Portal: A Novel (Portal/Portal2 fanfiction)

Chapter 1: We Shall Test

Chell's eyes snapped open. As she blinked sleep from her eyes, she realized that she was in a cryo pod. She looked around to discover a relaxation vault. The memories came flooding back. Chell always hated the disorientation of waking up from cryo-sleep. She hoped she was never put in extended relaxation. It took some people hours to remember everything after waking up from that.

Chell had been working for Aperture Science for a long time, ever since she had been discovered during a bring your daughter to work day. She had been given jobs around the Enrichment Center for years, but because of her stubborn personality, had never been used as a test subject. Someone must have finally reasoned that she would be a valuable resource.

As she got up, a robotic voice began to give her instructions. Chell half listened, waiting for the door to open. But no door opened. As soon as the message finished, a blue gateway appeared on the wall. In awe, Chell realized she had been chosen to be a part of the portal project. Ever since she was little, she had dreamed of holding an Aperture Science Handheld Portal Device. She leapt through the gateway, ecstatic. A weighted storage cube fell, and another message droning message played.

Chell set the cube down on a button, and headed to a chamber lock. All right, she thought, let's do this. Once again, the voice started droning on about testing information. Chell sighed and rolled her eyes. She hoped the person doing these messages would perk up.

Whether either of them liked it, they were going to be together for a while.

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The tester stared at the security monitor, feeling a strange mix of boredom and fascination. It was just another test, yet every test was special. The tester had this peculiar feeling to test. It must just be her personality. But lately, her personality had been acting strange.

It started with the mood swings. She had always heard these faint voices in her head, but they were getting more and more persistent. She could be curious, and feeling pretty smart, when suddenly, she would feel like the testing was too inhumane, or there wasn't enough safety measures, or something strangely moralistic. Then she would just start getting angry about everything. And it was all because of those blasted voices!

The tester took a deep breath, and calmed herself. When she tested the voices and strange feeling both stopped. She was testing now. She knew everything would be fine. The test subject was excelling quite satisfyingly. In fact, she had just brilliantly solved another test chamber. She had seen this girl before. That the tester knew. It didn't matter. The tester was doing what she did best: testing. And for now, that was satisfactory.