Space
Cave Johnson was running out of options, along with everything else.
First, he'd had to stop using astronauts and war time heroes because, well quite frankly, people really got suspicious when they went missing. They had switched to bribing the homeless, but as it turns out, people got their panties in a twist about THEM too. So what was the head of Aperture Science to do?
Turn to the funny farm, of course!
He walked down the sterile white halls, gazing at all the inmates like he was shopping. Some were altogether too sane, others were barking like dogs, too crazy to know which way was up. He sighed irritably. "Don't you have someone who's only sort of crazy?", he said, turning to the nurse showing him around.
She glared at him and crossed her arms. "I cannot believe we're allowing you to do this. You're an absolute monster."
"Just answer the question, sweet cheeks."
Rolling her eyes, she unlocked one of the solitary confinement rooms. "Arthur Baskin. Age: 32. He's confined from everyone else because he flies into a panic very easily, and has been known to injure himself." The nurse walked in, smiling gently. "Hello Arthur. How are you feeling today?"
Cave felt his breath catch in his throat at the sight of him.
He was tall, thin as a rail, with ratty orange hair flying every which way. Hunched over a stack of paper and scribbling furiously, he barely seemed to notice they were there until the nurse touched his shoulder. Arthur jerked his head up, eyes wild and uncomprehending, before smiling lopsidedly at them. "H-Hello. Do you want to go to space?"
The nurse laughed a little, shaking her head. "No dear. No one's going to space." Turning to Cave, she sighed. "He used to be a medical student, and a gifted artist. Very sensitive, from what we've heard."
"How'd he end up here?" Cave was watching, fascinated, as Arthur turned back to his drawings and mumbled nonsense to himself.
"Space….I gotta—gotta get to….t-to space…."
"It's tragic, actually." Her face fell. "His fiancé had an accident while they were vacationing, and she was in a vegetative state for a year before they decided to pull the plug. It really, REALLY messed him up."
Arthur's pen lines became more erratic as they talked, branching out into strange shapes and alien worlds. "Gotta go, gotta get there, sh-she'll be there….and we can go to Mars together…."
Cave clapped his hands in triumph. Oh, it was almost too easy. "Arthur m'boy…" he put a hand on the crazy man's shoulders, making him jump. "What if I told you I could offer you a chance to go to space?"
His eyes widened. "Space? R-really? I could go…you could take me?"
"Absolutely." He turned the charm up, lying through his teeth. Cave should've probably felt guilty for this, but at this point, he couldn't afford to. "All you'd have to do is come train with us for a year or so, then it's off to the stars! What do ya say?"
Arthur nodded enthusiastically. "Yes! Yes, of—of course!" He laughed, jumping up and hugging him. "Thank you!"
10 years later…
Space.
They lied about space.
They lied they lied they lied they lied they lied they lied THEY LIED.
All he'd ever wanted was to go to space. Mel would be there waiting for him, and she'd smile and kiss him and be alive again and everything would be as it was before…before…
Arthur shrieked in pain as another blast of electricity shot through his skull, tears streaming down his face. "NO! STOP!" He could barely think, much less beg the faceless scientists to turn the machine off and just let him GO. "P-Please don't do this, I—I gotta-" He choked on a sob, struggling against the restraints with what was left of his strength.
Why were they doing this? What had he done?
He was so tired now. Somewhere, far away, Mel's voice called out to him and he closed his eyes. At the same time, the strange ball in front of him opened its optic and shone an orange light.
Spaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaace.
"Well, damn."
The scientists gathered around the core, who was babbling on and on and ON about space cops. They shook their heads. Tom, the head scientist, grabbed it by the handles and handed it off to his assistant. "Toss it in the pile with the rest of the defective cores. I mean really, now. This had bad idea written all over it."
The assistant made the long trip from GLaDOS's chamber to the Defective cores unit, a deep, painful guilt stabbing at his heart. He rather liked the little sphere, and it seemed like such a pity to just throw it away. It turned to look at him, and almost seemed to smile. "What's your favorite thing about space? Mine is Space. Space space space spuh puh puh SPACE!" It giggled to itself.
He laughed with it. "At least you won't lose your sunny attitude. You've got that going for you, I suppose."
Gently, he put the core in the cage and locked the door. It didn't seem to notice too much, but as he turned to leave, it cried out to him. "What's your name? Your space name?"
The assistant turned and smiled. "Gregory Wheatley."
The core nodded. "I like you, Gregory. We should go to space together."