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Chell blinked open her eyes to a familiar gray floor. Despite everything, she’d survived. Her whole body felt like one big bruise but as she moved each of her limbs one by one, they all obeyed. Nothing was broken or missing.
She sat up. Around her were the littered remains of GLaDOS’s machine body as well as debris from the ceiling and parts of the walls. None of it had fallen on her though, proving perhaps that gods were real after all and one of them smiled upon her. Probably not though, she was just lucky.
Standing, she glanced around, looking for the portal gun. It should be nearby. … Ah, there it was. It had not shared her luck, only part of it stuck out from under the rubble. Damn it. Better it than her of course but without it she might be stuck here.
Speaking of getting out of here, most of the lights in the room were still on, even if a few were flickering, allowing her to see the exit. The door hung open, broken. She walked over to it, shaking off much of the stiffness and some of the ache. Upon reaching it, she pushed the door open even further. Enough that she could step through if she’d wanted to which she didn’t. The walkway over the pit leading here was destroyed. Even if the portal gun wasn’t busted, she couldn’t see any obvious portal surfaces on the other side. Getting out this way wasn’t an option.
She stepped back a little ways to survey the rest of the room. Towards the rear of the room, the destruction was worse. Perhaps the furnace over there had exploded alongside everything else. Maybe it exploded all the way through to a different room or even outside? Unlikely but it wasn’t like there was anything else Chell could do except regret her decisions.
Upon reaching the far side, she had to climb over a couple large fallen bits of ceiling before finding the nook the furnace had once resided within. Not that there was much left of said nook as the furnace had indeed exploded, leaving behind a pit. The bottom of which was filled with metal still glowing with heat. Falling down there would be a painful death.
Past it though, part of the wall had cracked, partially fallen inward. Visible through the cracks was what could only be the sky. Probably night as it wasn’t blue, perhaps it was sunset or sunrise as it didn’t look quite like the night sky either. Not enough of it was visible to tell for sure but that made the sight of it no less of a relief. Chell just had to get through a partially destroyed wall and she’d be free. Easier said than done of course but she’d already made it this far. Just a little bit more work was nothing compared to everything else.
First came sliding off her boots. They were great for falling and landing safely but not so good for climbing. Unfortunately she had no way to tie them to her person and thus with a sigh she placed them to the side. If she’d been the engineer type she’d have tried to memorize their design to recreate later but that had never been her forte.
Getting across the pit was just barely possible with how much floor was left on the side. The heat wafting up out of it as she sidled along the wall had her barely daring to breath until she reached the corner where there was a bit more room to spare. Climbing up the partially destroyed wall had looked easier from the other side but she pulled herself up anyway. There were just barely enough hand and footholds to get her up and over to the biggest crack in the wall. Which had looked bigger from the other side. She was already here though and didn’t have many other options so she pulled herself up and into it.
It was an uncomfortably tight squeeze as she pulled herself forward into it. The weight of the rest of the building seemed to press down on her, threatening to crush her. Already partially collapsed how much more would it take for it to go the rest of the way? Would it be enough to kill her immediately or would she suffocate slowly? … Or worse what if it just trapped her, able to breath but not much else, leaving her to suffer a slow and…
She reached the other side. Panting for breath, she pushed herself the rest of the way out of the wall. She tumbled to the ground. A short fall to soft dirt; she was unharmed. Righting herself, she looked up at… not the sky. It was a sky but not the one she knew. The colours, a blend of blues and purples were wrong, the clouds distinctly unearthly, and in the distance floating islands and rocks. Closer were more chunks of floating land populated by plants unlike any she’d ever seen before.
Stepping forward a few steps brought her to an edge. Looking down over it revealed more of the sky. Where the fuck was she? What was this place?
She backpedaled a couple steps away from the edge before turning around to look at the Aperture building. It was far too big to see the whole of but it was definitely looked like a normal Earthly structure. How had it gotten here? … It was Aperture, probably an accident during some bullshit experiment they’d done. Or maybe they’d done it on purpose for whatever reason. Either way Chell was stuck here unless she could find out how to get herself or the building back to Earth.
At least she could breath though, right? If this was some alien planet or dimension, that very easily could’ve not been the case. … That didn’t make her feel much better right now. She’d thought she’d finally been done with Aperture’s bullshit. But no, as one final ‘fuck you’, her escape wasn’t much of an escape at all.
She walked back over to the building and sat down, leaning back against it. It had been a long day, she’d earned a rest. In a few minutes she’d get up and explore more, try to find a way back to Earth.
~
The Aperture Science facility was massive, spanning across multiple floating islands, descending down into the depths between them in a few places. Chell walked along its side right up until she reached a gap in the islands she couldn’t cross. She’d already made several jumps, a few a bit scary, but this was way too far to risk. Not having the portal gun anymore sucked. Though really, it might not have helped her much anyway, depending on whether or not the outside of the building was a portalable surface. She was going to go ahead and believe it wasn’t so she could be slightly less annoyed by the portal gun’s loss.
With nothing else to do but keep going, Chell turned and started walking along away from the facility. She wasn’t likely to lose sight of it any time soon so she’d just hope a path would allow her to keep following its length eventually. And hopefully find another way inside that would also hopefully be near a place that would give her some kind of clue on how to get back to Earth. … A lot to hope for.
~
Whatever and wherever this place was, it was rather pretty in an alien sort of way. Long tendrils grew out of the ground, swaying in the wind, many of their ends glowing. Strange mushroom type growths of various kinds seemed to be the most common life form. Chell had always liked mushrooms, they were cool. The sky was prettiest of all though, its colours vibrant as they were alien.
Some of the islands contained mountains and caves. Inside of which was more alien growths, so much so that the walls of a few seemed to be made entirely of bulbous plants. Within the caves in particular, things shied away from Chell as she walked by. Despite that, she eventually ended up lying down to sleep in one. It was soft and she was tired. Fungi spores might kill her in her sleep but that was almost just as likely when she was awake.
~
Whether the pool actually contained water or anything that was potable at all was impossible to say. He throat ached with thirst though. Scooping it up in her hands, she brought it up to her mouth to sip. It tasted sweet and… blue. A good sign? Maybe but didn’t people sometimes poison others by putting anti-freeze in their Gatorade? So maybe a bad sign. She had no way of knowing but it was seemingly the only water source around.
Maybe she shouldn’t risk it and just hope she could get back to Earth before dehydration became a major issue but… she drank what was left in her hands and then went back from more. By the time she was done she felt… good. Still hungry and a bit tired but much better. Perhaps a sign that the water had contained toxic mushroom spores and/or something that would make her high. Only time would tell though so she got up and continued.
Mostly she was still following the Aperture building. Though she hadn’t found a way back to it yet. The windy path she had to take along the floating islands, sometimes backtracking across multiple, was making it take far longer than it should’ve. There was no choice but to keep going though so she did.
~
Animals! She’d found animals. Something she could hunt and kill for food. … Assuming the meat, which she probably wouldn’t be able to cook, wasn’t toxic anyway and assuming she could even kill one in the first place. There were five of them all grouped up. They looked somewhat dog-like except for their front which instead of neck joining to a head was a flat desk covered in… eyes? Yeah, they looked sort of like eyes.
Chell glanced around, looking for a rock she could throw hard enough to do damage or maybe sneak up to crush one of them. Not that sneaking was a particularly good option as she had no way of knowing when she made a sound that might give her away or not. But she could try if she had to. Rocks weren’t in plentiful supply around here anyway though, it was all dirt and plants. Also, against five of them if they chose to defend themselves, she didn’t stand much of a chance. Damn it.
She looked back over at the eye-dogs. They were standing in a pool of water, seemingly drinking with an appendage that originated around what maybe counted as their neck. Considering their size, her lack of anything even remotely weapon-like, and the fact that this was an alien dimension filled with unknowns, she was probably best off not approaching them at all. So instead she would just sit here and…
The eye-dogs all looked up as if responding to something, probably a sound. Whatever it was excited them into taking off a second later, running seemingly as fast as their little legs could go. They vanished as they went behind a hill covered in bulbous growths. Chell straightened from her short-lived sit and followed. It might be dangerous but might also lead to something worth checking out. Besides she’d been going this way anyway.
As she neared the hill they’d vanished behind she slowed to peek around it instead of stepping out into the open like a fool. The eye-dogs were still running towards whatever they’d heard or had been signaled to hunt down which was… a person. Another human was here. Wow. Chell wasn’t alone.
Said person appeared to be a man wearing a security officer’s uniform. Just her luck, the one other person in this alien land with her was a damn cop. He had a gun though – more of an ‘of course’ really – which he already had out and swung it around the eye-dog’s ran at him. He backpedaled as he shot them, bringing each one down with a shotgun blast to the eyes.
They’d been running at him with clear intent to do harm so he was justified in defending himself but surely it was unethical to go into an alien dimension and kill its denizens with advanced weaponry. Not that Chell wouldn’t have done the same if she had a gun especially since she’d just been thinking about killing one unprovoked. That would’ve been for food though. This guy might be here to do this exact thing. … Probably not though
Once seemingly satisfied that no more would be come, the guy relaxed his battle-ready stance. He then bent over slightly to poke the barrel of his shotgun at one of the corpses on the ground before shaking his head and moving on.
Wherever he was going, it was further away from where Chell hid, watching. Meaning she could easily stay and wait for him to be gone before heading over to see about eating one of the dead eye-dogs. But… as much as she hated the idea of going to a cop for help, he might know a way out. He might not even actually be a cop, just wearing the uniform for the helmet and bullet proof vest. But cop or not, he had a gun and she didn’t so it could go very bad for her. … If he knew a way out though, this might be her only chance to get out. Damn Aperture for putting her in this position. Hopefully digital hell was a thing so that damn overgrown computer could be burning in it.
With an inward groan, she took off after the guy, jogging to catch up. He must’ve heard her as she was still a little ways away before he snapped around, raising his shotgun. She skidded to halt, lifting her hands in the air. Lowering the gun he probably said something but she didn’t catch it on his lips as her eyes instead caught on the logo printed on his vest. Black Mesa.
That wasn’t that surprising. If Aperture Science had found this place then Black Mesa couldn’t have been far behind or ahead in doing so too. Heck, one of them might’ve been directly following the other. Maybe both companies were set up here, perhaps even fighting for control of it.
She shifted her gaze up to read his lips. “… get here? Is Aperture having a resonance thingy too? Is ‘having’ even the right word for it? I barely know what’s going on and what little I do know is thanks to Dr. Rosenberg. He probably wouldn’t want me talking to you but like, you know? I didn’t expect to find anyone else in this place.” Finally he paused, clearly expecting some kind of reply.
Chell had never cared much for trying to speak. It was too much of a pain. Unfortunately being able to communicate would probably serve her well here. Well, it was a long shot but sign language was worth a try, right? If nothing else it would communicate that she was deaf. So with a sigh, she lifted her hands to ask, “Sign language?”
His eyes widened in seeming excitement. He then slung his shotgun into a holster on his back and lifted his hands to respond. “Yes! I have a friend who can’t speak. I’m,” he spelled out his name as Barney before giving his sign-name. “You’re from Aperture, right? I’m pretty sure that’s their logo on your jump suit. How’d you get here?” He then repeated rest of what he’d said out loud earlier. Not necessary but she hadn’t exactly explained she could read his lips.
But the chances of running into someone here had been low enough but not only had she but he also knew sign language. What luck. Surely it couldn’t continue to hold, could it? She quickly introduced herself, spelling out her name and giving her own sign name. “Do you know a way back to Earth?” She wasn’t bothering with answering any of his questions. She wanted to ally herself with Black Mesa about as much as she wanted to ally with Aperture; not at all if she could help it. Thus she’d give as little info as she could get away with.
“Yes. Probably. I’m here on a mission for Dr. Rosenberg, trying to…” He paused, his hands hovering in the air for a moment before continuing. “I don’t know the sign for it. But basically he’s got some kind of machine that can teleport. The part in here needs fixing. He told me how. After I do that I should be able to go back to the lab and then we can get the hell out, hopefully. I’m guessing you need a way out too?”
“Yes.” Desperately but she didn’t let that show on her face or in her signing. Desperation was dangerous. “Lend me a gun?” There was no way he would but it didn’t hurt to…
Barney pulled a hand gun out of his side holster and handed it to her. “It’s always good to have backup in situations like these. And you’re right we don’t really have time to stand around chatting. Let’s go.” He turned and resumed walking, seemingly totally trusting her with the gun he’d just gave her despite not knowing anything about her except that she was associated with his company’s rival. Idiot. He was an absolute fucking idiot.
With a shrug, Chell gripped her new pistol and followed. As long as he helped her get back to Earth he could be the dumbest guy in the universe and it wouldn’t matter to her. Barney being way too trusting was a boon for her so she’d thank her luck and let him lead her back to Earth. What she’d do when she got there, she’d figure out then.