Author's note: As of yet, this is very rough. I don't have anyone editing this, and I have only been over it a minimal number of times myself. I wanted to get it up asap. Please, to anyone reading this: do tell me what is better and what is not better by writing a review so that I can properly edit everything. Right now my writing is a mix of stuffs all over the place. More Description? More internal dialogue? Less? Better characterization? I am very open to feedback (just don't hate me, if you please). Bon apetit,

Artemis in Aperture

Test Chamber 00

"We hope your brief detention in the relaxation vault has been a pleasant one." The voice continued, as metallic and as puzzling as ever. The boy, Artemis, scanned the room in attempt to find the speaker from which the voice was being amplified, but he found nothing but an obvious camera suckled to the concrete wall outside of the plastic box. It seemed as if the woman's voice was being projected through the solid walls, permeating throughout the entire room, though she spoke so clearly he found that difficult to believe.

"Your specimen has been processed and we are now ready to begin the test proper."

Test? Thought Artemis. He has always been good at tests, unless it was a running and jumping test; of those he was less than fond. Then he thought: Specimen? I am a specimen? He scanned the cell and listed observations: a sleeping pod (or 'relaxation vault' as the voice had called it) that was clearly not built for comfort, a small toilet of greyed porcelain but no sink, a mug of similar material (empty), a clipboard with a variety of warning labels on it, and a digital countdown clock hanging above his head. Artemis' face paled. This room was indeed a laboratory setting, built only to house a specimen temporarily before testing began (or a cage in which rats get kept before they are injected with foreign chemicals) and judging by the images printed on the clip board, this test was not quite as simple as a few syringes to the shoulder (he was not a rat). He would have to pay close attention if he was to succeed. He listened intently.

"Before we start however," said the woman in the walls, "keep in mind that, although fun and learning are the primary goals of all enrichment centre activities, serious injuries may occur." Oh fantastic. Serious injuries, and from what he could tell from his sparse surroundings, there would be no Butler to take said injuries for him. The list of warnings he was currently reading in more detail outlined several situations he certainly had never hoped nor expected to find himself in. Surely, no scientific organization would send humans into danger without the proper safety briefing, or at least making them sign a waiver. Imagine the lawsuits.

"For your own safety and the safety of others," the voice said to Artemis' brief relief, "please refrain from-" but it was cut off by a wave of static interference. Artemis never did hear in plain English what it was that he was to refrain from doing. Drat. Then came the unintelligible syllables of Spanish gibberish, sped up so that it was almost impossible to make out. Artemis, trained in languages, understood something along the lines of "Por favor bordón de fallar Muchos gracias." Which translated roughly to "Please refrain from failing Many thanks" which wasn't really all that much help to him, other than the simple 'don't fail', and the knowledge that whoever this mysterious voice was was clearly not beyond international languages.

There was some more buzzing and some more static before the voice reappeared in the audible spectrum.

"Stand back." She said. Stand back from where? Artemis did the best he could and stood in the approximate centre of the room, hoping nothing would fall on him. At least, he couldn't remember signing any waiver.

"The portal will open in three," Portal? A doorway of sorts? But he didn't see any door-

"two," Artemis looked around. There was nothing portal-like that could open, all the walls were made of solid plastic, well except for that one panel of concrete- Oh. Of course.

"one."

And there it appeared; the fruit of modern science. A shining orange doorway where just one second ago there had been nothing but a concrete panel; a configuration of eerie light that seemed to have no source but the rift itself. As Artemis examined the portal, he saw that it was indeed a rift, something of an advanced variety. He had only heard whispers of this kind of anomaly in the scientific community, and yet clearly someone had done it. Someone had taken command over the folds of pan-dimensional space.

He peered through the hole and found himself staring at a side view of his own person, as if it were a live feed from a second camera hidden on the wall outside. He was wearing an orange jump suit, like a convict, and it was much too big for him. His hair was tossed this way and that. He tried to fix it with his fingers only to notice, as he brought his arm up to his face, a fresh line of scar tissue along the back of his hand, running down his arm. It did not hurt when he touched it, but he had absolutely no memory of how it got there. But this fact was trivial to him; Artemis Fowl was far too enthralled in the portal to care for a mark on his arm.

His eyes were alight with fascination. The orange crackling light lingering around the edges of the hole brushed lightly through his hand, right through his bone like it were made of nothing sturdier than the air. They were not corporeal light waves; they sliced through space itself. Artemis raised his hand slightly and slowly, ever so slowly, led his fingers to the centre of the portal. He pushed them forward, half expecting to find a transparent barrier blocking the way, but found none. The air on the other side was the same as on this. The light had stabilized on both sides. There were no rogue photons popping in and out of existence. In fact, the rift seemed to be less than a rift at all. The lines between this side and that side were blurred so that both sides had really become the same. Space had been folded into itself.

Theories raced through Artemis' mind. The wonder and curiosity of the scientist in his heart was only stopped once his temporal logic kicked in. I am a prisoner.

Even so, Artemis could not resist a small test of his own before turning his attention back to his current situation.

I am possibly one of the first outside humans to witness this scientific marvel.

If he had only known his history a little better, he would have known that of course this was not true. There had been countless others just like him, and there would be countless others after he was gone. This fact did not make itself known to him however, and he was lost in the purebred of physics for a moment longer. He raised his hand once more and felt the edge of the portal. To his mild surprise, it felt solid and smooth, and electric. There was an energy here. Something, perhaps something that could be harnessed?

I am a prisoner.

Ah yes. So soon forgotten, so soon remembered. He pulled his hand away and took a step through folded space. One small step for boy...

He found himself free from his prison cell and standing now in the larger room outside. Beside him was a tall back-lit sign that read "Test Chamber: 00". In front of him, his former cell seemed much smaller than it had been when viewed from the exterior. Had he really been able to fit in that tiny relaxation pod not a few minutes ago? He took a look back through the portal, which an electric blue on this side. He saw the inside of the cell, completely unchanged. All he had done was walked through a fold in space and now he was a prisoner no longer. Or so it may have seemed. One barrier opened, only leading to the next.

Artemis paced the contour of the room, noting again the sole visible camera on the wall above a pair or circular sliding doors. The panels of concrete that made up the room were solid to close inspection. There would be no tunneling out of this room with nothing but an empty mug and a clipboard. Artemis thought for a moment, asked himself if there was another way to escape besides through the doors, if there was some plan to formulate to get him out of here, all the while in the back of his mind his curiosity wanted to know what the rest of this test had in store.

One side won over. The metallic doors slid automatically back for him, revealing another concrete room.

Artemis stepped inside, readying himself for the dangerous test that inevitably lay ahead, watching for more information and demonstrations of these marvelous portals. He was only mostly disappointed by what he found.

Inside the room there was no portal or even mild danger. The first thing Artemis saw was an enormous red button on the floor. It looked like the winner of universe's most asking to be pressed object award. In the far corner there was what seemed to be a dispensing unit suspended from the ceiling. There was another hiss as an object fell from it, mere seconds after the doors slid hydraulically shut behind him. The dispensed object was a poly-faced cube; an equal sided box with extra protrusions at the sides and corners.

The voice in the walls did not speak. Artemis, the button, and the cube stood together in silence for several seconds. Then several more.

This was the test? Thought Artemis. What is the danger? Of the cube falling on my head? He looked at the cube, then at the button. There was a line of lights in the floor leading from a lit X next to the button and a second X next to the door.
X marks the spot I suppose.
Artemis took five steps, picked up the cube (which was admittedly heavy enough to hurt had it fallen on him from ceiling height), took three more steps, and placed it on the big red button. There was a small noise of acknowledgement as the orange lights turned blue and the Xs turned to check marks. The exit doors at the far end of the room slid open.

"Excellent." Said the voice in the walls. "Please proceed into the chamber-lock after completing each test."
Artemis highly doubted that his button-pressing actions excelled in any way, except perhaps at being terribly dull. He took steps towards the exit.

"First, however, note the incandescent particle field across the exit." Said the voice. Duly noted; there was in fact a grid if light standing between him and the way out. He stopped to examine it as the voice continued to explain it. "This Aperture Science Material Emancipation Grill will vaporize any unauthorized equipment that passes through it - for instance, the Aperture Science Weighted Storage Cube."

Aperture Science. Artemis had forgotten that name after the first time it was spoken to him inside the testing track, he had still been under the fogged influence of subduing agents. It did ring a bell somewhere in the back of his mind however. Had he read a web page on the organisation? A science journal? He certainly wouldn't be surprised if he had encountered at least some mention of Aperture Science Laboratories in the past. He did like to keep well educated on the subject of modern science. What surprised him was that the name did not trigger more recognition. This organisation must have been very secretive with their scientific endeavors, not posting much information online - otherwise Artemis would have likely bought a few shares in the company. If only he could remember.

The particle field in front of him seemed to be mostly constructed of high-powered photons released at specific frequencies to disallow the passage of certain materials. Interesting, thought Artemis. He had been looking into this sort of technology in his younger years but had been put off the project out of realization that Fowl Manor was impregnable regardless. At the time, he had had a distinct interest in the defense of the house. Exactly why, for some reason he could not recall. This memory loss was becoming more and more frustrating. His head was beginning to hurt. That was not a good sign. His head was the only thing going to get him out of here.

He decided to distract himself with a little testing of his own. With no lack of confidence, Artemis stuck his right hand through the particle field. Nothing happened, as expected. He went to get the cube.

To his dismay, the doors did not remain open after the weight of the cube was removed from the button. There was a discouragingly loud BUZZ-YOU-ARE-AN-IDIOT sort of noise as the doors slid quickly back together, once again blocking the exit. Artemis weighed the cube in his arms, thinking. It might have been around the weight of an average child. Artemis, or course, was no average child, but he figured his body might weigh almost as much as one, even given his scrawny demeanor. His placed the cube on the floor next to the button, and stepped onto the red surface himself. To his internal delight, the lights turned blue and the doors opened, once again revealing the particle field beyond.

He picked up the cube and, to the best of his ability, threw the square object through the doors. It stopped three feet short of the opening. Not completely disheartened, and determined that he possessed at least the physical strength to throw a box across a room, he removed his weight from the button to retrieve the cube, suffering the mocking of the buzzer as he did so. On the second try, Artemis managed to project the cumbersome object over the short distance through the doorway. At first Artemis thought it had fallen short again, and that he would have to repeat the process a third time, but the momentum of the box eased it to a halt just enough for it's corner to just touch the particle field. A throw any lighter and it would have had to be done again. At the field's touch, the cube immediately started to fizzle, shrink, and turn burnt black in colour. Within three seconds of contact, the cube had completely disappeared.

Extraordinary. Thought Artemis.

"Please do not attempt to remove testing apparatus from the testing area." Said the voice in the walls. It sounded a smidgen more irritated than it's normal computer-generated tones. "A replacement Aperture Science Weighted Storage Cube will be delivered shortly."

As the replacement cube fell from the dispenser (Artemis took precautions so as to not let it fall on him), the boy briefly wondered what these cubes were storage cubes of. What did they keep inside of the cubes? There didn't seem to be any clear hatch or way of opening them. Yet another in the steadily growing bank of questions he held stowed away in his head.

Leaving the new cube behind on the button, Artemis walked to the doors and through the particle field. He then - just two seconds too late - realized that if his past self, before having his memory clouded over, had equipped him with any useful bits and tools to help him escape, had there been anything hidden on his person, it would have just been emancipated.

An odd term for destruction that was: emancipation. It seems as though this Aperture Science believed in liberty in disintegration, if not liberty in death.

Artemis did not share the notion. What was freedom if one did not have the life left to enjoy it? He intended to escape, and do so with his life intact. Already, plans were coagulating in his mind. More information ingredients were needed (for instance the physical specs of portals, or the auxiliary uses of emancipation grills), but the bases were forming. He must be in some underground complex, seeing as almost everything was made of concrete. Even concrete was not match for science, and Artemis was assured that he had great command over his science.

Through the doors and past the grille lay waiting an open elevator. Confident in himself, Artemis entered and allowed the doors to shut. He only hoped that he had enough confidence to believe that the elevator was taking him up.