After some time, Kyle and I were on test chamber 16. We were surviving off of canned beans and water, which were not provided by GLaDOS but the former test subjects who left their food in random corners. In those corners were a lot of drawing and writing: tally marks, drawings of turrets, and most peculiar, a drawing of a cake with the words "The Cake is a Lie!"
The tally marks might have been how long the test subject had been here, the turrets looked like thin robots on tripods, and... the last, I wasn't sure.
Handing a can of beans to Kyle, I sighed. "How long have we been here?"
"Not sure. It's not like we can advance to the next chamber, since we can't figure it out."
"Plus our food supply is shrinking," I said glumly. "Are we going to die here?"
"Who knows?"
How disappointing. Kyle's lightheartedness had reduced to desperation.
Suddenly, a turret's faint cry was heard in the distance. As we sat up, alarmed, the turret fell from a high ledge, shot in random directions, and ceased to move. "Critical error," it murmured, and the robot's light turned off.
"You can kill those things?" Kyle asked. "And who was that?"
"Dunno," I responded breathlessly. "Has to be an experienced subject."
"Shh," he whispered suddenly. "I heard a portal gun."
"Huh?"
The squelching noise of a portal being made was definitely behind us.
*****
Kyle clamped his hand over my mouth as I stared in the direction of the portal. A tall girl emerged from it, wearing jeans and a t-shirt labeled "The cake is a lie!"
"Who are you?" I demanded, taking Kyle's hand off my mouth. "What's with this cake thing?"
Holding up her portal gun at us, the girl spoke in a low voice. "Let's just say that portal material isn't friendly with people."
GLaDOS's voice rang beside us. "Not mute are you, Chell?" she crooned. Then her voice turned stern, like an angry parent. "I told you never to come back." As demeaning as her tone was, it seemed to be filled with pain.
Chell didn't answer. "I see you couldn't quench your thirst for testing with measly robots," she answered in a measured voice. It was pretty low for a girl, and it definitely didn't match her perfect appearance.
"Atlas and P-Body kept coming apart. And after what happened with Wheatley, I'm not in the mood to deal with robots anymore."
"You're one yourself!" she shot back.
"You mean artificial intelligence!"
"Whatever." Chell turned away, flicking her black ponytail to the side. Then she smiled at Kyle, who turned bright red.
It had been minutes before I realized that my hands were balled into fists.
~~~That's it for now, lovelies! Please vote, comment and share! Be sure to follow me on Instagram @calishoujo . Thanks oh so much! Callie, signing off.~~~
