Aperture

Note: If you haven't played Portal 2 and you are planning on, then you probably don't want to read. This has references of Portal1 & 2. This is really for the portal fans. Had it in my head and had to write it.

Shar moved through the ruins of the laboratory. She had to admit this was one of the easiest missions she'd been given in a long time. She moved across the catwalks, trying to figure out how she was going to get up to her destination. She was supposed to get into the heart of the laboratory, get the data from the main system on the results of some testing. Shar didn't know what they had tested. Apparently that was black inked to a point even she wasn't allowed to see. There was a side order to retrieve a white object, some sort of new tech, though they had been reluctant to tell her more.

Shar ran along a catwalk, not so sure that it could handle her weight properly. There were so many large gaps from what she assumed were years of decay. Even more unsettling there was the large lake of acid below her. Why did a laboratory need a lake of acid? She brought up the layout of the area on her HUD and frowned. This place was huge, but at least she knew where she was going. The hard part was really just figuring out how to get where she wanted to. Shar unconsciously reached back, fingers running over the top of her jetpack, being sure it was there. One wrong leap, to far of a distance, and she'd burn up in the acid. Not an appealing ending.

She'd already gone deep into the facility. She'd passed volunteer waiting areas, old faded paintings of some man named Cave Johnson, and even a large broken down sign that marked what must have been the original entrance. The whole time prerecorded messages from Mr. Johnson, who by now Shar understood was the founder of the company, would play from speakers around her, saying some of the weirdest things. The recording spouted odd things about tumors, experiments, and sixty dollars. She wasn't sure exactly what sort of currency a dollar was, though it seemed to tell her how long ago the recordings had been.

Shar reached one of the highest levels, the way she'd have to take in order to get to the main control. She'd been warned that there was something dangerous there, but they had said that as long as she had no breaks in her suit, she'd be fine. Shar wondered what this danger was, and how prepared she needed to be.

Shar reached what she considered to be more new and sturdy catwalks. The metal looked newer, taken care of. She glanced back, looking out the door where she'd come. It was like a completely different world in here. This area was new, safe, but where she'd been was old. She wondered what was keeping the newer part in shape. She'd been told that no one had been there in years, so who was taking care of everything? Shar stepped forward and the door shut before her with a hissing seal. There was no turning back now.

The Spartan III made her way through a maze of catwalks and moving machinery. Everything seemed so busy, and alive, it was confusing. It was an inactive facility, but there was so much going on. She walked down a hallway and spotted an assembly line. Small oval robots with three legs were being passed by a scanner, the odd thing was that what looked like the properly built ones were being thrown across the room into an incinerator. Shar watched this happen a few times before she stepped in, grabbing one out of the air. She held it facing away from her as the sides folded out and she realized what it was. It was a little robotic turret. A red laser searched the area and found nothing while the turret asked if anyone was there in the most innocent and slightly adorable voice that Shar had ever heard.

Shar decided to keep the turret with her. It started to chatter, not turning off as she picked it up and walked through the hallways with it. It spouted odd things about lemons, something below them, and a woman named Caroline. Shar listened to it unit it fell silent for a few minutes. It then started to spout something about how nice she was and what a noble warrior she must be to save such a poor soul. Shar listened to the mindless babble until she reached the hallway to the main control room. She'd made it halfway down before a panel opened on her right and she was faced by five sentry turrets. Shar rolled to the side, dropping her turret as she did. The five turrets opened fire and she watched as the bullets pinged off of the turret she'd dropped until it fell over, dented from all the impacts, and finally it folded up, letting out a pitiful announcement of it shutting down. Shar frowned. She liked that turret and they'd destroyed it. She grabbed a grenade from her belt and tossed it into the cluster of turrets. They all tried to get a fix on her, red eyes following as she moved, but just as they prepared to fire, the grenade went off, sending them flying. A few frantically fired as they flew through the air and hit the ground before shutting down.

Shar moved over to her turret, kneeling down and carefully picking up. The red eye remained dull and she felt bad for the little destroyed robot. Shar moved over to the fallen turrets and quickly arranged them, setting them up to make a sort of platform and she set her turret on the top. She took a step back and saluted her turret before she moved on. She really shouldn't get partners, they never seemed to last. Shar moved into the main controls, and looked up at the large computer that hung in the center of the room. She moved forward and the great mass moved, one golden eye turning to look at her. "You killed my turrets." The voice was sweet, too sweet. It had a polite tone, but there was something in the words that showed that the machine wasn't happy.

"They killed my turret." Shar looked over the structure, trying to figure out where the main database was. "Who are you?"

"I am the Genetic Lifeform and Disk Operating System, but most just call me GLaDOS." The long rectangular appendage, which Shar could only identify as the machine's head, moved to look at her better. "Well at least you aren't a mute. I hate mutes. The last one that was here killed me, twice, and then got me put in a potato."

Shar raised an eyebrow. "Well, that's a nice potato you have there." She started to move through the room. "So you must be, what…An AI left in charge of the facility?"

The robot turned to follow the Spartan as she moved. "Yes, I am the one in charge of this facility. I run the tests. Did you come here to test? I am in need of willing human test subjects…well I guess willing might be over qualification."

"No, I was sent here to get some test data, and pick up some weird white object, though I don't know what." Shar moved to the wall, looking for any sort of controls which might give her access. She was mostly ignoring GLaDOS. The AI might be rampant, or just talk weirdly for all she knew. Really Shar wasn't afraid of mass of wires and metal hanging in the middle of a room.

"I have all the testing data." The words brought Shar's attention back to GLaDOS. "I have been doing a lot of testing." A screen appeared showing two robots sliding around on an odd orange gel. One robot was a round sphere with arms and legs while the other appearing to be a human like turret. "I have much better test subjects now."

"So then you can give me the data, and this object?" Shar eyed the image, wondering if these were what she had been sent to get.

"I can give you the data, and what I believe you are looking for." GLaDOS turned the screen off and turned her attention back to the soldier. "Just give me a moment to make that data transferable."

Shar moved to the middle of the room and sat down before GLaDOS. She didn't really feel threatened, and the AI was helping her. "So, then all you do is test, nothing else?"

GLaDOS didn't reply right away and Shar figured she just hadn't been listening. "I am compelled by my love of science to test." GLaDOS eyed the Spartan. "And what are you? What is your function?"

"I'm a Spartan, a soldier. My function is to do what I'm told, kill things most of the time." Shar was simple in her answer. She'd always felt a sort of connection with dumb AI. They had only certain functions they were useful for, limited. As a solder, forever a solder, it was all she was limited to.

"I like killing." The words were upbeat and Shar frowned. AI were supposed to serve people, not want to kill them. "It would have been nice to have someone like you around when that mute was here." There was something in the AI's voice that made Shar question if she really meant it, or if it was just a stubborn resentment that made her say such things.

The two sat in silence until Shar finally spoke. "So GLaDOS is the name that they gave you, but do you ever have a name you'd rather go buy?"

The AI seemed to think it over, her golden eye looking about as her body swung in thought. "I suppose, I'd like to be called Caroline." The AI swung back around. "But Caroline is dead."

Shar tilted her head to the side, not understanding. How could the AI want to be called that, but then call herself dead? She decided that there was some sort of information she was missing. She'd been lost in her thoughts, and memories of the turret spouting something about a Caroline.

"You know, I sometimes do miss that lunatic mute. She may have killed me, but she was a good test subject." GLaDOS lowered herself slightly. "I wonder if she is still alive."

Shar stared at the large computer, a bit confounded by her attitude. She'd spoken so badly of the mute at first but here the AI was wondering if the person was still alive. It didn't seem very logical to Shar. She thought it over until the large robotic head lowered almost all the way down to her. A small data matrix appeared and Shar grabbed it, safely tucked it away.

"So much testing done, and so much still to come. Who cares where that mute, fat, orphan went." GLaDOS' voice was resentful as she withdrew, rising up and away from Shar. "I must get back to testing." A part of the floor opened and a white object rose up out of the ground. "I believe that this is what you want."

Shar wanted to say something to the AI about how there was nothing wrong with being an orphan but she was distracted by the object. She simply shrugged, not really understanding if it was the object or not, or why someone would want it. She paused for a moment. "I hope you learn a lot, and that you make progress in your testing. Maybe one day the mute will return to you." Shar grabbed the object and moved away.

"I hope she does not." The AI's voice sounded angry, but didn't really sound like she meant it. Her voices suddenly softened as she continued. "And I hope you burn down someone's house." GLaDOS' voice was genuine. "I can take you up to the surface." Shar stopped and nodded. She didn't understand what the scientists had meant by dangerous. The AI seemed to be rather pleasant, a bit weird and conflicted but still pleasant. "You know, I bet you would be hard to kill."

Shar was a bit surprised by the random statement. "Well, I've been blown up, shot, and stabbed, so I've proven to be pretty hard to kill."

GLaDOS seemed to think for a moment, though for all Shar knew she was just preparing a way up. The AI turned to look at her. "Then it is best if you leave, like the mute. My test subjects work just fine, and they would be easier to kill."

Shar was about to question that when she suddenly found herself rising up. She went higher and higher, and held onto the object tight as they moved up. The lift finally stopped and Shar stepped out into the light, setting the object down as she looked around at the wheat field. She looked back and the rusted door to the shed shut tight and most likely locked behind her.

Shar shrugged, what did she care. She moved over to the object and whipped away a bit of the dust, looking at the uncovered pink heart. She didn't understand why the scientist would want a cube, but she wasn't about to question it. She lifted up the cube and set it on her shoulder. "Well, let's get out of here." She could almost swear as she walked off into the filed that she could hear the sound of her fallen turret, thanking her. She glanced toward the cube and felt an odd sense of companionship. She smiled behind her visor, holding the cube a bit tighter.

When she got back to the base she presented the cube to the scientist, though she felt oddly alone without it. The scientist simply stared at her, confused as to why they have brought her a cube. A door opened and a woman in high white boots and an orange jump suit ran into the room, moving to the cube and hugging it lovingly. Shar just watched her before she heard one of the scientists calling her a mute lunatic. Shar knelt down beside the woman. "GLaDOS says hi, and I think she misses you." The woman smiled and hugged the cube tighter before Shar stood up and moved out of the room.