DISCLAIMER: still the same. No ownage of da portals.

Everything around him was blacker than a cave. The sound of nothing filled the room. He felt suspended in nothingness and as infinite as this strange place was he also felt enclosed, as a worm in the ground. Was this a dream? A beam of light stretched across what seemed to be the ground and the light expanded upward to form a doorway into pure light. From this doorway a faint silhouette of a person formed and enlarged until the figure stepped out of the light engulfed room. It was clear who it is now and Jeremy realizes that he has had this feeling once before. The doorway now closes the exact way it opened and a calm, creepy voice takes the place of the irritating sound of absolutely nothing.

"Why, Hello Doctor Springs," the plainly dressed and elderly man said to him "It is, good to see that you are fully rested and hopefully capably for all that you will encounter today. May I remind you that it is your first day at work and I don't want you being late, and I also expect you to make a good impression on your new co-workers." he moaned to Jeremy " Now, Mister Springs, I wish you all the luck I have to offer, and one more thing, try to not disappoint me." He said then adjusting his tie to once again disappear from him once again leaving this blank world which soon faded away after him.

Jeremy noticed that he mustn't have been dreaming, for he was standing straight up, dressed and ready to go to work, in fact he was already on the shuttle to Aperture Laboratories. He was standing, holding on to a pole that went from the floor to the top of the bus. There was only one other riding with him, an elderly man who had seemed to have fallen asleep for the ride. The last thing Jeremy remembered doing was signing up for developmental research for Aperture, then he was floating in nothingness, and then he was on the bus. He was in a white lab coat, a blue-collared dress shirt black pants and black shoes and none of these he remembered buying or even seeing them before.

The bus came to a halt and then the driver shouted out "George… GEORGE! Wake up you stupid old man!" Jeremy guessed that the driver was talking to the only other person on the bus. With a couple nudges to the shoulder George was awake and ready to go and without a word to Jeremy or the driver he power walked right off the bus. Jeremy decided to do the same, except without the power walking. He made his way to the front and stepped out to see an amazing sight. Aperture Science, a massive white block of concrete that came from deep under the ground with a large logo on the front and two simple glass doors.

Jeremy went for the push bar on the door but the door swung open by itself an led him into his new workplace. Now he was looking inside the building where everything was either white blue or orange. Everyone seemed to be minding their own business except for a man who was waving a hand and walking toward him fast.

"Hey you must be one of them newer guys, huh?" he asked with excitement and without having to give him an answer he continued "We'll be giving a tour here in a moment so why don't you come meet the rest of the new crew?" he said with somehow even more excitement and he waved a hand at Jeremy telling him to come on over. So he did. There was two men about his age one with dark hair, the other with short blonde hair and then there was…

"Michelle?" Jeremy asked in disbelief.

"Jeremy is that you?" she responded with a shocked and very loud tone. "Wow! It's been years hasn't it?

"What are you doing here?" he asked her still a bit in shock that she didn't slap him considering their last encounter.

"I was about to ask you the same thing!" She yelled, and then Jeremy suddenly remembered that he'd been a lowly douche-bag last time she'd seen her.

"Well I've changed for the better, and I sought out my dream to become a physicist" he said, giving her the long story short "I'm also sorry for the way I had treated you, so if you could ever forgive me –"

"It's fine, you were a bit of an ass but you made up for it" she said with a forgiving smile.

"Thanks, but what are you doing here exactly?" said Jeremy, scratching the back of his head.

"I'll be doing most of the physical testing of the Aperture Science mechanical equipment, since" she looked around to see if any one was eavesdropping "most of the scientists here couldn't lift a bag of flour" she whispered to him. They laughed and joked for the rest of the tour and by the end he still didn't know where which way was. He got a good feeling about this place but then remembered he was there to spy and not for actual work. Now he felt like an ass again for, well being a traitor to these great people. He had no time for feeling sorry for them and he had work to accomplish.

Jeremy headed to the room he would be working in. The whole room was in a corner in a hallway with two more glass walls to finish it off. It was about the size of the classrooms he'd been in at MIT. Inside there was the two men he had seen before during the tour who were also new to the program both looking at some papers on one of the many desks that were squeezed next to the walls and only four in the center. Jeremy too a seat at one of the center tables and looked outside to see what looked like a regular office, with cubicles, printers and plenty of people bustling around franticly. He then looked down onto the desk to see a paper with drawings of elaborate cubes and scribbling all around it. He had to squint his eyes to see what was written, and even then he couldn't make it out. Before he could read the first word the door was busted open by a high heeled shoe and before seeing the rest of the person who was interrupting the silence he saw a load of boxes being carried by her along with several bags including one being held by her mouth.

"Hey guy, could I get a hand here?" she said in a slightly irritated and muffled tone.

Jeremy sprung up from his seat to help the woman who was struggling with what smelled like delicious pastries. "Here let me help you with those" he said, grabbing two of the large boxes from her arms and setting them down onto the desk over the sheet of paper with the cube drawings. When Jeremy turned around he swore he could hear songs playing in the back of his head, for there was a awe striking sight in front of him.

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