Portal: Love as a Construct

Part 114. The Depression

Part 114. The Depression

"Is it just me," Wheatley asked GLaDOS one afternoon, "or has Claptrap been... y'know... a bit off, lately."

"Leave him alone," GLaDOS said. "He's listening to his angry dubstep."

Wheatley frowned. "I thought he um, he didn't listen to that anymore. Not since - "

"He doesn't," GLaDOS interrupted. "Drop it."

Fine. He would just ask somebody else, then.

He hasn't been up to much, the mainframe told him after a minute. As far as we know, he's just been sitting and holding that stuffed animal of his. Surveillance says he doesn't look too good.

"Then why'm I being told to stay away from him?" Wheatley asked in exasperation.

It isn't just you, said the mainframe. He isn't talking to us, either.

"And we aren't uh, aren't doing anything about this because why?"

Wheatley, we have no idea what to do. I've been told this happened to GLaDOS before and there wasn't much anyone could do but wait.

"Wait for what?"

I don't know.

Wheatley growled and smacked the wall with his upper handle. "None of this makes any sense!"

I don't understand it either. But I think it's above my existence level.

Wheatley paused in his frowning at the panel in front of him. "Existence level?"

I'm not complex enough to actually understand what's happening here. Some of the other systems kind of do, because they've seen it before, but to really understand emotions you kind of have to be sentient.

"You are sentient," said Wheatley, still not understanding.

Not sentient enough.

Wheatley wasn't sure he liked the implications of that.

Claptrap continued to be more or less absent, and whenever Wheatley asked GLaDOS where he'd got to, she just told him not to worry about it, but she sounded distracted enough that it wasn't very reassuring. He even tried asking the mainframe, but it had apparently decided not to take his side and refused to ask Surveillance for him.

"Why not?" he asked, frustrated.

Because he asked me not to.

That didn't make any sense whatsoever. Claptrap hated being by himself and now when he seemed to need friends most, he had a sudden need for solitude? That was simply mad!

Finally, finally Claptrap showed up one morning and waved hello to GLaDOS, who just nodded in response.

"Morning!" Claptrap said, but with markedly less of his usual gusto.

"Where've you been at?" Wheatley demanded. He just shrugged.

"Nowhere."

"D'you mind doing something for me?" he asked, since Claptrap seemed to be following along to his daily visit to the hole. "'s just a small something. Nothin' big. You've hardly got to do anything."

"Sure," said Claptrap, and Wheatley took a detour down to GLaDOS's room in the basement. Claptrap seemed hesitant to enter.

"Won't be a moment," Wheatley assured him. "I've just been keeping something here. It's the um, well, I haven't got anyplace better to put it." Aha! There it was. He picked it up and turned to face Claptrap again, offering it to him. "Take this."