(I apologise for the long gap between updates. I haven't had the time to double-check my writing, let alone upload it. Very sorry. I'm uploading two chapters today to try and make up for it, and hopefully things should return to normal now.)
The Informant!
Chell carefully stepped behind the crackling discouragement beam and dropped the redirection cube into its path. She angled it until the red beam was perfectly aligned with the row of relays before placing her portals so that the laser hit the receptacle on the ceiling. A burst of sound from the machinery broke the silence, as if cheering for her victory over the test. With a sigh, she headed for the open door.
During her initial testing, she had felt like celebrating after every completed chamber; this time, however, she felt somewhat hollow. The solutions to these puzzles seemed almost laughably obvious, and she was craving a halfway decent challenge. It was almost like they were in a rush to get her somewhere.
Looking up, she peered into the next chamber. There was a yard of corridor before it opened up into a room the size of a modest garage. Her pace lessened as she caught sight of the thin cross-hatching lines of scarlet in the air. Although she had not personally encountered them before, she recognized them from the pamphlet of testing elements the facility had provided her with.
"Turrets," she said. The word had barely left her lips when the beams swiveled towards her, creating pinpoints of light that resembled splattered blood at her feet.
"Ooh, who's there?" they chorused, their voices high-pitched and childish. Chell stumbled back. She pressed her free hand tightly over her head, preparing herself for the storm of bullets.
A minute later, and still nothing had happened.
Lowering her arm and pointing the nozzle of the portal device forward, she crawled closer to the open area.
Turrets, standing in rows like choir singers, lined the left and right walls. Their beams focused on her as she cautiously stood up. She walked to the middle of the room, palms sweating so much that it was a struggle to keep a grip on the device.
A panel slid over the entrance she had come from, followed by a hiss and a crackle, similar to radio static. A gargled noise like a faulty cassette filled the room, gradually clearing into a man's voice.
"Good morning, tester," he said, words barely audible above the disturbance.
"Um, good morning?" Chell called out.
"Please do not be alarmed. The enrichment center is experiencing some technical difficulties. Things should return to normal in approximately an hour. I'm afraid we have no control over the test chambers, so please proceed carefully. We're trying to get you out of there. Try and find a safe spot for now."
"Are you a test associate?" she said, shouting at the top of her voice.
"There's no need to shout! And no, I'm an engineer. I've dealt with problems like this before. Sit tight, I'll get back to you soon."
She whistled as the announcer cut off and turned to the nearest of the white robots.
"Hello! I see you!" it said.
Chell considered the small tripod. She remembered the pamphlet had briefly mentioned that disabling them was possible, and hit one experimentally.
"I don't understand!" it said, dragging out the words. Chell backed away from it seconds before it fired two bullets towards the ceiling. Looking down, she saw that the legs of each turret had been fixed to the floor via thick metal braces - the engineer had clearly been in a hurry, judging from the shoddy workmanship.
Biting her lip in concentration, she began to scrutinize every inch of the room. None of the walls would accept portals, nor could she pry open any of the panels. The futility of situation did not deter her, however. She continued to search, wrinkling her nose at the faint smell of cordite.
A few miles away from the turret chamber, Fane switched off the microphone and leaned back on the wobbly office chair. A live feed from the chamber was playing on the screen in front of him, and he watched it with minimal interest.
"What does she think she's doing?" he said out loud as Chell circled the room, running her fingers along the edges of each panel. With an incredulous laugh, he picked up the receiver of the phone and connected himself through to Henry Tremblay's office. His mood had been sour all day, and watching the girl blundering about wasn't improving his disposition.
"Tremblay speaking."
"Fane. The girl's in the room. She's pacing like a caged animal, but I don't think she's frightened. Well, she smacked one of the turrets and its automatic defense override kicked in, but she wasn't injured."
"Well, at least she won't try hitting it again. I'll send the men to pick up Rand. Make sure everything's in order for when she arrives."
Tremblay replaced the receiver and looked up at Doug, who had frozen in the act of organizing documents in a nearby cabinet.
"Well, today's the day, Doug."
"I - I almost forgot," he said. Inwardly, he cursed himself. Despite Tremblay's meeting with the conspirators, the doctor had informed them that he would only disclose the specific date for the operation to a few vital members. Doug had told himself to stay alert, to try and determine the date by Tremblay's actions, yet he hadn't noticed anything out of the ordinary. Caroline still had to be warned, and this sudden progress would make it harder to get to her in time.
"Forgot? Doug, this is the day we make history. And I mean it this time! Forget, indeed! I can barely sit still!"
Doug's lips curled in distaste. He felt like reminding the man of the child he was about to orphan, but knew it was more prudent to keep his thoughts to himself.
"A great day, indeed," he said.
"We should be ready soon enough," Tremblay continued. He rose and started out of the office, hands folded behind his back in a dictatorial manner. "You might as well finish that off later, you'll only be interrupted. In fact, you should think about making your way up to the operating room now. I don't think it will take very long to convince Miss Rand to comply."
"Yes, Doctor," Rattmann said, dropping the last of the paperwork into position and following Tremblay out the door. He waited until Tremblay had disappeared around a corner before setting off in the direction of Rand's office. It took an agonizingly long time to make his way through the labyrinthine halls, not daring to run lest he attract attention to himself. He pulled his lab coat tighter around himself, wondering whether it was from the chill in the air or his own nervous expectancy that he was shivering.
Caroline sipped her coffee, hands trembling to such a degree that she nearly tipped the liquid over herself. Doug stood in the middle of the room with his eyes fixed on the door of the office, tapping his foot nervously.
"I know this is a lot to register, Miss Rand, but we can't stay here any longer. They'll be arriving soon. You have to leave the building."
Caroline placed the cup atop a precariously stacked pile of forms and shook her head.
"It's just too ludicrous. I'm sorry, I can't believe it."
"I'm still struggling to comprehend it myself," Doug admitted, glancing at his watch.
"Presuming you're telling the truth, what do they think they're gaining? I told Dr Tremblay the research could continue. All they had to do was find someone else who was willing to become a lab rat. And now they're… Well."
Doug opened the door and looked out.
"Loyalty to Cave turned into obsession," he said, feeling a stab of shame as he thought of his uncle. Johnson had always had the ability to gain followers, as if he could manipulate minds without being aware of it. Doug was painfully aware that he had been one of those disciples.
"Miss Rand, you're a sensible woman. You know what the men who work here are like. They were hired because they are like it; they're detached from reality."
"This is mad," Caroline said, though with less conviction then before. "For all I know you've gone mad."
"I'll be happy to try and give you some evidence once we've moved somewhere else. They know you're always here in the office at this time of day; moving could give us a few more minutes to arrange things. Please, your daughter's life may depend on it." He was trying to speak as softly as he could, not wishing to heighten the woman's fear. She had nearly collapsed when he had first told of her of Chell's plight, before quickly shielding her feelings with her dubiety.
Caroline had moved over to a locker next to her desk and pulled out a file, one which she was now leafing through.
"Douglas Rattmann," she said slowly. "Your file says you're a paranoid schizophrenic."
"You have our personal files on hand for your own use?" Doug said, looking at the file and fidgeting slightly.
"The files of those I need to keep an eye on. Don't worry, you're not the only one; this cabinet has the details of all the genetic lifeform scientists. I gathered them not long after Mr. Johnson's death. This is beside the point, though. A schizophrenic comes into my office telling me there's a conspiracy to turn me into a giant robot by threatening my child. I'm not convinced."
Doug sighed.
"Well, I can understand that. And for that matter, I really don't know how to convince you." He paused, listening to the ta-tick, ta-tick of the clock on Caroline's desk.
"For one thing," he said at last, "I'm in a considerably high field of research – one that requires extreme focus and precision – and my colleagues trust me implicitly." Here Caroline raised an eyebrow, but Doug ignored her and continued. "So I can be relied upon to be fairly level-headed. And I take tablets – I can bring you the bottle if you wish, and you can check them yourself. Look, Miss Rand, just tell me what I can do to convince you and I'll do it. We can't waste any more time. I loathe to use this expression, but, what have you got to lose? If this turns out to be the ravings of a paranoid man, you can forget about it and go on your way. But what if it turns out I'm telling the truth?"
"Fine," Caroline said, letting his file drop back into the draw with a thump. "I'll suspend my disbelief. What exactly are they going to do with her?"
"Apparently, they've trapped her in one of the test chambers. They've got turrets in there, nailed to the ground. She won't be able to knock any of them over."
"That's doesn't seem right. Turrets would…" She paused to swallow. "Would kill her instantly. If they plan to threaten her, they'd use something more gradual. Oh gosh…"
"It wouldn't be instant. You'll remember Cave Johnson wanted the turrets to fire whole bullets. Turrets use spring pistons to fire. In other words, they don't have all that much velocity. If she was lucky, she might survive a few hits." Doug scratched his chin. Caroline had raised a valid point, one he had neglected in his excitement.
"Actually, you're right. As far as I know, the turrets are locked on Search Mode. It could be that they were simply put there to scare you into agreeing. I wouldn't be surprised if Tremblay has some trick up his sleeve if they fail to shake you."
"I can't believe I let her come back here. Maybe I should call someone," said Caroline. "The police?" she added lamely.
"Tremblay will have thought of that," he said as she dialed a number. She shook her head.
"Nothing. Someone's done something to the phone. I could go to security?"
"The heads of the security personnel are with him."
"Damn! Is everyone on their side?" she said, slamming her fist onto the table. She swore and nursed her bruised hand. "You had better be telling the truth about this, Mr. Rattmann, or I swear..."
"Stay calm," Doug said. "This is a long shot, but I'm going to try and find Chell."
"You mean you don't know which chamber she's in?"
"Well, they didn't think I needed to know. I'm not meant to play any part in the threatening, I'm just a scientist; they only need me for the actual procedure. But if I can find her, I can access the chamber's controls - presuming it's not too heavily guarded - and let her out. Then I can bring her to you."
"I doubt you'll be able to do it in time, especially if you don't know where to start looking. Is there someone else who might know?"
"Most of the test associates, probably. Even if they don't know about what's going on, they'll have been informed the chamber is off limits, or something to that effect. But it would be a risk asking one of them. I'm not sure who's working for Tremblay. The doctor might trust me now, but he's running a risky job. I need to be cautious."
Caroline rose and started rifling through the papers on her desk, the mug falling with a muffled thud onto the thick carpet.
"I can't find any record of Chell even arriving, let alone where she's testing," she said.
"Not surprising. She wasn't cleared for testing to begin with. They had turned her down."
Caroline turned to the door, deep emotions momentarily betrayed by a wringing of the hands.
"Test associates… Most of them would be aware of which chambers are being used?"
"I should think so."
"Ask Pendleton, then."
"Miss Rand, he's the one that told them Chell's your daughter."
"He is? What were the circumstances?"
"Well, there were quite a few of Tremblay's goons about; he was panicking quite a bit."
"There you have it, then."
"Don't you see? What if he does it again?"
"He can only tell them what he knows. Be creative, lie, anything you want. Tell him you need to meet someone there and forgot what the chamber's number is."
"Why do you trust him so much? You must know he's… not quite right."
"Yes, but he's also the only trustworthy person in this entire damned facility. Just now, you didn't suggest he might work for Tremblay, because you also realize it."
"Actually, that's not…"
"It's why I chose him to watch over Chell. He's the only person I could be sure wouldn't use or manipulate her for his own benefit. I even told him some things about my past, and I know he hasn't told anyone."
Doug barely stopped himself rolling his eyes.
"He may be just as crazy as the rest of the jolt heads that work here," Caroline continued, "but at least he doesn't have their intellegence."
"In other words, you trust him because he's too dumb to be dangerous," Doug said, a little more witheringly than he intended.
"At this point, you don't have a choice, anyway. We need an associate's help, and he's the only one we can be certain isn't with Tremblay."
Doug raked his fingers through his hair, regretting that he had always taken measures to avoid the test chambers.
"Fine, I concede. Just promise me you'll get out of here."
"I can find a place to hide. Thank goodness the facility is so vast."
"Oh no. You have to leave - go to the surface."
"You don't expect me to leave with Chell still in here?"
"I promise you, I will find her. Your staying would only put her in more danger."
Caroline pressed her lips together firmly and nodded, though she still watched him with a hint of unease. Tearing the corner off one of the documents, she scrawled an address on it, the leaking pen leaving blotches of ink by each word.
"My address," she said, handing it to him. "Take Chell there - I'll alert someone outside."
"Hurry," he said, opening the door wide for her.
They walked down the corridor, separating at the first fork. For a while, Doug was still aware of her footsteps echoing through the halls before they faded out of earshot.
He quickened his pace.