Chapter 13 – Subject Name Here
Alyx and Gordon's mouths sat agape after Adrian announced the presence of his wife. Dr. Kliener was caught off guard by the revelation as well.
"I'm sorry, WHAT?" the doctor asked. He was under the impression that the woman now known as Chell was the one who made the Borealis disappear.
"That's so romantic." Alyx said finally. Adrian and Chell were still holding each other in their arms. Mossman gave a satisfied smile from her place in the corner. Gordon was the first to ask the question.
"Okay, hold on one second!" Everyone's attention shifted to Gordon. "Would anyone care to explain what just happened and who everyone is?" He asked. Mossman answered that.
"Gordon, this is Chell. She is the one who has been helping me here. She is also the person who protects the project the Combine will stop at nothing to get." She said.
"Yes, Dr. Freeman." Chell said. She lifted up the White Gun that was in her left hand. "This is the project. This is the Aperture Science Handheld Portal Device." The group spent the next hour trying to make sense of the world around them.
----------
Chell explained her story first. She had worked at Aperture Science a few years before. Mostly she worked in the testing department and ran trials on many of their projects. While under employment with Aperture, she met Adrian who came to the company shortly after her and worked security detail at the Enrichment Center. It was the classic love story after that. They fell in love and got married about two years before GLaDOS malfunctioned. Adrian explained that he had quit his post a week before the project went into development. One day, Chell didn't come home from work. Adrian had wanted to look for her, but the Combine was becoming increasingly restrictive and he was forced to join the resistance. When he heard word that the Aperture science building was destroyed, he feared that Chell was gone forever. However, the destruction of the Enrichment Center was just part of Chell's story.
Chell was commissioned to test the Portal Device just before GLaDOS lost her mind. There was a policy at Aperture Science that said that all Test Subjects were to be given a rest period before testing commences. So, Chell was put into a suspended animation state of sleep at Aperture Science. Unfortunately, GLaDOS developed a god complex while Chell was asleep and leaked a deadly neurotoxin into the test center. The neurotoxin killed almost everyone there. A select few scientists and testers managed to stop GLaDOS in her tracks. They did stop her from leaking the neurotoxin, but GLaDOS took the scientists and forced them to test the Portal Device in the testing area. All the scientists failed and were killed, the only evidence of their existence being the graffiti written on the walls of the concealed areas within the test facility. After killing all the survivors, GLaDOS awakened Chell from her suspended animation which she had upgraded to cryosleep at the time of her take over of the Enrichment Center. Chell had been asleep for six months by the time she was awakened. GLaDOS forced her to go through the Enrichment Center's many chambers as she did with the other scientists and testers. The difference between Chell and the other testers though, was that she was experienced enough to overcome GLaDOS. Chell escaped GLaDOS's maniacal testing and journeyed into the bowels of the building until she found GLaDOS's main computer chamber. It was there that she outsmarted the crazed computer and destroyed her. After GLaDOS was destroyed, Chell was thrown from the testing center and (although the resulting explosion should have killed her) was knocked unconscious because of the protective gear she was wearing for the purposes of testing. After regaining consciousness, Chell fled the scene of the explosion before the Combine had a chance to take control of the area. Her first instinct was to go to the Borealis to check on the cargo. She brought the Portal gun with her and went to the ship. It was there that she had an epiphany. She learned that after GLaDOS terrorized the testing center, Aperture Science abandoned all research and basically disappeared off the face of the earth. Chell found a way to take the entire boat into seclusion by using one of the Portal gun's many alternative methods of function that even GLaDOS didn't know about. So, the tale of the mysterious disappearing ship was born and Aperture Science faded from memory. Chell disposed of all the ship's cargo, thinking that it would only do harm to people if it existed any longer. She lived on the Borealis for two years before Dr. Mossman came to investigate. Chell helped in the Combine siege and killed numerous soldiers. She believed that Adrian had been killed by the Combine, so she abandoned all hope as well.
"And, here we are." She concluded with. The story sure did clear up many questions that Gordon and Alyx had. But, there were still some left unanswered.
"Can you explain how the Portal gun works Chell?" Gordon asked.
"Of course Dr. Freeman. But it's not something I can tell you, I have to show you." She replied. Chell picked up the white gun and aimed it at the back wall of the room. "Well, when I fire one portal here." Chell pulled one of the two triggers at the handle of the gun and a blue spark emitted from the front of the gadget. The spark quickly hit the wall and a blue oval appeared on it. "Then, I fire the other one here." Chell repositioned the gun to the right of the blue oval and fired at the wall. This time she pulled the second of the two triggers and an orange spark emitted from the device and hit the wall. When the orange portal formed, Gordon looked into it. Out of the corner of his eye he saw himself in the blue portal! "Watch closely." Chell said. She moved in front of the blue portal and held out her right arm. She stuck her right arm into the portal, and at the same exact moment, her hand exited the orange portal! After seeing the shocked expressions on Gordon's and Alyx's faces, Chell jumped through the blue portal and jumped out of the orange portal. The one who was most intrigued by this display was Dr. Kliener, who had been watching intently through the camera on Gordon's collar.
"Dear God! I've never seen teleportation performed so effortlessly and flawlessly that quick before! This is ground breaking new research! Now I see why the Combine is so relentless to obtain it." He said.
"That's not even the half of it." said Chell. She lifted up the Portal gun and pushed a button that was located on the top of it. The light installed in the button began to emit a blue light that formed into a sphere. The sphere flattened out into a flat screen that was projected onto the air. "We are here." She pointed to the screen and the group realized that the hologram was in fact a world map. It had zoomed in on the area where they were located and an overhead shot of the Borealis shone in blue with an orange dot located about where they stood. Chell popped open a compartment on the left side of the Portal gun which held a small control panel that held four arrow buttons and both a blue and orange button. Chell used the arrow buttons to position the center of the hologram over an area on the bow of the ship. She pressed the blue button and a blue spark emitted from the gun. This time though, the blue portal on the back wall closed and the spark exited the room and moved through the room's front window onto the floor on the bow of the ship. A blue portal opened up on the spot and the image in the orange portal showed the ceiling of the ice cavern. Chell ran over to the orange portal and jumped into it. In the same instant, she exited the blue portal outside on the front of the ship. She waved at the group and jumped back into the blue portal. Adrian thought that she was going to fall out of the orange portal and hurt herself. However, when she exited the orange portal, her body readjusted to the pull of gravity and she landed safely on her feet.
"Amazing" Dr. Kliener remarked. "Absolutely amazing. With this technology, we can teleport anybody anywhere at anytime." This was remarkable, but Chell wasn't done yet.
"Hey, Dr. Freeman, open that bag, pull out anything you choose, and throw it over here." She said. Gordon turned to his right and looked at the black duffle bag that Chell had arrived with. He opened it and saw a pile of food that Chell had no doubt brought for Mossman. Gordon pulled out a thermos from the pile and stood up to face Chell. He tossed the thermos toward her. Before it was even half-way to her, Chell lifted the Portal gun once again and fired again. There was both a blue and orange spark that emitted from the gun and flew towards the thermos. When the sparks hit the tube of liquid, a white light filled the room, and then…nothing. Gordon looked around the room. He had expected to hear the thermos fly across the room and smash against the wall, but he didn't. The group looked around the room and tried to find the thermos, but they couldn't. Once again, Dr. Kliener developed an explanation before anyone else.
"Oh my. This is unimaginable. When she fired both portals at the thermos, they counteracted and canceled each other out. But, at the same time, any item in between the portals would be canceled out the same as they would." Said Dr. Kliener. "Gordon, when she fired the two portals at the thermos, she made it cease to exist!"