Give my muse a petname and see how they react.
Coffee Break
The door whirred and clanked. By a rough count she suspected that not all of the bolts had engaged, but enough of them had that she thought it was safe to stop pushing.“Stay there,” she ordered, just in case. Stepping over the furious tentacle she swiped her card through the reader and OK’d the command to fire up the incinerator venting. The room’s temperature should reach over 4000 degrees kelvin which should be more than enough to boil the coffee away into vapor.
“Right.” She took a step back. “Now might be a good time to leave. The door should hold and I think the room is going to heat up fast.”
It was getting warmer already, as a matter of fact.
John let out a deep sigh of relief and then suddenly jumped away from the door, feeling the heat coming through it. “Hot!”
He walked up to Trix, also wanting to get away from the heat. “That went good! Team work for the win!” He raised his hand for a high five but quickly realised Trix was still the head of security and scratched the back of his head. “I could really go for a mug of tea right now.” He said while smiling.
“All joking aside, what about this little guy?” The tentacle was still trying to get its grip on something, it didn’t matter what. It just wanted to get out of here. “Drop it in the bucket of tea you mentioned? Or will it just slowly die because it is separated from the body?”
That was the problem with using others to help you solve a problem; they thought it meant you were friends. Trix sniffed, but didn’t comment on his happy mood. She was mostly just relieved that it had worked. And they’d only lost two more people in the process.
“I still prefer coffee. Drink it instead of letting it eat me. That’s how it should be.” She gave a brief nod. “I used up all the tea earlier, but something this small can be dissolved with plain water.”
The bucket was still beside the elevator and had a tiny bit of tea left in it after all. She used the fire hose to fill it the rest of the way and walked back. Instinct told her to dump the water on the tentacle, herself, but she hesitated.
“You do it.” She shoved the bucket at John. “That way if part of it survives and goes on to get bigger and more dangerous, it will be your fault.” She smirked.
John hesitated and placed the bucket down. He felt pissed off now just because of this, it probably was because he is just a test subject. The numbers of Aperture. Always being treated like garbage.
“My fault?” He stepped up to Trix. “My fault? Should I explain why it wouldn’t be my fault? Because you are the head of security, it is your job to take care of this creature. If I did what you asked, it still would be under your responsibility. You are assigned to do this and you give it to a test subject who just happened to be around here to help you. Yeah, just shove it off to a test subject, like always.”
He felt kinda good, he didn’t feel this confident since a looong time. He picked up the bucket and walked up to the tentacle that was now quietly laying on the ground being exhausted from all the splashing around. “Okay, fine. If you want me to do this, I’ll do it. I think I made my point clear.” He threw the contents of the bucket on the tentacle and then went to get the fire hose. “Let’s just be sure here.” He turned it on and walked up to the tentacle again, spraying it with water. It went rolling over the floor closer to the hot door. If the tentacle could scream it would right now, it curled up and tremble with pain.
John continued to spray it, letting the tentacle curl up against the flaming hot door. He then closed the water hose and threw it away. “There, job done.” He managed to bring up a small smile. “The heat of the door should finish it off.” He mentally prepared himself, expecting a speech from her on how he could dare to talk like that.
-She found herself laughing quietly when he spoke of the mantismen, “I wasn’t there when that incident occurred. The scientists spoke about it quite often though. They said they would not make the same mistake again.” Her small smile soon faded away when the memories of Old Aperture began to play in her head. Remembering the past was not a very fond activity for her.
It seemed like it was just yesterday when she was down there with everyone. But it wasn’t like that anymore. It had been years; maybe even centuries, since the turret walked the halls of Old Aperture.
Her memory was not as sharp anymore though. So many years without maintanence caused her to short circuit often and forget many things. She had even forgotten a few of the faces of scientists. But still…
“Let’s just stop here. I’ll tell you everything you should know,” the oracle sighed deeply, “A long time ago, Aperture was a nice place. Well, nicer than what what it is now.” She looked up toward the test subject. “I was created a bit before the Genetic Lifeform and Disk Operating System went online. About a year before, actually.”
Yet another memory occurred to her as soon as she stopped. Her dear friend…
Caroline…
Her hands soon found the rusted railing as she peered into the darkness below, “I knew Her before everything. It wasn’t long though, but I still called Her my friend. She wasn’t always evil…” She shook her head and clenched her teeth. “I’m sorry. My words are rather vague, yes?”
John had listened to her story with all interest and now had to let the words she just said sink into his mind for a moment. It was all a bit… shocking.
He looked at her again, now he knew how old she was. She was old, very old. He felt sad for her, she isn’t in her own place anymore and even lost someone dear to her. It was like sleeping for a very long time in your own home and then waking up in… in here. Aperture.
He hesitated first but then placed a hand on her shoulder. “I’m sorry, I am so so sorry.”
He felt even more sad after saying those words, the words just came out of his mouth with that much emotion in it. He and his stupid curiosity, look at what you have done. You made her remember times that make her sad and now the fun is gone. Good job ruining it John Smith.
She looked up with a shocked expression on her face as he placed a hand on her shoulder. Such contact was foreign to her now. After wandering aimlessly in the Enrichment Center, she had even forgotten what a normal human looked like, aside from that other mute test subject.
With a shaky smile, the turret took his hand and squeezed it reassuringly. “It’s alright. Even though I’ll never see Caroline again, I know I’ll be okay.” She looked down and shut her eyes tightly, “It’s been so many years… I have been alone for so long and now I have grown accustomed to it…
She clenched her teeth as her smile faded away. “Mourning will not bring them back. All I can do is hope that my future will be a bright one. I just have to get out of here.. Once I leave this dreadful place, everything will be okay.”
“Look to the future. That was an old saying…” She closed her eyes as she regained control over her emotions. “I thank you for your concern though. I honestly do. You’re all alone too, yes?” The turret looked up at the young man with concern, “I’m sorry. I haven’t even considered what you’ve been through…”
John also squeezed her hands, smiling to Oracle. “Moving on is always the best option, but do not forget the good times with the ones you loved. It’s a good way to help yourself moving forwards.”
He let go of her hands and turned away from her, not wanting any eye contact when telling this to her. “I’ve got nothing interesting to tell, I only got a boring life. Did some traveling before I ended up here, nothing interesting happened, saw some tourists attractions. Got the souvenirs, shot some pictures, got the I traveled a while and all I got was this lousy t-shirt! shirt!” I’m fine. I am fine.” He said while talking happily, although he wasn’t on the inside.
This time he looked into the bottomless pit. “I got bored and heard about Aperture while in a pub. I went to one of their booths and signed up for testing, hoping to find my adventure there…” He turned to look at Oracle again, smiling and bright like he always was. “And I did, I found the excitement!”
“Of course I miss the surface, the animals, the plants, the sun. The beautiful clear night sky… Anyway! Uhm, are we just stopping here for a little break or do you have some place? I’m getting a bit… cold here.”
Coffee Break
Trix threw her weight behind the reinforced door and tried to slam it shut before the coffee had time to recover. Unfortunately all the caffeine gave its reflexes an extra boost and it hit the door from the other side before she could get a good seal. Putting her shoulder into it, she shoved harder.It still wasn’t quite enough. One tentacle quested outward, seeking something to latch onto. Given the way the room was designed it also meant that the tentacle was between her and the control panel that would activate the cookers.
“I just need… one… good push,” she told John. It came out as a hiss due to her fight with the door, but she knew he’d understand. All they needed to do was seal the door. Or at least keep it from opening all the way. There were no safety measures involved, so she could still set it off even with the door partially open. It would just be more painful.
“I got it!” John quickly threw himself against the door, pushing it hard to get it to close. The door moved thanks to both of their efforts and it began to close again, the tentacle slowly getting squashed between the door. He threw his shoulder also into the door like Trix did and began to push the door even harder, hearing the tentacle spurt and swap, trying to get one of them.
He dodged the tentacle but at the cost of letting the door go for a moment and letting it open a bit. Quickly throwing himself against it again he continued on pushing as hard as he could. The tentacle was done for this time, the door cut if off the body and it splashed around on the floor still trying desperately to get one of them. John quickly looked for the controls of the door and pushed the button with the word Seal on it, hoping it wouldn’t need a code or authorization for it.
Still pushing as hard as he could against the door, tensing every muscle in his body, he hoped for the best.
The door whirred and clanked. By a rough count she suspected that not all of the bolts had engaged, but enough of them had that she thought it was safe to stop pushing.
“Stay there,” she ordered, just in case. Stepping over the furious tentacle she swiped her card through the reader and OK’d the command to fire up the incinerator venting. The room’s temperature should reach over 4000 degrees kelvin which should be more than enough to boil the coffee away into vapor.
“Right.” She took a step back. “Now might be a good time to leave. The door should hold and I think the room is going to heat up fast.”
It was getting warmer already, as a matter of fact.
John let out a deep sigh of relief and then suddenly jumped away from the door, feeling the heat coming through it. “Hot!”
He walked up to Trix, also wanting to get away from the heat. “That went good! Team work for the win!” He raised his hand for a high five but quickly realised Trix was still the head of security and scratched the back of his head. “I could really go for a mug of tea right now.” He said while smiling.
“All joking aside, what about this little guy?” The tentacle was still trying to get its grip on something, it didn’t matter what. It just wanted to get out of here. “Drop it in the bucket of tea you mentioned? Or will it just slowly die because it is separated from the body?”
Coffee Break
With a shrug and a mental crossing of the fingers, Trix aimed a quick blast at the blob. Thanks to John’s crazy stunt-work with the portals the sentient coffee (or one of its offspring, anyway) was now directly in front of the open doorway. The first blast caught it by surprise and pushed it back, but not far enough. It loosed a bubbling screech as she hit it again.The second blast passed right through it, but she triggered the third immediately after it and a little lower, surprising it again. It stumbled back (if a blob can be said to stumble) into the room.
“Now!” she yelled. “Portal under us, now!”
Originally she’d had a remote device to close and seal the door, but that had been smashed in an earlier attack, so her only chance to trap it was to lock the door herself. Manually. She braced for the drop. She might not have long fall boots on, but at least it wasn’t a long drop. She’d
fallenjumped out of higher trees, once upon a time.He couldn’t believe it, his plan was working! The blob was actually stumbling backwards into the chamber!
He wanted to cheer when the blob ended up in the chamber, but Trix made it clear it wasn’t time for that yet with her quick command. John shot the portal beneath them and they fell through it, falling close to the door of the chamber the blob was in now. The long fall boots caught his fall and John helped Trix quickly to get her up to her feet again. “Quickly before it manages to get out!”
Trix threw her weight behind the reinforced door and tried to slam it shut before the coffee had time to recover. Unfortunately all the caffeine gave its reflexes an extra boost and it hit the door from the other side before she could get a good seal. Putting her shoulder into it, she shoved harder.
It still wasn’t quite enough. One tentacle quested outward, seeking something to latch onto. Given the way the room was designed it also meant that the tentacle was between her and the control panel that would activate the cookers.
“I just need… one… good push,” she told John. It came out as a hiss due to her fight with the door, but she knew he’d understand. All they needed to do was seal the door. Or at least keep it from opening all the way. There were no safety measures involved, so she could still set it off even with the door partially open. It would just be more painful.
“I got it!” John quickly threw himself against the door, pushing it hard to get it to close. The door moved thanks to both of their efforts and it began to close again, the tentacle slowly getting squashed between the door. He threw his shoulder also into the door like Trix did and began to push the door even harder, hearing the tentacle spurt and swap, trying to get one of them.
He dodged the tentacle but at the cost of letting the door go for a moment and letting it open a bit. Quickly throwing himself against it again he continued on pushing as hard as he could. The tentacle was done for this time, the door cut if off the body and it splashed around on the floor still trying desperately to get one of them. John quickly looked for the controls of the door and pushed the button with the word Seal on it, hoping it wouldn’t need a code or authorization for it.
Still pushing as hard as he could against the door, tensing every muscle in his body, he hoped for the best.
Coffee Break
“Hey!” She glared at the test subject- John- as he took the hose from her and shot the tentacle through the portal to where the rest of the blob was reforming and gathering its (for lack of a better word) wits.She snatched the hose back as he handed it to her, sorely tempted to turn it on him, instead. His idea, though…
“I’m not sure how well that will work.” She spoke slowly, still considering it. “The coffee might open up to let the water blast through it. But it will be a while before the next batch of tea is ready, so it might be worth a shot.”
The hose dragged behind her as she walked. “See if you can set the portals to drop it right in front of the door. Maybe a couple of quick blasts will get it inside.”
“I’m on it.”
He lifted his ASHPD up and rested it down on his hand. Aiming close to the blob he fired the first portal. He then tried to shoot the second one but the blob was constantly getting in the way. “This is not going to work…” He turned around for a moment. “I’m going to do something very stupid.”
He quickly turned back and made a run towards the blob, shooting both his portals on the ground in a vertical line. Jumping into the first portal he had enough momentum to fling himself up higher and to place a portal behind the blob. Gravity pulled him downwards again and he got flung out the portal behind the blob. He turned around facing the blob. “Hello.” Quickly running to the door he placed his portal above it on the ceiling, he had little time left to finish off this little stunt of his.
Seeing the blob make its way towards him he didn’t wait any longer and threw his ASHPD through the portal that was on the ceiling. “Let’s hope I can jump high enough…” He jumped and tried to grab the edge of the portal ring, missing. “Come on, 1 2 3!” Jumping again he managed to grab the edge, looking down he saw that the blob was way too close to him. He quickly pulled himself up before it had its chance of grabbing his legs and crawled away from the portal, picking up his ASHPD on his way.
John walked up to Trix, panting. “There… the portals are set up close to the blob and as close to the door as I could get it.”
With a shrug and a mental crossing of the fingers, Trix aimed a quick blast at the blob. Thanks to John’s crazy stunt-work with the portals the sentient coffee (or one of its offspring, anyway) was now directly in front of the open doorway. The first blast caught it by surprise and pushed it back, but not far enough. It loosed a bubbling screech as she hit it again.
The second blast passed right through it, but she triggered the third immediately after it and a little lower, surprising it again. It stumbled back (if a blob can be said to stumble) into the room.
“Now!” she yelled. “Portal under us, now!”
Originally she’d had a remote device to close and seal the door, but that had been smashed in an earlier attack, so her only chance to trap it was to lock the door herself. Manually. She braced for the drop. She might not have long fall boots on, but at least it wasn’t a long drop. She’d
fallenjumped out of higher trees, once upon a time.
He couldn’t believe it, his plan was working! The blob was actually stumbling backwards into the chamber!
He wanted to cheer when the blob ended up in the chamber, but Trix made it clear it wasn’t time for that yet with her quick command. John shot the portal beneath them and they fell through it, falling close to the door of the chamber the blob was in now. The long fall boots caught his fall and John helped Trix quickly to get her up to her feet again. “Quickly before it manages to get out!”
testsubjectjohnsmith started following you.
“As far as I know it still had some bugs in it that needed to be tested out and if that isn’t the case I guess that I am testing the test chambers? It’s all I have been doing while I am here, not really interesting.” He tapped his ASHPD that was hooked onto his belt.
“Not that I am complaining, I heard of weirder things they tested out on test subjects.”
“Oh the things I could tell you that we tested. Microchips in skulls, extreme dehydration, Mantis Men. List goes on. Hell, we even tried to turn blood into peanut water once. Results were horrific. But informative.” Ah, those were the days. Nothing but science and good times when Black Mesa didn’t try to steal his ideas or even end the world.
Cave held out his hand towards the man. It was nice to finally meet a test subject. “Cave Johnson. Owner, founder, and, well, I guess former CEO of Aperture Science. And who might you be?”
John had heard of the mantis men from scientists talking to each other in the canteen, but never of the things he just mentioned beside the mantis men. He didn’t like the sound of the results being horrific but informative. He smiled gently to him, glad they didn’t do tests like that on him.
“John Smith, test subject 8538.” He said while giving him a firm handshake. “So you’re the one behind Aperture Science? That made all this possible? That’s really impressive. I mean that, the things you have achieved in this place like.. Artificial Intelligence, androids and personality spheres. The testing elements like funnels and emancipation grills. Amazing, really. I’m betting that is just the surface of the discoveries you have made here.”
“Oh yeah. There are the turrets, the gels, a bunch of other stuff that my lawyers informed me that I shouldn’t claim because Black Mesa held the copyrights and the patents on. Lousy bastards.” But, Black Mesa did bring about the end of the world and Aperture didn’t. Score one for Aperture.
“So, Mr. Smith, we here at Aperture are always looking to improve your testing environment. That’s why we invented Panels. Any suggestions that you have that we could use in testing?”
John blew out some air. “That’s quite the question you are giving me there, Mr Johnson. Give me a moment, I’ll think some things through.”
He leaned against a wall and began thinking. Sometimes shaking his head in disagreement to himself or throwing his hand through his hair. It took around 5 minutes before he stood up again and walked back to the android.
“How about some equipment in the test chamber that helps the test subject with his or her shape? To keep the test subject fit for testing? I always do my own exercises in and out the test chambers to keep myself fit and in shape for the testing, to give Aperture the best test results but also of course for my own good. Don’t want to end up in a pool of acid…” He scratched the back of his head for a moment, then continued talking. “It might improve the test results of persons that aren’t that fit and some of some that uhm…” He searched for the right word for a moment. “For those who have some extra pounds on them.” He smiled gently at him and crossed his fingers and hoped that didn’t sound too offensive.
(( First of all, sorry to those people waiting for my replies, my brain didn’t feel like working yesterday, I’ll get to them today.
Then secondly, when my brain does something like that I usually put up my headphones while walking the dogs and try getting some inspiration from the Portal 2 soundtracks.
And that is when something hit me, while you are testing, as the gamer, you got your usual nice soundtrack in the background. But for the test subjects in the game like Chell and any other test subject in the initiative testing courses you don’t have any nice music at all. You only got the humming of machinery and the sounds of the testing objects, like the lasers, funnels, faith plates, etc etc. It’s completely silent in those test chambers and that is just a bit scary. You are all alone in a huge test chamber only with the humming of machinery and nothing else. Yeah sure you got the announcements and sometimes the voices of the turrets but that is just for a while, just a small time and you’ll get used to the humming of machinery. Trust me, I know that, I work in a control room where you hear the cooling fans constantly and you begin to ignore those after a while.
All in all, I just wanted to say this, bring this out to you all.
So, what are your thoughts about this? ))
testsubjectjohnsmith started following you.
“As far as I know it still had some bugs in it that needed to be tested out and if that isn’t the case I guess that I am testing the test chambers? It’s all I have been doing while I am here, not really interesting.” He tapped his ASHPD that was hooked onto his belt.
“Not that I am complaining, I heard of weirder things they tested out on test subjects.”
“Oh the things I could tell you that we tested. Microchips in skulls, extreme dehydration, Mantis Men. List goes on. Hell, we even tried to turn blood into peanut water once. Results were horrific. But informative.” Ah, those were the days. Nothing but science and good times when Black Mesa didn’t try to steal his ideas or even end the world.
Cave held out his hand towards the man. It was nice to finally meet a test subject. “Cave Johnson. Owner, founder, and, well, I guess former CEO of Aperture Science. And who might you be?”
John had heard of the mantis men from scientists talking to each other in the canteen, but never of the things he just mentioned beside the mantis men. He didn’t like the sound of the results being horrific but informative. He smiled gently to him, glad they didn’t do tests like that on him.
“John Smith, test subject 8538.” He said while giving him a firm handshake. “So you’re the one behind Aperture Science? That made all this possible? That’s really impressive. I mean that, the things you have achieved in this place like.. Artificial Intelligence, androids and personality spheres. The testing elements like funnels and emancipation grills. Amazing, really. I’m betting that is just the surface of the discoveries you have made here.”
testsubjectjohnsmith started following you.
Finally! About damn time I saw a test subject around here. So, what are you testing for us?
John turned around to the man and raised an eyebrow. “The Aperture Science Handheld Portal Device of course, what else should I be testing? I’ve been testing this device since the day I ended up here.”
Cave let out a sigh the moment he heard what the man was testing. Pinching the bridge of his nose, he let out a grunt before carrying forward. “That thing was working perfectly well before I died. It shouldn’t be tested, it should just be a tool to be used IN testing.”
“As far as I know it still had some bugs in it that needed to be tested out and if that isn’t the case I guess that I am testing the test chambers? It’s all I have been doing while I am here, not really interesting.” He tapped his ASHPD that was hooked onto his belt.
“Not that I am complaining, I heard of weirder things they tested out on test subjects.”
Coffee Break
Trix grinned, interpreting his comment as a compliment. She slapped the blob with the tie a final time… and a tentacle snatched it from her hand before toppling through the portal to splash against a wall outside the containment room.“Ha! Now all we have to do is- oh.”
The cut-off tentacle was reaching for the test subject, who was backed against the wall. Luckily she’d seen a fire hose nearby. She sprinted back to its location, hauling it out of its storage place in the wall. A quick twist to start the water pressure and she ran back, bracing herself before opening the hose’s nozzle.
The tentacle was just reaching for the subject’s boot when she sprayed it. The stream wobbled for a minute- the pressure was a little more forceful than she was expecting, but it went steady again soon enough.
“This won’t work on the bigger one,” she told the test subject. Jay? Jed? “But the smaller parts like this don’t have enough substance to resist.”
“John, John Smith.” He took the hose from Trix and sprayed the severed tentacle through the portal, right after the blob. Turning off the hose he turned to Trix and gave it back to her. He then ran a bit further down into the hallway, resetting his ASHPD to make sure the blob couldn’t get back through the portals.
The water hose had brought him an idea. “If we sprayed him with water, constantly turning it on and off, we might get it to slowly stumble backwards into the chamber.” He kept an eye on the blob while talking, not that he could stop him if it tried escaping. It just made him feel better to know where it was.
“It would be like cycling against the wind.” He continued. “Never getting any speed because of the gusts.” He scratched the back of his head, being a bit nervous on how Trix would react to this. He shouldn’t be really talking like this to her, after all he was just a test subject and she was the head of security. Huge difference there.
“If you didn’t have your own plan of course? I am just suggesting it.”
“Hey!” She glared at the test subject- John- as he took the hose from her and shot the tentacle through the portal to where the rest of the blob was reforming and gathering its (for lack of a better word) wits.
She snatched the hose back as he handed it to her, sorely tempted to turn it on him, instead. His idea, though…
“I’m not sure how well that will work.” She spoke slowly, still considering it. “The coffee might open up to let the water blast through it. But it will be a while before the next batch of tea is ready, so it might be worth a shot.”
The hose dragged behind her as she walked. “See if you can set the portals to drop it right in front of the door. Maybe a couple of quick blasts will get it inside.”
“I’m on it.”
He lifted his ASHPD up and rested it down on his hand. Aiming close to the blob he fired the first portal. He then tried to shoot the second one but the blob was constantly getting in the way. “This is not going to work…” He turned around for a moment. “I’m going to do something very stupid.”
He quickly turned back and made a run towards the blob, shooting both his portals on the ground in a vertical line. Jumping into the first portal he had enough momentum to fling himself up higher and to place a portal behind the blob. Gravity pulled him downwards again and he got flung out the portal behind the blob. He turned around facing the blob. “Hello.” Quickly running to the door he placed his portal above it on the ceiling, he had little time left to finish off this little stunt of his.
Seeing the blob make its way towards him he didn’t wait any longer and threw his ASHPD through the portal that was on the ceiling. “Let’s hope I can jump high enough…” He jumped and tried to grab the edge of the portal ring, missing. “Come on, 1 2 3!” Jumping again he managed to grab the edge, looking down he saw that the blob was way too close to him. He quickly pulled himself up before it had its chance of grabbing his legs and crawled away from the portal, picking up his ASHPD on his way.
John walked up to Trix, panting. “There… the portals are set up close to the blob and as close to the door as I could get it.”
testsubjectjohnsmith started following you.
Finally! About damn time I saw a test subject around here. So, what are you testing for us?
John turned around to the man and raised an eyebrow. “The Aperture Science Handheld Portal Device of course, what else should I be testing? I’ve been testing this device since the day I ended up here.”
