Wheatleys' eyes scanned the newest chamber She had sent him to as he tried to figure out what he had to do. He had placed the space core in the corner, promising to come back for him.
"When you have completed this very simple test. I have a surprise for you," Her voice echoed around the room.
"Like I'd believe that," he scowled, trying to focus on the task at hand.
There were two discouragement beams, one coming out of the wall and the other from the ceiling in front of him but he couldn't see any redirection cube. Somewhere ahead he could hear the sweet voice of a turret, asking him to go over to it.
"Sorry mate!" he called over to the dangerous A.I, "sort of busy over here right now. Right, I think I see what I have to do here. I just…" he shot an orange portal at a panel high on the wall and a blue one into the floor beneath where the laser would have to go. He smiled as the discouragement beam hit its mark, making the sensor spin with a musical tone. By the exit, set high up in the test chamber, a yellow tick appeared. The moving panels that would lift him up there still had a blue cross by their side.
He moved forward through the test, trying to ignore the growling coming from his stomach. He wasn't quite sure what that noise meant and it unnerved him somewhat.
"Concentrate," he told himself in a low murmur, "just get through this test."
He leant against the paneled wall, peering around the corner as carefully as he could. Down the hall he saw the redirection cube but still no turret. Smirking to himself he strode, as confidently as he could manage in his new body, the short distance to the cube. He saw the red sight a little too late, jumping past as the turret prepared to fire. He landed on his stomach, nose pressed against the cube he needed to complete this room.
"Are you still there? Hello?" The turret asked.
Wheatley pulled himself up and looked back to where he saw its red optic. It was sat behind a grate on the floor. He grabbed the cube with the portal gun and steadied himself.
"Now or never..!" He cried, leaping forwards past the little turret. He dashed back around to the remaining discouragement beam coming from the ceiling. He dropped the cube beneath it, the red light bending away from him.
"I'm on fire! It burns!" Cried the turret.
Wheatley winced for it, moving the cube a little so that the laser was no longer pointed at the A.I. But it exploded, sending the grate flying part of the way across the chamber.
"Ah, didn't mean to do that," he frowned, making his way over to where it had stood.
He crouched by the small space where its pieces still burned and peered inside. In bright red letters were the words 'this way' and an arrow pointing to the left. He glanced over his shoulder at the camera She watched him through, then turned back to the space. He crawled into it a little way, aware his feet poked out of the hole behind him, and touched the letters. They smeared under his fingers, leaving red marks on him. He frowned and looked left, to where the arrow directed him. It was a long crawl space with words scrawled here and there and, at its end, he could just make out the rails of a catwalk in the gloom.
Wheatley began to pull himself through the gap on his hands and knees. There was enough room for a smaller person to crouch perhaps but, being so tall, crawling was easier. He felt curious about what else was written along the walls and stopped to read each message. In some places the paint still dripped to the floor and that gave him the uneasy feeling that someone that wasn't GLaDOS had been watching him. Some of the messages made no sense to him, but mostly they seemed to direct him to the catwalk.
"Suckers luck. Like seeing only with no eyes… Escape, the cake is a lie. Already knew that mate, wouldn't want to eat it anyway. Do you know what She puts in it? Erm, another big arrow," he muttered as he crawled along, reading each word aloud as he passed them.
It didn't take him long to reach the catwalk but, because he wasn't paying attention to where he was going, he only noticed when he fell onto it with a loud clang.
"Ow," he muttered, pulling himself up and trying to brush grime from himself.
Wheatley looked back up to the small space he had just climbed through and saw the arm of the back of a panel there instead of a hole. The way back now completely gone.
"Erm, left.. Er.. What's his name back there. Guess he'll be alright though," he frowned, tightening his grip on the portal gun as he thought of the space core sat alone in that chamber, "yeah. I'm sure he'll be fine. But, what do I do now?"
He looked for another symbol or sign written on anything nearby. He shook his head a little when he realized he was stood between test chambers, facing nothing but the long catwalk and the arms of panels on each side.
"Well, guess there's only one way to go," he sighed a little, bouncing on the heels of his long-fall boots as he began walking down the metal pathway.
"Hello? Where are you? I know you're here, I can feel you there," Her voice echoed somewhere in the distance and Wheatley felt panic rush through his body. He began to run.
"Not here luv! Please don't kill me, please don't…"
"Moron, I can hear you," Her voice cut him off, sounding much closer than before.
"Still not a moron! And you are not going to trick me lady! I'm going to get out of this damned place, but I'm not going back to space. Oh no, tricks are not going to work for little Wheatley!"
The metal of the catwalk rang out with each long stride he took. He was surprised at how little concentration he needed for running. As long as he didn't think too much about it. He stumbled as his mind started to focus on running, managing to catch himself before he fell face first onto the metal below him.
"I am going to kill you," She said with anger rising in Her voice. The chambers on either side of him began to move. That gave him the nasty feeling of dejavu.
"I'm not listening luv!" he cried out, forcing his legs to stop shaking and start moving again.
The arms of those panels were uncomfortably close and, in blind panic, he bolted the last few feet of the catwalk. At the end a red arrow pointed upwards from a panel covered in drying conversion gel. He followed its point, tilting his head and spotting more of the white conversion gel painted on a wall high above. He couldn't see where he would end up but, with the chambers destroying the catwalk behind him, he didn't have the time to think about it. He pointed the ASHPD up and shot an orange portal at that patch of white. Then a blue one at the arrow in front of him, relief flooded him as the portals placed themselves with no problems. Without a glance back he jumped through the blue gateway. The walkway behind him being crushed as the two test chambers slammed into each other loudly.
He landed on his feet, much to his surprise, just under the orange portal. Far ahead of him, above the shifting chambers and abyss below, he could see another white patch. It seemed to hover above nothing but, with the catwalks destroyed and no where else to go he didn't have much choice. Wheatley shot a blue gateway at it and leapt through the orange portal behind him. He landed with a crash on yet another walkway, the blue portal a few feet above him. The catwalk led to walls on each side of him but under the blue entrance stood a simple, grey office door. He tugged at the handle hopefully and gulped back relief as it opened.
"No where else to go," he muttered, cautiously entering.
He found himself in a hallway. The walls and floor covered in a thin layer of dust. Some had been disturbed on the floor into another arrow.
"Ran out of red paint mate?" He muttered to no one, as he carefully closed the door behind him.
Wheatley moved carefully down the corridor, peering through the glass windows he passed by. Inside each small office projectors still shone their images against white boards, the tables and chairs long abandoned.
Now he was away from testing he had a moment to think over everything that had happened to him. For a start him being in this tall human body just so that GLaDOS could continue human testing. At first coming back from space had been enough of a shock to him, but being a smelly human easily topped that. He'd been quite proud of himself at completing the first few chambers, even while still learning how to move around without tripping. Secondly he couldn't believe he was actually escaping. He would have laughed at the prospect, but even the word alone brought a strange, heavy pain into his heart. Even now he wished he had kept his promise to Chell and had just helped her instead of betraying her and trying to murder her. He shook his head, feeling disgusted at himself for being that cruel to his only friend. His stomach growled again and he winced as a growling pain rose up in it.
"That can't be a good sound," he muttered, " doesn't sound very nice and hurts a bit," he rubbed at his stomach and looked down at his orange jumpsuit a little worried.
His mouth began to feel dry and, in the stale air, he began to cough. Each rasp sent his new heart thudding in fear and water began to sting at his eyes. He tried talking to himself to calm his nerves but each time he even tried to pass a single syllable his throat ached and he just coughed even more. He staggered down the hall, his free hand clamped over his mouth as he wheezed and gasped. Wheatley knew he was going to die here, his weak human body was giving up on him. He pushed his back against the wall and slid down its length, drawing his knees up to his chest as he continued spluttering into his hand. Beneath the racket he was making he was almost certain he heard a door opening nearby.
Wheatley leapt up, even more panicked now. He really felt like a moron for letting his guard down, even for a few seconds. Turning on his heels he bolted down the hallway, away from where he had heard the door. The shock at almost being caught seemed to give new life to his body. The uncomfortable growling in his stomach stopped as did that horrible sensation in his throat. He bolted as fast as he could and saw an open door to his right. He leapt through it, closing the door quietly behind him as his heart seemed to try escaping past his ribs. He leant against the door and tried to steady his breathing. The room was simple. Four walls with a long table at its center, apart from that and Wheatley it was empty. He had cornered himself. Maybe he really was a moron.
Outside, in the corridor, he heard the tell-tale tapping of two sets of feet. His mind raced as he imagined the co-operative testing robots again searching for him. They had probably been sent by Her and he would be dragged back to Her chamber, most likely to be killed. Wheatley squeezed his eyes shut, hoping the incredibly loud sound of his heart would not give him away.