Welcome To The Aperture Science Computer-Aided Enrichment Center (OPEN)

[glad_2_see_u]

Who► [ TEST SUBJECTS ] and associated Aperture Science Personnel.
What► Due to a generous grant from the SHODAN ADMINISTRATIVE FOUNDATION, beta testing of the Aperture Science Handheld Portal Device may continue.
Where► A section of R07, exact coordinates require administrative clearance to acquire. If you do not have clearance too bad

Comments

oh. it's you.

[standaloneshell]

Motoko had gone along with it when the drones had attempted to detain her. She'd been heading through the zone, looking for...

Well, if not Zaeed specifically, then anyone, really. So often the station was just a series of boring empty days punctuated only by the various bouts of infighting on the network. Things were actually happening again, which was as much a relief as anything could be, and it would take a great deal to keep her from arbitrarily shooting people. The hallucinations were persistent, but Motoko had been gracefully fending off false realities and brain-hacks since she was fourteen, and this was no different. What really bothered her were the little wisps of shadow that flickered in the corner of her eyes, but were never there when she looked at them directly.

It was some kind of error in the visual processors. Or rather, an interference pattern. It was frustrating, a seam in the station-illusion that only confirmed the stakes for her. It had never really been real, after all, not any of it. So when the drones tried to take her hostage, she hadn't fought them because it was, if nothing else, different. The game had changed.

Though what they hoped to accomplish with this was beyond her. The Major broke the glass with her bare hand, stepped through the hole, and looked up at the camera with an expression of complete disinterest.

"You're joking."

The only thing you have managed to break...was that window. Haha. A joke.

[glad_2_see_u]

"Though we are capable of [ ACTION: JOKING ] in order to lighten an otherwise dismal testing environment, we have not told a [ VARIABLE: JOKE ] yet."

The voice was coming from the ceiling, though where exactly was a solid question. There didn't seem to be any speakers.

"Though brief, we hope your stay in the Aperture Science Relaxation and Detainment Vault was a pleasant one." The voice was feminine and fairly cheerful. "If you wwill note the object on your aaaaarm, an Aperture Science Handheld Portal Device we may begin instructional procedures and then TESTING."

Variable: "Heart" not found

[standaloneshell]

The Major of course did not flinch. After a moment in which she made it silently obvious that she was simply humoring GLaDOS, she lifted the arm on which the 'Portal Device' had been affixed and tilted it, looking it over. It was probably fairly dangerous, and she considered blowing a few panels to get it off, but decided against it with a mental shrug.

Alright, she'll bite; without preamble Motoko aimed the weapon (was it a weapon?) at the far wall and pulled a trigger. Blue. Well, that was different.

404--Please retype the network address and try again.

[glad_2_see_u]

There was a whir as the red-lensed cameras turned their attention on the Major. The single portal did little on its own. Would she figure out that she needed to fire the other trigger without instruction?

Perhaps she had promise as a testing subject.

GLaDOS waited in silence to see what the woman would do.

Re: 404--Please retype the network address and try again.

[standaloneshell]

After an anti-climactic pause, Motoko approached the affected disc. It was faintly warm, glowing, but otherwise unchanged. Her subdermal micromachines sputtered and withdrew at the two-fingered touch- it was energetic, for such an inert mark.

Well, there are three triggers, aren't there? Another wall, another shot, this time orange- though the effect is very different. She's distracted in the alteration of sound from the blue portal beside her, and ends up staring in abrupt confusion.

Oh.

Oh.

The Portal Gun didn't exactly give points to the 'this is all real' argument, that's for sure. This was the strangest, most elaborately pointless hack Motoko had ever heard of.

[glad_2_see_u]

"Well done, you have passed this section of the test with ffflying colors," GLaDOS informed her from somewhere in the ceiling.

At the far end of the room an elevator arrived and the doors parted clinically.

"Proceed for further testing."