Portal: Love as a Construct

Part Eighty-Two. The Visitor

Part Eighty-Two. The Visitor

"I have something for you," GLaDOS told him.

"Really?" Wheatley said, nearly unable to contain his excitement. That was something that didn't happen often.

"Mm. I'll send it to you in a moment."

When he got the notification that the file had been received, he asked as means of a stalling tactic while he tried to remember where his received file folder was, "What is it?"

"Claptrap's email address."

He stopped his search immediately. "You... want me to email him?"

She shrugged. "You wanted to meet him."

Ohhhh boy. She was actually going to make it happen? "Can he come here?"

"If he wants."

Wheatley decided he needed to get on that right away and told her as much before speeding away... but not so fast that he didn't hear her laughing at him as he left.

//

Wheatley waited anxiously for Claptrap to arrive, bouncing his lower handle and looking at the floor panels. More than anything, he hoped that Claptrap would like him. They were fairly similar, so far as he knew, so... so they should get along, right? Ohhhh, he hoped so. It was so exciting, it was, that maybe he'd get a new friend. There were lots of Cores about, that was true, but... he didn't want to be around people who didn't trust GLaDOS.

Then, without warning, Claptrap appeared, and Wheatley almost jumped onto the floor by accident. God, he was so much bigger than Wheatley'd expected him to be! Not GLaDOS's size, obviously, not anywhere near, but still... Wheatley was used to most robots being his size or much smaller. Claptrap defied that unspoken rule of Aperture, and... and already it seemed like Claptrap was going to shake things up, one way or another.

"Hey," Claptrap said, with a wave of one of his odd little hands. "I'm lookin' for a guy called Wheatley. You seen him anywhere? I don't know who I'm lookin' for."

"That's me," Wheatley said, a little taken aback by his very loud voice. And GLaDOS often told Wheatley he was loud. "I'm... I'm Wheatley."

"Put 'er there, then!" Claptrap said, holding his hand out, and after a moment Wheatley realised he was supposed to offer his lower handle. The whole shaking hands thing still slipped his mind now and again.

"Don't do that a lot, do ya." Claptrap positioned his arms in a way that Wheatley only knew how to describe as 'hands on his hips' though, of course, Claptrap didn't have any.

"Uh... no," Wheatley answered. "None've us've got, uh 've got hands, and the um, the humans, well, I don't really hang 'round them."

Claptrap moved back a little. "What's wrong with 'em?"

"Humans are... untrustworthy?"

"They are?" Claptrap shrugged. "They're sketchy, sometimes, but I trust 'em."

Wheatley echoed his motion. "Uh... I think we've um, we've found something we don't have in common."

The other robot laughed. "There's always something, isn't there! Hey... can I go see her, real quick? It'll only take a second."

"Oh, sure," Wheatley answered. "She might um, might be busy with something. I dunno, she didn't tell me what she was going to um, to be doing. While I was gone."

"Where'd you go?"

"To meet you," Wheatley said, frowning in confusion. Truth be told, he was getting a little apprehensive. He wasn't sure this was going so well.