Marbles on Glass
14. Beyond
Part II - Chell
She wasn't prepared for this.
Aperture had been a cage all along, that was for sure. Still, since the earliest times, the façade had been flawed – somehow, the ways out were always open.
She should have expected the place to be this huge.
Porcelain had cracked beneath her feet, the holes had multiplied; then, beyond the concrete boxes, everything appeared boundless. Aperture was a jungle of wires, panels, loose machinery left hanging in the void.
It was a wondrous fabrication, and alive – it sang of a loneliness beyond compare.
She recognized her own, in the azure mist of the abyss.