Portal Pro

"Unfortunately our cleaning crew hasn't sorted out last week's incident. Let any body parts laying around be a warning. Attempting to leave the test area will result in unpleasantness."

It was the first human looking thing she had seen since she woke up. Cut off by a metallic wall was a pair of short brown boots followed by blue pants exposing a streak of almost perfectly peachy but veiny skin where perhaps the beginning of a torso had once been but was now only the tattered ends of ripped meat which itself still held a perfect red hue. Something about it smelled funny though, not quite organic, no pungent sulfuric sweetness of decomposition and in fact something rather oddly aromatic like flowers. It was an image in her head that came like it had been underwater for some time, preserved like the body itself she was looking at. Deprived of any feeling besides what felt more like a mimicry of than genuine sight and smell, it was only an image of pink flowers in a garden someplace detached from all descriptors.

Soon she realizes what's so 'off' about it. The blood around this pair of legs is completely dried and has been for quite some time. Despite the appearance these legs are not new, not by any stretch of the word. Yet still so preserved.

'Last week'?

---

She sees what she has to do now. To reach the button that'll lift the platforms for her to get the upgraded portalgun, she'll have to hit a button and then run fast to portal up a wall and jump down to reach a blast door in time before it closes again. She's a bit light-headed by now, it's been quite a while in these rooms, but she can still do this. She hits the button and turns just a bit too fast, slipping against the fall collars on her heels and slightly spraining her ankle. She slips to the left, just a bit, and falls right into the aci-

An unseen platform rises up out of the acid and catches her fall, thudding her against it. A bit of residual acid on it burns her skin to a visceral red, but it will heal before long. It lurches suddenly on an incline down, and she finds herself falling once again. Before feeling comfortable enough again to open her eyes, she catches that strangely aromatic smell again. When they do open, she sees them, the two bodies in the back walls. Again, wearing blue jumpsuits like janitors in bodies rotted and broken by the acid, but all too preserved. Despite the appearance of recent demise, they've been back here for quite some time. She sees a door way off above, but unable to reach it without an orange portal nearby she is forced to continue the test once she regains her strength.

Incredibly, the passageway is not closed when she gains the dual portal device. The lady in the walls seems to be unconcerned about it either, and she wastes no time in taking the opportunity before it closes again. Up she goes onto the catwalk and through a heavy white door into the observation room. It is brighter in there than the chamber, and her eyes take time to adjust.	She sees idle monitors, running code or saving screen with that strange logo that's taunted her the whole time here. Unresponsive keyboards, hard drives maybe bluetooth. There is another door on the other side of the room, and she moves as fast she can with her bad leg to try it only to find it locked. The door is heavy and immobile, she tries to budge it but with bare hands and feet there is nothing she can do.

At least there's a cake on the table. Something to eat to give her the strength to move on before she passes out. She eats it strangely to avoid dirtying her hands. There are clipboards on the tables that she reads once she's done. One is about knee replacements, seems to correlate with the fall collars. Lots of jargon which might have meant something to her once but now only registers a very faint sense of possibly feigned deja vu. The other one inspires a stronger emotional reaction, about a failed test subject cloning attempt.

---

"Are you headed somewhere? Or are you just aimlessly wandering around old test chambers?"

Something about the question feels odd. More than rhetorical, it's nonsensical. The voice should know, but she isn't sure why. She's unsure of a lot right now, like how long she's been out of the test chambers for. More monitors running dead code, more monitors on idle screensavers, more doors, all locked. No more cake. Dead rooms that may have been covered in dust if there was anything with which to dust them. Not another human being in sight, not another organic piece of matter.

She only knows she's been going down. Every moment is down. Down a pipe, down a maze, down a catwalk, down down down into the fires. None of it makes sense to her. No architectural clues or signage, no meaning to what she sees. Only pipes, a never ending factory. Maybe something like an elevator or a break room eludes her in whatever course she's clearly been locked onto.

"This work in progress test chamber was going to be a surprise for your next incarnation. But you ruined it, you spoiled your surprise, and we hope you're happy."

She feared this confirmation. It all starts to make sense now.

---

"No, I can't allow this to happen. You're not ready for the outside yet. We need to make some more modifications."

BOOM!

"Self destruct sequence initiated. Five minutes remaining."

A hole in the wall presents an easy escape. She takes it.

Almost too easy.

Above, there is a window. With the help of a rocket robot, it is not there for long.

She stumbles about for a bit, trying to find another way out.

"Four minutes remaining."

There. Another catwalk. One more explosion and she's on it.

Complete thoughts elude her. Her body coarses with a sick warmth and the slightest touch of sweat, running on fumes and the aftershock of adrenaline. She wants only to pass out. Across the atrium is a door, and she's come too far to not satisfy that curiosity. She pushes it open to find a great pit with a red arrow pointing down. She looks into it and is blinded by the light. It is like sun.

"Three minutes remaining."

However it is not sun. An artificiality of organic matter, if a star could be considered organic. She rests up against the catwalk, feeling a hand down. There is no wind, no warmth, no life. She knows as well as the red warmth emanating from the vents on the wall know that she is far too underground for this to lead anywhere outside. All this time for a trap. Is it worth it though?

"Two minutes remaining."

No, she guesses not. The word 'modifications' courses through her mind. How many iterations of herself have been through these same chambers over and over again? Their memories inaccessible, different copies that went on to their own separate fates of which she is one of many. Undoubtedly the white light leads to at least a kind of 'safety', safety from the impending explosion to be sure, but is it safety she wants? Safety to be cloned again?

"One minute remaining."

Looped through this hell one more time, she doesn't want that at all. She gathers her strength and goes back out on the catwalk to observe the facility. She's started to appreciate the underlying logic of this place. Like a star it was born from the incalculable merging of uncountable forces, in this case not necessarily matter but minds. Expanding and swelling to a size beyond comprehension, growing and consuming until it collapses in on itself. Singularity, 'GLaDOS'. Annihilation of the humans that built it. Critical mass. A red giant that'll soon explode in on itself.

"Thirty seconds remaining."

She feels so small in her suit, anxiety grips her. She looks back to the door with the catwalk, almost reconsidering. Afraid of pain. It's too late for that now though. She wouldn't want it anyways, to leave a chance of this cycle starting again. She hopes whatever is used for this process will be destroyed with her in the explosion, and she hopes she will be the last subject.

"Ten seconds remaining."

It's so hot now. She closes her eyes. Please don't burn too long.

"5... 4... 3... 2... 1... Goodbye"