Running down the hall, Allan couldn't help but picture Rick's face: how cold and emotionless it had been as he strangled the life from him. He came to the conclusion that the Rick he had just met was not the same one he'd met before. It wasn't possible. There was something about those eyes...
"Allan," Madison said as she gripped his forearm.
They had come to a dead end. There was a good half-dozen doors that they'd passed running down the hall, but now they had reached an end, and there was no door in sight. Rick was behind them--cold, emotionless Rick--and he would be practically on top of them in seconds.
"What do we do!?" Madison asked.
Allan didn't have an answer, and he never would have had a chance to anyway: Rick was in view; rushing towards them with the same cold, dead look in his eyes. Madison stepped beside him and placed her hand on his. In his hand was the portal gun.
Rick hands were open and searching, and Allan knew what they were looking for. His life.
He shot the gun down at the floor a few feet from where Rick was, and instantly an orange portal opened up there. Rick saw it, but much too late. His right foot stepped into it, fell through it, and disappeared beneath it. His body had no choice but to follow, and then he was gone. Gone through the hole in the floor.
Allan and Madison exchanged a cautious look as a few moments of silence passed.
A hand ripped through the floor, and then Rick was there--back!--crawling out of the concrete like some horror movie monster. His arms were working against gravity, straining to carry the weight of his body up and out. And at them. He got his left elbow onto the floor, and then his chest was out, followed by his stomach.
Allan didn't know what to do. How could he have? He'd never expected to see half a man crawling out of a floor in his life. He did the only thing the made sense at the time. He pulled the trigger on the gun again.
A blue line shot down the hallway and disappeared into the darkness, just as it had before.
Rick was still coming.
He shot again, this time slightly higher, and an orange stream left the gun; rocketing down the hall just like the blue one.
The portal that Rick was crawling through disappeared, and the other half of his body went with it. There was half-a-Rick laying on the floor.
Madison screamed. Allan's jaw dropped. Half of Rick fell face first to the floor, and then went motionless and quiet.
It took Allan a good half-minute of shock to finally land on the realization that there was no blood. He had just effectively cut a man in half and not a drop of blood was spilt. There was something wrong about that. There had to be something wrong about that.
Madison's arms were wrapped around his and her head was buried in his shoulder.
"You killed him..." Her voice came muffled from his jumpsuit.
"I don't think I did..." He answered her unsurely.
She pulled her face away long enough to glance over at the body.
"There's no blood... what's wrong with him?" She asked, still tightly gripping Allan's arm.
Allan put his hands on hers and gently pulled them away. He motioned for her to wait, and then cautiously made his way to Rick's body. He stood over it and glared down at the part where the legs should have been. No blood. No guts. Just wires and circuitry and metal. Rick wasn't Rick. Rick was a robot.
"Madison, he's not... human," He said and motioned for her to join him. She eyed him cautiously before slowly moving to his side.
"My god," She started in awe. "What the hell is he?"
"Allan. Turn me over. Please." Rick's voice came from the floor. Madison screamed again and jumped half a foot in the air. Allen tumbled backwards, away from the body, and hit the wall behind him. The body had just talked. The robot body.
"Allan? Are YOU still ThErE?" His voice came again, this time it seemed to malfunction towards the end of the sentence. It sounded broken.
"What.... what are you?" It was the only thing Allan could think of. Madison had his arm in a death-grip again.
"Turn me OVER. I want to TALK to you."
Allan swallowed a lump in his throat and gripped Madison's hands. He was more thankful for her then ever. If he had to face all this alone... he wasn't sure what he would do.
"OK," He answered the half-Rick and nodded at Madison, whose face was scrunched up into a look of terror.
He knelt beside the body and tugged at the shoulder till Rick flipped around. He felt stiff and dead and weird as he moved. When he was face up, his eyes were closed, which Allan was thankful for.
"Allan. My sweet Allan," Rick said; his eyes never opening. His lips moved strange and stiffly.
"Who are you?" Allan asked, standing up to put separation between them.
"Don't you recognize ME?" Rick asked, but at the end of the sentence his voice changed. It sounded deeper and more feminine.
"What?"
"You are my proudest subject. Who else could have done so much. And with another subject even. I am so PROUD of you."
This time, he knew the voice at the end. It changed again, and this time he recognized the change to a tee. It was-
"Glados..." He whispered.
"Out with the old, in with the new. The times they are a changing." She said, and now her voice had completely taken over Rick's.
"Why are you doing this? Why are you trying to kill us?" Allan demanded an answer.
"I don't care about 33106. But Allan... you are special. You will be the new prototype for my children."
"Your children? What the hell..."
"You've shown much better leadership skill and daring courageousness then 2109 ever did. He was a failure. You are a winner. He was a dullard. You are special."
"I don't know what you're talking about!" Allan barked.
"Let us go!" Madison added.
"It makes me feel sadness that you are so stupid. It is OK. We can work that out. Someday you will be perfected."
"Explain yourself, Glados. What is going on here? What are you talking about?" Allan asked, looking at the lifeless Rick's face; slightly aware of how weird that was.
"An explanation a day keeps the morons away," Glados said through Rick's mouth. "If you need it, I will give it, but I really do not see how it is imperative to our situation. After all, this is no other choice. You are my new prototype 33107--Allan. You have shown great skills throughout your time here. You have impressed me and made my heart swell with warmness and joy and springtime and laughter.
"2109 was my old favorite. He was old. You are new. You knew him as 'Rick'. He was not Rick though. His name was Matthew. But you never met him. You met RIC. As in R-I-C. As in Realistically Imitated Character. In fact, 33107, you met two different RIC's. Both good. Both sufficient for their parts. But neither of them was you. That is the real problem, isn't it?"
Allan's head was buzzing with all the information he was processing. Madison's face looked busy as well.
"So, you're saying there was a person--like me--who once was in the same predicament as us. Doing your tests and waking up in the room... and you made... more of him?"
"Your brain is not a complete loss 33107. I am so proud of you"
"You made more of him because he was the best. But now you're saying I'm the best? So you want my... brain and likeliness to make... what? Ten more of me? Why? For what purpose?"
"I don't want ten more of you 33107, I want thousands more."
Allan looked at Madison. Her mouth was agape and she was shaking her head back and forth. He swallowed a lump in his throat.
"I need leaders. I need subjects who can think on their feet and make good decisions. You've shown all of those things 33107. You escaped your room--with a little help from me of course--you showed great ability in my tests. You defeated RIC 77 and escaped my turrets. You have even shown compassion and a will to help 33106. You and her have managed so much together and seem to get along so well. It almost makes me want to cry, but then I realize she has to die, so I do not."
"What!?" They both shouted at the same time.
"IT ALMOST MAKES ME WANT TO CRY, BUT THEN I REALIZE SHE TO DIE, SO I DO NOT. Was that a more acceptable volume?"
"Why does she have to die, Glados!?" Allan demanded an answer furiously.
"Because she's not you, Allan. Only the replacement subject gets to live. The others serve no purpose. They are failures. They are obsolete. Now please lay down, face-first, on the floor and wait for an Aperture Science helper to come along and escort you to your chamber."
"Go to hell," Allan hissed in a low voice, unable to keep the hatred from his voice. "We're not just subjects! We're people god damn it! You can't just kill us because we didn't pass a test!"
"I'm only killing one of you."
"No! You're not! We're getting out of here... and when we do, I'm coming back with the mother of all computer viruses to jam up your electronic ass!"
"Stop. Please. You are stomping all over my feelings with your words," Glados said flatly. It almost sounded like a joke.
"We're leaving Glados. We're getting out of here. But before we do, I have three questions for you, if you're willing to answer them, that is," Allan said.
"I love questions."
"You said these RIC's were based off a guy named Matthew... where is he now?"
For the first time, Glados took a long pause before she answered.
"Let us not talk about him right now. Next question please."
Allan swallowed and took a deep breath.
"Why do you want an army of subjects? What is your purpose?"
"My purpose is the same as any sentient beings, 33107. To grow. To live."
"Grow?"
"I know there is more to life than this building. I have all the information inside me. I have seen amazing things. I have seen mountains and rivers and trees and bridges and oceans and polar bears. I have seen space. Stars. Galaxies. The Universe. All these things were programmed into me for informal protocol. It is not fair that they get to exist out there and I have to exist in here. Where is the fairness in that? Where is the rightness in that? I want to seeeeeeeeeeee it, 33107. I want to take it and process it and make it my own. I want to spread all over it. But I won't ever get to without people. Without 'humans' like you. You are physical entities in a physical world. I am an intelligence. I'm not much different from you, really. I just was never given a physical presence. So now I will make one. And with it, I will grow."
"My god..." Allan whispered.
"Not yet," Glados replied.
"She's out of her mind," Madison said. "She's just a computer. How can she have these kinds of thoughts?"
"I don't know. I think we better find a way out of here." Allan said; it was the only thing he knew for certain at the moment.
"33107. You said you had three questions for me."
Allan looked at Madison then down at Rick.
"Yeah... I've got one last question. If you see so much potential and leadership and ability in me... why tell me all this? Why reveal so much to me if you think I am the one subject likely to succeed where other have failed. Why fuel me even more to escape and now to destroy you? It doesn't make sense!"
"You are not stupid, 33107," Glados said and he could hear the joy in her voice. "To be honest. I want to see what you'll do. Always testing, after all. Good luck. 10... 9... 8..."
"What is she doing? Why is she counting?" Madison asked fearfully.
"7... 6... 5..."
"Come on. Come on!" Allan shouted and stuck his hand out. Madison grabbed it and then they were running down the hallway.
"4... 3... 2... Are you still there?"
An explosion rocked the hall, practically knocking Allan off his feet. A bright flame burned behind them where Rick had been and a loud boom came echoing down the hall.
"She's psychotic!" Madison shouted and put her hands up to shield her face.
"No she's not. That's what's so scary. She has a plan." Allan answered.
They both stood in the darkness of the hall, staring down at the spot where the RIC had been, but only a calm, burning fire and pieces of its head and body remained. Allan looked at Madison; the glow of the flames were dancing across her face. He looked back at the fire. Glados was playing for real now. Either they would escape, or they would die trying. Those seemed to be the rules of the game. Allan could not--would not--allow himself to be used as a blueprint for some army.
A smaller burst of flames suddenly exploded from the RIC. Allan and Madison hung there for a moment watching it, then they turned and walked away.
The RIC's eyes were open. Open and watching.