Subject 3281; Chell's Story

The Waiting Room

Subject 3281's mouth turned down a bit, and her eyebrows furrowed slightly. The door was not opening.

She and her partner had finished what she had suspected to be the last of their training courses (#10), and they were now both standing on their color-coordinated Recognition Plates as the voice from above had instructed, but nothing was happening. The door remained closed. Subject 3279 looked to his partner in confusion.

"Should we—"

She held up a hand before he could finish. They had not been instructed to do anything but wait, and that was all that the situation seemed to require so far.

Her companion let out a sort of snort, and Subject 3281 suspected that he didn't care in the least if moving would be in opposition to the wishes of the voice above. The crease in her brow grew more pronounced, though they both continued to wait, standing at attention.

After about half a minute, there was an almost inaudible burst of static, which told the listeners in the room that the voice was about to speak. "We are experiencing... technical difficulties," said the voice, and there was a slight edge in the speaker's tone. "We apologize for the inconvenience. Feel free to rest within the length of time it takes to get the situation... sorted out."

Subject 3281 nodded once, stepped off her platform, and sat down against the wall next to the door leading to the previous chamber. Her partner however, seemed to have no want of being nearer to his former test chamber—or testing partner, for that matter—than was necessary, and settled himself down against the wall to her left.

The two sat in silence for a little while. Subject 3281 concentrated on taking even, measured breaths, and fixed her gaze upon the camera above the door. Her companion set to the task of tightening his Longfall boots. After the boots had been sufficiently tightened, the boy took to walking around the sealed room. He paced one way, and then the other. He shot the walls with his portal gun, presumably to better his aim. His companion watched him in silence from her place on the floor.

After about three minutes, Subject 3279 turned to his companion and said, "How long do you think they'll keep us in here?" Subject 3281 gave a slight shrug, and directed her gaze elsewhere. Her partner walked up to her, and waved a hand across her field of vision. "Hey, you! Yeah you, the only other person in the room; I'm talking to you. If we're going to be partners in this place, you've got to start talking to me."

Subject 3281's mouth tightened in her own poor imitation of a smile. "Speaking is not necessary to the test."

"What?" Her partner asked, in a tone that made it clear that he had not actually expected to be answered, much less in such a straightforward and unfavorable way.

"Speaking," she repeated, "is not usually necessary to the test at hand, so I don't usually speak."

The boy looked even more perplexed than before, and shook his head slightly as he turned away. Her partner resumed his pacing. She didn't care. His feelings didn't matter, neither of theirs did. The only thing that mattered down here was survival. It was a pity that no-one but her seemed to realize that—though even she had to be reminded of it sometimes.

After another two minutes of silence, Subject 3281 felt the floor shake, and her companion stopped his pacing and looked at her with what appeared to be real worry in his eyes. She got to her feet, and braced herself against the wall. What was happening? Was something wrong? Was this part of the test?

Before her questions could be answered however, a loud screeching noise came from behind all four of the walls, and she jumped to the middle of the floor to stand back-to-back with her partner. As soon as she felt his back against her own however, it was instantly taken from it, as the boy drew away and looked at her with confusion. She let out an exasperated little huff of air, marveling at his complete ignorance in the field of basic defense tactics.

She barely had time to grit her teeth at her partner's lack of understanding in such matters, when the room shook again, much more violently this time. Subject 3279 took a step back, and the girl felt his back press against her's once more. The pressure in the room seemed to be shifting, as the screeching noise could be heard once more, and the room started to vibrate again, though not as loudly, nor as violently as before.

"Thank you for your co-operation," said the voice in the ceiling. Subject 3281 relaxed a bit, though she didn't leave the field of protection her partner afforded her. "Our... technical issue has been dealt with," it went on, "and your room is descending into the next phase of training." So they were going down. That would explain the apparent change of pressure in the room, as well as the horrible sound surrounding them.

Subject 3281 relaxed further, dropped her gun-arm to her side, and leaned against her wall as if nothing had happened. Her partner followed suit, and the two waited in silence for the room to reach its destination. The new wave of training. So we aren't testing yet.

To her slight surprise, Subject 3281 felt a tinge of satisfaction. When she had examined all of the probable causes of this unneeded emotion, she decided that this unprecedented feeling must have arisen from the fact that she and her partner were nowhere near ready to co-operate in peace. She would have had no trouble holding her tongue and testing in silence, but he seemed to believe that communication of the verbal kind was a necessity.

She let out one of her nearly-inaudible snorts. That fact needed to be changed. Subject 3279 would be her partner—Aperture had declared it to be so—but Subject 3279 could choose how strained their testing environment would be. She didn't really care what he did, as long as it wouldn't hinder her work. If her partner could only adopt that mindset, then the two could work together in peace.

Subject 3281 sighed, though this sound too, was almost inaudible. If only it were that simple.

The two of them continued downwards in silence for another few minutes, she leaning up against the wall with closed eyes, and he most likely doing something similar, though it didn't really matter what. He wasn't talking to her, and that was a definite improvement. Contrary to what she had previously been led to believe—based mostly on his continued existence, to be honest—the boy seemed to have a habit of blatantly disregarding instructions, and that was a dangerous thing to have down here.

At last, the walls ceased their squealing, and the room shuddered to a stop. Subject 3281 opened her eyes, and blinked several times so as to get an unobstructed view of her surroundings. Her partner was on his feet, and bouncing slightly. He looked eager to be off, as was his companion.

She stood, and gave her companion a slight nod, as he had turned to her with an inquisitive glance. He returned the gesture, and the two got a good grip on their portal devices.

"Both Subjects please step onto the plates and face the camera," said the voice from above. The orders were readily complied with, and the two waited for the door to—hopefully—open.

This time, the door complied with the wishes of the two trapped within, and Subject 3281 could hear the hiss of the door beginning to open.

Subject 3281 got a good grip on the gun in her hand, and wondered for a brief moment what might lie behind that door. Turrets? Faithplates? Gels? Another round of partitioned rooms?

As the door slid open however, she could instantly perceive that the training course ahead held none of these things. Her eyebrows rose in astonishment, and she almost dropped her portal gun as she beheld the chamber before them. Subject 3281 had thought that almost nothing could astonish her like this, but here she had been proven wrong, for she had never once suspected that there was any room in the Facility like this.

The two stepped out onto the white, unblemished floor of their new testing track, and looked around them. The room was small, barely larger than the one they had just left, though with a much higher ceiling. All of the walls—except the far one, which appeared to hold a giant screen—seemed like good portal surfaces, and there was a camera in the corner of the room.

The strange thing about this chamber, the thing that had both subjects baffled, was the complete lack of equipment, or... anything for that matter. For, besides the camera on the wall, the only thing that appeared to be in the chamber were the two test subjects themselves.

Subject 3281 blinked, narrowed her eyes, and assumed a good ready-stance. She didn't like the feel of this suspiciously empty room.