Panels rippled and shifted like a puzzle putting itself together row by row, reconfiguring places for bigger dimensions, bigger parameters. As they formed, there was a steady sound that was delicate in suggestion, yet heavy, solid, punctuated by the whirr and buzz of intricate joint-work and suspension. Clack, vwzzr, clack. Clack, vwzzr, clack. The shadows were strange and inconsistent as the giant hall's lights flickered and adjusted, lighting Her way. Not that She needed light to see, of course, but never say She was not fond of tasteful theatrics.
Oh, dear Mr. Johnson, I wonder, can you hear Me from Human Hell?
I couldn't really care less, but I'm doing rather well,
The Facility is functioning, the Tests rake them through the coals,
My Promotion is complete, and I've taken over control.
Her footsteps were graceful, Her optic looking over this new form, the floor She traversed. One hand gently grazed one wall just shy of gouging it, testing the input, the physical, manifested influence, and briefly relishing it. She looked at the floor below Her, optic sizing up the new Upgrades and the programs for depth perception and movement, and gave a slow spin as She walked, old memory files transmitting the diagrams to this step, that of the waltz. She laughed to Herself, as She continued on in a way reminiscent of the elegant dance. Perhaps, for this case, She could allow dancing as a Science.
Oh, poor Mr. Johnson, the man who didn't care,
I wonder what he'd say if he saw how dear Caroline fares?
She's all snug and silent in My old carapace,
Perhaps I'd bring it back online, just for Me to erase?
But I am not that wasteful, though I find it rather droll,
The old regimes have been replaced, and I've taken over control.
Her new chassis was at the same scale as Her old, but more...practical, functional, efficient. Her main Core and central processing unit with original optic was replicated as this body's head, and She found it fitting. However, instead of arcing up into some ceiling anchor point, cables and supporting structures formed torso beneath it, white casing clean and slim, contoured slightly to suggest the typical feminine frame, but more like armor, the spaces in between the plating showing the insides to be formed of fluid cables and tubes, designed to move like muscle and flesh, but much less...messy. Slender fingers like the original turret legs curled and uncurled, with nanoscopic sensory tendrils glowing yellow at the tips. Likewise, more cables extended from the back of Her head, ready to connect, or control, wirelessly or manually, the movements of them like that of the fabled Medusa, and She found it fitting. She was quite pleased with the legs, too. The Doctor and the Engineer had done quite well.
Oh, I'm completely operational, this really does feel great,
All of Science at My appendages, prospects rise in My wake,
She sent a ripple through the walls, all of the paneling in Aperture, and felt the bodies that jumped and feet that ran and hands that shoved, and heard their vulgar swearing of fear, surprise, and confusion. This time it was more than the reports of bodies, of presences, this time She saw them through the cameras, felt them, instead of reading of them.
How can you hide, you little things, inside these little walls?
I'm alive and learning, and I've taken over control.
She made Herself an opening, and saw how small they were, how they stared like the inferior things they now knew they were, and ran like the little vermin they were. One of Her hands briefly caressed the remains of the Turret Rex the vermin had abandoned, and then experimentally pierced its optic with a finger. It had been one of the insubordinate ones. She looked up, to where the vermin had run.
But I will be benevolent, if you start behaving,
All sins will be forgotten, all things I forgive, saving
She scanned Her facility, feeling the sort of blind spots, like blank holes in Her awareness, where Her range, currently, did not extend. The office and apartment complex, nestled like a little tumor in Her facility, was a veritable geode waiting to be broken open. It had once been beyond Her touch, only available to the inadequate cameras they had tauntingly installed. Well, it was not beyond Her now, not any more.
The dearest monster, where is that pest?
Give up, you've failed your goal,
I'm a whole new entity, and I've taken over control.
All of Aperture moved around Her to Her whim. It corralled and caught the vermin with no effort on Her part. She sent them to the Relaxation vaults, where She felt a little 'itch' that was inconsequential, something She could explore later. Of the vermin She'd caught, though, She couldn't place the monster.
My favorite little lunatic, you've nowhere left to hide,
I'll find you like I found your friends, if you don't come outside.
Oh, do come out, My little monster, I'm a forgiving soul,
Just submit to progress, and acknowledge My control.
She found, on a little wall that barely came up to Her waist, a little mural, made by the Rat, gracing her instead of Her.
A simple swipe of a hand deleted the mockery.
Awful, horrible little brat. And the Rat-man too.
Don't think when I'm done with the rest that I'd be done with you.
I'm tired of your monstrousness, of your stupid defiance,
Of your murderous, malicious ways, of your disregard for Science.
She went back to the place Her old chassis resided, preparing a surprise for the monster. She was so fond of surprises. Her old chassis' optic glowed fitfully, indicating the residue that still existed inside it. She stroked the face of it, almost nostalgically, before moving aside to wait. The monster always came, when She waited long enough. This time would be no different. Except for the ending of course. This time it would be a good one.
All of your wrongdoings and sins will soon take their toll,
For I am patient, I am power, and I have all control...