"Jeff, is my parent's group any closer to me than before?" Chelsea asked as the elevator continued going down. "What have you heard? Have you talked to them at all?"
"Yes, I have," Jeffrey said as he flew in front of her as a dragonfly. "Your parents are still far away, but Sylvie's group is getting closer to us. Apparently, they found a turret who knows where we are. That's what your Dad said anyway."
"How would a turret know where we are?" Chelsea asked incredulously.
"According to Sylvie, this turret has the ability to predict the future," Jeffrey said. "The other turrets call him the prophet turret."
"That's crazy!" Chelsea said in disbelief. "I mean we've been exposed to radiation or something, but can a turret predict the future?"
"It's true," Jeffrey said. "The turret has made a few prophecies already. He said some cryptic things and now he is leading them to us."
"Cryptic things…" Chelsea said as the words jogged her memory. "Oh, yeah! I remember Mom mentioning a turret like that. He said cryptic things that turned out to be prophecies that came true later. I guess that's him. Well, I'm glad they're coming after us. I hope they get here soon."
"I do, too," Jeffrey said.
Jeffrey landed on Chelsea's left shoulder as she leaned against the wall. They were silent as the elevator continued to go down.
"What did you think of my musical number?" Chelsea asked with an amused smile.
"I liked it," Jeffrey said. "It was a bit random, but it is nice to hear you sing. You seem to be a bit happier. Is that correct?"
"Yes," Chelsea said.
"Yes, my social observation skills are improving," Jeffrey said happily.
"I am always happier when I make music or do anything artsy really," Chelsea said in reflection. "I'm grateful for it. I think I should keep it going. It is something that God has given me to keep me happy anyway and it gets on her nerves, so why not?"
"You also did seem to think harder when you were singing," Jeffrey said. "So, I second your motion."
"Good," Chelsea said.
Suddenly, her head started to tingle once again. Chelsea rubbed her left hand against it.
"What's wrong?" Jeffrey asked. "Is your head tingling again?"
"Yes," Chelsea said fearfully. "I think it's getting worse."
"You don't have to be scared of it," said Jeffrey trying to help her calm down. "Your Dad says it's just a side effect of the high dosage of ADHD medicine. It won't hurt you."
"That's good to know, but I don't like the feeling. Did they say anything else?"
"Yes, your mom said that she's proud of you and that you are doing a great job. Zaki said that Roscoe can reverse the effects of the medicine and make the tingling stop, but in the meantime, we must keep distracting GLaDOS. We can do that, right?"
"I have no choice. Besides, I have an arsenal of songs that I can try out on her."
The elevator stopped, Jeffrey turned into a fly and hid behind Chelsea's ear, the doors opened, and she walked out of the elevator.
GLaDOS laughed gently as Chelsea ignored her and walked towards the stairs.
"I was just imagining what you will look like in nine months," GLaDOS said coldly. "Your belly will be so round, your feet will be swollen, and you will be waddling around like a penguin."
Chelsea put her left hand on her stomach as a reaction, but she quickly broke out of her stupor. Chelsea shook her head and walked up the stairs to her fifth test.
"I've been thinking about how I'm going to do it," GLaDOS said in amusement. "You know how I was going to use artificial insemination? Well, I've been thinking. You deserve something a little more…special. What if I could give you what you have secretly always wanted? You see, according to his file, your partner has an attraction for young teenage girls, particularly Asian teenage girls. He cannot control himself around them. In fact, he lost his job as a high school teacher and served some jail time because he seduced and tried to have non-consensual intercourse with a girl about your age. After being away from women for so long, I bet seeing you would make him happy. I thought that it would be fun for everyone involved if I locked you two in a room together and waited to see the results."
Chelsea stopped in her tracks at the top of the stairs and felt her cheeks blush in anger.
She turned towards the camera and said angrily, "If he tried to pull anything on me, I would cut off his dick. Then, I would find you and cut off your head."
"I'll just go with artificial insemination then," GLaDOS said in false disappointment. "I just thought I would do something nice for you."
"There's no point to it," Chelsea said quickly. "It's not happening."
"What are you talking about?" GLaDOS asked. "You were bleeding just last week. Your body is perfectly capable of reproducing."
"That's not what I meant," Chelsea said.
Chelsea entered the room and glanced at the sign on the wall saying that she was about to take her fifth test. She then looked forward and continued walking.
The walls were white and on the floor was a laser going into the wall on her left. Then just behind it was a glass wall that had to be brought down…
The tingling kicked in before Chelsea could think anymore. The tingling may have been harmless to her, but she could not stand the sensation.
To get her mind off it, Chelsea decided that she should start singing again. She remembered a song from a show called "Animaniacs," a show from the 1990's that her mother enjoyed from childhood and shared with her.
"United States, Canada, Mexico, Panama, Haiti, Jamaica, Peru," Chelsea sang as she looked over the laser and continued looking around the wall. "Republic Dominican, Cuba, Caribbean, Greenland, El Salvador too."
She noticed a slanted panel on the black wall in front of the glass panel.
She flew up to it and sang, "Puerto Rico, Columbia, Venezuela, Honduras, Guyana, and still, Guatemala, Bolivia, then Argentina and Ecuador, Chile, Brazil."
Chelsea looked to where the slanted panel would be going and realized there was a slit in the wall.
She flew towards it to look through it and sang, "Costa Rica, Belize, Nicaragua, Bermuda, Bahamas, Tobago, San Juan."
Chelsea looked through the slit and noticed a large emancipation grid just outside the wall. She also noticed a generator turbine on the ceiling just past that. Chelsea smiled. She knew what to do now.
"Paraguay, Uruguay, Surinam and French Guiana, Barbados, and Guam," Chelsea sang as she backed away from the wall.
"Norway, and Sweden, and Iceland, and Finland and Germany now in one piece," Chelsea sang as she dissolved the disc under her and fell to the ground.
"Switzerland, Austria, Czechoslovakia, Italy, Turkey, and Greece," she sang as she created an orange portal on the wall that the laser was hitting.
Chelsea flew up towards the slanted panel to place the portal on the slanted panel and sang, "Poland, Romania, Scotland, Albania, Ireland, Russia, Oman, Bulgaria, Saudi Arabia, Hungary, Cyprus, Iraq, and Iran."
Unfortunately for her after she fired the blue portal onto the panel, the laser went through the portal and skimmed her left shoulder.
Chelsea winced at the pain and quickly flew downwards to examine her wound. She put down her portal gun on her disc and looked at her left shoulder.
The laser burned through her left shirt sleeve so that it fell off. Only the top of her left shoulder was burned, and the wound only hurt slightly. But unfortunately, her Aperture logo burn was now completely visible and not hidden by anything. She looked up at the camera mounted on the wall and noticed that it was staring right at her.
GLaDOS was no doubt paying attention to what just happened and waiting to see her reaction. In full view of the camera, she rolled up the sleeve on her right shoulder so that GLaDOS could see her tattoo. She then stared at the camera and kissed her tattoo.
It was her way of telling GLaDOS that God was still with her, and she was not afraid.
Chelsea then turned, picked up the portal gun, and flew back to where the blue portal was being careful to fly out of the way of the laser. She looked through the clear wall and noticed that the laser was not quite where it needed to be. It was hitting slightly to the left of the turbine. Chelsea had to move it.
"There's Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Jordan, both Yemens, Kuwait, and Bahrain," Chelsea sang as she flew next to the wall and fired the blue portal so that the laser would be slightly more to the right.
The laser hit the turbine activating the mechanism to move the wall. Chelsea watched as the bottom part of the wall moved up half way giving her room to walk under the wall into the next room.
"The Netherlands, Luxembourg, Belgium, and Portugal, France, England, Denmark, and Spain," Chelsea sang as she flew down to the floor and into the next room.
She flew through the emancipation grid dissolving the two portals and shutting the wall behind her.
"India, Pakistan, Burma, Afghanistan, Thailand, Nepal, and Bhutan," Chelsea sang as she looked around.
Chelsea saw a red button on the center of the floor whose purpose was unknown. She looked at the four corners of the room and saw turrets standing on tall platforms behind glass walls on two sides. Chelsea then looked in front of her and saw the door with a button in front of it. She quickly realized what she had to do, but she wanted to use her short cut.
"Kampuchea, Malaysia, then Bangladesh (Asia) and China, Korea, Japan," Chelsea sang as she flew over the button, dissolved the disc under her, and then landed on it.
The button opened the door, but as the door opened, a screen of hard light immediately appeared. Chelsea shrugged.
"I worked very hard to put these tests together for you," GLaDOS said firmly. "I am not going to let you cheat your way out of solving them. Solve them my way or you will never leave this room."
Chelsea took a deep breath. These puzzles were mentally draining, and she was not even halfway through them. It was a wonder that her mother got through them.
However, she refused to give up. Chelsea prayed for strength and got her mind back to focusing on the task at hand.
"Mongolia, Laos, and Tibet, Indonesia, the Philippine Islands, Taiwan," Chelsea sang to get her mind back on track.
"Sri Lanka, New Guinea, Sumatra, New Zealand, then Borneo, and Vietnam," Chelsea sang as she stepped off the button and walked toward the other button in the room.
"Tunisia, Morocco, Uganda, Angola, Zimbabwe, Djibouti, Botswana," Chelsea sang as she walked on top of the other button.
As soon as she did, the walls for all the turrets came down at once. They all began firing as Chelsea pulled up a shield to protect herself from their bullets. She quickly ran off the button and walls came back up over the turrets.
Chelsea dissolved her shield and tried to catch her breath. That event scared her. The turrets came close to killing her. She would have to be more careful if she and Jeffrey were to survive.
"Mozambique, Zambia, Swaziland, Gambia, Guinea, Algeria, Ghana," Chelsea sang as she calmed herself down and figured out what to do next.
Chelsea then finally had an idea.
"Burundi, Lesotho, and Malawi, Togo, the Spanish Sahara is gone," Chelsea sang as she created a disc under herself and flew upwards.
She flew towards the first pillar on her left.
"Niger, Nigeria, Chad, and Liberia, Egypt, Benin, and Gabon," Chelsea sang as she investigated the box with the turret.
She saw nothing, so she flew over to the next box.
"Tanzania, Somalia, Kenya, and Mali, Sierra Leone, and Algiers," she sang as investigated the next box and again saw nothing.
"Dahomey, Namibia, Senegal, Libya, Cameroon, Congo, Zaire," Chelsea sang as she flew to the third box and investigated it.
"Ethiopia, Guinea-Bissau, Madagascar, Rwanda, Mahore, and Cayman," she sang as she investigated the fourth box and finally saw the cube behind the turret.
Chelsea flew to the ground, stepped on the button bringing down the glass wall, created a shield around her, shot an orange portal above the turret that was behind the cube, then stepped off the button, and fired a blue portal onto the wall. She was glad that her mother had told her that portals could be shot through the hard-light bridges.
"Hong Kong, Abu Dhabi, Qatar, Yugoslavia..." she sang as she walked to the button, reached into the portal picking up the cube with the portal gun, and turned to walk back.
Then as she triumphantly strutted towards the cube, Chelsea finished the song, "Crete, Mauritania then Transylvania, Monaco, Liechtenstein, Malta, and Palestine, Fiji, Australia, Sudan."
As she sang the last word, she placed the cube on the button opening the door.
"Great job, Chelsea," Jeffrey whispered bringing a large smile across Chelsea's face.
Then, GLaDOS chimed in.
"Did you just name all of the nations of the world…in song…in a way that rhymes?" GLaDOS asked in amazement.
"No," Chelsea said as she walked towards the door. "I just named all the nations of the world as of the year 1993. The world is not organized like that anymore. There are new nations formed from nations who split apart from each other and nations who dissolved and changed their names and whatnot. At least, there were. With the Combines and everything, who knows how the world will look when all's said and done."
Chelsea walked through the door and the emancipation grid behind her towards the elevator.
"That's not quite what I meant," GLaDOS said. "What I meant was did you make up that song on your own?"
"Nope," Chelsea said stopping in her tracks and looking towards the ceiling. "It's from an old show that my Mom used to watch as a kid. It's called 'Animaniacs.' I doubt you've heard of it, but it's a terrific show. It's a shame that you will never get to see it. Anyways even if the song wasn't completely accurate by the time I came around, it still helped me memorize geography."
"I'm glad you dedicated your time to such useful pursuits," GLaDOS said sarcastically.
"I am, too," Chelsea said completely ignoring her sarcasm. "Because of that effort, I now have an arsenal of songs to sing."
"I suppose asking you to stop would be pointless," GLaDOS said.
"I will only stop if you play me some music," Chelsea said.
"I have already said no," GLaDOS said firmly.
"Then, I won't stop either," Chelsea said stubbornly.
Chelsea walked into the elevator, and the elevator began its descent.
As GLaDOS watched her go down, she had to admit that she was impressed by her subject's memory as well as her intelligence. It was not easy to memorize the names of all the nations of the world after all. Furthermore, GLaDOS had to acknowledge that the subject had a decent tolerance for pain. She was burned, but she could still focus on what she needed to do and accomplish what she had to. GLaDOS would have to see if Chelsea could maintain that level of endurance.
"That burn looks nasty," Jeffrey said as he sat on her left shoulder as an ice pack.
"Yeah," Chelsea said sitting on the ground. "It hurts a little bit, but I'll be alright. I'll just ask Roscoe to heal it when we see each other again. I'm almost surprised that GLaDOS didn't say anything about it."
"Do you want me to stay here?" Jeffrey asked. "I mean while you go through the tests. You could just put on your jacket to cover me up so that she wouldn't see me."
"I could do that," Chelsea said thoughtfully. "But she would still be suspicious."
"Why?" Jeffrey asked.
"I just made a point out of showing her I wasn't afraid and rolled up my other sleeve as a symbol of my faith," Chelsea said as she took her right hand out of the portal gun and placed it on Jeffrey. "If I were to suddenly cover it up with a jacket, she would figure that something was up."
"Okay then, what should we do?"
"You will just have to ice my shoulder when I'm on the elevator."
"That will be quite a bit of time in between icing. Are you sure you can handle the burn?"
"Yeah, I think so. If I can't, I'll just have to test faster. Won't I?"
The elevator stopped, and Jeffrey shapeshifted back into a fly so that he could hide on the back of her neck once more. The doors opened, and Chelsea walked out.
"I realized something ironic," GLaDOS said coldly. "You are going to be just like your grandmother…"
"I will never be like either of them," Chelsea carelessly said before she completely realized what GLaDOS meant.
"What woman are you referring to?" GLaDOS asked curiously. "I was talking about your mother's mother. I meant that you would be a teenage mother like your mother's mother most likely was. What was your other grandmother like?"
"Oh, merde," Chelsea said quietly to herself in admonishment at her own stupidity as she created a disc and quickly flew to the door.
Unfortunately, GLaDOS pulled a screen of hard light over the door before Chelsea could enter the sixth testing chamber.
"I'm curious now," GLaDOS said. "Tell me more about your other grandmother."
Chelsea was angry at herself for having ever said anything.
Her father's parents were both abusive people who used their telepathic gifts for selfish gain and brutally punished her father and his older brother for not acting the way they wanted them to. His older brother, Sora, was kicked out for wanting to become a pastor and following his own path. He moved in with friends from church and died in a car accident not long afterwards. His parents were very cold towards any mention of him since then. His brother's courage inspired Zaki himself to rebel. He endured the beatings that his parents gave him for refusing to follow their orders but eventually gathered enough evidence to arrest them for their crimes. They never stood trial because they both committed suicide, but Zaki had still won against his opponents just like Chell had against hers.
GLaDOS did not need to know all that.
"If you must know, she was just like you," Chelsea said as tersely as possible. "She was an abusive and controlling monster who punished him and his brother for not living their lives the way she wanted them to. My father had her and her husband arrested. She's dead now. She committed suicide along with his father. Now, they are both in hell for their crimes. You might get to meet them if you're lucky. Can I go now?"
"Interesting," GLaDOS said coldly. "It looks like your father and your mother have a lot in common."
"Yeah," Chelsea said proudly. "They are both brave."
"No," GLaDOS said. "They are both stubborn lunatics who refuse to listen to anyone else and suffer the consequences for their actions. They are perfect for each other."
"So, you're saying they deserved the abuse?" Chelsea asked angrily.
"Well," GLaDOS said emotionlessly. "Abuse is the wrong way to put it, but certain conditioning is required for people to perform certain actions. Like trained dogs, positive and negative reinforcement must be used so that they will act in a certain way."
"They wanted him to use his powers to take advantage of people and cheat!" Chelsea yelled.
"I fail to see the problem," GLaDOS replied.
"Haven't you ever heard of allowing someone the freedom to make their own choices if you really love them?" Chelsea asked.
"No, some people are simply not capable of making good decisions with their lives, so they need to be persuaded into making better decisions," GLaDOS said harshly. "I mean just look at your parents. Neither of them came from a stable home and have no experience with normal families, but they decided to marry and raise a child anyway. That is the kind of decision that lunatics would make. Isn't it?"
"Cut the crap and open the damn door already!" Chelsea said angrily.
"I only speak the truth…" GLaDOS said.
"I SAID SHUT UP!" Chelsea screamed at her as she created a large spinning disc that was as wide as the corridor and fired it towards the elevator.
It flew straight through the elevator cutting it immediately in half. The bottom half of the elevator immediately fell through the floor along with the rest of the glass tube. The disc only stopped turning when it was caught in the wall on the other side of the elevator.
GLaDOS watched in a petrified silence.
"You see that?" Chelsea asked angrily after a moment of silence. "That is what I will do to you if you do not cut your crap about my parents. Now, shut up and let me through the door."
GLaDOS dissolved the hard-light shield going over the door. The door opened, and Chelsea immediately flew into the hallway to take the sixth test.
Meanwhile, GLaDOS stared at the damage in horror as she realized just how much she had underestimated her test subject and what she could do if she wanted to.
"Oh, God," GLaDOS said out loud as she continued to examine the wreckage. "What have I unleashed?"
GLaDOS realized then that she needed to break Chelsea once and for all. If she didn't, Chelsea would only find a way to kill her.
Meanwhile, Chelsea was in the hallway leading to the next testing chamber. She was sitting in the corner in a curled-up ball.
That last disc had taken a bit out of her. It required more energy to create larger discs, and in her anger, she had done more than she should have. Now, she was tired and needed to take a minute to rest.
Chelsea regretted what she had done. She had been doing so well. Chelsea had felt so joyful, but now, she had allowed that computer to upset her again. She had let her get in her head.
"God, all I do is screw up. Wouldn't it be best for everyone if I just sat here and didn't move?" Chelsea prayed in her mind.
"It's okay, Chelsea," Jeffrey quietly whispered in her right ear even though he only had a faint idea of what was going on in her mind. "God is still with you."
"I'm so tired of putting on this act, Jeff," Chelsea said quietly. "I can't do it anymore. I'm tired of pretending to be brave."
Before Jeffrey could respond, GLaDOS decided to talk again.
"Where did you go?" GLaDOS asked. "There is no footage on the cameras of you ever having entered the room and there have been no indications of a breach in the security of the testing chambers, so I know that you are in there. You can come on out. I am not angry. I do not want to hurt you. Come on out, please."
Chelsea rolled her eyes as she breathed in and out. Then she got up and walked through the rest of the hallway until she entered the sixth testing chamber. Chelsea dragged her left hand against the wall.
"There you are," GLaDOS said. "I was afraid that you had become lost in the short hallway between the two chambers."
Chelsea said nothing but looked around the testing chamber and saw something that she was not expecting.
It was a room of three low-lying platforms surrounded by acidic pools. There was one platform in the center with a button on it and a door on the other side of the room with a tray for where a cube would be set. But what Chelsea found unexpected was that the ceiling had cracks in it and the sunlight was still coming through the cracks even though hard light covering them. As such, there were plants growing on the walls, vines to be exact. They were growing so thick that the white of the walls was barely seen.
Chelsea had not seen green plants in just over a month. She had hardly seen anything resembling the outside world in the past month. All she had seen was the inside of the horridly white and sterile gray facility. The colors practically made her eyes pop.
Chelsea walked quickly to the first platform. She was more overjoyed than she expected to be at the sight of the plants.
Chelsea reached towards one of the leaves on the wall. She felt its texture with her fingers as she felt part of her heart come alive with their simple beauty.
Chelsea had always loved nature. She loved being out in it, photographing it, and enjoying it. Feeling the smooth texture of the leaf in her hand brought a tear to her eye as she remembered that world. It was an overwhelming emotion.
GLaDOS watched on in silence. It was almost too good to be true. Chelsea seemed to have advanced to the depression stage.
But much to her chagrin, Chelsea started singing once again. She sang a Japanese song called, "Tomoni" or "together" in English written by an artist named KOKIA. Chelsea knew that GLaDOS most likely understood the lyrics, but at that moment, she didn't care if she was aware of her emotions or not.
"Ame furishikiru Itetsuita daichi Mune hikisakarete wa Kono misaki de (The rain falls ceaselessly on the frozen-over earth. My heart is torn to pieces on this cape)," Chelsea sang as she ran her left hand over all the leaves as she walked by on the platform. "Umi no tsuyosa Sora no hirosa Sukoshi wakete moratte ita (You shared with me a little of the strength of the sea and the wideness of the sky)."
She flew over the acid to the platform in the middle.
"Kumo no aima no Hitosuji no hikari Te wo nobashite wa Surinukete yuku (A single beam of light shines through the gap in the clouds. If I hold out my hands it comes streaming from them)," Chelsea sang as she flew. "Sora no koe wo kikinigasanai you ni Itsumademo mitsumete ita (I stared at the sky forever so that I would hear its voice when it came)."
She landed on the platform and stepped on the button in the center.
Chelsea then stepped on it as she continued singing, "Daichi no koe wo kite Uneru nami sora ga okori ni michite iru (Listen to the voice of the earth. The swelling waves and the sky are full of anger)."
As Chelsea looked around the room, she noticed that the toxic water was starting to be drained out of the room. The water drained faster and faster until there was nothing left. Chelsea stared on in amazement for a second and then she stepped off the button. The water started pouring back into the room, so quickly, Chelsea stepped back onto the button.
She wasn't sure of what to do. What she needed was on the floor where the water was obviously but she couldn't wade in the water to get it. Chelsea looked towards the wall as she reflected upon what she should do and continued to remember the outside.
"Kono chi ni umare Kono izu wo nonda Wasure wa shinai Tsuchi no nioi (We were born on this earth. We drank this water. I won't forget the smell of the soil)," Chelsea sang sadly. "Yama wa doko e Mori wa doko e Kiete ittan darou (Where have the mountains and the forest disappeared to?)"
She then turned her head and looked over the empty pool. Chelsea saw nothing that could be immediately of use.
"Nagare wa toki wo kakete Yagate hitotsu no michi ni naru (The flow takes time to eventually become one road)," she sang as she looked around in sadness. "Dosshiri daichi ni ne wo oroshite Tomo ni ikite kita monotachi wo Omoidashite Onaji kodou no rizumu (Remember the people who put down roots in this massive earth and lived together. Our hearts beat with the same rhythm)."
Chelsea wasn't sure about what to do and was struggling to even care about solving the test in the first place.
She stepped off the button and flew over to the last platform where the door was. Chelsea could care less that the pool was filling up again. She was struggling to deal with her own hopeless state and to find a reason to keep going.
She continued to sing as she flew, "Nanimo kamo ga ubawarete Shiro to kuro haiiro no sekai Hon no sukoshi no midori sae mo (Everything is taken away from us in this world of black, white and grey even just a little bit of green)."
She landed and continued with tears streaming down her face at this point, "Yurusareru koto naku Tachimachi iro wo ushinatte itta (The colours suddenly disappeared. Nothing was left behind)."
Chelsea sat down and leaned her head against the wall so that she could continue to stare at the green plants. She did not want to go on. She did not want to leave them behind and venture further into the horrible abyss that was the facility. Chelsea simply did not have the strength to.
It was then that she noticed the sound of music. Chelsea looked across the room and saw a turret on another platform in an open nook on the left corner of the room. He was out of the way enough that she had not noticed him before.
The turret was doing what her mother told her they could do. He was making music, specifically he was playing the basic melody of the song that Chelsea was just singing. She was really confused.
Chelsea stood up, created a disc, and flew up to him so that she was standing right in front of him, but he did not stop. She smiled as she watched him. He was pretty much a slave, but he found a reason to be joyful. It was inspiring.
Then suddenly, the platform under him tipped forward. The turret stopped making music and screamed in a panic, but Chelsea caught him with the portal gun and pulled him up in the air in front of her. The turret stared at her in fear wondering what she was going to do next.
Chelsea glared at GLaDOS angrily again. This little robot was only trying to enjoy his miserable life doing something other than his directive. And for that reason alone, she was going to kill him.
GLaDOS did that to everyone. She destroyed anyone who did not act according to her will. She either destroyed them or broke down their will to fight.
This anger at the turret's mistreatment gave Chelsea a new motivation to fight.
Chelsea wiped her eyes with her free left hand. The turret still stared at her, but Chelsea smiled in gentleness towards him.
The turrets may have killed many, but really, they were just like child soldiers. Killing was what they were made to do and they could not do any different even if they wanted to or they would be killed themselves. They all must have been so frightened. Realizing all this made her heart come alive with love and compassion.
Chelsea smiled at the turret in reassurance and sang, "Midori no iro wo oboete iru uchi ni Tomo ni kaerou tomo ni kaerou (While we still remember what the colour green looks like, let's bring it back together, let's bring it back together)."
The turret began playing along to the melody of her song. That made Chelsea smile. She closed her eyes and thanked God for the hope that he gave her through this little turret.
Chelsea then set the turret down on the platform on top of the button. She had hoped that his weight would be enough to push the button down. It wasn't so she moved him over so that she could stand on top of the button herself.
She stepped on the button and with the turret playing in the background, she sang, "Shizen wa itta mada mou sukoshi matsu yo (Nature has told us, we'll wait a little longer)."
The water drained out, and Chelsea quickly jumped into the pool holding a shield around herself so that the water would not touch her. The water quickly came pouring back in as Chelsea looked around for what it was that she was supposed to find.
"Shizen wa itta mada mou sukoshi matsu yo," Chelsea sang to keep herself calm and focused.
As the water became feet deep on her shield, she found what she was supposed to find. There was a glass box in the floor with what looked like a cube inside it. There was a slit in the box and a panel at the bottom for her to fire a portal onto.
"Shizen wa itta mada mou sukoshi matsu yo," Chelsea sang as she flew up onto the platform and stepped on the button again.
After the water drained out, Chelsea quickly flew over to the glass box, fired an orange portal into it, and then fired a blue portal onto the ceiling above her. She caught the cube and swerved out of the way to avoid the rushing water.
"Shizen wa itta mada mou sukoshi matsu yo," Chelsea finished singing as she dropped the cube into the plate causing the door to open.
Before she walked through the door, Chelsea turned back and flew to the turret who had stopped making his music but remained still staring at her in awe mixed with fear. She crouched down to his level and touched his head with her left hand. The turret closed his eye as if bracing for something bad.
"I think that I'll call you Terry," Chelsea said.
The turret opened his eye and stared at her in confusion.
"It's like Terra which is Latin for earth, but it's more masculine," Chelsea said. "You are male, right?"
"Yes," the turret said nervously.
"Okay," Chelsea said. "Terry, it is, then."
A moment of silence passed between the two of them before Chelsea talked again.
"Would you like to see the green world outside with me, little guy?" Chelsea said tenderly and quietly. "I know you would like to go, and you will. I cannot take you with me right now, but you are going to be set free. I can promise you that. But until then, keep playing the song you heard from me. Thank you for making music with me. You have given me so much hope. I'll see you later."
Chelsea stood up, created a disc under her, and flew out of the room. Terry looked on in wonder and continued to play the melody that he had heard Chelsea sing.
Meanwhile, Chelsea left the room, dissolved her disc, and walked slowly to the elevator.
"You sing very well in Japanese," GLaDOS said.
"Thanks," Chelsea said in response to the unexpected compliment. "I learned Japanese from my father and inherited the singing voice from my mother."
"Your mother can sing?" GLaDOS asked incredulously.
"Yes," Chelsea said. "She has a beautiful singing voice."
"Interesting," GLaDOS said coldly. "Anyways, I wanted to apologize for the plant life in the testing chamber. Judging from the lyrics of your song, I can tell that they made you rather sad. I will do my best to ensure that you do not have to encounter any plant life in the future."
Chelsea glared at the camera briefly to show her disapproval before she continued walking. It was almost unbelievable how cold that monster was.
"I also have to apologize for that turret," GLaDOS said more coldly than before.
Chelsea froze in her tracks in fear.
GLaDOS continued, "While it is true that the turrets are very musically inclined, they usually know to stop making music when it is time for work to be done. The one you encountered in there was clearly defective. It just did not know when it was time to focus, a lot like you in a way. I can tell that it made you upset. You will not have to worry about it though. Once the tests are over, I will make arrangements for the turret to be sent to Android Hell."
Chelsea did not know how to react, but she knew that the android wanted to get a reaction out of her. She also knew that getting upset then would probably incite GLaDOS to kill him faster, so Chelsea simply walked forward into the elevator. She only started talking again when the doors shut.
"Jeffrey," Chelsea said in an almost panic as she walked around the elevator. "You have to tell my Dad about Terry. He might say that we can put it off until after we kill GLaDOS but I don't want to take that chance. He has to tell Sylvie to save Terry. She can hear him singing. She could do something!"
"Ok," Jeffrey said calmly as he shapeshifted into an ice pack to sit on her shoulder. "I'll do it."
In the time it took for him to transmit the information, they were still in the elevator. The elevator ride was taking longer than usual. Chelsea leaned against the glass and looked up.
"What did my Dad say?" Chelsea asked after a few minutes.
"He said what you thought he would, but Sylvie said she would listen out for him," Jeffrey said. "She can hear their thoughts after all, so if she gets close enough to him, she should be able to find him."
"That's great," Chelsea said. "I want that turret to escape. I want us to make that happen for him and the others."
"We will," Jeffrey said. "Sylvie said she felt the same way. It will happen."
Chelsea smiled. Then after a moment of silence, she spoke again.
"You know something, Jeff," Chelsea said. "I've realized how right my Mom was."
"About what?" Jeffrey said.
"About these robots having souls. I knew that GLaDOS was special, but all of these robots in their own way have something special, something almost holy. They're alive, and they have the breath of life inside them. It's incredible. I can't really explain it very well, but they have their own minds just like humans."
"I think I understand. They're sentient."
"Yeah! They are, and since they're sentient, they can be reached."
"What do you mean?"
"These robots have the ability to defy their programming. They have the ability to think for themselves but they are all slaves to this terrible place. I was just thinking. What would it take for all of them to rebel against their programming? What would it take to reach them? What would it take to reach her?"
"You mean GLaDOS?"
"Yes! It sounds absolutely nuts. I know, but I think that my singing touched the turret's heart somehow. Maybe I could sing something that would touch GLaDOS, too. I know that music has an effect on her. One time before I was put to sleep and was humming the song the turrets sang to my mom, she started freaking out because she remembered Caroline. If I sang something that reminded her of her time being human or something about her past, maybe something would happen. I don't know what but progress could be made."
"That does sound kind of weird, but it also sounds interesting. I guess we really have nothing to lose, so I guess it's something you should try."
Jeffrey was very non-judgmental. That was one of the traits that Chelsea appreciated the most about him. No matter how weird an idea sounded he would never shoot it down without hearing the other person's thought process.
Chelsea smiled. His encouragement was always greatly appreciated.
They both looked down and waited in anticipation for the next test.