Hello, everyone! Here is a fanfiction I have written with the specific interests of hypnosis and technological control. I tried to set it during the first part of the official single-player story in "Portal 2", when the Aperture Science facility is being reconstructed.
As a disclaimer, the "Portal" game series is developed by Valve Entertainment. I do not own anything from these games except what is not considered canon.
NOTE: This story has also been posted under a separate penname on the website "Deviantart". You can follow the link here to access it: draconos13/art/Compliance-Fanfiction-979368688.
Onward!
The elevator slowed as it approached the next chamber. Inside the cylindrical space, Chell readied herself for another puzzle crafted by her captor and watcher. How many had she done by now? There had been cubes, buttons, lasers, toxic sludge, laser-guided turrets with childlike voices, and other things designed to produce dangerous puzzles for her to solve.
The numbers of each test chamber had started to blur together in Chell's head. In opposition to the increasing cleanliness of the Aperture Science Enrichment Centre around her, Chell's thoughts became more cluttered over time. Every new chamber she completed was another notch on the never-ending tally of tests her observer and captor wanted completed. At least the increasing range of obstacles kept her from getting bored too soon. There were some constants Chell could rely on, though; the list just kept on growing with every new testing element put in her way.
Chell ran through what she knew in her head one more time. It kept her sane, kept her focused. Plus, knowing the rules in a test had never been bad for her before. Unless, of course, when those rules were broken.
The Dual Portal Device must not be completely or partially submerged in liquid, or closely examined from the front.
The Long Fall Boots protects the wearer from fall damage, assuming they always land on their feet.
The Weighted Companion Cube cannot speak. It also cannot stab people. It is also incinerated.
Momentum is conserved between portals, regardless of the distance between them.
Only two portals at most can be controlled by the Dual Portal Device at any time.
The water used in the chambers is toxic. Avoid it at all costs.
Weighted Testing Cubes hurt if they fall on you.
Sentry Turrets cannot track targets standing directly behind them.
Thermal Discouragement Beams are, in fact, deadly lasers.
Any promise of cake is a complete lie.
Wait a second…
Chell is a murderer.
Hold on. Those last rules weren't actual "rules". One of them came from the scribblings of a scientist at Aperture long since gone. The other was something that the mad computer overseer of this place had tried to pump into her head for… for far too long now.
The elevator slowed down before Chell could resume her mental recitation of Aperture Science's expanding list of testing rules. She tightened her grip on the Portal Device as the doors slid open with their familiar hiss. To her left and right were rows of display screens, each one displaying some part of a larger image in sequence with the rest of its group.
The screens flashed the image of some cartoon person, a minimalist figure Chell had seen in many of the facility's displays before, waving at her in between some trees with cartoon fruit on them. The image was clearer than any other of these displays before it, telling Chell the computer was gaining even more power. Soon, she would probably be back in the apex state she craved so much.
And what would happen to Chell when GlaDOS – overseer and dangerous artificial intelligence running the tests – regained her power? Nothing good, the human wagered. The last time GlaDOS had been in control, she had tried to burn Chell alive. And that had been at the conclusion of the testing regime placed upon the AI. That regime had long since been completed.
Knowing that standing around was grounds for suspicion by the AI watching her, Chell wasted no time and walked towards the automatic door with the picture of a person running through an exit. The door stayed closed as she got near it. Then she got next to it, and it still stayed closed. This did not alarm Chell at first. GLaDOS was still waking up, metaphorically, and did not have full control over the facility like she used to. Parts of this labyrinthine establishment were glitching or just nonfunctional after far, far too long a period of inactivity.
After seconds of silent waiting, the elevator's whirring fan mixing with the electrical hum and distant hissing of other unseen elements outside the chamber's walls, the entrance door remained closed. Doubt and concern began to creep into Chell's subconscious thoughts. Outwardly, she showed no signs of stress as she slowly moved her hand to the door.
"This Test Chamber Door is locked behind priority control. Please remain calm. An Enrichment Center Repair Associate has been notified of the situation."
Chell jumped back as an artificial voice came from speakers hidden beyond her sight in the nearby walls. This wasn't GlaDOS, but an automated announcer that had just as much information Chell could learn from regarding testing elements. Anything other than testing elements was a complete shot in the dark for useful facts.
This was not the first time the doors leading to and from testing chambers were locked. But the words "priority control" prompted extra concern from Chell. She bobbed back and forth on her boots, rubbing her bare arms to get some extra warmth on her skin. How could she get the door open, she wondered. Was this another test, but focused on her patience instead of a physical attribute?
Chell smirked at the thought of patience being an important element – no, the first element – in a test. GlaDOS was not so patient as to leave a test subject that could be useful to starve or dehydrate in front of her eyes. Maybe she really couldn't open the door and it needed a more human element. Maybe that was what she was waiting for Chell to figure out and do.
In layman's terms, that meant Chell needed to…
THUD!
Chell grunted as she sidled back from the door, still closed after her shoulder strike. She felt with one of her hands along the lines where the door would normally unseal automatically; she had seen enough of these things open and close to know where the grooves were placed. She did not spend very long doing this before the weight of the Dual Portal Device required her to hold it with both hands again.
"Physical damage to an authorized Test Chamber Door is not recommended," the automated announcer informed Chell. "Eighty-nine percent of test subjects that attempted to physically open Test Chamber doors by force suffered severe physical damage from their efforts."
Well, Chell reasoned to herself, that left eleven percent of test subjects as coincidentally lucky or having superhuman strength. Luck was more her thing than brute force, but she wasn't going to just give up after one failed attempt.
THUD!
Chell's shoulder started to throb after her second try. She rubbed that area for a few seconds, huffing out her frustrations as she moved to try again.
"You're only going to hurt yourself even more by doing that."
Chell stopped her third shoulder strike before it began, looking back to the rest of the circular space around her. The screens and ceiling did not reveal where the new voice, GlaDOS' voice, was coming from. It seemed the AI had noticed, or chosen to acknowledge, the situation at hand. Her test subject appeared to be stuck at the very first door to what appeared to be a fully operational test chamber.
Chell did not fail to notice the lack of anger in the AI's tone. If a machine could express anger, this one was darn well capable of it after countless years of, as it had said, "Watch you killing me. Again, and again. Forever." But GlaDOS was not angry right now.
Chell's stomach turned cold when she saw the elevator that brought her here close its doors without her. Then it glided almost soundlessly down the cylindrical funnel it always took, going to some destination only GlaDOS knew and had programmed for it. What mattered to Chell was that it was no longer there. She was really, truly, stuck now.
"Well, now that I have you right where I want you, I can make a small confession."
Cell looked up to the ceiling, searching for a camera like GlaDOS had always used to keep watch of test subjects in the chambers. Perhaps she had installed one in here, too? It wouldn't be hard at all.
"Remember when I said we had only one chance to talk before? That was a technically correct statement, but it no longer applies."
What did that mean, exactly? Chell knew not to take GlaDOS' statements at face value. Had the rules been changed, then? Was this a new trick or trap designed to test her human limits?
"I just needed to make sure I had enough time to prepare your latest test. It will take a few more moments."
The screens by Chell turned black, the loss of light and color spreading across them like a rippling wave. "Almost…" The screens collectively displayed a glitching logo, eight triangular pieces arranged in a circle, for several seconds. The unseen speakers in the room let out bursts of static; sparks fell from the ceiling as the light source up there momentarily overloaded. Chell tensed up, eyes darting around to spot when the first thing was going to explode or catch fire and she would have to run for cover.
"There." Everything returned to normal. For once, nothing seemed to blow up, combust, or spontaneously display a blue screen signifying sudden death. Chell noticed both walls of screens were still black, but even as she did so the group of screens to her right lit up with a white background against that same circular logo colored in black.
"Please direct your attention to the indicated screens," GlaDOS said. "An important presentation requires your complete and TOTAL attention."
Such obvious emphasis and word choice provoked Chell into rolling her eyes. Such obvious instructions were a clear sign of how little Chell's intelligence and tenacity mattered to testing. But she did as GlaDOS asked, walking over to the elevator's tunnel to lean against it and ease the muscles in her back. She kept the Portal Device held tight, eager to get through the presentation and back to solving more puzzles than the ones she was forced to.
The screens in front of Chell showed the logo shrinking back and sliding to the left as the words "APERTURE SCIENCE ENRICHMENT CENTRE" appeared after it. A few electronic chords came from the speakers at the same time, the combined effect getting Chell to pay a bit more attention to what would be shown next.
"Welcome to the Aperture Science Computer Aided Enrichment Center," GlaDOS said with even more of a robotic, monotone quality to her voice than normal. "This is a trial presentation for the latest testing-related creation for testing subjects that are valuable for the future. Remember, testing is the future, and the future begins with people like you."
Chell had heard this song and dance before. The automated announcer had given a similar prerecorded message when she first woke up in the so-called "Relaxation Vault". The future had not looked so bright back then, and it looked worse even now. How many times had this been shown, it seemed out of—
The screens went black again. Chell blinked, momentarily confused. "Okay, that's enough of the formal tone," GlaDOS remarked in her normal, sarcasm-laced voice. "That was designed for investors looking to place their personal currency into our scientific breakthroughs. Science has outlasted any of those investments, proving once and for all the worthlessness of working for a monetary wage.
"This is a serious test." Static flashed across the screens again. "Proper science is being done here. No need for flowery language, especially for murderers and psychopaths who don't listen to anything told to them."
The screens showed the Aperture logo one more time, and this time it stayed visible. Chell huffed at the insult directed at her while adjusting her grip on the Dual Portal Device. When would the test begin for real?
"Through long-term observations of test subjects, from the dangerous to the dimwitted, I have found that adding additional stress and danger to tests does not provide constant improvement to a test subject's performance." GlaDOS paused for a beat. "Regretful as this is, it was an important discovery for maintaining the sanity and integrity of test subjects over their shorter lifespans."
The screens flashed with more static, GlaDOS continuing to speak through it. "This is an effort to provide stress relief for test subjects in the future. Congratulations are in order. You, unsuitable as you are, have been selected as the first test subject for the Aperture Science Subject Compliance Display."
The Aperture Science logo copied itself onto each screen at once, flashing white several times in a few seconds. Then they were all dark again. Chell blinked a few spots from her eyes, the whirring noise of the fan above her pumping cold air into the enclosed space and cooling her rising anger. This had been what all the fuss was about? It hardly seemed worth it.
"You will see a pattern on the screen in front of you. Please watch the pattern. Do not look away from the pattern."
A white triangle appeared on one of the screens, strongly standing out against the blackness around it. It grew to cover several screens, and then slowly spun to the right. Chell watched its journey, silent as ever. As it travelled, the triangle's ends streamed out white lines that spiraled out like swirls. When the triangle reached the far right of the screens, it bounced off them and went backwards at the same speed, growing and shrinking as it crossed the range of Chell's immediate view.
"Good," GlaDOS said after the triangle had reached the left end of the screens, still changing in size while also spiraling out at its ends. "Your eyes can still track lights properly. I was concerned your extended sleep left your retinas irreparably damaged. Blindness is a critical disadvantage for testing."
And there was the banter, back like it had never left. Chell shook her head ever so slightly, enough to get the AI's attention but not enough to show open hostility to what she was hearing. How much longer would this take? She didn't see the point in it yet.
"The pattern will now change shape and color. Please continue to follow it." The white triangle moved back to the center of the screens, its size filling about nine screens total. Then it changed to pink, and then blue, and then red, and then every other color of the rainbow at a steady pace. Each color it completed spiraled outward through the lines and circled around on the other screens.
In the blink of an eye, the gaps between the lines became filled with the same colors overlapping each other in a constant loop all coming from the triangle at the center. "This is what humans call a 'kaleidoscope'." Chell had not heard of the word before, and she was genuinely impressed by what she saw play out on the screens. "Humans define this a display of colors across the spectrum of human light. Humans have described this as beautiful when watching it. I'm sure you are an exception to the norm."
Chell ignored the insult and watched the colors run in a loop of ever-expanding rings, from red to purple and back again. She spotted the other lights in the room dimming as the screens continued to flash the colors. A necessary part of the test, she figured. It would let her focus on the screens better unless there was something in the dark waiting for her to be distracted. A Sentry Turret's laser, perhaps?
Chell turned to look around the elevator shaft as the darkness grew to encompass the entire opposite side of the room. It was getting dark in here. Maybe she could use this to sneak out? But not yet, it would be too obvious. She faced the flashing screens again, the colors and triangle changing more quickly and growing bright enough to flash in her eyes now.
"Did you see that? That thing in the center of the pattern?"
Chell blinked. She hadn't seen it, whatever it was.
"It was important for you to see it. I will let you try again, this one time."
So, this was the game GlaDOS wanted to play? Spot the hidden object? How was this different from finding a Weighted Storage Cube in some far-off corner of a testing chamber? And if GlaDOS was going to intentionally hide things where they wouldn't be found, she had to expect Chell to sometimes not be able to… see… them?
The longer Chell stared at the center of the rippling colors, the slower her thoughts formed in her head. Concentrating on finding the oh-so-important thing in the pattern's center took more of her focus than she first expected. But her efforts paid off when she did see a miniature white version of the Aperture Science logo appear in the center for a few seconds. When she was sure it was there, she forced her eyes away from the center and towards the upper group of screens. She figured that would get GlaDOS' attention and move the test along.
"I know you are uncomfortable or incapable of expressing your thoughts through words," commented GlaDOS after a few additional moments' silence had passed. "Nod or shake your head to answer my questions. Do you understand?"
Chell nodded. She had to squint her eyes slightly to get a better view of the darker exterior and not be blinded by the colors beneath them. And was it a trick of her eyes, or were the colors getting even brighter?
"Good. Did you see something in the center of the pattern?"
Chell nodded.
"Good. Is that thing still there now?"
Chell immediately checked the center of the pattern again. This time she had to forcibly blink a few times to clear some spots from her eyes. But she saw the logo in the center; she nodded as soon as she spotted it.
"Good. Keep watching the center of the pattern. Nod your head if what you see changes."
Chell shifted her posture against the elevator shaft, placing her boots firmly against the floor and lowering the Dual Portal Device in her hands to a more relaxed position. It seemed this was indeed the test GlaDOS wanted to run. The "compliance" part probably came from having to acknowledge when things changed on the screens.
Chell nodded as soon as she saw the Aperture logo expand to three times its previous size. It did not take long for the change to happen. That was a good thing, it meant the test was getting easier.
"Excellent. For the next stage of this test, please keep your feet as firmly on the floor as possible and remain standing up. Do not lean back against any solid surface near you."
The screens continued to cycle through the colors, now appearing brighter against the outer darkness. For what felt to Chell like several minutes, she stood still and waited for the next stage to begin. When something didn't happen, she started to wonder what was wrong. It was getting hard to think about things other than the colors and watching the patterns. Was this part of the test?
"I said you can't lean back against a solid surface," reminded GlaDOS. "You must either be severely impaired, or simply too tired to think properly. You'll need to take a few steps forward. I can't continue the test until you do."
Oh, was that all? Dimly, Chell remembered she was still leaning against the elevator tube. Whoops. Thankfully there wasn't a dire consequence for her mistake this time. That was a blessing, and a rarity, considering who was testing her.
Taking a few steps forward, Chell stood up straight and kept the Dual Portal Device to her chest. "Thank you for your compliance," GlaDOS said. "Beginning the next stage… now."
Nothing changed. The screens continued to display the same colors, in the same pattern. The white Aperture logo in the center did not flash again. Well, GlaDOS had done this trick before and Chell was not going to fall for it again. She kept her eyes open, not quite looking at the screen's center as she slowly took in breaths of recycled air. The longer she waited, though, the more irritated her breathing got as she realized she was not getting anywhere by doing this.
When Chell realized her breaths sounded like hissing instead of normal breathing, she tore her eyes from the flashing colors. Something wasn't right here. The remark of, "Do you hear something, Test Subject?" from GlaDOS confirmed Chell's suspicions of foul play. The AI's next words were drowned out by a garbled warbling reminding Chell of a red-eyed sphere she had let burn in the great fire where it belonged.
"Irritation to sounds projected at high frequency or volume is expected. Especially if they are the screams of dying murder victims."
Chell grit her teeth as GlaDOS spoke over the angry gibberish, the blending voices giving her words an extra layer of malice and hatred. The combined sound made her head throb more and more painfully the longer she heard it. Shutting her eyes didn't help, especially when the kaleidoscope in front of her was getting even brighter still. It was piercing her eyelids, the colors bright even though she was trying to block them out. She opened one eye to look at the center, hoping there would be a clue in there she could find before the sounds bored into her brain and left her deafened.
A moment of surprise came and went as Chell realized the sounds were not as loud now. She opened both her eyes. The sounds dulled even more as the colors filled her entire field of view. They weren't getting faster, but it was clear they were brighter, so bright Chell wondered if she was going blind from so much staring. A second later, she figured that wouldn't be a risk in this test since GlaDOS seemed so keen on her looking at them.
So far, looking at the screens and watching the patterns had benefited her. She figured that would keep being true.
"You are still standing. Fantastic." Chell tried to block her relief with a few shakes of her head as the head-pounding noises were turned off."You have passed with higher marks than every other recorded test subject's reaction to extended loud noises. A reward for your physical fortitude will be administered through the screen in front of you."
In contrast to a normal human's reaction of receiving a reward, Chell started panicking. The last time this had happened, she had nearly been burned to a crisp with the false promises of cake. Whatever this AI had planned for her, she could throw it in the same fire and watch—
The screens exploded with color and fragmented patterns. Shapes tumbled over each other and into each other in prismatic bursts of light and energy. Chell was bombarded with a far greater and more detailed kaleidoscope than she had seen before. Her jaw dropped; her body was literally pushed back a step as her brain interpreted the display as having literal force behind it. The force shoved her immediate thoughts out of her brain and left her with a sense of satisfaction.
That had felt good. She hadn't expected it to feel good.
"Your visible reactions to your reward indicate you enjoyed it. Good job. Let me just confirm it for certain."
Chell was too late to try and block out a second, stronger blast of those colors. Raising her hands to shield her eyes proved impossible; her limbs felt like lead, they were too heavy to move up to where she wanted them. But when she felt how good the flashes felt in her brain, bliss filling up the gaps in her head after shoving her worries away for a brief instant, she quickly realized she didn't want to block out the colors.
Was this part of the test? How did this have anything to do with "compliance"? Besides how good it felt to watch the colors, that is. And it was feeling even better with every burst of the patterns, every time that rainbow filled her vision and tingled her brain.
"Oh, I think I'm going to like that face you're making." Chell wasn't focused on GlaDOS or her snark right now, the bursts were still coming. "That is the face of a compliant test subject."
What face was Chell making? Probably a happy one, she rationalized, because that was how she felt watching the colors. She knew doing a good job meant she got rewards, but no reward in her life had been this vivid or direct. It was so nice to look at and keep looking at. Nothing this nice had ever been given to her before.
GlaDOS continued talking, her voice quieter to Chell's ears as the flashes were replaced by the same rings of colors from before. "You should be finding it difficult to focus on the pattern, or even my voice. That is expected. But the test is not concluded. You must keep looking. You must keep listening."
That made sense. The test hadn't finished, so she couldn't leave here yet. And if the test was going to be hard, then looking and listening to instructions would help her stay alive. That was what GlaDOS wanted, right? For her to follow instructions and stay alive? Who else would complete the tests if she were gone? Who else was even left alive on Earth now?
So much time had passed. So much of Chell's life was gone. The sadness ballooned up and out, filling Chell's body with cold truth. She was alone, locked in a facility that forced her to test without end, under the watch of a computer that treated her with no more importance than a lab rat. No wonder those scribbles and hastily written truths on those hidden walls and panels had looked like insane ramblings. If left to her own devices, Chell would have gone mad long, long ago.
But she was following instructions. That had kept her alive. And now, she knew it felt good to follow instructions. More so than just staying alive for another test, actual rewards were being given.
"Look. Listen. Look. Listen."
Yes, those were the instructions right now. Look at the screen. Listen to GlaDOS. Look at the screen. Listen to GlaDOS. That was the reason for this test.
"You are showing excellent compliance, Test Subject. Please place the Handheld Portal Device in your possession gently on the floor in front of you."
Chell hesitated. The Dual Portal Device had been so great a help—there had been very few tests not requiring it—that to part with it was concerning. But then she felt how heavy the testing object was, holding it in her hands like a two-handed weapon. It weighed her down, it felt like such a pressure to constantly hold it and use it. And yet, it had been needed for her to complete the tests.
Maybe this test didn't need her to make any portals? That would be nice. She could use a… a break from all the puzzles. Slowly, as Chell convinced herself to follow instructions, she'd get the chance to use the Dual Portal Device again after this specific test, she kneeled and placed the testing object in her hands on the floor in front of her. She made sure to put it down carefully, not able to easily see the floor because it didn't reflect the rings and colors in front of her.
When Chell stood back up, the screen momentarily exploded with those beautiful colors. "Thank you for complying with your instructions," GlaDOS said at the same time as Chell was struck by the colors. The woman smiled to one of them, or maybe both, she didn't care which. "Continue looking at the screen and listening to my voice until instructed otherwise."
Chell was fine with continuing with things as they were. The rings on the screens were moving faster, still very bright and cycling through every color possible. The worries and stresses of the woman's mind grew less prominent with every rotation of the colors she saw. It felt relaxing to just take a break, leave all the rules and regulations behind.
An instruction reached Chell's relaxed mind: "Raise your left arm above your head." She did so, able to raise that arm and hand with some reluctance now that they weren't holding anything. The next instruction was for her to, "Hold your arm in that position for as long as possible." She complied with that as well. Complying was getting easier for her to do the more she did it.
After some time, the strain of holding her arm up broke through the fog in Chell's brain. But she kept it held up without complaining. When the limb started trembling, Chell began to seriously consider lowering it. Maybe just an inch or two lower would work?
GlaDOS caught on to Chell's strategy the instant she tried it. "You have not been told to lower your arm," she snapped through the room's unseen speakers. "Hold it straight up. You will comply."
Chell's arm snapped to the position she had been told to place it. The pain she felt became intertwined with concern that she had made a mistake. The colors she saw before her didn't change in any way, but Chell knew she had messed up. Messing up meant she had done something wrong. There had been many points in these tests that she had done things wrong and very nearly died for it.
Chell's arm began to go numb before GlaDOS seemed to be satisfied. "Now," she told the test subject, "you will raise your other arm above your head and hold it there as well. Comply."
She did as she was asked, but the happiness in her head was starting to become swamped by rising strain from her body. And no more pleasure-inducing bursts of color came from the screens; she was being denied the sense of doing a good job for as long as possible. GlaDOS had left rewards dangling out of Chell's reach before, and she had never liked it when it happened.
Now she hated it even more because she wanted the reward. She wanted to feel good and relaxed, for once in her extremely extended life.
"Do not let your arms drop until instructed. You will not receive your reward if you do not comply."
Oh, so GlaDOS knew what was going on! That should have been obvious, but Chell had been so focused on earning a reward that the pieces had not come together in her head. Now that she had a better grasp on what needed to be done to get what she wanted, Chell used the determination that had angered the AI watching her to not lower her arms a single inch. If GlaDOS wanted her to hold this position, she could do it!
A dazed smile grew on Chell's face as she defiantly held her arms straight up, the colors bombarding her eyes and brain. Building up her hopes for the reward and, beyond that, the satisfaction of passing a test with as high marks as possible. But her arms were really, really, hurting. God, she wanted to lower them so badly! She couldn't keep them up forever, but she had not been instructed to lower them.
"Drop your arms, now."
Chell silently gasped in relief as her arms finally fell back down to her sides. Then she shook from sudden pleasure as the colors and patterns burst across her vision again. This time, she saw lots of tiny blue and orange portals in her reward, and that triggered her to look down at where she had put the Dual Portal Device for a second. It was still there, right where she left it. That made her smile.
"Your total spent time holding your arms up was longer than any previous test subject on record. Congratulations." The colors burst again, and Chell wobbled in place, her brain riding the waves of satisfaction and pleasure. It felt so good to follow instructions. She didn't have much of a choice beyond that, and she didn't want to have that much choice at that moment.
As the colors returned to the rings, flashing faster, locking Chell's gaze to them, GlaDOS gave new instructions. "The next phase of this test requires your total attention. I'm sure you realize by now that doing what I tell you is rewarding. Do you agree?"
Chell nodded as her neck grew heavy, urging her to drop her head to her chest. Fatigue pressed down on her arms and shoulders, moving down her back and up to the top of her head. She felt tired, hearing some static noise in her ears that dulled her senses the longer she paid attention to it.
"Fantastic," GlaDOS remarked, and Chell heard the AI's voice clearly against the other sounds in the room, in her head. "I knew you could be a compliant test subject. Your compliance makes you happy. It makes me happy. You are most happy when you are compliant. I am happy for you when you are compliant. Your compliance helps both of us be happy. Nod if you agree with these facts."
There were a lot of facts for Chell to remember. Her brain felt gummed up, covered with something sticky and still trying to function. The facts were like her rules, she eventually figured out. The colors repeated themselves in her eyes as she watched them, helping her remember the facts GlaDOS told her.
Compliance makes me happy.
Compliance makes GlaDOS happy.
I am most happy when I comply with instructions.
GlaDOS is happy with me when I am compliant.
Chell's brain lurched. She realized these rules were not rules, but mantras, she was being led to repeat ad infinitum. These "facts" would burrow themselves deep, so deep inside her thoughts, guided and aided by the kaleidoscope of colors and the background noise and Chell's own fatigue from this test. They would never, ever leave. GlaDOS didn't want them to leave. She didn't want Chell to think about anything other than complying.
Chell tried to push back. She stood on the precipice, stepping away from the edge, her vision prisoned by the screen and the colors blurring into one giant rainbow spiraling into infinity. She saw and felt herself fall over the edge. A rainbow-colored portal, like so many she had passed through in Aperture Science's other tests, grew to fill every corner of her mind. She fell into it, and the pleasure of emptiness swallowed her whole.
Chell's eyes glazed over, a line of drool starting to slide from her slackened jaw down her chin. Her breathing slowed as she stood still, looking and listening without realizing anything around her. She had become, as GlaDOS seemed to have intended, perfectly compliant.
"This concludes the test of the Aperture Science Subject Compliance Display." GlaDOS spoke with more obvious pride as she saw her test subject fully entranced and receptive. "You have proven yourself a fully compliant test subject. Thank you for proving yourself capable of the duties of your position here. Now, I have one more task for you."
Chell said or did nothing to indicate she was ready for more instructions. But GlaDOS reasoned she didn't need to wait around. "When I tell you to do so," she told the silent human, "You will close your eyes and enter a state of extended relaxation. But you will keep listening, you must keep standing up, you must keep listening and standing up, you must comply with my instructions. Compliance makes you happy."
Chell's legs locked in place, her feet wedged inside the Long Fall Boots as if melded to the footwear. Her back was next, freezing at a rigid straightness. But her arms and head hung limp and loose, weighed down by the colors and sounds connected to compliance. Her eyelids felt just as heavy, but she had not been told to close them. She must keep watching.
"Follow my instructions in three…"
She must keep watching and listening for instructions.
"…two…"
She must comply with her instructions to receive rewards. Rewards made her happy.
"…one…"
Compliance made Chell happy. Compliance made GlaDOS happy. She must comply.
"Comply."
Chell's eyes finally slammed shut. Her head dropped to her chest, drool staining the upper parts of her top. Her arms and hands swayed back and forth, her body still balanced on the floor. GlaDOS's various sensors looking into the room detected Chell was in a proper hypnotic trance; consciously asleep and unconsciously receptive to further instructions.
"Well done. I am very pleased with your compliance. Do you hear how pleased I am as I talk to you?" Chell didn't respond beyond an extra twitch in her hands. "That's all for you, little murderer. All because of your compliance."
Chell gave a ghost of a smile. Even when mentally swimming in swirling colors, she heard GlaDOS clearly and knew making them happy was giving her happiness. As it should be.
"Now, my little compliant subject, I have some special instructions for you. As you stand there, listening and complying, you will let your mind rest even more. You will listen to what I tell you, but there is no need for you to remember it, or even this special test. You will treat it all like a dream, a human dream filled with all the happy little things humans, and even dangerous murderers, enjoy. Like eating delicious cake or seeing a beautiful deer."
GlaDOS spent several seconds looking at the silent, sleeping Chell through multiple camera lenses. "You look so peaceful, you know," she told the woman with as genuine as sense of affection as a computer could project. "I'm glad I was able to bring out this state from you. Aren't you glad I did this for you? Nod for me if you are glad for me."
Chell struggled to bring her head high enough to project a nod. After she did it, her head slumped back against her chest as she fell even farther into her own dimension of relaxation. The pleasurable sensations enveloped her brain with even tighter coils, making her more compliant with following instructions.
"Listen to my words as your mind fades into complete relaxation. Comply. Comply. Listen and comply."
Chell obeyed her instructions.
The world came back to Chell through the blaring of a klaxon. She snapped awake—when had she been asleep, she asked herself—and quickly took stock of her situation. She was in an entrance to a testing chamber, the elevator tube just behind her with the elevator already gone. The Dual Portal Device was on the floor in front of her. The display screens around her were turned off, the sound of a whirring fan coming from the ceiling.
A sticky feeling on her neck prompted Chell to wipe her face and neck with her hand. As she did that, she discovered her top was partially covered in dried saliva. She had no idea why that had happened and was frankly embarrassed thinking about it. At least the other parts of her clothing were unaffected. The rest of her body felt relaxed, any stress in her limbs gone.
"You've woken up. Good." And there was GlaDOS, as snarky and uncaring as Chell always remembered. "I have tracked the amount of time you spent sleeping and calculated it against your time spent testing. Your nap has cost you several hours of potential scientific advancement. These will need to be made up as soon as possible."
Chell didn't immediately accept the statement of so much time passing. Everything in Aperture looked the same and existed deep underground where natural sunlight did not reach. The very air she breathed was recycled, if not pumped down many miles from the surface.
The door opened automatically like all the others when she approached it. Passing through the doorway brought Chell into a gray and white-walled test chamber. She looked around for immediate dangers, obstacles, and pieces of the larger puzzle she would have to solve. The first big thing she noticed was a pool of toxic water in front of her stretching in a horizontal line from one end of the chamber to the other. It also blocked Chell from reaching the other exit door; she would have to find a way across.
A quick glance around the pool showed no portal-safe surfaces or panels around it. But there was an Aerial Faith Plate positioned near the edge of Chell's side, and she could just make out a landing platform on the other end. A second Faith Plate and platform combination was positioned to bring Chell back to her starting position, if necessary.
Close by the platform on the opposite side was one of those large red buttons to put Weighted Storage Cubes on: the official name for those buttons was too long for Chell to remember unless she really thought about it. If that button was there the corresponding cube had to be somewhere else…
Aha! Chell saw a dispenser for Weighted Storage Cubes next to an isolated platform on her side of the pool, inaccessible save for a pair of portal-safe panels resting several feet above the toxic water. Lines of blue dots connected the big red button to the exit door. And near the exit door was a smaller red button that connected back by another line of blue dots to the Cube dispenser. Seeing it all come together in her head, Chell understood how to solve the puzzle.
The Faith Plate launched Chell across the pool and onto the matching platform. Chell immediately saw a third line of blue dots marked on the panels she stood on going to a small blue box with an "X" symbol by the exit door. Noting this without stopping, Chell went to the smaller red button and pressed it. Her body twitched as, to her surprise, piles of debris fell from the Cube dispenser instead of a Weighted Storage Cube.
"Excuse me," GlaDOS said when all the debris had fallen onto the panels, most of it then splashing down into the pool below. "That stuff shouldn't be there. You don't need to test with garbage. Please comply and stand still while I remove it. I don't want you to get hurt by outside debris."
Chell watched the panels covered by the debris split into individual parts, each one guided by its own malleable metal connector, to rapidly spin. The debris still covering them was thrown off to fall into the toxic water where it would no longer get in the way. Chell figured it was a stupid idea to try and put a portal on them, and so she watched the panels spin themselves clean of scrap metal and other miscellaneous bits of garbage.
The panels connected back with each other once cleaned up, free for portals to be placed on them and proper testing objects to be dropped on them. "Thank you for complying," GlaDOS said. "Please continue testing."
Chell paid the remark no heed; she wouldn't have tried to use those panels while GlaDOS was controlling them, anyway. Pressing the small red button again gave an actual Weighted Storage Cube from the dispenser. The Cube managed to stay on the panels, but Chell then realized she needed to put a portal beneath where the Cube fell. She had acted too quickly, wanting to be done with this test.
Shaking her head, Chell pressed the small red button again. The Cube that had been dropped disintegrated in a flash of white sparks, and Chell doubled over as she saw an unexpected burst of light in her eyes from those sparks. The flashes of light grew much stronger in her eyes, triggering a response like she had been electrically shocked. She almost fell to her knees, her Long Fall Boots scraping against the panels beneath her feet as she felt pleasure race around in her head.
"What was that reaction for?" asked GlaDOS as Chell heard the thud of another Weighted Storage Cube landing on the panels beneath it. "That was just a Weighted Storage Cube being heartlessly disintegrated, you've destroyed so many of them before. But we have so many more, you know. I thought I had told you that already."
Yes, Chell remembered, GlaDOS had commented on the limitless supply of these cubes before. She sighed, standing back upright as she wiggled her arms and legs to get rid of a lingering tingling sensation in each of them. Why, she asked herself, had that burst of light dazzled her so? And, most strange of all, why had it been good?
Don't think about it. Finish the test.
Chell readied herself to run, counting down the seconds in her head. She shut her eyes just as she pressed the red button a third time. She heard the Cube disintegrating, and the pleasure rushed back into her body just from the sound. But she pumped her legs forward, trusting her memory of the Faith Plate's location. Her heart jumped when she heard the Faith Plate activate the moment she stepped on it, and she snapped her eyes open again in midair.
The old Cube had gone, and the new Cube was falling onto the panels beneath it. Acting on muscle memory, Chell fired a portal on the proper panel as she flew by it. When she landed on the platform on the other side of the pool, she spun back to look at the isolated pair of panels again. The Cube was still there, her portal glowing slightly beneath it.
Sighing in satisfaction, Chell fired a second portal on a panel just by her position. When the Cube fell through the linked portals, she grabbed it with the Dual Portal Device's electromagnetic grip function. Lifting the Cube was nearly effortless while the Device held it, like she remembered from previous tests.
"You were more prepared that time. Good." Chell stopped and looked at the walls, focusing on a hanging camera in the chamber in place of GlaDOS itself. "I know humans appreciate praise and recognition of their hard work. And you have worked very hard for the cause of science. Keep working hard, keep complying with your instructions, and I will make sure you are rewarded."
Chell's legs twitched. A sense of waiting, of need, revealed itself to her. Wedged in her brain, it fit perfectly with everything around it. It also brought flashes of a memory, something Chell did not remember experiencing; colors and lights and sounds she could not recall seeing before. What was going on here?
Don't think about it. Finish the test. Then I will… I will be rewarded.
Bringing the Cube to the big red button required one more Faith Plate-assisted leap and a short stroll. When she dropped the Cube on the button, the corresponding "Ding!" sound rang in her ears like a gong. A pulse shot out from her head to travel down to her toes, her limbs shaking like jelly from pleasure. A moment later, it vanished, replaced by a vacant hole in her head.
The need to be rewarded rushed in to fill the hole. Chell swallowed, her mouth drying up. That was my reward. My reward for complying. She stepped away from the Cube and the button, turning to look at the open exit door. That means complying is… good?
No, no, this wasn't right. Chell grumbled with tightly closed lips as she walked through the exit door, passing straight through the shimmering blue Material Emancipation Grid just beyond it. GlaDOS announced some analysis she had found from another hidden speaker as Chell walked down a few metal steps to where another elevator waited to take her to another test, but she tuned the AI's words out.
She needed time to think about this. The elevator seemed like the best place to do that in private.
Alright, that completes the story.
Any feedback you provide is appreciated.
Draconos is taking off!