A few days later
Chell shot upright. Her eyes and nostrils were widened as she felt a rush of adrenaline shooting through her body. She quickly scanned the room and it took her longer than she expected for her to realize this was her bedroom. She relived a sigh before falling back into her pillow again. Chell hated nightmares, though she didn't have them too often. She couldn't quite remember what this one had been about, the small things she did remember were all blurry.
She turned over on her other side and closed her eyes once more. Maybe she could lay down for five more minutes.
''Chell, honey, are you getting up any time soon? You'll get late for school!''
Chell groaned as she buried her face deeper into her pillow. After a very brief moment of silence she dared to open one eye and look at the digital clock on her nightstand. Apparently those five minutes had turned into fifteen… But still, another little five minutes added to that wouldn't hurt anyone. Chell lazily stretched out over the whole mattress and yawned before she managed to push herself out of bed.
Stretching her stiff arms once more as she walked up to the window, she swiftly moved aside the curtains. The light blinded her and she jumped back a little like a vampire who was about to get burned by the sun. Once the coloured specks had been cleared from her vision, she walked towards her closet. She pulled out some clothes that still seemed decent and didn't smell too much and dressed up before making her way to the bathroom. A few quick brushes through her hair to get the tangles out and a small splash of water was enough for her and Chell quickly made her way down the stairs for breakfast.
When she passed the clock in the hallway though she noticed she was really running late. If she didn't leave now she would miss the bus. Chell snorted, lightly irritated. She hated to miss any opportunities for eating any sorts of food, but she really had to go. She could probably just get something from Wheatley anyways.
So she grabbed her already packed bag from the table and went out the front door. ''Bye, mom.'' She called out of habit and went down the steps.
She was quickly followed by Caroline who stopped in the doorway. ''Are you leaving already? You haven't eaten yet.''
Chell nearly tripped over her own feet as she halted. She turned around with a look of displeasure. Did they really need have this talk now? She was already late!
Her mother smiled sweetly and held up a small foil wrapped package. Chell walked back to the door and gratefully took the lunch packet. She wanted to leave again but Caroline held her back. A soft kiss was placed on the girl's forehead. ''Have fun at school. And just set your alarm clock a little bit earlier next time, alright?''
Chell rolled her eyes dramatically, even though she knew her mother was right. After the second kiss she quickly pulled away and ran off, waving goodbye. Maybe she could just make it in time. Caroline just laughed and waved back.
-0-
Chell bit down on the top of her pen as she read through the list of required components.
A Bunsen burner,
a table-mat and
a small tube of glass.
She looked up at the objects on the table in front of her, making sure she had everything as needed. She pushed the plastic protection glasses which were way too big for her up on the bridge of her nose. She then reached out to tie her long ponytail into a messy bun so it wouldn't get caught in the fire, when all of a sudden the door of the classroom swung open. Wheatley walked through, panting and sweating.
''Hey, everybody…'' He said nervously as all eyes were now focused on him. ''I'm a bit late. I know. But there was a-''
Some people leaned over their tables to see Wheatley had tripped over a few bags and was now lying on the floor. He quickly got up again. He clumsy made his way around the schoolbags and walked up to Chell, trying to hide the slight blush of embarrassment on his face.
That quickly disappeared though when he saw her smile, silently laughing at his clumsiness. Feeling much better, he also grabbed one of the lab coats and put it on. It was way too big for his slim figure and the sleeves hung over his hands as he spread his arms and looked down at himself. ''Look at this. I look like a scientist. Basically a genius now, thank you very much.''
Chell rolled her eyes at his childishness and beckoned for him to come over. She then went to work to connect the burner to the gas-outlet while Wheatley examined the papers with the instructions.
''Alright. What for science-y things are we going to do today.'' He quietly murmured to himself as he looked over the questions on the paper. ''Glassblowing? Isn't that a bit dangerous?''
He yelped when Chell turned open the gas-let with a burning match above it and a yellow flame stoked up with a whoosh sound. She looked back at him with a mild-amused look.
''Oh you just, just turned on the burner. Good job, really. Couldn't have done it better myself. I was just, you know, looking through our assignment, determining our main goal. Very scientific.''
She just offered him a patient smile before she took the paper out of his hands. She read over the instructions one more time before picking up the glass tube and holding it above the fire. The narrowing part of the tube quickly melted closed and she carefully put away the small bits of glass while heating up the other part. Wheatley watched over her shoulder, nearly biting off his nails to the skin in an anxious manner. He also kept nervously reminding her that this was a very bad idea and she would get her fingers burnt.
Chell just ignored his rant and tried to concentrate on the task at hand. When the glass started to become soft and dared to melt all the way, she quickly put the end of the tube to her mouth and blew hard. The glass started to inflate like a balloon until it hardened and became a little glass blob at the top of the tube.
Wheatley stared at it in amazement. ''How did you do that? It just popped up like that. That's incredible. Look at that it's all strong and stiff again, but you just blew it up a few moments ago like it was nothing. Mad. Science is a crazy thing, honestly. How does that even work?''
Chell giggled. She supposed it was kind of cool. At her other school they'd never did things like this. Then again, this place was pretty much invented by science nerds, if Wheatley's story was anything to go by. She picked up another one of the tubes and held it up to him.
''What? Am I supposed to do it now too?''
She nodded. Wheatley carefully took the tube from her and held it in such a gentle way like he was going to break it just by looking at it. He then eyeballed the burner which was once again turned into a rustling blue flame by Chell who turned over the air control vent. He swallowed hard.
''Y-you know. You are probably way better at this than me. A real professional you are. Should probably turn this into your future job. Why don't you do it for me and I just…. watch. How does that sound?'' He tried desperately while he poked her softly with the glass tube so she would take it from him.
But Chell shook her head and pointed at the Bunsen burner. He sighed dramatically. ''You know this is not going to end well, right? Not for anyone.''
She picked up the instruction paper and pointed at a picture of two hands who smoothly melted the end of the tube closed. ''That's what I have to do first?''
She nodded again.
They carefully followed the instructions one by one. It was going pretty well aside from a few high pitched squeaks from Wheatley every time his fingers got a bit too close to the flame. Eventually they got to the last step and Chell made a blowing motion.
''Alright so I just have to take it out and blow in it, is that correct? Okay. That's not too bad.'' When the tube slowly started to melt he quickly put his lips to the end of the tube and blew as hard as he could. But he was a little bit too late and the glass had already congealed. No matter how hard he tried, all he managed to get was a small little bump at the end of it.
''Oh. I-I don't think I did it right. Let me try again.'' He said quickly as he put the glass back into the fire. He was not paying enough attention to it due to his nervous ramblings and he accidentally hit the tube against the burner. It fell into three large pieces on the table. He reached out to gather the pieces back together with shaking hands and altogether forgot that those pieces of glass had just been held in fire a few moments ago. He yelped as he burnt his fingers on the hot material.
A few people looked up and Chell just shook her head. Wheatley rubbed the painful spots on his fingers in dismay, when suddenly Chell put her hands over his. He looked up at her and felt that he was starting to blush. But she didn't seem to notice and just gently pulled him with her out of the classroom.
''Hey, were are we going?'' Wheatley asked confused as they walked down the hall. ''The toilets? What are we going to do there?''
Chell didn't bother to answer as she none to gently pushed his burned fingers under the sink.
''AAAHH! Oh… that's actually much better.''
She smiled as she made sure he held his hand under the cold water for a good five minutes. Eventually she let go and wanted to go back to their class, but Wheatley stopped her.
''Wait. Chell there is… There is something I need to tell you. It's verily urgent and I thought, since we're here and no one else can hear us that now would be the perfect moment to do so.'' He quickly looked around to make sure they really were the only ones there. None of the toilet cubicles were locked so they seemed to be safe.
Chell turned around and looked at him in question.
''Well, you see I forget things sometimes. Everyone does, obviously. I think it's installed in us too, that we delete things over time that we think we don't need to remember. I forget an awful lot of things though, I'm honestly wondering if my program is just broken. And then they get mad at me when I forget something, while they've done it wrong in the first place. But that's not the point I'm trying to make here, I'm going off topic now. But I started remembering things again a while ago. Not such important things, just small little things I thought I had forgotten about. For example just a pen, didn't know where I put it. Oh I remembered; I left it on the desk. Quite useful actually, now that I think about it. But the point is, I did remember one thing once. It seemed important, it's a little bit vague. I-It's about Gladys.''
Now she was really intrigued. She looked at Wheatley a little worried as he continued his story.
''I don't know why I'm remembering her. Actually I don't remember anything about her it's just that when I got ready this morning, you know just get my things and go to school, I might have accidentally overheard a conversation. I don't really know what it was about but the scientists said something about someone named GLaDOS. Well I have heard that name before, I'm quite sure, but I didn't know it meant anything important. But since you told me that your mother had called the principal GLaDOS instead of Gladys, I was starting to wonder. Maybe she has something to do with Aperture as well.''
Chell thought about this for a moment. It would only make sense for Aperture to choose someone from their own company to work as the principal at their school-project. Gladys didn't really seem like a person that belonged in a science facility, though she did altogether. But she didn't see why this was such a big problem.
''The thing is, I've heard about this GLaDOS person a lot from the others. They say she's a really important person for some reason. That she's the first AI they ever built at Aperture and that she would be in control of the whole facility, but that she no longer does. I don't know why. No one really likes to talk about it. But I think that if our Gladys, the school's principal, is actually GLaDOS from Aperture…'' He explained.
''Doesn't that mean that she's an AI as well?''
-0-
Chell looked up at the sky. The sun shone it's harsh light down on the world below it and it was so bright that she had to squint her eyes. She watched as the other students got out of the school in a big herd of people. They went on to grab their bikes or wait for the bus to take them back home.
Everyone was excited for the weekend. But she was not. Not at all.
Chell looked back at the building behind her. The once white panels that made up the walls were becoming grey and were covered with dark patches caused by some strong weather. But that was not what grabbed the silent student's attention. There was one window, closer to the side of the school, that was completely covered by curtains. As it always was.
It was the principal's office. Chell felt something heavy build up inside of her. Like someone had put a giant stone in her stomach which was now weighing her down.
After her conversation with Wheatley during their chemistry class, she had started to feel this… this sudden weight on top of her. She had hoped some fresh air and the prospect of the upcoming weekend would relief somewhat of that tenseness. But it didn't help. And it was starting to become unbearable. It was like she had just found some very precious pieces of a puzzle. But she just didn't know where to put them.
The thing was; she knew that Gladys had the answers to her questions.
A cold breeze cut through her jacket and made her shiver. They were slowly nearing the end of the season and the weather was starting to show it.
Chell sighed. She really didn't want to do this. But she needed to find some answers, complete this part of the puzzle. It wasn't like she could just go home like the rest of her classmates, she would only think about it too much. She didn't have much of a choice. She had to confront Gladys.
So with the biggest feeling of resistance inside of her, Chell walked back into the school. The hallways were completely empty, everyone had left the building as fast as they could to go and celebrate the weekend.
And now no one will be able to hear you scream if something goes wrong. Chell quickly pushed that random and slightly frightening thought aside and continued on her way.
Eventually she came to stand in front of the office. She could feel the blood being pumped through every vein and a loud buzzing filled her ears. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath and knocked on the door.
''Come in.'' Gladys answered from the other side.
So Chell opened the door and walked into the lion's den.
Gladys was busy with some paperwork when she had heard the knock on her door. She looked up to ask in a fit of frustration why anyone was still bothering her during this time of the day, so she was quite surprised at the sight of the student standing in the doorway. Chell shivered as the door closed behind her with a soft click.
''Oh, it's you again.''
Chell noticed she was holding her breath and she tried to let some of the air out with a soft sigh. Her heart was beating so loudly against her ribs she was afraid that Gladys could hear it too.
But the principal didn't say anything about it and just gestured towards the empty chair in front of the desk. ''Have a seat.''
Chell obeyed and slit down into the uncomfortable chair. She carefully dropped her bag to the floor and then forced herself to look the principal right in the eye, even though it felt like her insides would turn into ice by that powerful stare.
''I'm honestly surprised to see you. Are you here to file another one of your activities? I'd be happy to add them to the list.'' Gladys said, a smile with no warmth forming onto her lips.
Chell gave her a frustrated glare. She really wasn't in the mood for her games.
''Don't look at me like that. We both know that it was a logical conclusion for me to make, giving to what happened last time. You should really thank me, by the way, I really helped you in that regard. Not that would you know. You don't even care, do you?''
Chell wanted to point out that she had been the one to get her into trouble by wanting to go have a talk with Caroline instead of just letting it all pass to begin with. But she decided it might be smarter to just keep her mouth shut.
''But since all of that doesn't seem to be the case.'' Gladys said. ''Why are you here?''
She wanted to say something, but her voice refused to work with her and just completely seemed to abandon the change of answering. She couldn't even get one simple word out. Not wanting to look like a total idiot in front of the principal so she could get another reason to tease her, Chell reached into her bag and pulled out her notebook. She couldn't find her pen as it had probably sunk to the very bottom of her bag, she then noticed a pretty expensive looking silver pen on the desk, so she just picked up that one.
Gladys didn't seem to like that, but she kept quiet and waited for the girl to finish what she was writing.
Eventually Chell pushed the note towards her. Gladys picked it up.
I have a few questions. I just want to talk.
''Alright. What do you want to talk about?''
Chell quickly went to write a reply. For all she had been making fun of her before, Gladys was surprisingly patient to wait for her to finish.
''You know, this would be a lot easier if you would just communicate through sound. It's called talking. Maybe you should give it a try.'' Never mind the part about her being patient, Chell thought to herself. ''Let's start with something simple. Try mute. Can you say mute? No... How about lunatic? I know it's three syllables long, but I'm sure you can do it. Come on, speak.''
''J-just-t-tt read t...he p-p-p-pap...pa...paper.''
''There you go. Now, was that so hard?''
Chell glared at her and nudged once again towards the note for her to read it. Gladys just smiled in triumph for managing to get the girl to talk. Chell was sure the memory of that was going to irritate her for the rest of the week.
Where do you know my mother from?
Gladys looked down at the question, feeling a bit uncomfortable. ''Why do you want to know?''
Chell simply shrugged. Just curious.
''We... both worked at the same company. There we met each other when we were working on the same project. We just started talking and... Well I think you get the rest.''
My mother worked at this school?
''Of course not. This place is only two years old. It happened long before this was build.''
How long ago?
''Just... a long time.'' Gladys answered vaguely. She was not liking the curious stubbornness of the lunatic and it was starting to make her feel a bit anxious. ''Why is that even important?''
How many years? Chell pressed.
''I don't know. I'd say about 20 years maybe.''
Then you would have been a little kid.
''I... I guess so, yes.''
Chell thought about all of that for a moment. She did seem to be telling the truth, or rather a bended version of the truth. A few things just didn't seem quite right. If it had indeed been 20 years ago when Gladys and Chell's mother first met, she should have been around the age of five. Because now she didn't look much older than twenty-five. What was so weird about this was that she said she and Caroline worked at the same place. Chell was verily sure a five year old couldn't have a job.
Unless if she had been indeed very young, but that she'd just never been a child. And the only way for that to be possible were if she wasn't human.
Though Chell was pretty convinced by her own theory so far, it was just a theory. She needed more information.
What kind of work did you do?
''I think we have talked enough about this subject.'' Gladys quickly answered, not wanting to go further with this, what almost looked like a police interrogation. ''Nice to have spoken with you again. Now go home. I have a lot of work to do.''
But Chell wasn't planning on going anywhere. She leaned back in the chair, her arms crossed stubbornly. ''No.'' She snapped back matter-of-factly.
Gladys glared and Chell just stared back with a challenging look. She was not liking the attitude of the Lunatic, but there wasn't a lot she could do about it. She was not going to leave until she got what she want, so all she could do was give her just that. ''Fine. You can ask me three more questions. Just three. Not four or five, but three. Not more. And after that you leave. Is that understood?''
Chell gave a single nod in agreement. Now she had to be careful and play her cards wisely. She had only three more changes to prove to herself if her theory was correct. She was quite sure though that Gladys was not going to make it easy for her. She thought about her next question and wrote it down.
Is your real name Gladys?
She seemed confused by that particular question. ''Obviously. Why wouldn't it be?''
Chell bit the inside of her lip. With her answering so shortly and vaguely, she was going to run out of changes for her questions soon. And she was starting to lie now as well. This might be a bit more tricky than she had hoped for. Chell wrote down her second question and tapped anxiously with the pen in a repetitive drum.
Have you heard of Aperture Science?
''I have, in fact, it's the company that build this school after all. I think the name of this place should've signified that.''
That was actually pretty logical indeed. She had hoped for an answer that would have indicated that Gladys worked for Aperture. Maybe a better question had been if she'd asked straight away, instead of trying to get something out of the principal's answers which could proof something. But Chell was pretty sure she'd still answer them in such a way that there would've come nothing useful out of it.
She should've been more careful with her questions, Chell thought as she glanced down at her notebook. Reading over her own questions one more time, she noticed her handwriting became more slovenly with every question. She was getting frustrated. That's what caused her to lose and Gladys had realised that all along. She was now just waiting for the student to ask the last thing which she would avoid too and then they could forget this had ever happened.
She had one question left and there was no way she could squeeze in a few more if she tried. Gladys wanted her out of there. She had to make this one count. Then still, she was never going to get enough out of this last one to be able to solve her little mind puzzle.
Except... If she would just ask it. No ways around it, not trying to prove theories that couldn't be solved. No more secret stuff. Just ask it. With slight doubt and a trembling hand, Chell put the pen onto the paper and wrote out her final question.
Are you human?
Gladys stared down at it for the longest time. She then looked back up at Chell. ''How did you-'' she stopped herself midsentence. She went her eyes from the girl sitting in front of her, folding the paper in her firmly closed hands.
Chell waited. Now she had to answer her question, she had to! Though the answer was already obvious according to the sudden silence from the principal. But Chell just needed her to say it, to confirm it. She needed to hear the truth with her own ears.
''Leave.'' Gladys finally said. ''Just go and leave me alone.''
She didn't move.
''Don't test my patience now, Lunatic. I'm being serious. Get out.''
''But-''
''I SAID GET OUT''
Chell got up and left as fast as she possibly could. It sounded like she was going to strangle her if she stayed a second longer. She ran out of the office, around the corner and into a different corridor. But she didn't stop there. She went out the building and off the school's square. Chell felt she was starting to sweat and her schoolbag suddenly seemed so much heavier. But she ignored it all. She just wanted to get away from this place as far until her legs couldn't carry her anymore.
She passed the small park with the pond, crossed the cycle track and through the thick bushes that grew alongside the road. Behind that stood a few cheap houses which were mostly build for and inhabited by old people as almost no one else wanted to live next to a high school filled with teenagers.
And robots. Chell thought bitterly. But she didn't want think about that. She didn't want to think about anything. She just wanted to go. So she just kept running as she didn't know what else to do in her moment of blind panic. She entered one of the narrow alleys behind the buildings which ended to a high wooden fence which probably surrounded someone's garden. That's where she finally stopped.
She pressed her back against a cold brick wall and the contact made all the little hairs on her bare skin stand upright. She rested her head there as well, trying to catch a breath. Her heart beat hard against her chest. The sound of it made her head hurt. Was she really having a panic attack right now? It felt like it. Chell tried to breath calmly, but it just came out as short, shaking exhales. She gritted her teeth against the headache and glanced upwards. The sky was a blue blanket wrapped around the earth, there were no clouds and the bright sun pricked in her eyes.
She 's a robot. The principal is a robot. Wheatley was right. Our school principal is a robot!
She went her eyes from the light and a few tears had found their way out. Chell dropped her unbelievably heavy bag and slit down the wall, it's rough surface scratching the exposed skin on her arms and through her shirt, until she sat in a crouch on the ground. She hugged her knees and buried her face in her arms so no one could see her cry. Her hold back whimpers and shaky inhales echoed through the alley, but it got drowned out by the few cars that drove on the road further away so no one could've noticed her sitting there.
She jumped when something soft and furry stroked the back of her hand. When she looked up she saw a grey with black striped cat walking past her. It stared back at her, blinked and then stroke it's head along her legs. In a need for contact, Chell reached out to pet it. The cat seemed to enjoy the little scratches on top of its head and it purred contently. It made her feel a bit better and it let her forget what happened for a few seconds. Her eyes were red and puffy from crying and she quickly wiped away her dried up tears. She had to go home soon and she didn't want anyone to know she just cried.
It was just too much. She didn't want all of this. She knew, that somewhere in the back of her mind, she had hoped that all of this hadn't been true. That she didn't have to deal with this and could just go to that weird-A.I.-filled-school like the rest. But with all the knowledge she had now, she couldn't just ignore the situation. There was something seriously wrong with that school and this so called Aperture scientific-bullshit place. Something had to be done.
With tired muscles and an exhausted brain, Chell got up from the ground. Her butt felt cold and stiff from the hard concrete tiles. The cat looked up at her and gave her a few more strokes before it jumped onto the wooden fence, balancing like an expert gymnast on the narrow space before jumping off gracefully on the other side. Chell thanked it in her head for cheering her up a little bit before picking her bag up again and making her way back to the nearest bus station. All the while avoiding to have to see the school's building as much as she could. Though she couldn't help but glance out of the corner of her eye towards the window with the closed curtains.
Something had to be done.