Nolan entered the break room. There were 5 people inside. Peter was nowhere to be seen, but that was the usual in the morning. It took him a bit to actually decide if he wants to go to hang out with the other or not. Dave was sitting next to Alma and Brent on the couch watching TV. Two more people, probably Tim and Winter, were sitting at the PCs playing some sort of video game.
Other than one person everyone of the ten test subjects entered the break room at least once. The person that hasn't was dubbed "Number Three" or just "Three" for the lack of a better name. The only thing they knew about them was that they lived in the third room and never once left it in the past 4 days.
The other test subjects threw wild speculations into the room once in a while trying to figure out why three never left their room since there was not much to do in the private chambers. Some thought they might not actually exist and 3 is just an empty room, some speculated they died in an experiment, some thought they might be doing secret tests for aperture. Nolan personally thought that everyone was thinking too much into it. Some people like Peter are just not very social after all.
Nolan sighed and went towards the kitchen corner that was installed on the third day. Some of the test subjects complained about the lack of ways to prepare a meal. Now they complain about the amount of choices they have. Turns out Aperture does more than just science in their area. Nolan had an inkling that if Aperture chose it could become completely self-sufficient. It almost didn't matter what one wanted, almost any raw ingredients could be provided.
Nolan requested some sausages and some potatoes and started cooking. It didn't take long before Tim and Winter were not very stealthily sneaking up on him. "Nooooolaaaaaan" Tim said in a voice that screamed 'I want something from you' "What is it, Timmy?" Nolan asked, getting a small offended gasp from Tim. He hated being called Timmy.
Of course, Nolan already knew what the two wanted, in the past days the two always came around to try and get some food from him. The two of course could request some ingredients themselves, but he guessed they couldn't cook very well, or they were just lazy. He turned around to look at the two. They were trying their best to make puppy dog eyes. Nolan sighed. "Fine..." He got out two more plates. And coincidentally the amount he cooked was enough for the two to also get something.
The two grabbed their plates with anticipation. Nolan smiled seeing them happy. The three sat down next to the other three in front of the TV. Apparently, Aperture made some own productions, though for some reason as of late the production hit a pause, so older episodes ran instead. There was no reason given, but everyone agreed that they probably had vacation or something. After all the testing was stopped too for a week, so maybe this is vacation week in Aperture?
"So... do you guys think... this break room will... be kept open after... testing starts again?" Winter asked in between bites. Dave and Nolan shrugged almost at the same time. "I'd hope so, I already read all the reading material given in the private rooms after all..." Nolan said while giving Winter a disapproving look for talking while having his mouth full.
Then, the door to the breakroom opened. Winter looked up, "Oh gwood mwornning pewter..." he said while chewing. Peter waved a little and went over to the kitchen to make some food while Nolan sighed, "What are you? 10? Stop talking with your mouth full." Winter chewed for a few more seconds, looked at Tim for a moment smirking, then spoke with an empty mouth and a voice filled with sarcasm "Sure thing, mom-".
-
GLaDOS looked up from their hanging state. They were very exhausted but they had the feeling they heard something. Must have been their imagination. They looked back at the finished list of blueprints. All 80 were now finished. Among them were CPUs, GPUs, DPUs, RAM, HDD and SSD drives, 1 vacuum for some reason, monitors and a lot more. Most computer components had different versions for different sizes and complexity to see if they get damaged in any way. After all the last time they send high-end tech somewhere without tests a lot more space junk was created so all of this does actually serve a purpose.
GLaDOS checked the time. The official tests would begin before all the drives they needed were finished. A part of them was annoyed that it would take that long, but logically speaking they knew the extra time would be good to decide which test subject would be up to the task. They looked at the screens. Some of the test subjects seemed to have just finished eating. Nolan looked a bit annoyed, they wondered why. Though a couple of test subjects were not there. Looking into the private rooms, two of them were reading some books while Elyse... GLaDOS sighed. Of course she was sleeping.
GLaDOS shook their head. It wouldn't surprise them if she spent the whole week like that. GLaDOS decided to put in a little reminder for everyone that testing would resume the next day. "Good day to all test subjects. I hope you have enjoyed your one-week break. Testing will resume tomorrow. Please rest well before that. Have a nice day." After that GLaDOS closed the cameras for now and focused back on their interface. 'Welp, now I have half a day to actually make all those test chambers. Just great...'
-
Nolan looked up at a camera out of habit. Tim followed his gaze for a moment "Whatcha looking at?" he asked, curious. "Just the camera, it became a habit during testing since I'm guessing whenever they talk, they are watching me through the cameras. Kinda like eyes?"
Some of the others looked a bit confused, then winter asked the question most of them had "Do you mean the system with 'they'?" Nolan took a sip of his coffee, "Yeah, who did you think I was talking about?" Winter took another bite of his food, "I mean, kinda? It's just weird that you are talking about the system like a person you know personally. Also aren't the scientists the ones looking through the cameras?"
Nolan shook his head, "At the moment all testing is operates by GLaDOS as far as I am aware. Did they not tell you?" The only one not looking confused at the moment was Alma, she was just happily sipping her coffee, barely paying attention to the conversation. She originally came from Germany, so her English wasn't the best in the first place and besides it didn't really interest her in the first place, the TV was much more interesting. Then suddenly the TV was muted. "Wh- Wha- Why- Who-" Alma was now had many questions, like 'why was the TV muted' or 'who do I have to stab- er- ask to get the remote from'
Though, all those questions were answered when she actually looked at the others. Everyone was looking at her, Dave was holding the remote and they seemed to be waiting for something. "W-What is it?" her heavy accent echoed slightly through the now silent room. "What do you think?" Everyone said in unison. Alma was what some might refer to as confuzzled. 'What are they talking about????'
It seemed like while she was focused on the TV something unfolded and now it bit her in the back that she wasn't even half listening. In her desperation she just said "Y-Yes?" Winter and Tim looked distraught "Wh-What? No way! Not you too!" Nolan and Brent just nodded in agreement while Dave just shrugged. Everyone started to stand up, it seems like it had gotten late. "Welp, I'm going to head to bed, cya around" Dave said walking towards the door, everyone gave a similar response to yeah or me too.
Alma looked even more distraught trying to say something but not finding the right words "B- He- No- But- WHAT ABOUT MY SERIES-" but at the time she found the right words it was already far too late and everyone left the room. And the remote was nowhere to be seen.
That night a scream of terror and distress like never seen before in aperture was heard- or rather not heard.
----
Notes: So I've been out of the hospital for a couple of days, though again part of this was written in the hospital, so now you can expect more regular updates to some extent. Unless of course I get overwhelmed by work. Which is a possibility as I have not been working a lot during surgery time. Well anyway, I hope you had fun reading!
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GLaDOS awakens
Fanfiction"Boot up initiated" a male voice said, showing no emotions. Suddenly as if someone turned on the lights [They] could see something. A room. The only thing they could see was a window in front of them. People dressed like scientists stood behind the...
