Subject 3281; Chell's Story

Subject 3281

Test.

If there was anything that Subject 3281 had learned from her time at the Facility, it had to be this; Test, and you live, Protest, and you die. She had seen many go the second way, playing the part of the noble hero. It hadn't worked out for them. The thing that had made Subject 3281 different from the rest was that she had tested. She hadn't cared to bite the hand that fed her, nor to play the part of the valiant rebel; who must inevitably end up dead.

As a standard procedure, all test subjects had gotten their memories erased, and Subject 3281 had seemed to be the only one who hadn't been dead-set on getting her's back. There had been no point in seeking the past, in her opinion. You couldn't go back. You couldn't re-live your life. You could only survive; and the thing Subject 3281 saw to be the way to survival in Aperture Laboratories was obedience, and obedience meant testing, no matter how harsh or grueling it was.

Subject 3281 had not been blind to the fact that her peers at the Facility found her a bit unnerving, though it was hard for her to see why. Testing was how one survived. No emotion was necessary—nor indeed warranted—and so she had advertised none. No privacy was necessary, and so she had displayed no scruples about doing whatever was needed in full view of the cameras that had monitored her every move. No fear for the future was necessary, and so she had relied on those monitoring her to provide what she needed for basic survival.

Test. That was what she did, day after day, after day, after day; and she had displayed nothing. Subject 3281 was the very model of a good test subject, because she displayed nothing. She had understood that she was only alive because the scientists who oversaw her work wished her to be, and if they wanted her dead, then she would die. That was just how the world had worked down there.

When she wasn't testing, Subject 3281 lived in a sterile room with other female, young teenaged test subjects. Subjects 3282, 3280, and 3283. They had all known their respective names. They had all referred to each other by their respective names. Subject 3281 however, had preferred their numbers. A number could be analyzed. A number could be worked with. A number could be terminated without feeling if need be. Subject 3281 liked numbers.

She was an interesting specimen for examination, with an average height for a young woman of about 15 years of age, large dark eyes and dark hair, a serious expression, and a form that fit her orange Aperture jumpsuit so well, it seemed as if she had been made to wear it.

Subject 3281 had been tested with portals, gel, and various body modifications that had all been removed after their respective results. All except for one, of course. The one that enabled her to go through life without a monthly overflow of emotion, and the one that had been done to all female test subjects after their mind-wipe. And though some of her peers mourned the loss of such a key part of them, Subject 3281 had not remembered it, nor mourned it and the regular pain it had been reported to give.

Yes, Subject 3281 had been the "Model Test Subject". Until something big happened. Something with the power to turn her whole world upside-down. A young man of about 16 years of age was introduced to Subject 3281 as her partner in the newly established "Aperture Science Co-operative Testing Initiative". It had been a well known fact to Subject 3281 that in the clean room across from the girl's chambers was where the two teenaged male subjects had resided. Subject 3279, and Subject 3265.

Subject 3265 had been rowdy and hard to test with. He had been a protester. The other had been a quieter boy—a few years older than his irksome counterpart—and had been easier (or so she assumed) to test with. The unruly boy had been terminated, Subject 3281 knew that for sure.

It didn't pay to have a conscience around here, and Subject 3281 hadn't believe in doing anything other than what payed, and payed well. And that was to test.