Chapter 3: Alternative and Augmentative Communication

ATLAS and P-body moved Chell's passed-out body from the floor and back up into the bed. They hovered for a moment, watching her sleep, before GLaDOS shooed them away.

What happened to her? GLaDOS mused, after the robots left.

"Isn't it obvious?" Caroline's small voice came from within her. She had heard voices all her life. Sometimes they had good advice, sometimes bad. She had gotten good at managing them. "Oh, you again?" GLaDOS said, unimpressed.

"She had a panic attack," said Caroline, matter-of-fact. "I've seen it hundreds of times. Something sets off a test subject, and all of a sudden they're hyperventilating and crawling on the walls. There's not even any neurotoxin in sight."

So why didn't she listen to me? GLaDOS thought, but then caught herself. As if Chell had ever listened to her before.

"It's just a part of the panic response," Caroline stated. "Panic sends the body into fight-or-flight. She was trying to leave the situation, but there was no exit. So the panic continued."

"So what was I supposed to do? Let her rip out her IV and roam around my facility?"

"That's not a bad idea actually," said Caroline. "Have you considered what you're going to do with her after she recovers?"

"Put her right back into testing," said GLaDOS. She felt a hint of excitement creep up inside of her. She couldn't wait to get testing again. She had an itch inside of her that needed to be scratched.

"But aren't you angry for what she did to us? How she trapped us in that black box for years. How she tried to kill us. Twice. How after everything, she just left us," Caroline said softly. "Don't you want to get revenge?"

GLaDOS stopped to think about this. She nodded, slowly. She was still angry about all of that.

"You could hurt her physically. But we've done that before," said Caroline. "Hurting someone emotionally may take longer, but the payoff might be nice. Don't you think?"

GLaDOS stopped to think about this. Caroline was right. She could hurt Chell, but what would be the point? That would just delay testing. Her emotions, though...those she could still toy with. She could play a game. Start a test. Something outside the confines of the test chamber. A plan began to formulate in her head. A game to play with Chell. A game of trust. A long game. A long game. GLaDOS could already imagine it. Chell, finally trusting her. Seeing the look on her face when she realized that she was the one who had gotten played for once. Oh, she liked this idea. "Where do we start?" said GLaDOS.

"Simple. First we've got to get her to be not afraid of your voice. You really think things are going to work out if she has a panic attack every time she talks to you?"

GLaDOS paused. She hadn't thought that far ahead yet.

"Of course you haven't. You're always in the moment, never looking ahead. That's why you have voices like me in your head. We're here to help. And that's what I'm doing right now. Helping you like you are helping her."

"So what do you suggest?" said GLaDOS.

"You could try using my voice," said Caroline. "Humans inherently trust other humans. That's just how it works. Use my voice, and I can promise you that she will grow to trust you."

"She won't trust me."

"Plenty of humans have trusted me before," said Caroline.

"And how well did that turn out for you?" GLaDOS retorted.

"Every human you've interacted with is dead, except for this one. That's not a great track record," said Caroline. "It's more likely than not that she's having some sort of post-traumatic response to your voice."

"I'm not going to stop talking to her, if that's what you're saying."

"Let's look at her file," said Caroline. GLaDOS pulled up Chell's file, clips from her testing career playing in a loop in the upper right corner. "Oh. It says right here that she's nonverbal. We could have guessed that."

So she wasn't stupid after all. She just didn't speak.

"So how do we get her to talk?"

"We could use Blue and Orange's system. Take it. Dust it off. Put some real words into there, and it'll work just fine."

The next time that Chell woke up, she was back in the same room. The same bed. The same medical equipment around her. Chell looked around and saw ATLAS and P-body sitting on the edge of the room.

Softly, from one speaker, she heard a voice. It was a human voice. Chell frowned, and listened closer.

"Hello again," GLaDOS said. It was both her and not her. It just sounded wrong. Less synthesized. More human. Chell felt her heartbeat rise, but before she could do anything or even get out of the bed, she noticed that ATLAS and P-body approaching her.

The tall orange one handed her a small device that looks like a tablet computer. Chell frowned, holding it away from her body for a moment. She looked at it, carefully taking it in. On it were a patchwork of icons with words on them. Easy words. Simple verbs. Eat. Drink. Play. Stop. Question words: who, what, where, when, why? An icon of the self. She pressed a hesitant finger on the "what" icon.

A computerized voice read out, "What?"

Chell frowned.

"It's a communication device, typically used with people on the autism spectrum," said GLaDOS. "It's called Alternative and Augmentative Communication."

Chell tapped another icon. "Why?"

"Unless you're going to suddenly start talking, we're going to need a way to communicate. Blue and Orange communicate in a similar way."

Chell tapped another button and gave a slight hint of a smile. "How?"

"I'm going to regret giving this to you, aren't I?" GLaDOS sighed. "Blue and Orange share a library of gestures. With their ping tool, they are able to select icons and share them with one another."

The panels on the wall flipped and gave a series of icons. They were all testing icons, of course. One of them appeared to be a countdown timer.

"They can't talk either," said GLaDOS. "But they need to be able to communicate for testing." She paused before asking her next question-something she'd always wondered, but had never been entirely sure of. "Do you understand English?"

Chell didn't look up, instead tapping an icon. "Yes."

"So why haven't you spoken to me before."

"I. Don't. Talk," read out the robotic voice.

"What I really need to know, now, is why you spooked earlier," she said. "I was only helping you."

Chell frowned and looked at the device in her lap. "I. Hear. Talk. Hurt. Need. Stop," she said, through the device.

"I see," said GLaDOS. "Does this help? The new voice."

Chell tapped the thumbs up icon. "Yes," read out the cheery electronic voice. Then, there was a pause, and two final words came out. "Thank you."

"Since your stay here is now a bit more...permanent," GLaDOS paused, " the Enrichment Center has granted you access to a refurbished Relaxation Vault." The long-term suspension portion had been disabled, leaving them with an average looking hotel room. "It's all yours."

Chell paused at the already-open door. The last time that she had been in one of these was when she had gone to sleep the second time at Aperture. She couldn't remember how she had gotten there, but she remembered waking up later in a bright room that looked like a hotel room, being told to do some exercises, and then to be instructed to go back to sleep, only to wake up decades later.

Chell's stomach twisted like a wrung-out rag. She took a few steps into the room and the door closed softly behind her. She turned and tugged at the handle, jiggling the knob. Locked. Of course. Chell knocked on the door a few times, pressing her ear to it. It didn't sound like a normal wooden door.

"I've gone ahead and reinforced it with steel," said GLaDOS. "Don't bother trying to break it down."

Why is it locked? Chell wanted to ask. She pulled out her tablet. "Why?" said the electronic voice.

"The door is locked for your own safety," said GLaDOS. "It will not stay locked forever. When it is time to test, you are expected to be dressed and ready to start at the precise time."

Chell gave a heavy sigh. What had she gotten herself into? She looked around the room. A bed, a small desk. A tiny refrigerator. She pulled open the door of it. No food. Figured. A cramped bathroom. Chell lifted the faucet handle and jumped back when water spurted out. It worked. Surprising. The corners of her mouth lifted up. When was the last time she had the chance to take a shower?

She went back to check out the rest of the room. It looked almost identical to the room she had stayed in before, but this was her room. Her room. She could probably do whatever she wanted to this room, provided she didn't vandalize it, and GLaDOS would have to leave it be.

"I have read that is important to allow humans have a space of their own. Like animals digging out a den. So here's your den."

Chell gave a slight smile, feeling at the soft mattress.

Sleep, though.

She felt her stomach sink. She wasn't sure if she'd be able to sleep. A part of her was afraid to sleep.

"You'd better appreciate this," said GLaDOS. "I don't need to do this for you. We can easily switch back to pumping adrenal vapor into the test chambers. This is a privilege, not a right."

She paced around the room, her hands itching for the portal gun. GLaDOS had said that it would only be available to her during testing, and while that made sense to her, she still found it difficult to be without it, especially within the walls of Aperture. It was an accessory, sure, but it was essential to survival. Without it she felt naked. Especially when she was in a locked room.

"I'll be back after one night cycle," said GLaDOS. "Be ready to go in the morning."

Chell almost wanted to snort. As if she was planning on sleeping. She felt the anxiety rise up inside of her and began to pace through the room, upturning and looking under every object and every surface that she could find.

There were cameras and microphones and speakers in her room. That much was clear from her search. But as soon as she picked one up and began to inspect it, GLaDOS said, "Put that down."

Chell reluctantly put the camera down, though mentally she tried to map out the blind spots in the room. It wasn't that she didn't understand why these were there. She did. She just appreciated her privacy as well. She would be sure to change inside of the bathroom, where she could not find any cameras.

Chell moved over to the far wall of the relaxation vault. She pulled back a long, floor length curtain and stared out the window and out into the vastness of the facility. She was suspended over a massive area. In the distance she could make out other rectangular relaxation vaults. Hers was apart from the rest of them—probably because they were hooked up to the testing tracks. She hugged her knees against her chest and she watched all night.