The day Subject 3281 received the news that she was to have a partner in her testing had started just as every other day did in the Facility.
Subject 3281 opened her eyes, drew away her sheet, and stood up. She made her way from the cot next to that of Subject 3282, over to the small closet in the back marked with her number, and, after removing her outer sleeping apparel, reached for the only item of clothing in the closet. Her jumpsuit.
After securing it over her Aperture tank top and underclothes; Subject 3281 took two steps to the left, and deposited her left arm in a hole in the wall. There was a small buzzing sound, and she gave an involuntary flinch as her schedule was printed on her forearm.
Subject 3281
800: Breakfast
820: Hygienic break
840: Report to TPS
900: Begin new Testing Initiative
2100: Change, hygienic break
2120: Sleep
This type of day was standard, and she was not surprised to see that the head scientists of the Facility had started a new Testing Initiative. There seemed to be a new one every month, and she had grown quite used to them.
She looked to the small white-on-gray clock on the wall, and took note of the time. 7:58.
A slot in the wall opened next to all four closets, and a small, sealed tray clattered out of each. Her roommates began to stir. Subject 3281 cast them disapproving looks. Would they ever be up on time? They were throwing the entire Facility off balance with their tardiness, and she felt it, as she had for the seven months that they had been placed together.
As Subjects 3282, 3280, and 3283 pulled on their jumpsuits, inserted their arms into their respective schedule-printers, and began to eat, Subject 3281 waited. She stood and watched the clock, silent as she waited for the arms to align, and form the proper time allotted for breakfast. She had been told to wait until 800 to eat, so she would stand here and wait until 800.
When the hands of the clock finally signaled 8:00, Subject 3281 picked up her tray, headed back to her cot, sat, and began to eat next to Subject 3282. The other girl noticeably scooted away.
Their breakfast lasted exactly twenty minutes, at which point the four rose from their cots, leaving their trays by the door, and Subject 3280 led the three others out the door, which had opened right on cue. The column walked out into the stark white hallway, and met up with the lone male coming out of the room across from the one they had just left. He gave the young women a terse nod, which was returned by all four of them.
The two lines of young people walked to the end of the hallway together, then branched off in separate directions to relieve themselves, and to wash their faces and hands for what might very well be the only time of the day. Or the rest of their lives, if the tests ahead of them proved insurmountable.
The female subjects filed into a room with walls as white as the rest of the Facility, five small stalls and sinks lined against the wall, and a camera in the upper left corner of the room. As clean and white as the walls were however, the bathroom amenities were nothing of the sort. Three out of the five sinks' drains were clogged with Conversion Gel, two of the five toilets did not flush, and the floors were stained red, orange, blue, a sort of grayish-white, and brown in various places.
As usual, Subject 3281 finished last, attempting to be exactly on time.
At 840, the male and female groups converged, and they headed off to the TPS—or the Testing Preparation Station. The male of the group headed to the left, and the females turned to the right.
Subject 3281 turned to face the screen in her station, and was mildly surprised to see that she was to report elsewhere, accompanied by Subject 3279; the last teenage male test subject their side of the Facility.
Subject 3281 was still more surprised when she walked around to the left hand side of the TPS, and found the boy's station to be empty. She glanced at his screen, and found that the same basic message had been sent to him. So why... Subject 3281 looked at his screen again, this time with more earnest observation.
It read;
Subject 3279 is to accompany Subject 3281 to the third hall on the right from the male portion of the TPS. Subject 3279 is not required to wait for Subject 3281 as it is not vital to this test.
Subject 3281 knit her brow. Had she made a mistake? Was she not to accompany Subject 3279 to their destination or... or is this another test? asked a voice in her head. She relaxed. Yes... yes, this must be another test.
She took a deep breath. She could understand a test. She thought for a moment, then decided to follow the instructions on Subject 3279's screen, and head to the third hall on the right from the male portion of the TPS. She did so, and found that an interesting sight awaited her.
She had entered into a vast room, with portal panels on the ground in various places, multiple numbered doors high against the walls on either side of her with differing ways to portal to them, a big group of screens on the wall behind her, and, at her feet, an ASHPD, or Portal gun, which had two parallel yellow lines running down its sides, and a small but very familiar pair of Longfall boots.
A slight smile pulled at the edges of Subject 3281's mouth, just as she pulled on the strange boots that would allow her to fall for a mile or more without meeting her death. She picked up her new portal device, and ran her fingers down the slight ridges that the yellow strips had created. Time to test.
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Subject 3281; Chell's Story
FanfictionTest. That was what she did, and Subject 3281 did it well. She was the model subject, fit, strong, on time, and most of all... obedient. That's how she was, until one fateful day, when the higher-ups at Aperture Science figured that they could get m...
