A/N:Hi everyone, having a little writer's block so I'll apologize ahead for this chapter. Thank you Portalfan4351 Returns for following and favoriting not only this fic but myself as well; this brightened my day when I found out. Thank you OpticalBudgerigar for following this story. Thank you kiuna 11 for adding this fic to your favorites. Thisname ismyusername, thank you for following and favoriting.
-Portalfan4351 Returns- Thank you so much for your kind words. I got your review on when I was having a bad day and it definitely turned that day around for me. So a little personal, but honestly thank you. I may ask you to direct me to these four other fics so I could draw ideas and perhaps get some insight into characterizations. Ah yes, Paisley. I actually was debating whether to put cake core in her, but she showed up. Interesting information: I didn't want another name to start with 'c' so instead of finding a name similar to cake I found a name similar (at least in my head) to 'Pastry'.
-guest-Thank you so much. It is almost summer, but I got myself a summer job, so updates may not be as fast as I would like them.
Amora sat silently in the vehicle. She should say something to the two people in the front seats, but there was something about the senior employees that made her nervous. She finally gained the courage. "Mr. Johnson, where are we going?" she asked looking to the man who was driving.
"Some people don't understand science," Mr. Johnson said in his booming voice. "We are going to teach them."
"To answer your question, we're going to the airport and then to the Senate," Caroline said. Amora thought about this. The explanation sounded like it would be a very serious problem.
"Are we offering the upgraded turrets as military androids?" Amora asked, making what seemed like the most logical conclusion. The two in front looked at each other and Amora wished she understood the unspoken message.
"We are going to talk to the senators. Well, you will be doing the talking," Caroline said turning slightly to look at her.
Amora could feel the blood drain from her face. Amora's first question was going to be 'why me?", but she stopped herself. "What do you want me to say?"
"Just tell the truth," Caroline said, "you are good at that." Amora remained silent as the vehicle continued its trek to the airport.
The Aperture employees and founder were in front of the Senate later that day. Amora brushed her purple dress as a way to calm her nerves. The eyes of the Senators didn't help this attempt. She gave them an awkward smile.
"In case you are wondering why we called you here. NASA has brought it to our attention that many of their astronauts have gone missing," one of the Senators said. Amora rose her hand to ask for more explanation. "One has recently returned and mentioned something about Aperture. That was the only intelligible thing he said." The older man said the last sentence as if he had caught the Aperture workers in a lie.
"I object," Cave shouted stepping forward feet planted far apart. Caroline tapped him and he became silent with a grumble. The man's assistant rose her eyebrow to Amora indicate that she had to speak.
"Well," Amora began before clearing her throat. "My name's Amora Lovelock. I've worked for Aperture for quite a while. The only astronaut I have seen is my friend, Neil." Amora chuckled slightly. "And if you have seen him lately, Aperture and space is the only thing you can understand." Amora was chuckling, but the look on the Senators' faces made the laughing stop. "I have been in all the labs of Aperture and what you are accusing us of is laughable."
"Ms. Amora, how long have you been working for Mr. Johnson?" a senator asked.
Amora tried to calculate the amount of time that has past, "About half a year, more or less." She briefly wondered what this line of questioning was going at.
"And she has done a great job of forwarding science," Cave said. "One of the best employees I have except for my lovely assistant, Caroline." Amora looked at her boss feeling immense pride at being recognized.
"Ms. Lovelock, you said you've seen all the labs?" Amora answered affirmative. "And you haven't seen any evidence of human testing?" Amora was about to answer yes swiftly, but remembered what Cici had said about human testing. Craig also said something about the downstairs labs having the human testing. She knew that if she brought these comments to light, it would be misinterpreted. It was impossible to conceive that Aperture was doing anything morally questionable. "I… yes, that's true," Amora said against her judgement.
The three Aperture workers left the Senate silent. "Sir, they didn't seem to believe me," Amora said breaking the silence.
"Don't worry about it; they don't have any evidence," Cave said his pride and charisma not affected by the tense situation. "What's the worst they can do? Stop buying our turrets. Ha. Not a chance. They will turn to us for all their science needs. Don't you agree, Caroline?"
"Yes Sir, Mr. Johnson," Caroline said.
Amora nodded that she understood but was still unsure.
….
Amora ran into the office building. She was so late. "I was wondering when you would show up," Caroline's voice said. Amora stopped in her tracks and turned to the other woman who was sitting where Ashley, the secretary would normally sit.
"Sorry about that Caroline. I slept in a little," Amora said sheepishly. "What happened to Ashley?" she asked curious.
Caroline frowned, "Unfortunately because of the Senate hearing last week. We lost a lot of investors and we had to consider the future of Aperture." Amora responded with a simple 'oh' and wondered who else was laid off. "Speaking of the future of Aperture, Mr. Johnson wants to meet with his 'core' staff at eleven."
"Thank you, Caroline," Amora said before heading back to the offices. She would have like to go look for her friends to see if they made the cut, but she also knew she had a lot of work to do. For one, she needed to convince investors to give money to Aperture and not to other companies like Black Mesa.
She spent most of the morning trying to be charming and playing on the strengths of Aperture with moderate success. She looked up to the clock and saw that it was time to meet up with the rest of the senior staff in the conference hall.
The conference table was still empty so Amora picked a seat. The door opened and Cici and Dr. Rattmann entered. Cici sat next to Amora and Rattmann sat beside her. Curra came bouncing in followed by Andre. Craig came moments later. Rick tumbled in from a vent in the corner. Caroline and Cave were the last to appear and took the remaining seats at the table.
"Good Morning everyone. I will like to begin by saying that you are doing a wonderful job. That's why I called you here. For one reason or another, you have put a happy face in the notebook of science and therefore have my respect. As you may have heard or seen, the Senate hearing was unsuccessful and those uneducated…"
"Sir," Caroline stated to keep Cave on track.
"Right, the important thing is that we rethink about how we fund Aperture. I'm thinking we can sell the turrets as a home security system," Cave suggested.
"That's a brilliant plan. People always want a way to protect their things," Rick said.
"But we have to make sure that the turrets don't shoot at everything," Amora said. "They could endanger the family."
"That does sound reasonable. So those working in the robotics lab start programing the turrets with facial recognition," Cave ordered. "I think this is meeting has been very productive. So go forth and make some science." Amora stayed behind as the others left to speak with her boss.
"Mr. Johnson. I would like to apologize once again for my failure during the Senate hearing," Amora said looking down at her feet. "I've been thinking maybe we should reach out to younger children. If we can win their hearts, the hearts of the parents follow soon. We could have some of the employees go to nearby schools or even have a bring-your-child-to-work day."
"Sounds good, but I want you first to start advertise the new turret security service and search for more investors," Mr. Johnson said, "And don't worry about the Senate. When life gives you lemons, make lemonade."