"A truly… noble act Dr. Rattmann…, sacrificing your life… for the life of the girl." Doug awoke to find himself in a black void; he looked around, trying to place himself in some form of reality in which he could find none. "Not only a noble act but a kind one, Dr. Rattmann." The rat man looked upon a man in a suit, well, he looked like a man, but there were specific characteristics that were suspiciously off-putting; he didn't seem human, like a creature that knew what a human was but was simply acting. "And do you know… what they say, Doctor?" The man shifted places appearing just in front of the Rat's face before saying, "One kind act turns another…"
The Ratman jolted awake, his eyes splitting open with a harsh awareness of his current situation. He looked around his sleep compartment before smacking the eject button on the inside, which opened his pod and released the rat. Doug shook his head and rubbed his temples, "another damn hallucination," he cursed to himself as he sat awake with a startling realization. "Where is my companion cube.' He erratically looked around the chamber, looking behind chairs and eventually flipping over a table that still had a computer and monitor on it, both of which slammed to the ground with a thud. "WHERE ARE YOU?" he yelled into an empty room that said nothing back. The Ratman heard footsteps from outside the sleep pod containment room, and as he dived behind a pod, he listened closely to the muffled voice behind the door. "Did you hear someone yell?" he heard a voice coming from the other side of the door. Dr. Rattmann decided that the best course of action would be to remain hidden and see if he could find an escape. The Rat did a quick scan of the room, quickly finding a vent as the doorknob jiggled. He heard someone outside say, "Why are these doors always locked? What's the point? If people are already in the facility, they should be allowed into the nap room." Doug heard the sound of jingling keys before a second voice spoke up. "I think it's just in case there are legitimate intruders; also, I'm sure some people wouldn't want their nap interrupted." The key undid the locks, and Doug quickly opened the nearby vent and hid inside. "Woah, what happened in here?" the taller one said as he entered the room. "Come here and help me flip this table over; looks like something went wild in here." the shorter scientist said as the both of them walked into the room and went right to the computer that had collapsed earlier, attempting to pick it up, finding it to be a fruitless endeavor. The taller scientist quickly picked up the table and placed it on the table he had situated correctly earlier. "I don't know how you find the time to work out with these hours Johnson is giving us." "Simple Mac, I signed up for the testing initiative! I'm getting paid to run around and solve logic puzzles." "Alright, just be careful; I don't think Johnson cares if you live or die as long as it looks like the company is doing something when the investors are around."
Doug was shocked, horrified, but somehow relieved; he was safe from GLaDOS, but he had no idea where he could be. It seemed like Aperture, but it couldn't be; it looked normal, just as he remembered. Doug began to hyperventilate, crawling deeper into the vents directly to what would generally be one of his hiding holes. Still, when the Rat arrived, the walls were clean, his scrawlings were gone, and the radio that usually played soothing elevator music was nowhere to be found. He pressed his back against the wall placing his hands on his head and sliding down. "It's ok, it's ok, it's ok," he repeated as he longed for his companion cube's company.
"Having… a hard time….. adjusting?" a voice rang in the Rat's head; he scoured the room looking for the source of the sound but found nothing before he saw a shadow flicker in the corner of the room. Doug began mumbling to himself, whispering, "it's not real, it's not real it's not real" he panicked as he spiraled down into a seemingly endless abyss. "Check… your pocket" Doug quickly reached into his labcoat pocket and pulled out an empty can of beans, but as he pulled it out, there was the sound of something rattling inside; he quickly poured it out into his hand, revealing small yellow and blue pills. The Rat grabbed them and quickly swallowed them. "Now….. they'll take a moment to… kick in… so continue to take deep breaths…..and after you calm down, then I'll answer what you ask." a few moments passed, and Dr. Rattmann began to speak. "So you're real, aren't you?" Doug looked to the Gman for answers. "I'm the genuine article." the Gman responded, tapping the Rats shoulder to affirm his statement. "So what did you do to me?" "I saved you from your… eternal slumber" "Alright, that's on me; I set the bar too low." Doug sat frustrated as he debated his next question. "Alright, let's start easy; where am I?" "Why, you're in the… aperture science research facility!" The strange man said with a sinister grin, obviously enjoying toying with the Ratt. "Then why is everything ok? Why isn't this place in shambles?" "Who said anything was ok?" said the mystery man before disappearing. Rattmann wondered if the man was ever there in the first place as he observed his surroundings, finding nothing.
Coming to terms with his surroundings, Doug rose to his feet. "Alright, time to find my own answers." Doug started on his way, diving back into the vents on a path to his old office and workstation. The bangs and thuds of his knees and hand on the metal couldn't possibly be quieted or silenced without slowing down. "Damn it," Rattmann mumbled as he looked ahead and saw the slits in the air vent that allowed red piercing lights to shine through them. "Turrets, inefficient, annoying, asinine turrets." Doug thought, "Alright if I run fast enough, the bullets can't hit me in time. The bullets are just disgustingly put together. "We fire the whole bullet; that's 65% more bullet per bullet."" he said mockingly. "I'm a glorified graphics designer, and I could tell that was a stupid idea," he said as he attempted to roll through the poorly designed trap, the turrets fired completely, emptying their clips into the vents. Some bullets made it through, but most just rattled off the side and hit the ground with several high pitch clinks. As the Rat made it through, he began to whistle, an act that the turrets heard and picked up on copying the tune that was made by Doug.