Axel Meirvahnwe sat alone in his corner of the lab, curled into a twist of multicolored blankets. The ebony haired youth sat and watched the Doctor fiddle with another new experiment as a group entered the lab from across the room.
The other lab members had returned from their shopping trip and were chatting animatedly as they kicked off shoes at the door.
Axel listened for news, but was disappointed to hear only the discussion of boys, and their fallacies, from them.
From the workbench, Noel gave a triumphant "Yes!" He leapt to his feet, white lab coat flying, and brandished his latest invention in the air.
It was made of a small batman lunchbox ,with a toy pistol stock glued to the bottom and several forks welded to the opposite end. A long power cable snaked over to a wall outlet from it's belly.
"Oh boy, what could it be this time?" Elizabeth, a tall blonde with flat, grey eyes asked.
"My lunchbox!" Kayla cried in dismay. Her golden hair flew as she ran to rescue it from the hands of the mad scientist.
Noel held Kayla's short twelve year old stature at bay with a palm to her forehead. "Behold!" He said, "the P.A.S.P.D!"
While Kayla struggled to break past Noel's guard, Elizabeth sorted food from the bags into the fridge. She hardly looked interested. Axel was curious, though: what could this device do?
"The P.A.S.P.D?" Sarah asked, looking it over. Noel drew the invention close to him like it was his own precious child, probably protecting it from who he thought was a Trey-AM spy.
"The Portable Aperture Science Portal Device."
"I thought we were 'Aperture Laboratories'." Elizabeth said.
"This installation is part of Aperture Laboratories, and Aperture Laboratories is a division of Aperture Science."
Elizabeth shook her head. "Sounds complicated."
"But why my lunchbox!?" Kayla's little face was red and nearing tears as she continued to struggle against Noel. The bells that tied up her twin tails of hair clinked as she looked up at him.
"So what does this one do?" Sarah asked, ignoring Kayla.
Axel's ears perked up. He always loved hearing what sort of wacky gadget the Doctor had cooked up from the bits and bobs around the lab.
He remembered fondly Noel's A.S.S.P.L, the Aperture Science Standard Personnel Locator, which weighed in at twenty three and a half pounds and beeped loudly. He had insisted everyone carry one at all times. That is, until they were all destroyed and the plans mysteriously misplaced.
"I'm guessing it has something to do with the 'portal' part of the name." Elizabeth flopped down on the lab couch, which was a dizzying plaid pattern, and sipped a Heineken. She seemed to try her hardest to still look disinterested.
"Exactly! Allow me to demonstrate." Noel, holding the upset little girl back, took aim at the brick wall of the lab using the forks as pointers, and squeezed the trigger.
There was a quiet, high pitched whine of something spinning inside the lunchbox, and then a loud "CRACK!" as a blotch of orange splattered on the wall.
Sarah frowned. "I'm not cleaning th-"
"Look!" Shouted Noel, catching even Kayla's attention.
The orange blotch swirled quickly in on itself to a point, where it pulsated. After half a breath, it exploded to the shape of an oval outlined in a soft orange glow. The oval's interior was darker than black and seemed endless. Axel watched in fascination as specks of orange drifted from the outer edge of the center in a swirling pattern.
