Meanwhile…

"WEEEEEE! I'm in SPACE!" Space Core shouted gleefully. A fairly small meteor hit the side of his frame, making him spin in a circle. Of course, he was having the time of his life just spinning in the infinite void.

"The space cops will come soon! They'll have SPACE BADGES!" he shouted to the stars. Well, they were all a blur at the moment, due to the spinning. Another rock hit the other side of his frame with enough force to counter the first spin.

"Awe, I wanted to keep spinning in SPACE!" he yelled dejectedly. There was so much to see, so much to do…but no way to do it all.

It had taken a while for the facts to slip through his otherwise thick mind. The truth was, he couldn't really move from beyond the moon's gravitational field. He had no rockets, no space equipment, and worst of all, no way to contact the space cops!

"Daddy would be so proud of me." That is, if "Daddy" was there with him. Space Core was finally beginning to understand all the senseless babbling that other core did. From his position, there really wasn't much to see, maybe a supernova from a galaxy far, far away if he was lucky.

It did get a bit lonelier now that the other one was gone. At least back then, he could listen to something else besides his inner circuitry telling him to be happy. Space Core knew that there was something wrong with him, but what? Wasn't he made to love space? Wasn't that his directive?

For a place so amazing and so vast, it really wasn't that cool without anybody else to share it with.

Somehow, a wire managed to realign itself with the rest of the circuit board, completely obliterating any other insightful thoughts.

Space Core blinked for a second. What had it been thinking about before? Oh well, it wasn't important now. He looked towards Earth, marveling the view from his perch past the atmosphere. Earth was nice…

"I'm in SPACE!"

But space was nicer.

A/N: That was for all of you who wanted a bit of the Space Core. As you can tell, Space Core is pretty happy…with a bit of underlying depression. My theory is that the more insane characters often have a larger story to tell, something beyond (Black Mesa) random outbursts, hence why this little interlude is slightly angst-y about loneliness, isolation, and all that good stuff. Come to think of it, Portal is a rather depressing game. Think about the lyrics from "Want You Gone."

"You want your freedom? Take it, that's what I counted on. I used to want you dead, but now I only want you gone."- She's letting you go and she knows that you want to go. For any human, that takes a great deal of emotional control. I know this is GLaDOS singing, but it's still a deep subject. It's like letting go of your pet that you've loved for years, but it moved on.

"One day, they woke me up so I could live forever, too bad the very same will never happen to you."- GLaDOS is alone in the facility, outliving any potential friend that comes along. I mean, the cores made their own microcosms and the turrets don't make the best company in the world (except Oracle Turret).

"You've got your short sad life left. That's what I'm counting on. I'll let you get right to it, now I only want you gone."- You've got one life, make the best of it. That one makes me feel really depressed.

"Goodbye my only friend. Oh, did you think I meant you? That would be funny if it weren't so sad."- You just KNOW she's going to miss you in some way. Of course, she'd never admit that so she turned it into a joke. GLaDOS is right, it would be funny if it weren't such a sad concept to grip.

"Though you have been replaced, I don't need anyone now. If I delete you, maybe I'll stop feeling so bad."- I guess Caroline replaced Chell in some way. GLaDOS is trying to prove that she can function perfectly well without human interaction, but there's still something missing. She can't pinpoint it because she's not familiar with what it feels like to be lonely. The logical answer: delete any memories of you to discard of unwanted emotions.

See? That song made me feel so terrible for both GLaDOS and Wheatley. GLaDOS is alone in the facility (before the Co-Op campaign) and Wheatley is alone with his guilt…with the Space Core. Sorry I took the space to do that, I was thinking about it today and decided to analyze "Want You Gone." I managed to get myself thoroughly depressed for about an hour. Then someone came up to me and said, "PotaDOS." How can you stay sad when you here that?

Anyway, I'm also using this "not-quite-chapter" chapter to address some of the reviews I got. Yes, I do read all of my reviews and I do take into account everything that you say. I've responded to quite a few of them, but I can't PM Anons and I ran out of time to PM some of the signed ones. So, for those of you uninterested in what I have to say to random reviewers, wait a day or two for the next chapter. I procrastinated on a few things and I need to get them sorted out. Ok, I'm only replying to the ones from Chapter 7 and a few anons from Chapter 6.

Trackshot: I'm glad you picked up on the transition. There's going to be another chapter with a mix of "he" and "it" until…well, you'll see. B-but I love cookies. I can't ju-wait, you've got Stephen Merchant? YES! *hugs Steve* Take that Gervais! Someone did happily hug a writer! Besides, that's the kind of job I want.

Vera Berry: Wow, thanks a bunch! That makes me feel all happy inside…despite being surrounded by turrets and computers who want to steal my cake.

Yumi: That means I'm doing something right! Keep on reading then, I don't mind. Just, remember to eat and stuff. You know, cookies are yummy.

AnimalHART: I'm glad you're enjoying the story so much! :) Portal 3 like this? No, Valve wouldn't do something quite like this…they'd do something much more thought-out and something that could actually fit into the Half Life universe. I did hear about a top-secret project that the Portal team is working on. It's been shoved aside for Portal 2, but it may reappear. I heard it has nothing to do with solving puzzles with portals though.

Wolf: I have a reputation of making fast-paced stories. Since I'm mainly a Zim writer, I usually make my stories fast to fit that style of storytelling. I'm glad you're enjoying it and keeping your hair. I try not to use "I *something*" too much since it gets repetitive and it doesn't flow. Yes! Another IZ fan! Thanks for your review!

Nicole: Ha, but she came back. And are you who I think you are? If you aren't, then I'm sorry for sounding really stalker-ish and weird.

PC: That's what I'm still trying to wrap my mind around! I mean, 153 reviews is insanity to me! It's really hard for me to believe that I'm actually seeing that many right next to a story I wrote. It's weird in a good way.

WIN(etc.): Awe, thanks. No, I'm not planning on a Gordon v. Chell as kick ass as that is. It's a cool idea though, but it doesn't really have a good place to go in this story, especially since I'm not trying to involve the main characters of Half Life. I don't play the game, so I don't want to get anybody wrong.

Mrawgirl09: Caroline's still in there too, that's a pretty big part of the story. The next chapter…let's just say some interesting conversations go on between Wheatley and GLaDOS. Maybe a paradox or two, but that would be a pretty bad move on Wheatley's part since GLaDOS is repairing him. No, Wheatley didn't black out, he just had very little power to run on so he didn't bother moving.

Amber: :) That just makes me even more awesome than I already am! No, I'm just kidding. Yeah, now they're on better terms…but Chell's still kind of wary around him. That'll change in a few chapters though. Ooh, foreshadowing!

Cave Johnson: Oh crap, you have the combustible lemons? So that's where that burning smell is coming from…SAVE THE LAPTOP! Also, aren't you supposed to be dead? You know, mercury poisoning and all. No? Well, anything's possible in Portal, especially since you can shoot a portal to the moon within a few seconds and actually have it find a solid place to land.

Anonymous: Wait, really? Well, that's why this is an AU story. *chuckles nervously* I probably should have done a bit of Half Life research BEFORE I started this whole thing, but for now they've still got their facility. Besides, that's a huge part of the climax. I'm still figuring out the ending.

Thanks for the reviews everyone! I'll be taking a short break again (I need to nail GLaDOS) and I'll be back soon! Oh damn, I have to memorize three verses of a German song. Well, see ya!