Chapter 6: Core Transfer

Time passed.

Chell remained under the desk for a long while, wrapping her arms around her knees. She let her chest softly rise and fall as she tried to make sense of the situation. Something had happened to GLaDOS-something strange. Part of her wanted to head back to the Main AI Chamber to see if GLaDOS had woken back up, but another part of her warned that it was all a trap, a ruse, something designed to catch her off guard.

Chell looked at the portal gun beside her, and reached over and ran her finger along its smooth edge. She could tell that this was her gun-just by the way it was scarred and discolored in the same places. It had been through a lot. Just like her. She gave a soft smile, picking up the gun and slipping her hand inside. Her fingers curled around the triggers. She pushed herself to her feet, and started to walk toward the entrance of the room.

The doorknob jiggled.

Chell ducked behind a desk, watching the door open. Out came a white robot, tall, humanoid, with long white hair. Hair? Chell had never seen anything come out of Aperture that looked so human, besides the test dummies she had seen in Old Aperture. She didn't like it. It wasn't ATLAS or P-body or any other robot that she'd seen here before. She could only assume that this was some sort of Party Escort Bot, sent out to retrieve her for testing.

Chell raised her portal gun, ready to strike the robot across the back of the head.

The robot swiveled on its feet, throwing up its arms to protect itself. "Woah there," it said, and Chell's skin crawled. That voice-she knew that voice. It was Caroline's voice. Chell was reminded of the first time she'd met GLaDOS-of how robotic her voice had sounded. She remembered the moment when she had incinerated the Morality Core (a big mistake) and remembered how GLaDOS's voice had dropped into a much more human tone. Chell lowered the portal gun a few inches.

"I see you've found another way to kill me," said GLaDOS, her tone joking yet serious. When Chell didn't lower her portal gun entirely, she continued. "It's me." GLaDOS pointed at herself. "Your favorite supercomputer."

Chell planted her feet in the ground, lowering the portal gun to hip level. If GLaDOS tried anything, she'd be ready for it. Her gaze tracked behind the computer, looking for portal-friendly surfaces.

Chell didn't like this.

She didn't like that GLaDOS could move now. She didn't like that GLaDOS had the ability to track her down so easily.

Chell pointed toward the back of her neck and raised her eyebrows. Was it the tracking chip? Is that how she had found her?

"Yes," said GLaDOS. "Works like a charm."

Chell pursed her lips in response, and then lifted the portal gun again, pointing it at the center of GLaDOS's chest. She gestured at GLaDOS's android body, and raised her eyebrows again. She needed to know what happened back there—and why GLaDOS ended up in this body.

"What?" said GLaDOS, clearly not understanding the question. Chell sighed. She lowered the portal gun and looked over at a nearby desk, grabbing a blank manila folder and a pencil and started to scribble on it.

GLaDOS peered over her shoulder as she wrote. Chell took a step to the side and glared at her, making a motion with her hands as if ready to shove GLaDOS back. GLaDOS stepped away.

When Chell was done, she slid the folder over to GLaDOS.

"Oh…that," she said.

Chell continued her stare. She thought about underlining the question, but instead pushed the paper folder closer to GLaDOS.

Why are you in this body?

"Well," GLaDOS started. "Before, when we were talking, I had a..." she paused. A malfunction. "...an idea. I've been wanting to take this body for a spin ever since I developed it."

Chell just stared.

"You know what? It doesn't matter." said GLaDOS. "What does matter is that you ran away, after I expressly forbade that."

Chell shrugged. Something felt wrong, she wrote down, then showed it to GLaDOS.

"That's no reason to run away," said GLaDOS. "Everything was under control."

Chell looked at GLaDOS. She wasn't sorry for her actions, and she wasn't about to apologize for them either. She would never apologize for self-preservation.

"You know," GLaDOS said, stretching out her arms and curling her hands into fists. "I like this body. It's got a lot of advantages. It's stronger, faster than a human. And it can move through the facility," she said. GLaDOS liked this. It would keep Chell on edge. And Chell performed her best when she was on edge.

Chell gripped the portal gun in both of her hands. She didn't like this. She didn't like this one bit.

"Now, put down the gun," said GLaDOS.

Chell slipped her supporting hand away, letting the portal gun fall to her side.

"There we go," said GLaDOS. She looked at Chell and watched as some tension left the woman. Her jaw was still clenched tight, but her hands had unfurled from the fists they had been in. There, now Chell didn't look like she was going to kill her.

GLaDOS and Chell walked back to the Main AI Chamber in silence. Chell kept her chin high, glancing over at the android every now and then, not wanting to let her completely out of sight.

Meanwhile, GLaDOS was lost in thought. She wasn't so sure about this body. She wasn't sure that she wanted to be in it anymore. It would be fine for exploring Aperture on her own, but being so close to Chell, she didn't feel as powerful as she did in her chassis. Though this body was still far stronger than any human, it still made her nervous to be in such proximity to a known killer. Someone like Chell—she could rip this android apart, if she wanted to. GLaDOS only built this body as a backup, not as a permanent solution. And now that she knew that the facility wasn't in danger from Chell and the moron, she had no reason to stay in this body.

Besides, the android didn't have the same processing power as she had in the mainframe. There was simply too much data to be processed there—it was easier to limit the incoming data because her mobile hardware could only handle so many computations at once. She could farm off requests back to her main body, but that required connecting to a terminal and that was cumbersome and tiring. She missed her security cameras. She missed being able to feel her every decision, every movement of Aperture course through her digital veins.

"Let me pull up the terminal," she said as they entered. The android looked around, finding the same terminal that Wheatley had used—that she had used, when she was a potato—to initiate a core transfer. She leaned around, letting the port interface with her back. Sure, she had to crouch to do this, and sure, it was a little bit humiliating, but that was just how these things were designed. She couldn't help it.

She switched to voice commands. "Initiate chassis transfer," she said firmly, folding her hands in front of her.

"Error," The announcer barked. "Administrator access required."

"Admin access?" said GLaDOS. "That's ridiculous. Do you know who I am?"

"Administrator access required," repeated the announcer. "Please use the terminal to enter in your username and password."

"I don't need to do that," huffed GLaDOS. "I am the facility."

"Administrator access required," the announcer repeated for a third time.

GLaDOS started to sink. She turned back to Chell, who just looked at things with an unreadable gray stare. Chell gave no indication of how she was feeling, but GLaDOS could see the intensity behind her gaze. Whatever happened, Chell would be the first one to react.

"I…" GLaDOS paused. She tried her own username and password.

"Error," said the announcer. "Security clearance is not high enough."

Chell simply shrugged.

No. This couldn't be. GLaDOS tried her password again, only to get the same result. What was she supposed to do now? She couldn't really be stuck in this body, could she?

She looked back at Chell. Well, whatever happened next, she had to remain in charge. That meant that she had to continue the day as planned—with some testing.

"While I get this," she paused, "figured out, why don't we get you back into a testing track."

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