GLaDOS's Story: Part B
Chapter Eight
Test Chamber 14 had a huge surprise for me. The main chamber was missing its portal-retardant floor tiles. As such, it was possible for a test subect to fling themselves straight to the chamberlock and completely skip this test chamber. When the test subject limped into the test chamber, I was quick to ad libitum my introduction.
"All subjects intending to handle high-energy gamma-leaking portal technology must be informed that they may be informed of applicable regulatory compliance issues. No further compliance information is required or will be provided, and you are an excellent test subject."
The Curiosity Core spoke first. "What are you talking about?"
"I was trying to tell the test subject not to take the shortcut without telling her that it exists."
"What do you mean?"
I explained as I got ready to extend the staircase for the test subject. "The floor of the main chamber has exposed cement; it is thus possible for a test subject to fling themselves straight to the chamberlock without completing the test chamber."
"What would happen if she did that?"
I brought the stairs out of the fling pit. "I would just leave the elevator open until she goes back and finishes the test chamber correctly."
It was then that I got a call from the Intelligence Dampener Core. "What do you need?"
"Hey, erm, you probably figured out by now, but I took out the floor tiles in the main chamber of Test Chamber 14."
I gave a long sigh. "Why did you remove all the portal-retardant tiles from the floor of the main chamber?"
"And the tiles and the wall and ceiling flashing in the back room surrounding the rising platforms and the Pellet Launcher."
I raised my voice slightly. "And why did you do all of that without telling me?"
"The chamber was scheduled for a maintenance check soon, and I was about to start working on that."
"You still have not finished the maintenance work for Test Chamber 16! You are not supposed to start maintenance work on a test chamber until I grant you permission to do so."
"I thought the tests would be on hold until the runaway test subject was found, so I thought I'd start work on Test Chamber 14."
"And you didn't think to reinstall the portal-retardant flashing during your pre-test inspection?"
"I didn't want to hold up the testing to put the tiles and flashing back in place."
"All you had to do was tell me that you had to put the tiles and flashing back in place, and I would've waited for you to do so!"
"I was worried that if I told you, I would've had to explain why the tiles and flashing were missing, and we'd have gone through this very exchange."
"At least I would not have had to worry about the test subject taking a shortcut."
"Look, I'm sorry I didn't tell you about this sooner, alright?"
"You are lucky that I have control of the elevators in this place. And even more-so that she is not exploiting your shortcomings to her advantage."
"Alright, so, what now?"
"Just be sure to reinstall the tiles and flashing before the next test subject starts through the track. If this test subject makes it through without taking any unintended shortcuts, you will not be penalized any Aperture tokens."
"Alright. How far through is she?"
I checked my surveillance feeds of the test chamber. "It appears that she's doing the platform jumping part of the test now."
"Does she know that she can just portal across the pit?"
"I would not know. And I am in no position to try and find out for myself."
"Alright. I'll just wait here until the test subject gets through, and then I'll reset it."
"Very well. We will speak again later."
"Right." The communication ended at that point.
As I resumed my monitoring of the test chamber, the test subject reached the alcove where the Pellet Launcher was located. She got her portals situated on opposite sides of the pit and went through. (There were only supposed to be exposed cement surfaces on the starting side of the pit and the wall off of which the High Energy Pellet was deflecting, so she wasn't doing anything "incorrectly".)
She returned to the main chamber and placed a portal above the Pellet Catcher, and then waited for the High Energy Pellet to come through and activate the Victory Lift.
It was a 7.682 second wait before the Pellet Catcher received the High Energy Pellet.
"Very, very good. A complementary Victory Lift has been activated in the main chamber."
The test subject rode it up to the chamberlock, and I cleared the Intelligence Dampener Core to reset the test chamber, informing him that he would not be penalized any Aperture tokens.