CHAPTER 7

They all gathered around a computer terminal that GLaDOS was hacking.

"Have you found them yet?" Chell asked for the fifth time.

"It has been exactly 5 minutes and 49 seconds," GLaDOS said. "Of course not."

"What's taking so long?" Chell demanded.

"I need to decrypt the files, check to see if they contain relevant information, all while evading countless security protocols and…" she trailed off into incomprehensible computer gibberish. "Wait." GLaDOS began presently.

"What is it?" Chell interrupted.

"I think I've got it. Let me see… Yes. Here it is. The criminal records for Calhoun, Barney. Height: 5'4". Weight:—"

Alyx cut her off. "OK, OK, we get it. Where is he?"

"Last seen: City 16, Bacon district—"

Chell interrupted. "There's a Bacon district?"

GLaDOS pretended not to notice.

"'Status: Convict has been trapped in the local banking establishment. Calhoun has resisted arrest and has assaulted Overwatch Civil Protection units. Overwatch military detachment has been sent to detain the convict.'"

Gordon looked grim. "We'd better go." He and Alyx hurried away.

"OK," Chell said. "Download the prisoner records for Nova Prospekt."

"I have to find them first," GLaDOS grumbled.

"Also, just download them for now," Chell told her. "We can decrypt them and sift through the data back at base."

"I'm not stupid, stupid," GLaDOS muttered.

They had just finished downloading the data when the guards found them.

"Freeze!" the head guard bellowed, brandishing his Overwatch Standard Issue Pulse RifleTM. "Um… Hi?" Chell tried.

"Attack!" the head guard bellowed. He shouted orders to the other troops as he flung a grenade at Chell. She flung it back. The soldiers scattered. The commander continued shrieking orders but was cut off by a wrench to the face from Chell. Mayhem ensued. Chell was a whirlwind, flinging various clutter at the guards, coating them with Repulsion Gel, and using portals to drop them on their heads. GLaDOS was the guards' main target (because she had the data and also because she was bigger). They fought their way to the main gate.

"space spider!" GLaDOS hollered (quietly) and dived behind cover as a strider lumbered towards the compound. Chell bolted as well. Suddenly, she had an idea. She first coated the strider in Propulsion Gel, causing it to lose its balance on the slippery substance, and made it fall through a portal leading to the moon. "Well, now they know we're here," Chell grumbled. "We need to get back."

"What if they follow us?" GLaDOS said, remembering to turn up her volume again. But Chell wasn't listening. She sprinted off down the hill towards the waiting bus, which was parked about a mile away. GLaDOS groaned and took off after her.