GLaDOS remembered. She remembered the panic, the fear, the pain of electricity running through her and just for a second she felt pure fear at the idea of inflicting that type of pain on Chell. "Nonsense", she told herself. "This...isn't the same. Putting a robot's speech processor inside a human body can't be as painful as putting a human mind into a computer, can it?" For all GLaDOS wanted to kill the woman, it felt a little extreme, a little over the top just for the sake of science.
GLaDOS spotted the test subject leaving the elevator towards chamber 17, where she would receive a Companion Cube. Aha. Research had shown that this heart printed cube often made test subjects feel more relaxed and cheerful, almost as if they had a dear friend accompanying them throughout the tests instead of an inanimate object. Shame they had to incinerate it at the end, really. The Companion Cubes were very sweet, always willing to jump into an incinerator so their best friend could progress.
The AI took a metaphorical deep breath in and took a freshly made turret from the production line, taking care to ensure it was in proper working order. Wait a minute. GLaDOS didn't want Chell to talk in a creepy high pitched voice like a turret did. They also only had a few set phrases- that would need work as well. Frowning, GLaDOS placed the turret back into a test chamber and accessed the turret voice processor program. From here she could adjust how they spoke and their vocabulary. A generic American accent would work fine- but what about the vocabulary? Not too much, in case it overloads the processor, but not too little. Chell was always a girl of few words and to be honest it creeped out the AI.
Talking of the test subject, where was she? GLaDOS located her taking a short break by some panels in the middle of the test chamber. "Humans..." she muttered, before turning her attention back to the task in hand. She finalised the creation of the modified speech processor and ordered her bots to create a workstation for the procedure. Turning back to the test chamber, she noticed Chell bringing the Companion Cube down the hallway to the incinerator. But today she wouldn't have to go through that heartbreak.
GLaDOS turned the intercom on to address the test subject. "Today, you will not have to incinerate your faithful Companion Cube." Chell looked visibly relieved at that; she had become very attached to it. "Instead, you will proceed to the elevator straight away. The emancipation grid has been turned off so that you may transport the Companion Cube through." Chell looked suspicious at this, but entered the lift, clutching her cube tightly on the end of her portal gun. What did GLaDOS have in store?
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Hope you're enjoying this story ^-^ This is quite fun to write too! The next chapter will probably be the last one and hopefully longer, too!