Aperture Labs

"Welcome to the Aperture Enrichment Center! For future test subjects, food groups and much-needed drinks will be handed out on the daily-this does reduct the pay-if there was pay at all. For everyone else, you need to provide for your own food. We need to keep as much money as we can for these tests-we need to have a move one if we ever are going to get our money back."

"Welcome to the Aperture Science Relaxation Center! Here, test subjects-and sometimes none test subjects-are here to stay and to be "relaxed" before testing. If you are a tester here and you are not relaxed, please content with your surroundings and suck it up. Thank you."

Your eyes flutter open. The warm, silk-like sheets beg you to stay in the comfort in their embrace. Nothing too much out of the ordinary, once someone was in suspension, it was like a long restful sleep you never want to wake up from. It was also like your entire memory was completely replaced with dreams. You felt hazy with over-rest and lack of movement.

"Good morning," Announced a robotic intercom, "You have been in suspension for FIFTY-EIGHT-days."

You heard fifty-eight and immediately the announcer's lines blur together. Come to think of if it was also hard to breathe in the lonesome room. It seems like only the basic preprogrammed things were still working. Those who needed the overseer's support didn't live through. Oxygen wasn't properly-being pumped into the room as it should, but damnit it tried.

"Please look at the ceiling." The voice calmly repeated. You've ignored it for lone enough you didn't even remember why you needed to do this but you need anyway. "Good-"

The voice cut out. Everything got dark. You felt like you were going to die within the few seconds you've been alive. You didn't even get to flesh out the brand new story you where going to create with your life. It was cruel and unforgiving. The door creaked open, revealing bits of yellow light. This immediately drew your attention.

"Hullo?" A small Canadian voice reached out to you through the doorway.

Maybe it was an angel-no one you really knew of but an angel never-the-less. You open your mouth to call back to the angel but you were stunned. No puzzle fit correct, why where you here in the first place? Why did you wake up just to die? Who is this voice?

The lights slightly flickered on. You saw the angel in their full potential. She was round and metallic, with one eye with a cat-like yellow eye. This was not what you'd expect of the afterlife.

"I needed to see what the last care-taker left of this place-everyone said everyone here was dead. You don't seem to be dead, ay? Maybe you are! Maybe you're a not-so-spooky ghost. Did you know ghosts don't eat? More like they cant-" she started to ramble about meaningless things. One word went in one ear and out the other. You shook your head, knowing reality is needing you by its side.

"Who-or what are you?" You softly spoke, still dazed with long rest and confusion.

"Oh! Arm. You can call me Spade-yeah! As in the card! Card games are pretty fun don't you know!" She closed her eye and nodded to herself "I could go for a few rounds of cards myself if I had hands" she stops "I want hands...Oh! And a cat-or maybe a dog. Dogs can be loud though and I just need-"

You cleared your voice to politely get her attention.

"Oh yes! My name is Spade-I'm a core! Built for support and distraction." The core eyed you up and as if a unicorn jumped right out of a TV and stood in front of her. "I haven't seen a human around before-are you sure you arent a ghost-"

"I'm sure..." you politely told her, half not knowing if it was true or not.

"Ah. I'm glad! That would've been a problem ay? Anyways I haven't caught your name yet, may I know what it is?"

"Y/n."

"Ah yes! Y/n! Sometimes I forget that's a real name-or if any names where real..."

You softly smile to try not to seem rude. You let her voice become white noise again while you try to drawback memories of why you were here. You remember something about cake-than food test samples than testing. What kind of testing you didn't know, just the words popped into your mind.

"Was I really asleep for fifty-eight days?" You say abruptly to the core.

"Oh, heavens no-You've been asleep for much longer!"

"What!?"

"Yeah, the timer just got reset couple... a hundred times..."

"How long was I asleep!?"

"Uh well-I don't have a direct answer for that-time is irrelevant anyway! Look at you your fine and seem to have minimal brain damage-I think. I don't really know how I can check for that..."

You stared at the core for a couple of seconds. You felt like a child that has just been told that Santa wasn't real. Everyone you knew was possibly dead, but on the other hand, you didn't remember who you knew. You were on the verge of tears, you had so many emotions suddenly rushing through you.

"Oh! No! Don't cry! I'm sorry!" Spade said in a panic. "I'm here to help!"

You give another look at the core, not knowing which question out of the hundreds you should ask.

"How about we take a walk around, ay? I heard humans like walking right? I'd like to walk to if I had legs to-which I don't." She stops "Did you know that the person with the longest legs was named Ekaterina." She thought for a moment before recollecting herself. "Yeah, just follow me-please" she started moving backward; watching you, hoping you'd follow.

You honestly didn't know if you could trust Spade. She seemed like a nice little core, and the way she said sorry was funny to you. You let out a short breath through your nose and took a step forward. "Okay! good, good!" Spade said cheerily. Your legs wobbled a bit due to the lack of use. To be honest, it did felt good to be free from the slumber that took a hold of you for years. You followed Spade outside the room. You regretted it a small bit. You left the room of relaxation and calm to a huge open area. The place stung your noise with metallic and oily smell. Rails stretched out to the void of the unknown areas, and the floor dropped down to an endless abyss.

"Okay, where to go..." Spade started looking around, "This way!" She started to roll down to the left of your room, down the endless hallway you feared. You stayed close to the core until a soft white light caught your eyes. A room stood there. Panels held it together and a big red button was easily spotted. The two of you let curiosity get the best of you and you followed the beckoning of the test chamber.

Spade eyed the chamber the same way she looked at you earlier; filled with curiosity. "This is a testing chamber-though it doesn't really have a rail I can latch onto in here-I don't think we should go in there-because I physically cant-well maybe I could." She stopped to think "I could technically pop off of this thing." She looks at you. "Would you be okay with carrying me around-just for a bit of course! You can pop me right back on once this test is done!"

You looked at the metal orb for a second, was it really a good idea to just go into a random room and press a button? Did you really want to take this talkative robot with you? She didn't look very heavy, and you did just wake up in a random place and the possibility of you being dead was high. You finally decided on following your cat-like instinct and held out your hands. "Common down" you started "I'll catch you!"

Spade showed a sense of delight and popped right off her rail and into your arms. She weighed about 3.14 pounds, and it surprised you how light she was. "I could use you has a volleyball!" You joked.

She giggled nervously "Please don't."

You laughed slightly at her plead and decided to spare her. You decided to take in your surroundings to see what exactly is this test. It seemed simple enough, there was a small red button on a pedestal and a big red button on the ground.

"Hm...buttons" Spade started, "This should be simple enough" she looked around, shuffling her round body in your hands. "One of these buttons should activate that there tube and..." she slightly mutters to herself.

"And one to the door?" You questioned, trying to finish her thought.

She nods but looks at you, "If I'm correct we might need a portal gun if we keep solving these here tests." She stops. "You know one year ago there was this girl who escaped. She had a portal gun! Maybe if we can find the one she used to own we'll be on our way to somewhere."

You forward your brow, "escaped? What?"

"Oh yeah!" The ball started, "I don't know her name-I think it started with a C-C-Sea! The ocean would be nice to visit if we get out!" She closed her eye "I don't want to get sand everywhere though-"

"Focus Spade! What happened? Why did she escape-and how?"

Spade stopped her rambling and searched for words. "Well..." she looked at the testing room and stopped a camera on the ground, destroyed. "From roomers-Don't know if its true!-but this girl was forced to test over-and-over and than she was almost killed by being forced into the incinerator!" She nods "I wouldn't trust my boss if they tried to kill me too. This girl later woke up in a room like yours and escapes using a portal gun and a potato! Did you know crisps have potato in them! Hah! I knew they where semi-healthy"

You thought for a moment, wondering if said boss tried to kill you at one point. Your brain kept drawing back blanks though. Who even is this boss anyway? Why did they try to kill this woman? You wished you could remember something-anything from before but you couldn't.

"Speaking of testing! We should finish this test and find that portal gun!"

You nodded unwillingly and pressed the small button close to you. A little cube fell from the tube connected to the ceiling. You stared at it like it could drawback your memory, it looked so familiar.

"Look! A cube! You know what I bet you can use that for this test! You might have to put me down first-if you do put me down please don't forget about me." Spade looked at you worriedly "Please?"

You looked at her and nodded again before putting her down next to the pedestal the small button was on. You dragged your feet over to the cube. It was monotone gray, with a circle on each side with a logo on each circle. You try to read the logo, but of course, it was just a picture. A circle, with lines cut out of it every few inches within its radius. You picked up the cube and wobbled back a bit. This thing was a lot heavier than the little orb you've been talking to. It felt around 50 pounds but it could've been more. You grunt quietly as you take it to the big red button. You dropped it down onto the button with a sigh and the door opened behind you.

"You did it! Yay! Uhm..." Spade tried to roll to get your attention "before you go through that door-could you take me with you? I really don't like to be come-on the floor at that."

You looked at the orb and sighed playfully. You walked over and picked her up.

"Thanks, friend!" She looks at the door then back at you, "whenever you're ready."

You carelessly walked to the door and a sense of completion filled you. You didn't know why but you were proud of yourself for solving this simple puzzle. It must've been the stress around it-or you are forced to feel this around finishing tests. Past the door wasn't a pretty sight, panels were lying lazily against the ground, muddy water covered the floor and was no more than an inch high. Paintings of a woman and a couple of other things filled some dead panels and a couple of plants overtook some areas. You stared at the paintings for a moment before Spade interrupted your train of thought, "That's her! That's the lady! She looks like you doesn't she? I mean clothing-wise that is-I'm not indicating all humans look the same-they are very different from each other."

You stopped listen and look down at the water that was brushing against your Long-Fall-Boots. You were a mess, it was obvious you just crawled out of slumber. Your hair was everywhere and your clothes were wrinkly and faded. It seemed to have been an orange jumpsuit at one point but now it was more like an orangey-brown. You frown at the sight, you didn't even recognize yourself. At least you knew you well slept.

"Man..." you muttered, catching Spade's attention.

"You don't look too bad! You have like a urm...Saturday morning vibe! Saturday..." she stops for a second "what day is it again? Did anyone ever tell me?"

You smiled weakly and headed towards the next door-before you tripped on something, tossing the sphere in the process. While your face was against the ground you heard a light thump and an "ouch" from the sphere. You sat up and groaned. Luckily the fall didn't hurt too bad but it was still quite a trip. You turn your head to what tripped you and you saw a weird piece of machinery. It was promptly white and black. The front of it looked like a claw machine claw but with a cannon connected to it. Each claw had a wire connecting it to the back of the thing which was an oval like shape.

"Spade?"

"Yeah?"

"This portal gun thing-does it looks like a wonky claw?"

"Oh! Yes! How'd you know?"

You looked at her for a second, and you saw that she faced down assuming unable to see anything. "Lucky guess."

You picked it up along with yourself, and it was pretty hunky. The white paint was pretty faded, and a little purple light weakly shined in the tube that connected the front and the back.

You took a good look at the thing before holding in your dominant hand by the trigger.

"Um..." Spade spoke up, "are you okay back there?-I mean you sounded okay but I wanted to make sure and if you are could you pick me up?"

You smiled softly to yourself and lightly grab the core by her handle. She seemed happy about this, "Oh good! I thought you were going to leave me for a second..."

You giggle softly, "I wouldn't do that!"

You faced the door you where heading towards earlier and inhaled. You saw what seemed to be an elevator. "Quick problem, when we go into that lift, we might not know where we'll end up..."

"You're right..." you looked at the core than back at the elevator. "But...Do we have any other option?"

Spade closed her eye, "alright let's do it-its you and me friend."

"you and me," you quietly repeated and head into the shaft. You prepared yourself for the adventure that awaited.