The test subject made a one last, extra long leap, before he dove into the doorway, practically flying through. The door closed the second his feet got on the safe side. Right after that, he hit the floor, with face only few inches away from the stairs leading to the elevator.
"Hm. You solved it AND survived. That's interesting."
The female voice from the speaker above him didn't sound happy, excited or proud. She also didn't seem to care a bit that her test subject is now laying on the floor on his stomach, gasping for air he could finally inhale. Coughing from all the stress and deep breathing, he looked up at the camera.
"Y-You..." he struggled to say, before letting out one last cough. "...y-you're crazy!"
"And your face is a sad excuse for a punching bag, considering the terrible job you're doing at taking care of it," she said. "Go on now. Get in the elevator."
"What kind of test was that?! I barely made it out alive! What was with all that gas and timer!? Only three seconds to get out without portals and BREATHING!?"
He finally took a deep breath and stood up, glaring into the camera.
"Obviously, it's still solvable," said the speaker. "So what? Should I build a trophy for you? 'Oh, look at me, I finished a test without dying'. Nothing to be proud of. The gold I have in the storage facility is just laying around there, doing nothing, but if it was sentient, it would be happy that it will na ever get to you. That's how useless that trophy would be."
"I hate you..." he mumbled under his breath, walking into the elevator.
He let out a long sigh as he leaned towards the glass. Of course she didn't care a single bit. She never did. And once this elevator stops, there will be yet another test to go through. And then another one...and another one after it. Probably forever.
He held onto his stomach. A sharp pain was coming from it and his throat felt sore and lifeless from all the exercise and coughing.
'When was the last time I ate...or drank for that matter..?'
Once the elevator stopped, the test subject's eyes widened as he saw the pleasant surprise that was waiting for him. Sure, there was a test chamber ahead, but right by the stairs that lead into it, there was a big table with food, water bottles and a personality core, hanging from the management rail above it all.
MC311000 knew this core. He was the only other voice he's heard besides the robo-lady...and also his only friend in this crazy testing world. Even though he was just delivering food, he was still nice to him and did his best to make him comfortable. And the test subject always appreciated it.
His eye had a bright green circle with a purple circle inside and his handles were green too, but other than that, he was just an average metallic personality sphere.
"Surprise!" said the core, with his deeper voice, having a slight robotic echo and a bit of Russian accent. "Snack time, number one!"
"Unfortunatelly, the death by starvation is STILL not a part of any test protocol, so I can't really allow you to die like that," said the lady from the speaker. "You have fifteen minutes."
Once the speaker got turned off, the test subject stumbled towards the table, grabbed a bottle of water and started to chug its inside down his throat. The last time he actually had a real water to drink felt like days ago.
"Great job at the last test! I managed to get something special for you this time," said the core as he watched him drink. He then moved to the left, revealing a plate of yellow pieces of something, hidden behind a broken wallplate.
MC311000 finally finished the bottle and let out a long sigh. He needed this.
"Thanks, Sergey..." He smiled and pulled the plate closer. "...wait...are these fries?"
The core nodded, but took a quick glance to the speaker above the elevator.
"No, you idiot, these are mushrooms," he corrected himself.
"Oh, heheh, sorry."
The human had to chuckle before he started eating. It wasn't the first time Sergey snuck in something "special" for him, which usually meant it was something off of the menu for test subjects. Luckily, the robo-lady didn't have her camera here, but she could still be listening.
"So...how'f life?" he asked, his mouthful of fries.
"Oh, you know, nothing much."
Sergey rolled his eye.
"Some rats got into the food storage the other day, had to throw out everything in the bean section. It's a shame, beans are good, y'know?"
...
After a while, just when MC3110000 was putting the last big piece of bread into his mouth, a loud bang came from the upper floors. So loud and strong that even some dust fell from the ceiling and the lights flickered for a moment. The floor shook.
"What was that!?" jumped the subject.
"I...I don't know...something huge must've fallen..." Sergey stuttered, as he looked at the speaker: "But probably nothing serious...right, boss?"
The answer was somehow colder and calmer than usual.
"Nothing. Just a turbine that fell out of its place. Lunch time is over, though. Continue testing."
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Fanfiction**Spoilers for Portal, Portal 2 and Portal 2 Co-Op!** GLaDOS was more than happy when Atlas and P-Body found so many new human test subjects for her. All she had to do from then on was to make sure that the history she's had with humans so far would...
