Corruption

Part 10- More tests

"Bad news is, that test has been postponed indefinitely. Good news is we've got a brand new test for you: fighting an army of mantis men! Pick up a rifle and follow the yellow line. You'll know when the test starts." Chell quickened her step when she heard this. She crossed through the door, down the catwalk and into the lift. She pressed the button and waited. She reached the top and stepped out. She could see another lift, a door and a portal surface. The catwalk had been ripped away, leaving a large gap.

Chell's stomach fell when she realised what she had to do. She put a portal on the angled wall then walked down a level of stairs before putting the other portal on the floor far below. She took a few breaths and jumped. To onlookers, it looked graceful, to Chell, it was sickening. She only opened her eyes when she felt herself land. She took a deep breath and continued. She pushed the door and was greeted with a mess of steel pipes. Chell, still feeling slightly sick, staggered slightly over to the control room and saw a lever that read ' GEL PRESSURE CONTROL ' She flipped the lever and stepped back as she heard the sound of liquid moving through the pipes. A gate had opened behind her. She walked through, put a portal in front of her and the other on a high wall she'd noticed on the way in, and continued. She slid down a pipe to the catwalk below.

"They say great science is built on the shoulders of giants. Not here. At Aperture, we do all our science from scratch. No handholding" The recording shut off. She stood there, confused for a second, then continued to the lift. She came out the lift and onto another walkway with a map at the corner. As she neared the test, another recording blared out "Alright, lets get started. This first test involves something the lab boys call 'repulsion gel'" That must've been the gel she'd seen earlier" You're not part of the control group by the way. You get the gel. Last poor son of a gun got blue paint. Hahaha. All joking aside, that did happen - broke every bone in his legs. Tragic. But informative. Or so I'm told." As Cave rambled ( and Caroline stood by, smiling occasionally, but Chell didn't know that), Chell had solved the test and walked purposefully towards the exit.

A few portals later, Chell was faced with another jump. 'It's like up there but more insane' she mused before jumping down and walking towards the next test "For this next test, we put nanoparticles in the gel. In layman's terms, that's a billion little gizmos that are going to pump experimental genes and RNA molecules and so forth into your tumours." Chell blinked in surprise. "Now, maybe you don't have any tumours" it continued " Well, don't worry. If you sat on a folding chair in the lobby and weren't wearing lead underpants, we took care of that too." Chell just stood there, slightly horrified before continuing.

3 attempts to get the cube, several fractures in her arm and so many jumps later, Chell staggered out the chamber, looking sick and in a lot of pain. She'd ripped off the sleeve of her jacket to make a sort of cast for her limp wrist, which she'd assumed was broken or at least sprained. Either way, it wasn't moving properly and hurt like hell."Oh, in case you got covered in that repulsion gel, here's some advice the lab boys gave me: DO NOT get covered in the repulsion gel. We haven't completely nailed down which element it is yet, but I'll tell you this: it is a lively one and it does NOT like the human skeleton." Chell looked down at the splashes of blue covering her body and groaned inwardly. She limped over to the lift and sat down as it took her one step closer to potential freedom and baked goods.