Subject 3281; Chell's Story

Training With Portals

Subject 3281 let out a sharp breath of air, and her face hardened. Her partner had been at this long enough, and her annoyance with him was starting to show.

The duo had been through all five of the training courses that did not require the ASHPD, but their guns were necessary for this one. She had seen the solution, and the timing needed, and knew that, to complete the test, her companion would have to make the initial move, but her partner seemed intent on letting her lead the way.

Subject 3281 walked over to the glass that separated them, and made a slight but definite jerk of her head. Her companion acknowledged the gesture, and came up to meet her, his gun clasped in his long-fingered hands.

Subject 3281 looked him straight in the eye, and lifted her left hand—the one that wasn't firmly inserted in her portal device—and pointed to her partner's gun, and then to the Thermal Discouragement Beam emitter on the wall of her chamber, which shot its beam through the glass, and onto a portal surface a few paces to the right of him.

His eyebrow twitched, and so Subject 3281 elaborated, pointing again to him, and then held up a single finger. Understanding seemed to dawn on his face, as he turned away from her, and fired his violet portal onto the wall across from Subject 3281's Thermal Discouragement Beam receiver, and placed his light blue portal on the wall across from the beam emitter. The beam hit the receiver through the glass, and Subject 3281's door opened at the far end of the room.

She started for it at a brisk walk, stepped through the emancipation grill, and pushed a finger-activated button in the room she had come into, which was identical to the one in the beginning, minus the button, of course.

The door that she had come from slid shut, just as Subject 3279's slid open. The boy stepped through the newly opened circular passage, gave his partner a small nod, and the two moved to their platforms. He had tried to speak with her at this point in most of the previous courses, but she had stayed silent, and he seemed to have taken the hint.

The camera above the exit door swiveled their way, and the two waited in silence as it identified them. When the camera had finished its work, the door below it opened, and the partners walked through to the next chamber. The room was the same build as all of the other ones the two had faced. A long corridor, dotted periodically with splashes of white, portal-ready panel, a glass partition, and a voice welcoming them into their new chamber—#7–and reminding them that they were making a valuable contribution to science.

Subject 3281 felt her feet carry her down the right-hand side, following the directions of the yellow line, the metal heels of her boots clunking against the Facility's concrete floor. Her companion moved to his side, and the two examined their surroundings.

On her side was a Weighted Storage Cube dispenser in front of a wall of portal surfaces, a floor button that seemed to activate her companion's door, and, of course, a circular exit door.

Her partner's side however, was much more complicated. He had a scattered amount of portal surfaces on his walls, a raised platform which had a portal surface behind it, a Cube activated floor button, a Thermal Discouragement Beam emitter that looked to be at an angle, and was currently inactive—though seemed to be powered by his floor button—and a Thermal Discouragement Beam receiver about five feet from his exit door.

Subject 3281 tried to concentrate. In what order would this have to be done? After a few seconds she came to a conclusion. The Thermal Discouragement Beam needed to be received first. Her partner had raised his gun, and was aiming somewhere near him on the wall.

She knocked on the glass to get the boy's attention, and, once he had looked away from the area he had been about to shoot, she motioned to the Thermal Discouragement Beam emitter on his left. He gave her a strange look, nodded, and pointed to his head. Subject 3281 realized that the solution had been known to him as well. Her lips tightened in amusement. So he could Test.

Subject 3279 jogged over to a portal-ready wall, popped his violet portal in front of him, and shot his light blue one behind the platform holding his Weighted Storage Cube. He stepped through, secured the Cube in his gun's energy beam, and jumped to the floor, his boots absorbing the impact of his fall. He placed his cube on the floor button, and the Thermal Discouragement Beam emitter flared to life, shining through the glass partition, and nearly hitting Subject 3281 in the face. Luckily for her, the beam was at an angle like the emitter, and only the wisps of hair that had escaped her tight ponytail were singed.

She blinked at the Thermal Discouragement Beam, and stepped away, looking back at the Aperture tech that had created the beam. An angle. This was an unexpected twist. She had forgotten about the angle. Subject 3281 shot her darker portal on the wall behind the beam, and the other in line with the receiver. The beam sizzled through the air, and hit the wall a few feet away from the intended target. She nodded. An angle.

She looked to the wall a few feet before her current lighter colored portal, and let out a grunt that was barely audible. White panel. She re-shot her lighter portal on the wall that she had examined, and wished that she could hear the satisfying whir of the receiver as it powered up. She could see it though, and the sight also brought with it a feeling of satisfaction, though this one not as large.

There was a clunk behind her, and Subject 3281 spun around, brandishing her gun as she did so. The Weighted Storage Cube had been dispensed. She relaxed slightly, jogged over to the fallen object, and watched as it rose from the ground, as her gun's energy beam took hold of it. She then jogged to the middle of her chamber, deposited her Cube on the button, and observed her partner's door. It slid open, and the boy exited his chamber.

A few seconds later, the door to Subject 3281's chamber opened, and his was sealed once more. She set off for the door, felt her gun quake, and heard her portals disappear as she stepped through the emancipation grill, and headed into the small familiar room. Her companion was standing by a finger-activated button, and he joined her just as a voice from above said, "Both Subjects please step onto the Aperture Science Co-operative Testing Recognition Plates and face the camera."

The two complied, and waited for the door to open. It did in due course, and, upon the voice telling them to enter the next chamber, stepped off of their platforms, and entered the next room. If the number of the last set of chambers was anything to go by, there would be two more training courses to go before the real work began.

The turrets. The energy pellets. The faithplates. The gel. The tremendous rush of energy. Subject 3281's mouth tightened as it had when her partner had proved his worth. It was, after all, only reason for their continued existence, no matter how hard it seemed, or how badly it could hurt.

The Testing.