Chapter 7: Target Acquired
Chell slept fitfully, which wasn't surprising considering this was the first time she'd gone to sleep willingly in Aperture. All of the other times were against her will, by some sort of aerial sedative.
Speaking of aerial sedatives, she'd gotten to where she'd been practicing holding her breath, just so that in the case that this happened again, she'd be able to delay the effects as long as possible. You never know when GLaDOS would try to sedate you. There was also the possibility of neurotoxin, but Chell tried not to think about that.
Her nightmares were vague and loud, bright and soft. She couldn't remember enough of them when she woke up, and instead she was left with a sense of fear that stuck to her like honey in the summer sun. In this one she was running. Always running, but her lungs were on fire. She couldn't breathe right; she needed to get away. Her heels ached, the arches of her feet ached, but she couldn't stop to think about that now. She needed to go. She needed to run. She needed to-
"Good morning. You have been asleep for one night," chimed the announcer. Chell shifted in her bed—much too large for a single person, but quite comfortable regardless—and rubbed at her eyes. She gave a lazy stretch like a cat in the sun before she pushed back the covers.
Today was the day. The day that she started to test again. She got up slowly from her bed, looking in the closet to find an assortment of Aperture-branded wear. Sweats, t-shirts, shorts, socks, even Aperture-branded underwear. And, of course, several sets of orange jumpsuits.
Chell slipped into some gray shorts and a gray tank top before zipping up the bright orange jumpsuit. She stopped to take a long look at herself in the mirror on the back of the closet doors.
She looked like a convict.
A prisoner of Aperture. One that had chosen to be here of her own free will. Just how stupid had she been to accept this deal? Was this life better than being dead? She wasn't so sure.
She felt at the bandages on her side, noting that, for once, it didn't hurt when she prodded at them. Maybe GLaDOS was right. Maybe she was healing. Maybe she was ready to test again. Chell bit her tongue and gave a heavy sigh.
From her cameras, GLaDOS watched as Chell got dressed. Though the woman usually dressed in the bathroom, where she had no cameras, today Chell had chosen to dress herself in front of the mirrored closet doors. As she stripped out of her civilian clothes, GLaDOS couldn't help but notice just how lean and almost emaciated the test subject had become. How lanky, how muscular she was. How close she'd come to starvation out there in the outside world.
She wasn't sure why she continued to watch through her cameras as Chell slipped on her tank top and shorts, then the rest of the jumpsuit.
GLaDOS unlocked the door out of the relaxation vault, and the test subject moved out of directly into the antechamber of a testing track. At a point in the night, GLaDOS had brought the testing track to Chell, rather than disturb the woman by moving her relaxation vault. Panels lit up the circular room, with an infographic about the chamber itself plastered upon them.
"I'll be watching from the observation rooms," GLaDOS announced. "So don't try anything funny."
GLaDOS figured she'd start Chell off with some of the chambers that her previous human subjects had found too complex. It was meant to be a challenge for Chell.
She watched as Chell made her way through the first couple of chambers, walking in, stopping to take everything in, and then setting her jaw as she started to puzzle out what the test was about in the first place. She placed her first set of portals and then got to work.
While she worked, GLaDOS watched. She was doing well. Very well. She glowed with a sort of sense of pride as the solution euphoria hit her. Oh, she hadn't felt this good since the last time that she had tested with humans. Not since the last time she had tested with Chell. The humans had provided more solution euphoria than the robots, but they weren't solving the same complex tests that Chell was. They were solving the simple, baby tests. Which were for babies.
But these…oh, these felt good.
And then, it all came to a halt. Chell slowed down, had stopped to take a rest in a chamber. She leaned against the elevator shaft, slipping down and wrapping her arms around her knees.
"You're not here to rest," said GLaDOS. "You're here to test. So get your lazy, fat butt off the ground and get testing." She knew that the human had had plenty of rest the previous night—there was no reason for her to be getting tired, already, in the testing track. Maybe she'd have to pump in that adrenal vapor after all if Chell didn't shape up soon.
She watched the human as she struggled to rise to her feet. The heels of her long-fall boots clicked as she took a few careful steps forward. She raised her portal gun and opened a set of portals with a soft fwop.
Meanwhile, Chell tried not to panic. These chambers—they were harder than she remembered. They were more difficult. More deadly. This one had a handful of turrets on the other side, that she hadn't dealt with yet. She'd have to do that at some point or she'd end up riddled with bullets.
Though she knew that turrets' bullets weren't as deadly as real bullets—since they were simply spring-loaded and fired from the turret rather than actually fired with, well, gunpowder—they were still metal projectiles, and they still hurt when they hit her. Not that she'd ever been hit before. She just assumed so.
"Come on. I know you're lazy, but even this is a bit extreme," said GLaDOS, in that same sickeningly-sweet human voice. "Is there something you want to tell me? Oh right, you can't. Oh well. Back to testing then," she said.
"You don't know how to motivate her right," said Caroline.
"Of course I do," balked GLaDOS. "I've been doing this for ages."
"Just because it's what you've been doing doesn't mean it's right," said Caroline.
Oh, she was being annoying today.
"Well, how else am I supposed to motivate her?"
"You could stop insulting her and start praising her."
"There's nothing to praise her for."
"Try it."
"Fine, if it'll get you to shut up," said GLaDOS. She turned back to the test chamber observation window and set her voice to broadcast to the chamber bellow. "You're doing a great job," she said, "...at setting the record for the longest time to solve this chamber." She turned back to the voice inside of her.
"There, was that so hard?" said Caroline.
GLaDOS gave a hmph sound in reply. She went back to watching her test subject. She was on the move now, approaching the turret section. This section was a bit tricky—in order to disable the turrets, she would have to drop down from a panel on the ceiling and directly on top of them in order to knock them over.
GLaDOS watched as Chell placed her portals, then stood back and took a running leap into it, hugging her portal gun to her chest. She fell from the ceiling, graceful, her ponytail streaming behind her.
Chell landed on top of a turret, but her footing slipped. She clattered against the outstretched side of the turret, her ankle twisting between the arm of the turret and the main body.
"Hell-o?" spoke the turret, as it swiveled and pointed at Chell. "Target. Acquired."
Bang bang bang bang.
Chell hit the ground, hard.
GLaDOS felt like swearing. Her arms rose to her head, pulling at her hair. What was Chell doing?
The test subject rose, pushing herself up with one arm and giving the turret a hefty kick. The turret spun, now on its side and pointed away. Chell pulled a hand away from her side. Her fingers came out red with blood. She took in a shaky breath and then pushed herself into a sitting position, three turrets still pointed away from her. She set down her portal gun for a brief moment, tugging down the jumpsuit to her waist and giving another look at her side. Three puncture wounds. Three bloody spots. Chell grunted in pain, her hands shaking. What was she supposed to do next? She had to finish the test.
Chell would make it out of this. GLaDOS was sure of it. She had no reason to panic about this. No reason at all. Besides, there was nothing that she could do at this point. Chell was on her own. Her protocols didn't allow her to interfere with testing, no matter what happened to the test subject. They had to complete the test. That was part of the deal.
This couldn't be how things ended with Chell. The long game was not complete yet. There was still more science to do.
GLaDOS watched as Chell waited a few minutes, keeping pressure on the wounds until the bleeding had subsided. There. She rose to her feet, wincing, and carefully putting pressure on her feet. She took a step back and then kicked one of the remaining turrets, hard. It spun around and fired wildly, in the opposite direction. She repeated the process with the remaining two turrets until all four were disabled.
She set her gaze and took in the rest of the chamber. She could do this. Chell struggled until she had finished the chamber and then moved into the elevator, leaning against the cool glass with relief. She moved to take a better look at her injuries while the elevator took her to the next place that she needed to go—hopefully not another test chamber, though she wouldn't put it past GLaDOS to keep her testing even while injured.
The elevator chimed as it closed, rising up and to the next level. But the elevator kept going up and up, until it ended up in a dark place. The lights turned on, bright and blinding, to reveal the same short-term relaxation vault that she had been kept in before.
Chell stepped out and into the glass-walled room, hobbling over to the bed.
Before she could lay down, though, another elevator entered and in came the android version of GLaDOS.
Chell glared at GLaDOS.
"Excuse me?" said GLaDOS. "You should be thanking me."
Chell raised her eyebrows, as if to ask, for what?
"I'm about to help you, you idiot," she said. "Here, let me see." The robot moved toward Chell, leaning down a hand.
Chell pulled away violently, backing herself up and pressing her arms against her wound. She shook her head. No.
"Come on," said GLaDOS. "I can't help you if you make this difficult."
Chell continued shaking her head.
"I have no interest in watching you die. Well. That's not entirely true. I have no interest in watching you die right now," she corrected. "Just let me help." She held up a pad of bandages and some other medical equipment.
Chell sighed. She made a motion with her hands as if to write something down, looking around the room and finding a testing chart on a clipboard with a pen attached. She flipped over the paper and bit her lip, scribbling something down.
I'm fine.
She handed the paper to GLaDOS, one hand still holding her side.
"You are most definitely not fine," said GLaDOS. "You were shot by a turret."
Chell took back the clipboard.
Been through worse.
"That's no reason to forgo medical treatment," she said.
Chell pondered this. She bit on the edge of the pencil, deep in thought for a moment before writing down a single word.
Fine.
"Perfect," said GLaDOS. "I'm going to need you to lift up your tank top now."
Chell just looked at her, incredulous. Was she kidding?
"I need to get a better look at the wound," said GLaDOS.
Fine.
Chell reluctantly slipped off her tank top, and then held it in front of her chest.
"Don't be ridiculous," said GLaDOS. "I don't care what you're wearing, or what you're not wearing." She was a robot. Not a human. There was no reason for Chell to be so embarrassed by this.
Chell was still wearing a sports bra—which was enough cover to at least maintain some comfort, but still not enough. She kept the shirt clutched to her chest and GLaDOS leaned her hands in. She touched the test subject, and Chell jumped. Her hands were cool and metallic and smooth. Chell trembled.
She gave the test subject a look over, checking her front and her back before pulling away.
"Well, the good news is that you're not going to die. Although there's no exit wounds, which means I get to dig the bullets out of you. The bad news? No testing until that heals."
Chell sighed, pulling away and heading back over to the relaxation pod. The glass cover slid off, revealing a bed. She sat on the edge of it, taking deep breaths through her nose.
"Wait," said GLaDOS. "Let me disinfect the wound first." The android followed her over to the bed, leaning forward with a cotton swab and a bottle of disinfectant. She dabbed the cotton in the liquid and then leaned forward to press it to Chell's stomach.
Chell, instinctively, reached out and grabbed GLaDOS's arm, ready to push it away. She caught herself at the last second, though, but kept a steady pressure on GLaDOS's arm. Chell hissed with pain as the cotton swab touched her, the burning sensation making her want to push away the robot in front of her.
GLaDOS simply kept pressing the swab to the wound.
Chell looked away the entire time, her jaw set in a glare.
GLaDOS, surprisingly, didn't speak either. It felt almost like there was an electric charge between them, one that both of them refused to acknowledge. When GLaDOS pulled away, Chell let her body relax ever so slightly.
"So." GLaDOS started. "Not your best day of testing."
Chell shrugged. She didn't care about testing so much anymore. It was just something that was required of her existence. She wasn't doing it to survive—she was doing it because she'd signed up for it. She had to remember that she'd gone into this willingly. For the second time that day, she wondered if this life was really better than living on the surface.
"Get some rest," said GLaDOS.
Chell shook her head.
"Get in that pod," said GLaDOS. "It'll speed up the healing process. I'll set it to sleep for a few days, I'll remove the bullets, and boom, you'll be better.
Chell just stared. She picked up the pencil and clipboard and wrote something down.
No stasis.
GLaDOS threw her hands up in the air. "Fine. I'm still confining you in here until you heal. So don't complain to me when you get bored."