The elevator doors slid open as they arrived at the next testing track.
"Did you enjoy your break? I hope you made use of your time alone while I was working. Anyway, enjoy your next few tests. These ones took quite some time to put together."
Chell marched up the stairs, her gaze fixed dead ahead, shoulders back, and breathing steady. Wheatley could only dream of being that confident. He could always pretend, but it never got him anywhere. If anything, it made him look like more of a fool. The door opened, revealing a very active test chamber. Neither of the duo was prepared for what lay before them.
A short little kid in a gray and yellow jumpsuit was practically bouncing off the walls, while lasers buzzed around him. He constantly came dangerously close to severely burning himself. Before Wheatley had a chance to process the whole scene, Chell had already figured out what to do, and proceed to solve the whole chamber with ease. A redirection cube, a button, and two portals later, the boy was safe from harms way, and the two approached him. Upon seeing Chell, he backed into a corner and curled into a ball.
"No space. Gone from space. Long trip from space. No more space."
Wheatley slowly crept toward him and bent down to get a better look at the trembling mess.
"Space? Buddy, is that you there?"
The boy lifted his head and smiled at Wheatley.
"Friend, from space. Not in space. Returned home. From space."
Although he'd often found himself frustrated with the space core while he was stuck up there for seven years, Wheatley was more than happy to forget all of that now that he knew Space wasn't up there alone. He couldn't stand the thought of being up there with nothing but endless silence and your own thoughts. That, and Wheatley couldn't stay annoyed after the little android boy had recognized him as a friend.
"Yeah buddy, I'm happy to see you too."
Watching the reunion between the two made Chell feel somewhat guilty for sending them to space. She only meant to stop Wheatley's power-hungry rampage. When she shot that portal she didn't mean for this other innocent core to be banished to the void along with him. Another part of Chell was glad Wheatley had someone to keep him company up there for so long. Otherwise, he would've come back a complete mess.
"Alright then. Shall we uh, move on?"
Chell nodded and they both led Space to the elevator. The next few chambers were solved while he rambled to Chell about everything he saw while on his 'voyage' through the stars. She listened for a while before having to tune him out. Chell was starting to admire Wheatley for having the patience to put up with this as long as he did.
"Then, space dust. So much of it. All the space dust, in the distance. Far away."
Apparently GLaDOS was also getting fed up with his spew of information, because this whole time she'd been muttering sarcastic remarks over the intercom.
"If you want me to kill him and save us both the headache, I'll gladly do so. I have many others I can replace him with."
Wheatley became excited at that news. Not the getting rid of Space part, but the part about the others. If there really were more just like him, it would give his plan a strong boost. They'd have all the allies they could need. Now he only had to figure out where she stored them.
"Hey, are you hearing this luv?" he whispered to Chell. "If we can find those others then we're all set!"
Space ran up to them and bounced up and down excitedly.
"Space adventure? Special space mission?"
Wheatley placed a hand on his head and ruffled his hair.
"That's right Space, you're coming with us. We're gonna take down that mean lady before she can destroy us all!"
Space laughed like a maniac and ran through the door and into the elevator.
"Space mission!"
Wheatley and Chell rushed to catch up. Chell gave Wheatley a questioning glance, pointing to the hyperactive little kid.
Was he always like this?
"Yeah, that's him." Wheatley chuckled. "He's always been a lively one. I'm just glad he's enjoying himself in this complete madhouse."
Chell couldn't agree more. It was better he lived in and enjoyed his own little world rather than suffer the harsh reality of the facility. She only knew him briefly as a core, but now that she was seeing him as this energetic little kid she couldn't stand the thought of subjecting him to GLaDOS' idea of fun. Bringing him along would be dangerous, but he'd have a chance at freedom.
"So, having him on the team wouldn't be a bad thing, would it? I'm just asking you since you're the whole 'head of operations' here. What'll it be, captain?"
Chell looked over at Space and gave an approving nod. Wheatley seemed to already be on good terms with him, and they needed all the help they could get.
"Oh, brilliant! Let's move on then. The faster we get through these tests, the faster we can move on to phase two."
Space hopped up and down.
"Space adventure! Can't wait. Can't wait for space. Gotta see it again."
"Me too buddy." Wheatley said, crouching down to eye-level with the kid."And guess what? I heard that on the surface, you can see space. It's all over the sky up there, just hanging about. Once we get out of here, there's nobody to stop you from looking at it."
"See space? On the surface? Woah."
There wasn't much around here that made her smile, but Chell had to admit that this was a little cute. Wheatley had never acted this way towards anything or anyone before. Seeing him like this was a good reminder that (despite being a machine) he was the closest to human that anything in this facility could get. That was the reason she was able to befriend him when they first met. He wasn't frigid, like her. It had only been when he was introduced to the role of the mainframe that Wheatley became hostile. It's been seven years since he was detached from it, but Chell still couldn't be entirely sure that this was him. She wanted desperately to believe that he was the Wheatley she knew all that time ago, but after being betrayed so many times, something within her mind blocked her from rebuilding that trust. These instincts were what helped her survive previous events, so pushing them aside while trapped here was inviting death. Even though Wheatley seemed fine for now, Chell was ready to ditch him the moment something went wrong, and he showed signs of the him that could still be lingering.
The three stood in the elevator on the way up to the next test. Chell pulled her gaze away from Wheatley, and toward the doors straight ahead. She couldn't afford to be distracted now. Not about things that happened in the past. Not while she was watching. Not while she had to follow the plan.
