Corruption

Part 4 - Illness

Chell opened her eyes once more and sighed. 'F*** ' she thought. She was back on a testing track... Chell looked around for a clue as to how to escape. All she found was her portal gun which she scrambled over to. She felt the familiar weight and heard a small whirring as the mechanisms started up. She stood up, ready to take on Wheatley and get out of here. She grimaced and walked up the stairs, boots clanking against the iron steps. She passed through the door and tried to figure out which track she was on. "There you are". Chell dived for cover as a round of bullets embedded themselves in the wall where she had been moments ago. Turrets. Of course. She stood still and listened. Nothing. She spotted a cube by the door and had an idea. She picked up the cube and threw it into the side chamber. Six identical voices cried out in alarm as the circle was toppled.

Confused, she looked round the corner and mentally face palmed. Wheatley had placed turrets in a small circle. She picked up the crude and finished the test. She looked back at the turret pile and saw something underneath it. She used her gun to move the turrets and found a square hole just big enough to fit in. It was obviously a trap but she decided to play along. She jumped in, trying not to throw up. Unknown fact about Chell, she was very motion sick. All those momentum tests made her feel terrible. Chell looked down and saw the ground coming up to meet her very quickly. She braced and let the boots take the impact. It still sent a jarring shudder through her legs. She looked around and gathered her bearings. The fall had taken her to yet another test. She groaned inwardly and continued. The tests were based around momentum and physics. She was about to continue when she noticed how hot the room had become. She shrugged it off and continued.

Chell shook her head as the room slowly began to spin. She was in perfect health, she did not get ill. As cold sweat beaded across her forehead whilst she flew across the chamber using physics to her advantage. Wheatley saw her discomfort. A small part of him he didn't recognise wanted to ignore it and keep testing. The voice got louder and more prominent until Wheatley couldn't bear it. He set up another test. It was meant to be gentle but ended up being a death trap. He hadn't meant to make it so hard. As Chell entered the chamber, she looked at the nearest camera with the coldest "Are you mocking me?" stare imaginable... And promptly passed out on the floor.

After sorting out Chell with some (confusing) medicine,Wheatley busied himself by reading some complicated books ( do not know what the fuss was about. Understood it just perfectly). As he finished Machiavelli (whilst holding it upside down), Chell stirred from her fever-induced sleep. Over the course of a few days, Chell reluctantly let Wheatley take care of her. In the android's subconscience, a battle of code was raging. Red, as Wheatley had dubbed it, was suggesting that he should kick her out of bed and make her test. His mental power was limited, but he managed. He kept the corrupted code out. It was a bit like Jekyll and Hyde, but in a supercomputer capable of gassing a couple thousand people in one go. So you can see the problem.