Subject 3281; Chell's Story

End of the Day

She felt her fingers move with a quickness that could only have come from months of hard work and practice, as her parter started for the left wall. An unearthly sound could be heard all throughout the chamber, as she fired her lighter portal in front of her partner, who had taken her advice and had run—or rather, jogged—at the left wall as the test had required.

Subject 3281 watched as her partner jumped through the orange-yellow ring of swirling light she had opened, and landed on the ground with a muffled thunk. She let out a satisfied huff of air.

She realized that she probably wouldn't have been able to make the shot on her first try if her partner hadn't been moving at a much slower pace than she had been expecting, and for that she put aside her rueful feelings towards him, and settled on regarding him impartially as her—temporary—partner; Subject 3279, and not the human being who was currently making her life harder than it needed to be. After all, numbers could be dealt with much better than emotion-riddled humans.

"Well," said the boy, picking himself up from the ground, "you were right, partner." He held his right hand out to her. "Truce?" Subject 3281 blinked at him, and he seemed to realize the portal device clasped in her right hand for the first time. His eyes widened. "Oh, right." He extended his left hand instead, and his partner considered her next move. What were the implications of such an arrangement? Was this a harmless gesture used solely to satisfy his conscience, or would she be bound to a sort of "peace treaty" if she accepted his hand?

The boy noticed her hesitation, and an emotion she did not recognize passed across his face. He let out a sort of snort, dropped his hand, and walked towards the left wall saying, "I don't know what I expected to happen, really. Right. You ready with the portals?" Subject 3281 nodded, and traced his probable trajectory as she had twice before, aiming at the right wall. "On three," he said. "One. Two," Subject 3281 took a small breath, and prepared her middle and index fingers for the shooting they would be doing.

"Three." The boy started for the wall at a pace that couldn't be called jogging, but was still a bit slow for a run. Subject 3281's mouth tightened. This could be done. When her partner was about four feet from the wall, her instincts again took over as she fired with her middle finger, turned sharply to the left wall, saw her partner in mid air, and shot a portal at his feet. The portal proved to be an inch or two to his left, and one of his boots clipped the edge, costing valuable momentum as he flew out the portal on the right wall, only to stop three quarters of the way to the portal on the floor.

Subject 3281 felt a slight frown crease her brow.

"Both subjects are required to repeat the failed exercise," said the human voice from above, as her partner picked himself up off the ground, and moved to put his back against the left wall without comment. Subject 3281 let out an inaudible huff, and reset her portals, placing the dark orange-reddish one high on the left wall, and her lighter one lower on the same wall.

"On three," her partner said, stepping away from the wall so as to get a better starting position. "One," Subject 3281 took a breath, and did her habitual trajectory-tracing, and self examination. "Two," she looked to her partner briefly, and saw determination etched deep into the lines of his tensed face. "Three." The two repeated the cycle of portals as before, and Subject 3281 was satisfied to see that she had shot all of her portals correctly this time.

As her partner picked himself up and off the ground, she headed back over to the screen on the far wall. Her partner joined her momentarily, and the two stood waiting for further instructions.

"Good," Subject 3281 felt her lips tighten at the familiar word from this familiar voice. "You are doing—very—well. Blue, please retrieve your Aperture Science Handheld Portal Device. Orange, please place your Aperture Science Handheld Portal Device on the floor." The two complied, and the voice spoke again. "Repeat assigned exercises."