A triumph of science

A step forward

"Come on, Steve! I want to go and see the presentation!"
"Just cool it ok! I just have to save this to my hard drive then I can come to your stupid presentation thing. There, ok now we can go"
It was then I realised that I was talking to an empty lab, I turn around to look at the door and it was just swinging back into place, the distant thumping of feet on the blue and white tiled floor in the distance. I shut down my computer to reluctantly follow him down the hallway. Since I am the last one in the lab I have to shut down the lights, before I leave I look back and stare across the room for no reason in particular. My lab is the smallest of labs you can get, three rows of tables then a row of glass cubicles. As i come back to reality I switch of the lights and start running down the hallway after my friend.
Hallway after hallway, catwalk after catwalk I finally find Blake.
"You took your time" Blake says in an almost sarcastic tone, I hate it when he does that.
"I was just thinking about something, where even is this presentation this time? Oh I know it is that old storage room and the only way you can get to it is by going down approximately 220 steps or is it the one that shares a wall with the furnace? Johnny was sweating a waterfall when he got into that room, I guess that it was because he was stationed in the cryogenics lab that month and his body was not ready for the extreme temperature difference." I say as we walk across a catwalk dangling over a 500m drop, each steep making a creaking sound as the rusted metal was holding our weight.
"Well you are going to be happy" Blake says with a chipper tone and a big grin over his face, like he was suddenly able to make someone smile for the first time. "The presentation is in the central chamber. This is it, this is the one and only final product. After 4 years of hard work we finally finished it"
I was not surprised, and I am happy as well that Blake can stop working on that machine and get onto something more useful.
"The boys down in the lab had finished the morality core this morning and where able to run it through the some test, they said that it looked very promising, with only a 25% chance that it will reach the point of singularity and become hostile."
Those statistics did not sound very promising and now I wishes that I could leave and catch the next train to the surface. As they kept walking Blake looked at his wrist watch
"Crap, I am running late. If we want to make it in time we would have to run"
At that moment I was just thinking no shit Sherlock, if you want to get somewhere you are going to have to run but before I could finish that thought Blake was off and running, determined to get there, his lab coat swishing behind his back. With no other choice I ran after him, ignoring all the groans coming from the worn out catwalk underneath my. feet

I finally get to entrance to the central chamber. Problem is, I am not aloud to go in
"Sorry mate, been given specific orders to not let ANYONE in who is not part of the engineering staff, and one look at your badge and it clearly states that you are part of the physics and chemistry department" says the stern looking security guard
"But I need to get in" I pled, trying to peek a look past his muscly arms down the corridor and past an emancipation grid. Trying to see if I can find Blake anywhere, no luck.
"Look mate, if you are that despite to get in there, you can always just head up to the observation deck"
He pointed down the corridor at the elevator.
"Take the lift up 2 floors to the catwalk, then walk over the the door straight in front of you"
I look into his eyes for a second and thought about it, realising that no mightier how hard I tried, he will still still not budge. So I take the elevator.
The enteral chamber is really what it says on the package, a tall circular chamber that reaches up as far as the eye can see. With only one corridor in and out. The observation deck was attached to the side of the chamber with only a glass pain separating it from the chamber, it was empty with a small plastic chair and two wall mounted computer screens with flowing orange text going from bottom to top in a matter of seconds.
There where hundreds of people running around down on the chamber floor, each doing there own task. There was a big mass of wires and metalin the centre of the room. People glancing up at it every now and again.He decided to sit down on the little plastic chair and watch them go by. Couple hours later they all stopped and returned to the chamber annex, all squished together like chickens in a farmhouse. There where multiple TV screens mounted on the walls of the chamber which at that moment flicked to life with a countdown clock on it, counting down from 10 seconds
5...4...3...2...1... Silence, nothing happened for a couple of seconds then the lights went out. Leaving everyone in the dark. Then without warning the lights came back on and the mass of wires in the middle started swaying pack and forward, the lights on its body lighting up. Then without any sign it started talking
"Hello, and again. Welcome to the Aperture Science Computer Aided Enrichment Centre. Booting up main system core. Success. Waiting for system administrator to give responsibilities and passwords. Awaiting response."
It's voice sounded so calm, so hypnotic. Everyone in the room was clapping and hugging each other. After 4 years of work they finally reached there goal. To create a artificial super intelligence.
Then the people in the intercom room must have been watching from the cameras because they where saying that there would be a party in the break room and that there will be cake.

"Are you not coming?" Blake says in a shocked expression, not able to calculate the reason why his friend did not feel up to eating a cake.
"Have better stuff to do" I say to him, looking him right in the eye "there will more than likely be a security guard waiting outside saying that I have to watch you guys eat cake from an observation deck. Besides I have a business meeting to go to in the auditorium. We are talking about different proposals to the government and why they should give us more funding then Black Mesa." I say, saying the last two words louder than the others. Black Mesa where neck and neck with us for funding for the portal project. The only good thing that this AI has helped us with is that it is just another example why we are a better company.
Blake just stares at me, he does that sometimes trying to make me change my mind, to rethink my choice. But I will not fall for his tricks by doing the one thing possible, saying a swift good bye and running off down the hallway and around the corner.