Silence

Wheatley slid quietly along his management rail through the dark, silent Facility. "Everything's just fine, don't panic," He told himself, praying that he would stay calm. His frightnened voice echoed back at him from the dark shadows of the test chambers ahead. He knew what was ahead of him. And he didn't want to go.

Finally, Wheatley arrived at the Relaxation Vault, where all the humans were kept. He liked to call them his humans; not that he was very fond of them, it was just nice to think that something in the cruel world that he lived in, did actually belong to him.

His optic darted around the darkening vault as his fear started to grow. Knowing that if he took too long She would punish him, Wheatley pulled himself together and gathered the only thought he had left in him that gave him the courage to go near them ; The fact that at least he was doing this, and not the job She told him he was made for.

Arriving at the door of the test subject She wanted, Wheatley knocked, hoping sincerely the human was dead, or asleep, or unconcious. He waited in the silence that always haunted him; The feeling of dread filled every circuit in him as he waited there.

He always wondered why the humans did what they did. He wondered what it was like being them, sometimes. And sometimes - very rarely, but sometimes - He actually pitied them. Trapped in Aperture for the rest of their lives, probably. Just like him. But at least they didn't live forever. Or maybe that was a bad thing.

Suddenly, the door snapped open. Wheatley, jumping out of his trance, let out an exclaimation. "Argh! Oh, hello. You look, erm, great." The words tumbled out of his speakers as he tried to think of something else to say, anything else to say, to distract himself from the constant glare of that human's cold, blue eyes.

"So, uh, what are you up to? Sleeping? Eating? Excreting? Sorry, that's none of my business, shouldn't ask that. Are you ready to go? Oh right, I haven't told you, have I? She wants you. To test. So, good luck with that! Just follow me, and I'll, uh, show you the way! That is.. ah.. if I can remember..." his voice trailed off as did his efforts to keep the spirit bright. The human Wheatley was adressing was tall, thin and very pale. The clothes he wore were stained and old, and it looked like he had been kept alone for longer than he could remember. He had matted black hair and beard and he had a skeletal look about his face. He also knew Wheatley. But he wasn't his friend.

"Oh. It's you." He said, his face stretching into a twisted grin. "The moron." Wheatley flinched at the word, and he felt his fear becoming worse as he started to back off along his rail. "Er, yes, hello! Glad to see your, uh, smiling there. Very - erm - nice looking smile you've got. Not scary at all. Just love it. Anyway if you'd just like to follow me, that would be fantastic. She'll be very pleased to see you, I'm sure, you're Her favourite test subject. I think!"

"She wants me does She?" He asked. "She wants to watch me test?"

"That's right, She loves watching - " Wheatley fell silent, with the feeling of dreadful knowing in him, knowing he had said the wrong thing. The man's insane grin had flickered into a look of terrible rage. As Wheatley backed into the shadows, the man followed him, reaching up towards him. "That's - that's good! You're following me, well done! This is, uh, great meeting up with you, and me telling you to follow me, and you say, yeah sure! It's -It's really good!" Wheatley spluttered in alarm.

Before he could get any further away from him, Doug lept up and grabbed hold of one of Wheatleys handles. "Oh, no, please don't do that!" He exclaimed as he struggled to shake him off. "Seriously, you don't know how much that hurts!" Wheatley slid along his management rail, his optic darting around in pain and fear. "Please! Let go!" He begged, but the man was trying to prize him off of his rail. "Why do you do this to me? Why? I've never done anything to you, have I? I've tried all my life to look after you humans, and this is all I get! Pulled off my management - ARRRGH!" He screamed in agony and alarm as he fell away from his rail, and landed miles below with the loud clatter of metal against stone.

Tiny Wheatley rolled around on the cold floor, a pool of oil leaking from the dented metal. His shutters were closed in pain as he lay there, face-down, broken and almost dead on the floor. In the silence, he sobbed in his pain and mysery...

"Oh. It's you again," an eerily musical, feminine voice echoed throughout the empty Facility. "I suppose you accidentally slipped off your rail. Again. Oh, you poor little... wait, what are you? Oh, of course. How could I forget. Your a moron."

Wheatley twitched in fear at Her voice, and just managed to open his shutters a few millimeters. His optic was cracked and he could barely see through it, but he could just make out that he was lying in the middle of a test chamber, and the cieling was closing up above him.

"Please, help me." He begged, and for once, his friendly, enthusiastic little body was paralized as he rolled lifelessly around on the floor of the chamber.

"I'm sorry. I can't. I'm in the middle of a test right now, or I would be, if someone had found the test subject I asked someone to bring to me," She replied coldly. "Now I have to put up with... this monster of a woman instead."

Wheatley heard an offended intake of breath as if the person She talked about was going to argue back, but he couldn't see the woman who had made the sound. He wondered vaguely why she wasn't replying...

The pain and misery overcoming him, Wheatley closed his shutters again, crying tears of oil, slipping out of conciousness...

In his blindness and pain, he felt warmth. Human warmth. Someone was carrying him, he could feel himself swaying to and fro as she ran, he could feel her soft hair brushing against him... He attempted to open his shutters again, but all he managed to do was emit a few painful sparks, and give a crackled yelp.

"What's wrong with me?" He tried to say. His speech was broken like the rest of him, which made him feel even smaller, even more helpless.

He felt someone's stare upon him, but he couldn't see who she was. He just knew he was in her arms, and he was safe. All he wanted was to snuggle into her comforting warmth and stay there until the pain passed...