A/N: Hello everyone, it's been a while. Anyways, thank you Zaconator and Zackis and the Misty Author for favoriting and following this fic.
Amora couldn't even look at her reflection in the mirror. In the month since Cave asked her to become the public face of Aperture, she has been working nonstop. A charity here, a public appearance there, a meeting with investors and reports. The increase in work was evident on her face which looked exhausted. "Amora, are you okay?" Cici asked. Amora straightened from the bathroom sink and spun to face the woman.
"Yes, I'm fine. Just a little tired," Amora smiled trying to deflect another question. It was obvious she was tired; the bags under her eyes didn't lie.
"Liar," Curra said from her position by an Aperture Science poster. The nurse stepped closer scanning Amora. "You look like you're going to collapse. Have you been sleeping well? Have you been eating properly?"
"Yes, mom," Amora said annoyed at the barrage of questions, "I'm fine." Curra rose an eyebrow about to comment on Amora's obvious lie. "I'm serious. I'll be okay. This day isn't about me it's about CiCi. She's the one who's performing a monumental experiment."
Amora pointed to the other woman. Cici just shrugged, "It was the most logical choice to make. I'm going to die anyways might as well further science." The blonde woman straightened her lab coat. "How do I look? I don't want to look horrible when I wake up." Cici gave a quick humorless laugh. Curra joined in immediately, the nurse's laugh seemed to be real. Amora chuckled out of politeness, but she still hadn't really accepted that her friend was going into stasis and probably wouldn't wake in her lifetime. In Amora's opinion, it was like she was going to see her friend die. "You should make a time capsule for me so I can be caught up with everything," Cici suggested rearranging her hair again.
"Sure thing. I'll make sure all the guys are in on it as well," Curra answered quickly. "We could include pictures of all of us. It could be a lot of fun." Curra seemed to lose her interest in Amora which was a relief.
Cici looked at her watch, "We should be heading to the lab now and get started. Amora, can you make sure no one moves the cube. I would like it to stay in the lab." The blonde woman seemed to be forcing her smile.
"I can do that," Amora said as the women left the bathroom. She followed silently as Curra asked Cici what types of things she would like in this time capsule. The three of them walked into the lab. Amora looked over the group of coworkers which became like family to her. Rick and Craig were speaking to each other rather loudly. They were probably arguing, like they always did. Amora smiled at the bit of normalcy. She turned to see Neil working on something in his hand, oblivious to the world. Paisley and Wheatley were nearby speaking calmly. Amora directed herself to stand beside Wheatley; the man could always make her feel better even when he didn't try to.
"Hi Amora. Wow, you look horri- I mean you look beautiful. Yup, natural beauty... like you just woke up," Wheatley said proudly like he gave a compliment.
Amora narrowed her eyes at the man; she was unsure if she should be insulted or should just ignore Wheatley's lack of tack. Wheatley look at Paisley as if to ask why Amora was giving him a dirty look. Paisley shook her head in disbelief and gave a little scoff. Amora gave up the glare and chuckled. "Thanks, Wheatley. I'm just very tired."
"Well, maybe you should sleep that normally would help with the tired thing. I'm positive that you need to sleep. Of course, if you think you don't need to rest, I'm sure you're right. But I would suggest that you sleep. Perhaps not now because this is a big event and you won't be able to see Curra again. But definitely later today you need to rest," Wheatley rambled before he stopped abruptly as Amora wrapped an arm around his waist and pulled him close to her. Wheatley put his arm around her shoulder without a word much to Amora's relief.
"I guess everyone is here," Cici began with a small voice.
"Wait!" Curra shouted. "Where's Andre? He's not busy, is he? Have any of you seen him?" The woman looked around the small crowd not seeing her boyfriend.
"Calm down, little lady. Andre is working at another lab for a while so you won't be seeing him," Rick said in his confident manner. Curra looked a little sad and Amora could practically hear her thoughts. The nurse was wondering why her boyfriend had failed to tell her about the change.
"Uh, I guess I'll continue. I don't want to take long, but I just wanted to say that it has been a pleasure working with all of you. I hope to see all of you again… I guess this is bye," Cici said her voice breaking at the last word. The woman curled into the gray cube and nodded to Dr. Ratmann who lowered the open side shutting the woman in. The box made a loud sealing sound.
"You okay, luv? You're shaking like one of those little yippy dogs. You know the ones that always bark. Chihuahuas I think they're called. But anyways, you are shaking like them. Are you cold? If you are, then I can give you my lab coat. It's not that warm but it might help a little." Wheatley removed the lab coat and put it around Amora's shoulders. She could feel something heavy weighing down the coat and briefly wanted to remind Wheatley that he shouldn't carry Aperture equipment in his pocket. Even with the little warmth from the coat, Amora couldn't stop shivering. She couldn't believe that one of her best friends was gone just like that. She blinked away tears that threaten to fall.
Slowly the other scientist begun to file out of the lab. "Come on, luv. We can't stay in the lab all day. We are both are very busy and I wanted to show you something," Wheatley turned to leave and Amora followed not saying anything. She looked down at her feet still feeling very mournful that Cici was gone and it seemed like no one cared. "Amora, you should see what we're working on now. It's really neat. And the best part is that I helped build it. Yup, they told me to build it and I did. It wasn't difficult for a genius like me."
Amora chuckled finally snapping out of her reverie. "That sounds great. I'm sure its amazing whatever you made." She smiled at the man before taking his hand.
"Here we are, lab sweet lab," Wheatley chuckled a little. He released Amora's hand leaving it feeling very empty. "So be careful not to touch anything. It may explode…or it may not so don't worry about it too much. Just don't touch anything." Amora kept her hands to herself as the pair neared Wheatley's lab table. Scattered all around the surface were electronic bits and wires. In the center of the entire mess was a single sphere with an open front. "This one is isn't done yet. I wanted you to see this one," Wheatley said waving Amora to another lab table. This one was cleared except for another large sphere with two handles. As Amora got near it she heard a loud snarling sound. "See, isn't it amazing?" Wheatley asked turning it around so Amora was staring at a large red optic as it twitched around. The growling got louder and Amora took an unconfident step back. "Isn't it great?" Wheatley asked searching for approval.
"What is it?" Amora asked moving away from the angry machine's sight. The growling calmed a little.
Wheatley shrugged, "It's an artificial intelligence. Yup, a computer of sorts. You know what I mean by artificial intelligence."
"I do but what it is supposed to do? Be angry?" Amora asked. "It's kind of scary to tell you the truth."
"Oh," Wheatley slumped his shoulders, "That's my fault. Didn't make enough space for the entire AI that Craig and Neil worked on. Yup, just me being a moron."
"Hey, what did I tell you about you being a moron?" Amora said smacking Wheatley gently on the arm before putting her hands on her hips. "This was just a test, right? You'll have a chance to improve. Besides, this is the first I ever heard of a functioning AI. I'm sure in a couple of months you'll have an AI that's nearly human." Amora smiled before giving the man a hug.