Two robots stepped off an elevator and jogged to the next test chamber, which consisted of a few lasers here, a button or two there, a light bridge, and a few weighted storage cubes. They took in their surroundings, chirped in some foreign language, and immediately got to work. The taller one with a more slender frame marched over to a wall, shot a portal at it, and turned to shoot another by the light bridge. Just then one of the cubes flew across the room and whacked her in the side, causing her to stumble backward. On the other side of the chamber where the cube came from stood her shorter, more round companion, pretending not to be guilty of the flying cube. He glanced back over at her to find the cube being returned to fast for him to react, causing him to be knocked to the floor.
The two froze for a moment, locked in a stare off. Then they suddenly burst out laughing. The tall one helped her friend up and they returned to the task.
A camera was fixed to the wall in a corner, observing their every move. A very bored and slightly annoyed GLaDOS watched the shenanigans her robots carried on with from behind the camera. She'd grown tired of the endless circle these two seemed to chase each other in. They'd be testing for a few chambers, one of them would mess with the other, they'd get back at each other, then make up and repeat the cycle. At first they were the most helpful servants of all in GLaDOS' kingdom of science, but over time they became too helpful. She had built them too perfect and now they were so predictable that it drove her crazy. GLaDOS hated to admit it, but she missed the glory days. She missed when she had live human subjects to torture and drive to insanity. There had been one in particular that she never could let go of.
Chell was her name. Although she was quiet, stubborn, and shut herself out from the world, she was driven by some invisible force that kept her on her feet. Thus, making her the perfect test subject. GLaDOS never understood what made Chell so bent on staying alive. None of the other humans had that spark. At least not for very long. Not being able to 'solve' Chell's complex mind irritated GLaDOS. The AI always had to know exactly what was going on in every inch of the facility at all times, and not knowing something drove her crazy. So she tried to get into Chell's head and break her. She tried and tried to get her to give up or slow down or show some form of emotion. She tried to at least get Chell to give her something. But failure after failure, she slowly accepted that it wasn't worth it. Eventually she let Chell go. She was too dangerous to be kept in the facility anyway. After killing her once and bringing her back only to put a moron in charge and turn her into a potato, the danger that came with keeping her became clear to GLaDOS. It just wasn't worth it. Besides, with her new cooperative testing initiative, she would never have a lack of test subjects again. Boy was she wrong. After years of the same thing over and over it just didn't feel the same. The robots didn't have that same spark that kept Chell going and GLaDOS wondering what would happen next. At some point they'd found a vault full of human test subjects, but they didn't last long. They were already in a weak state after being down there for so long, and GLaDOS burned through them in less than a year before reluctantly returning to testing with the robots.
Ever since then she spent all her time contemplating her next move. She made careful calculations, day in and day out, only occasionally stopping to give instructions or a sarcastic comment to her automatic test subjects. GLaDOS' silence throughout the whole process put the other AI in Aperture on edge. For they knew what silence from her had meant. Out of pure horror of being casted into android hell, not a turret whispered, not a companion cube muttered, not even a core dared speak. It wasn't until one faithful day that the great silence was broken by GLaDOS herself when she gave a command.
"Orange, Blue, to my chamber immediately." her voice echoed through the intercoms. "I have a surprise."
In absolutely no time, the two metal goofballs rushed into her chamber and stood at attention below her, awaiting further instructions.
"I've spent a long time putting this test together for you. It's a new kind of test too."
Blue looked over at his friend and shrugged. Neither of them had but a clue to GLaDOS' suddenly joyous nature.
"Learning of my... history with the woman Caroline not only taught me something, but also gave me an idea." she continued. "If a human mind can be organized into a neat, immortal, superior machine, then why not the reverse?"
The two started to internally panic. They didn't like where this was going. GLaDOS leaned closer to them.
"Before you lose your little heads over nothing, pay attention. I've been over every calculation several hundred times. Of course, I can't put this into action myself until I know for sure that it works. And that's where you come in."
Two claws dropped from the ceiling and quickly descended upon the duo. Orange froze in terror while Blue struggled to escape the claw's grasp.
"Now don't be so difficult. I thought you liked testing. I even made a point to have it hard coded into your systems when I created you. I feel hurt that my most reliable test subjects don't even want to participate." she sighed. "In case it doesn't work, just know that you've been very helpful up until now." GLaDOS chuckled lightly, as her two subjects were whisked away.
"Good luck. Don't die."
