"Are you ready?"
"No."
"Oh, yes she is."
"Nonononono." Sophie insisted. "I am not singing that song."
"Come on." Garret insisted. "It's the first song Foxglove ever played! We've gotta start her sweet sixteen off right!"
"Plus it's my favorite." Wheatley put in.
"That's the problem!" Sophie argued. "That came out wrong. Look-don't you ever get sick of it?"
"I don't ever get sick of music." Wheatley said proudly.
"So if I played Jazz FM nonstop.. "
"Good music." He amended. "Please Soph, just this once?"
"Dad...no, please don't do the sad eyes, we're in public. Stop it...ugh! Fine!"
Click
[welcome: String_Null]
Sophie shivered. She had spoken to Foxglove before, but the sensation of melding with something much bigger than yourself wasn't something you could really get used to (Foxglove had to slow the link down 89.8% to keep Sophie's organic brain from exploding). "Why do you call me that anyway?"
[no device ID logged on first connection. ID_string = NULL*
"I have no clue what that means. Let's get this song over with."
Sophie stepped into the radio booth and picked up the microphone. She didn't pass out this time, so far so good.
Alright Sophie, just breathe. Don't think about who's watching, or your stupid glitch, or how of course you're supposed to sing the one song that completely drives you up the wall because dad won't stop singing it!-
Just...be yourself.
Meanwhile, further out in the field, Abbi sat alone.
It wasn't because she was weirded out by the whole "Foxglove Friday" thing, in fact, she probably understood what Foxglove was better than anyone in this backwater town. It was just that...well, this was their tower, their celebration. This was Sophie's moment, and Abbi just didn't feel like she belonged
Especially since you're about to betray her.
Abbi shook her head, but that wasn't a hallucination, that was her own voice, her (I never thought I'd use this word) conscience. Good heavens (There's two taboo words), was she actually feeling guilty about this?
Sophie stole those nanites. Abbi reminded herself. You're doing this for mom, remember?
Still, she couldn't help but picture Sophie's face when she found out Abbi had been lying to her. Hopefully she would understand...
Abbi was drawn from her internal argument by the sound of music (or at least she thought it was music, that didn't sound anything like the turrets). As she listened, Sophie's voice came over the speakers.
The sun is shining in the sky
There ain't a cloud in sight
It's stopped raining, everybody's in the play
And don't you know, it's a beautiful new day, hey.*
Abbi blinked. So this was a song about...the sky? The water cycle?
Running down the Avenue
See how the sun shines brightly
In the city, on the streets where once was pity
Mr. Blue Sky is living here today, hey
Mr. Blue Sky, please tell us why
You had to hide away for so long (so long)
Where did we go wrong?
Mr. Blue Sky, please tell us why
You had to hide away for so long (so long)
Where did we go wrong?
And now they were anthropomorphizing the sky. According to GLaDOS, people had often attached personalities to nature before the advent of Science..
Hey, you with the pretty face
Welcome to the human race
The sky was human now? Or were they talking about someone else?
A celebration, Mr. Blue Sky's up there waiting
And today is the day we've waited for
Mr. Blue Sky, please tell us why
You had to hide away for so long (so long)
Where did we go wrong?
This must be the chorus. If only it made more sense
Hey there, Mr. Blue
We're so pleased to be with you
Look around, see what you do
Everybody smiles at you
Hey there, Mr. Blue
We're so pleased to be with you
Look around, see what you do
Everybody smiles at you
You can't emulate the sky! It's the sky!
Hey there, Mr. Blue
We're so pleased to be with you
Look around, see what you do
Everybody smiles at you
Mister Blue Sky!
Mister Blue Sky
Mister Blue Sky-yiy!
Mr. Blue, you did it right
But soon comes Mr. Night
Creeping over, now his hand is on your shoulder
Never mind, I'll remember you this
I'll remember you this way
Great, yet another nonexistent personification of a basic concept. And apparently he just 'killed' the blue sky? Was this some kind of metaphor?
Mr. Blue Sky, please tell us why
You had to hide away for so long (so long)
Where did we go wrong?
Hey there, Mr. Blue (sky)
We're so pleased to be with you (sky)
Look around, see what you do (blue)
Everybody smiles at you.
Okay, if these people could write an entire song about the FLOPing* sky, they had way too much time on their hands.
"Hey Abbi! Come on up!"
Abbi smiled. Sophie thought she belonged. She still felt uneasy, but she was curious how much Aperture tech had been cannibalised for that tower.
As Abbi approached, Sophie's world spun, buzzing in her head reached a crescendo, and she faintly heard Foxglove as she blacked out.
"Danger!"
The HIN fell silent as Host lost consciousness. Maybe, they thought, they had gotten a bit too excited.
"Why didn't you tell us?"
Abbi had managed to catch Sophie when she fainted, and had helped Chell and Wheatley cart her home. Now, Sophie was on the couch at home, being given plenty of ice packs, and even more interrogation.
"Weird stuff happens to me all the time." Sophie argued. "I'm glowing, so what?"
"And I suppose passing out is just a walk in the park huh? I thought you were dead!"
"I got better."
Wheatley sighed, exasperated. "Is there anything else we should know?"
"I think Foxglove said "danger" just before I clonked out. Maybe she was trying to warn me?"
"These nanite glitches are getting more serious." Chell said. "Maybe it's time we remove them. I know it would be hard for you, but-"
"No, it's fine." Sophie said resignedly. "As much fun as it's been mind-melding with the store truck, it'd be nice to be a normal kid again. How do we do it?"
"We don't." Wheatley said. "You saw Doc's scans, your kidneys are completely shot, and we can't pay for dyal...dayl- that blood cleaner thing. Without those nanites…"
Wheatley didn't finish, but Abbi had heard enough from her hiding place upstairs. This was suddenly much more than a simple kidnapping. Without her stolen tech, Sophie would die.
*Basically, Fox is saying that Sophie has no serial number, so her ID string is "null" or nothing. I really just wanted her to have a cool nickname like her dad.
*I pictured this sounding like Connie Talbot's cover of the song. I can't put the link here, so look it up.
*FLOP stands for FLoating point Operations Per Second. It's a computer term, and having grown up with robots, Abbi curses like them.
Sometime in the intervening years between GS and this, the Newells let Dr. Dillon in on the secret. She and Garret now work together to keep Sophie healthy.