Thana said, breathing deeply, but giving a small smile.
'It's fine, honestly,' Chell told her. 'I know you would have done the same for me.'
The elevator came to a halt and promptly, the doors slid open. Kelly was already waiting for them.
'Hello,' she beamed. 'How was it?'
'Fun,' Thana said, making a face, 'but painful.'
'Good testing, you two. Now you two ought to go and get some well deserved rest- go on, off you go.'
Thankfully, Chell and Thana moved along the hallway, passing uncountable amounts of scientists and engineers. The lobby was no better. It was mainly full with test subjects.
This was one of the only times test subjects could mingle with each other and converse with subjects from other rooms. Some others liked to read the newspapers, and as for the TV, well, it mainly displayed Aperture-related things. In the corner of the room was a robot that served coffee. It was a new addition to the room, along with several posters of how 'Karla the Complainer' complained that her new boss was a robot.
Robots, thought Chell. She didn't quite yet know what to make of them.
There was another poster which showed a female scientist holding hands with a robot. The caption read: 'Let's work together'.
Not many of test subjects approached the robot for coffee. Doubtless to say, it probably scared them. It didn't frighten Chell. But she couldn't help feel uneasy. The scientists and engineers were more accustomed to being around robots, and had no trouble walking up to it to get a drink.
'Can we head to our room?' Thana asked, weakly.
'Sure thing,' Chell nodded.
They removed their Portal Guns from their hands and posted them through the tube. That done, they walked through the metal door and then another until they were finally in their room.
Nelson and Flynn were already in there, chatting enthusiastically about their tests.
'You should see me man,' Nelson drawled. 'Those turrets didn't see it coming, I tell ya.'
'I bet,' Flynn replied, stifling a laugh.
Thana let go of Chell and staggered to her pod, and collapsed onto it thankfully.
'Someone's tired,' Flynn commented.
'Understatement of the year,' Thana sighed, reaching for her box.
Chell dropped onto her own pod, where she mulled over the day's events. As she sat up, something dug into her stomach. The hammer.
Thankfully, it hadn't been fizzled by the grilles. It makes sense, Chell thought. Engineers needed to take their equipment everywhere to keep the test chambers in a constant state of workability, so the emancipators had probably been configured to let the tools pass through.
Chell suddenly wondered what she was going to do with it. Hammers were made to hit. What am I going to hit? Then a flash of inspiration washed over her. She almost choked on the thought.
It was crazy. It was dangerous. She had no idea what might happen. But for once in an extremely long time, she felt more alive than ever. And she loved it.
'Are you okay?' Thana asked.
Never been better, Chell thought. But instead she said, 'I'm alright. How's the ankle?'
'It'll get better tonight,' Thana shrugged.
Always does. And I am going to find out why.
'Well,' Nelson yawned, as the lights began to dim. 'Goodnight you lot.'
One by one, they slipped into their pods properly, getting comfortable.
Once under, Chell thought things over again. Should I do it?
The glass hissed and slid to seal her inside. Chell gripped the handle of the hammer tighter.
Come on, Chell thought. Do it.
Suddenly, a vision of her standing on a high platform entered her mind. She had felt the same way when she was wondering whether to jump or not.
She had hesitated and that had nearly killed her.
'I'm not going to make the same mistake twice,' she murmured, as she felt her grip of the hammer increase again.
Chell raised the hammer up to her face. 'To freedom,' she whispered, as she brought the hammer up to the glass.