Portal

Chapter 3 - The Courtesy Call

"Good morning! You have been in suspension for: 9-9-9-9-9-9... 9-9"

Chell jolted upright in her bed, as three knocks on the door aroused her from sleep.

"Hello?" the voice behind her door called. She stumbled out of her bed, hitting her head on the wooden wardrobe. She reached her fingertip up to her forehead. "Hello? Anyone in there?" The voice paused. "Are you...going to open the door? Anytime?" Chell sat back down on her bed, dizzy and exhausted. "Oh, just open the door!" the voice yelled. Chell groggily stood up, trying to make her way to the door. "All right, look, okay? I'll be honest." A pause. "You're the last test subject left, and if you don't help me... we're both gonna die. Okay? There. I didn't want to say it, there you go. You've dragged it out of me, all right? Dead. Dos muerte."

Chell reached out her hand and flung the door open. The little spherical core screamed.

"Oh, uh, God. You look te—umm, good. Looking good actually." The core slid forward on the management rail bolted to the ceiling. "Are you okay? Are you—actually don't answer that. I'm absolutely sure you're fine." The core bobbed itself up and down, like it was nodding. "There's plenty of time for you to recover," it said. "Just take—"

The core was cut off as a prerecorded message began playing over the speaker. "Please prepare for emergency evacuation."

"Stay calm!" the core yelled. "Stay calm, 'prepare,' that's all he's saying, 'prepare.' It's all fine, all right?" A hatch in the ceiling at the end of the management rail began to open, and the core slid itself inside. "Don't move. I'm gonna get us out of here." Right before the door closed, he slid back down quickly. "Oh," he added, "you might want to hang on to something." He began to slide back through the hatch. "Word of advice. Up to you."

The sound of machinery whirring to life woke Chell up a bit more, as the room shook violently, knocking over a lamp and a few chairs.

"You all right down there?" the core called down. "Can you hear me?" When Chell didn't answer, he popped back out of the hatch. "Most test subjects do experience some, ah, 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." The core looked down for a moment, then faced back towards Chell. "But, don't be alarmed, all right? Although if you do feel alarmed, try to hold on to that feeling! Because that is the proper reaction to being told that you've got brain damage." He rotated a bit to the side. "Do you understand what I'm saying? At all? Does any of this make any sense? Just tell me, just say yes."

Chell jumped.

"Okay, what you're doing there is jumping, you just jumped. But never mind. Say 'apple'. 'Apple.'

Chell jumped again. An alarm went off somewhere in the facility. The core looked up.

"Okay that's close enough. Just... hold tight." He disappeared back into the hatch. Another prerecorded message began to play.

"All reactor core safeguards are now nonfunctional. Please prepare for reactor core meltdown."

"Okay, look. I wasn't going to mention this to you," the core began as the wall of the room began to crumble, "but I'm in pretty hot water here." The room shuddered again, and the wall began to break apart. "How you doing down there? You still holding on?" The room began to rise up. "The reserve power ran out, so of course the whole relaxation center stops waking up the bloody test subjects!" Two of the walls had now crumbled. Out the window, Chell could see dozens of relaxation pods, all stacked on top of one another like crates. "Hold on, this is a bit tricky!" the core called down. He was somehow piloting the room around like a spaceship. "And of course, nobody tells me anything, nooo. Why should they tell me anything? Why should I  be kept informed? You know, about the life-functions of the ten thousand bloody test subjects I'm supposed to be in charge of!"

The pod lurched forward, towards a narrow gap between two stacks of relaxation pods.

"Am I close?" the core asked. "Am I going to make it through?" A tremor knocked Chell to the floor. "Just gotta get through here..." The pod slammed into one of the piles. "I just have to concentrate!" the core shouted as the pod began to rise upward again. The core went back to his rant. "And whose fault do you think it's gonna be when Management comes down here and finds ten thousand flippin' vegetables?" The pod slammed sideways into another stack. "Oh! Okay. I hit that one, I hit that one." As the pod began to creak, the core kept talking. "Okay, look, we should get our stories straight. If anyone asks—and no one's gonna ask, don't worry—If anyone asks, tell them as far as you know, the last time you checked, everyone looked... pretty much alive."

The pod lurched from side to side, and eventually evened out. "Okay, almost there," the core informed. Looking forward, Chell could see they were headed straight for a wall. "On the other side of that wall is one of the old testing tracks," the core shouted. "There's a piece of equipment in there that we're gonna need to get out of here. I-I think this is a docking station," the core announced as they approached. Printed on the wall were the words "Docking Station 001-04: 500 feet down."

"Get ready..." the core warned as he leaned the pod back. Chell was thrown back into the wall as the room swung forward and slammed itself into the wall. "Good news! That is not a docking station. So there's one mystery solved." He paused, thinking. "Um, I'm going to attempt a manual override on this wall," he yelled as he moved the room backward. "Could get a bit technical. Hold on!" The room lurched forward again, and slammed into the wall. "Almost there!" he yelled down. "Remember! You're looking for a gun that makes holes. Not bullet holes, but—don't worry, you'll figure it out!" The pod swung forward one last time. "But no, seriously do hold on this time." The room crashed through the wall and Chell toppled over onto her head. Dust and debris settled as the room stopped moving. The core popped out of the hatch.

"There we go." He looked down. "Now, I'll be honest. You are probably in no fit state to run this particular type of gauntlet. But, um... at least you're a good jumper. So, you've got that. You've got jumping on your side. So, just do your best, and I'll meet you up ahead!" Chell began edging her way down through the overgrown construction. "That's the spirit!" the core called after her.

CHAPTER IN PROGRESS