Change the Subject

Chapter 2

The room was, once again, filled with smoke, hot air and the smell of metal, burnt rubber and meat. It seemed to have shakened when another glass container fell into the fire and broke into thousand shards, leaving only its metalic parts and wires in full pieces, hissing when the water on them got in touch with the heat inside the room. Slight, quiet sounds, that came from under them, which someone could even describe as gasps for air, got quickly lost in the sounds of the fire devouring everything. The smell of meat got a little stronger. 

Aaron, a core with red stripe going over his yellow eye in a shape of a sunflower with orange petals, looked away as he was passing by on his management rail. He hated this place, like almost every robot of Aperture Science. Anyone could end up on the bottom of something similar, the Aperture Science Emergency Intelligence Incinerator for example. 
But he also hated the smell that was coming from here, mostly because there wasn't anything he could do about it. It reminded him of how little he is, how little of good he can actually do, but also how much he'd suffer if he actually tried to do something. 

He tried his best to ignore the sounds that reminded him of all this and went straight to the storage room. He needed to pick up a few things to repair one of the solar panels he was in charge of, and didn't want to bother Virgil or some other maintenance core with it. 

It was when he was returning back when he really started to feel bad. It almost felt like his concience and the reality itself were taunting him, with a sound that could mean someone was actually awake in one of those containers, as he was sliding past the scanner. 

'There is no way, absolutely no way someone could wake up,' he thought to himself, forcing himself to keep going. 'She's careful. She wouldn't allow any one of them to wake up, She KNOWS how it could end up...' 

But then he heard it again. A quiet, practically insignificant bang. It almost sounded like a bang on a glass.

Aaron stopped, but kept his eye off the scanner. He didn't want to risk anything. His life, mostly. Or maybe he just didn't want to be responsible for whatever could happen if he looked in the direction of that sound.
'No, no...' he shook his eye, trying to stay rational, even though something was telling him things are different than what he's trying to make himself believe. Humans would say it's their "gut", but since he didn't have those, he couldn't name this feeling or tell where it was coming from. 
'Those are just rats. There's plenty of them around this area. There's no possible way someone could-'

The sound was repeated. Again. And again. And then again, but way stronger then before. This time, it was followed by the sound of bubbles. The sound of air escaping someone's lungs as they're trying to scream from under the water. 

Aaron closed his eye, cursing both his curiostiy and his concience, before looking at the scanner. The feeling in his gears was right. 

One of the test subjects was, for some reason, awake. A young woman with shorter dark hair. She kept on banging her hands on the glass of her container, as she sometimes choked on the tube that was going into her lungs. Once she saw Aaron and noticed he was looking at her, she began hitting the glass even more while giving him pleading, desperate looks. The scanner was still running. 

'What am I gonna do?! She's not supposed to be awake! Is she the only one?!' 

He looked around, feeling the fear and anxiety levels increase. The test subjects in line were still unconcious. She was the only one awake.
And she was panicking and helplessly hitting the container. 

'I should probably tell someone about this...isn't there a core that's supposed to watch over the test subjects and their files getting scanned? Where are they?!' he thought to himself, while looking around for something, anything that could get him out of this. 
He didn't want to be involved in this. He normally wouldn't even be here! It was an accident! Someone else should take the responsibility for this, not him! Especially since he hates making any kinds of decisions, let alone this kind! 

But nobody else was there. Who knows where the core was? On a break, maybe? Was there even anyone watching over this when GLaDOS was focusing on her testing?

Aaron looked at the test subject again, unsure what to do. She was still awake and aware of him. He slided a little bit closer to her on the management rail. 

'Maybe she'll get chosen for the first or second category,' he realized. 'Yeah! And once that happens, she'll go into that memory erasing thing, which will put her back to sleep for sure. She won't even remember she's seen me! It'll be like nothing ever happened!'

Still, he chose to stay and watch the scanner finish. He also felt like the least he can do is to make sure this subject doesn't feel alone, at least for now before she gets her memory erased.
The colour on the display was just starting to appear. It seemed to be the orange one. 

'Category 2 then...'
He looked at her and scanned her.
'Can't say I'm surprised. You don't look very sporty or eager for testing. Probably won't survive that long, either...' 

He sighed, knowing he can't do anything to help or prevent that. She gave him another desperate look. He tried his best to put on a cheerful expression so he could calm her down a bit. It didn't work, he had to try something else.
"Hey, hey..." he began talking, not knowing if she could hear him. "...it's gonna be okay, you're gonna be okay. This scanner won't hurt you, don't worry! Just calm down and-" 

The scanner finished and made a loud, deep beep. Aaron froze on place. 
The display was red and had a big number 3 on it. The test subject redemption line started moving again, as this woman's container was placed on the left track, heading to the incinerator.

'She's not going to test,' he realized. 'She's going into the fire. She'll be burnt alive...' 

He gave her a sad, partly frightened glance, as he followed her. He felt terrible.
She looked back at him, placing her hands on the glass near his height level, seeming confused, partly angry, but mostly scared. Her eyes begged for help, or at least explanation. 

'...and she'll be awake while burning.'