Wheatley's Story: Part B
Chapter Two


The next test had already started by the time I got to the chamber, but I managed to get there in time to hear Her announcement.

"Please place the Weighted Storage Cube on the 1500-Megawatt Aperture Science Heavy-Duty Super Colliding Super Button."

This test involved a portal carrousel, where the portals rotated between three rooms, each containing either a Cube, a Button, or the exit. The test subject had to get in and out of each room in turn to get through. The time intervals were set, so a test subject could get stuck in one room for some time before the portal reopened. So far, only 37 of the 258 subjects so far have not had that happen to them.

From what I could see through the cracks in the panels, the test subject was able to get the Cube easily, but got stuck in the Button room. That was the 185th time that happened so far. All of her time trapped in there was spent pushing the Cube onto the Button, which was accomplished in time for the portal to open behind her.

"Perfect." Her voice entered the chamber. "Please move quickly to the chamberlock, as the effects of prolonged exposure to the Button are not part of this test."

Of the 185 subjects to get stuck with the Button, 74 had shown ill effects from exposure to the Button during the test. I didn't have time to dwell on whether this test subject would also fall victim to the effects, as I had to reset this test chamber.

The lift closed on the test subject, and I set to work getting the Cube back where it came from. I used my special multi-tool to raise the windows and get the Cube back to its starting point. After securing the windows again, I headed off to the next chamber.


I made it to the Observation Room just in time to see the test subject dodge a portal shot walking through the entrance hall. She got through the portal easily, but seemed reluctant to jump off the ledge into the pit where the portal gun was. Once there was a portal leading into the pit, she went in. I knew that She was going to play a video demo of the portal gun, and I had a lot of difficulties watching it.

The test subject spent some time looking at the portal gun before reaching for the controlled end of the portal gun. It jumped up and grabbed her hand, and the demo video came up as She explained what the newly acquired hardware was and did, as well as its associated hazards, with me demonstrating them in the video.

Having seen the video 258 times already, I reached over to the projector's power supply and ripped the power cords from the outlets, cutting off Her announcement in the process.

I had a box of blue-portal gun on the desk in the Observation Room for restocking this chamber. Once the test subject was out of the chamber, I got a portal gun from the box and went into the test chamber. I brought the rotating pedestal back out of its hole and mounted the portal gun on it, setting up the turn and fire sequence for the next tester.

With that work finished, I left the test chamber and headed off to follow the test subject's progress.