Alone: A Portal Fanfic

Chapter 2 - Emergency Testing Protocols

Chell

The Announcer's stirred me from my sleep. "Good morning," it greeted. "You have been in suspension for nine nine nine nine nine..."

Opening my eyes, I noticed my room had suffered some degradation. How long was I asleep?

I was brought back to reality by knocking. "Hello?" A voice called. "Anyone in there? Helloooo? Are you going to open the door? At any time? Hello? Can y...no? Are you going to open this door? Because it's fairly urgent."

"For crying out loud!" A female voice groaned. "Open the damn door!"

With a frown, I got out of bed and opened the door. I jumped back a little when I saw what looked like one of her cores. Except, it wasn't one of her cores.

"HA!" The core declared. "I knew someone was alive in... AHHH!!! Oh, God. You look te... Ummm... good. Looking good, actually."

Behind him was a brunette woman. She was dressed like a scientist, for the most part. Though she also wore a pair of boot-like devices on her legs. "I apologize for this idiot," she sighed. "His name is Wheatley. I'm Selene." The cakewalk shook under her. "May we... Eep!" She squeaked when the cakewalk collapsed, falling into the facility's depths. However, I was able to catch Selene before she could go with it. She looked at me gratefully. "Thanks."

Don't mention it. I gave her a simple nod as I pulled her into the room. Now how are we supposed to get out of here?

"Don't worry," Selene assured. "These rooms can be moved by Personality Spheres. So just take it slow..." she looked at my jumpsuit's name tag. "...Chell. There is plenty of time for..."

"Please prepare for emergency evacuation."

"Nevermind. Wheatley, get us out of here!"

He nodded and went over to the hatch in the ceiling. "Oh. You MIGHT want to hang onto something." He went into the hatch. "Word of advice, up to you." The room shook a little. "You alright down there?" Wheatley asked. "Can you hear me? Hello?"

Selene rolled her eyes. "We can hear you just fine."

Wheatley came out of the hatch. "Most test subjects do experience some cognitive deterioration after a few months in suspension. Now you've been under for... quite a lot longer, and it's not out of the question that you might have a very minor case of serious brain damage."

My eyes widened. What?!

"But don't be alarmed, alright? Although, if you do feel alarmed, try to hold onto that feeling because that is the proper reaction to being told you have brain damage."

Selene facepalmed and muttered something about dismantling him under her breath.

Wheatley didn't seem to notice. "Do you understand what I'm saying?" he asked me. "At all? Does any of this make any sense? Just tell me, 'Yes'."

I jumped instead.

"Okay. What you're doing there is jumping. You just... you just jumped. But nevermind. Say 'Apple'. 'Aaaapple'."

Once again, I chose to jump instead, earning a snicker from Selene.

That's when an alarm went off. "All reactor core safeguards are now non-functional," said the Announcer. "Please prepare for reactor core meltdown."

"Okay, you know what? That's close enough." Wheatley decided. "Just hold tight. Both of you." He went back into the ceiling. The room started to shake and parts of it fell apart as it rose. "Okay, look, I wasn't going to mention this to either of you, but I am in pretty hot water here. How are you two doing down there? You still holding on?"