Re-awakening

A young man stood excitedly on the doorstep, keys jangling excitedly in his hands. This was it, the moment which he had been waiting for for the last few months. Moving in day.

For most people, moving day was mundane. Their house no different from their last other than it's location. But for Dan, this house was vastly different.

Compared to this flat at college, the house seemed more like a palace. It helped that it dwarfed most flats in the area, proof that when someone makes it big in holywood, they make it big. Which is of course what had happened to him.

He had been recently picked to star in an action film. It wasn't a major role, but in a film that large, even playing second fiddle to the main star racked in a large amount of income. So here he was, after assisting the typical tall, tanned and dark haired main star defeat a truckload of russians ready to move into his new house.

His house.

He still couldn't believe the absurd sums of cash he now had in his bank which allowed him to buy his very own property. An amount of money he had always believed would be out of reach because of what happened at school. He had always tried his hardest, but no matter what, he had never achieved a large role in the school plays. But one day, after a particually bad audition and role from the latest school production, everything changed.

He didn't know how, but he suddenly felt far more confident. It felt like he could achieve the impossible, and in the weeks and months that followed, he often felt like he had. He didn't know where this feeling came from, but he prayed every night to whomever had given him this sudden change in personality. Whoever it was, he owed them everything he managed to achieve since then.

He brought himself back to the present and slowly pressed the keys into the lock, taking time to savour this moment, this grand opening of his new abode. A twist of the wrist and a gentle push and the door opened easily, with not so much as  a squeek.

Carefully, he stepped inside the threshold and breathed deeply, the scent that accompanied everything new teased his sinuses for a moment before he was blinded by a bright light appearing just before his eyes.

"Dan, my goodness you're finally here man. Took you long enough."

"Wheately! It's nice to meet you too, but can you turn that damn light off?" Half blinded, he could just about make out the shape of the slightly insane personality sphere behind his high intesnity halogen lamp.

"What's the magic word?"

"I would assume the word is space," Dan barked, annoyed that his enjoyement of moving in had already been shattered. In response, the light went off with a click and the house's normal lights came on, providing a normal - non blinding - level of illumination.

"All right, no need to bring that up."

"Calm down, not as if that actually happened." Dan said as he entered further into the propety, shutting the door behind him.

"Well, it did for me, alright buddy?" The AI started to sound a bit miffed. Dan had been really excited when he found out he could use some of his newfound wealth to buy a working copy of the AI from Portal 2, but right now - having to deal with it - he realized how much he would have to get used to it.

"Alright, I'm sorry. It's been a long day, I'd been really excited about moving in and a blinding light was the last thing I expected.  But it was cruel to bring that space thing into it." He sighed as they made their way into the spacious and well furnished living room. Dan picked out his choice sofa and sat down with an audible 'aaah'.

Dan looked around, and gazed upon the center of his new kingdom. The room was well equipped, featuring several large and comfortable sodas - necessary if any of his actor friends came over for a party - a stone fire place and a very large plasma television. Unfortunately the cable had yet to be installed, it seemed that despite his new found wealth, it still wasn't enough to various companies that provided the television service sought. Dan was brought out of his quiet contemplation by a digital caught.

"Ahem, Dan, any plans for tonight?"

"Well, the moving men are bringing my stuff in tomorrow and we don't have cable yet, so what do you suggest?"

"Well, according to my data file the drinks cabinet is well stocked, and I have a wide array of computer games or dvd's that I can run directly through the big black box by the wall there."

"You mean the television?"

"Yeh, that. Anyway, I have that. Or you could go out and leave me here alone, I'll be fine. I've only bee waiting for you for ages," Wheately embellished this statement by spinning around on his management rail.  "But, I'm willing to power down for the night if that's what you want to do."

"Nah, don't sweat it. I'm tired from the journey and packing, and there's always plenty of time to see the area later. I'll just relax tonight." He sat silently for a moment before thinking of what to do. "You said the drinks cabinet was well stocked?" the Wheately core nodded vigorously. "Then let's play a drinking game."

"Drinking game? Bloody hell Dan, you know I can't drink don't you?"

Dan smiled, the sinister smile that a predator would give it's prey. "That's why I'm going to be doing the drinking, and you will be playing the game."

Wheately was suddenly still for the first time since Dan had arrived, something about the idea caused a chill to run through the personality core's circuitry.

"W-what game?"

"Do you have Portal 2 by any chance?"

Thirty minutes later and a bottle of tequila was already empty, it's remnants in a shot glass that was being held in front of Dan's lips.

"You know Dan, drinking that much isn't good for you."

"Well, I wouldn't be drinking thish much if you weren't such a lousy gamer." Dan finished his sentence with a very loud hiccup.

"Oh no, Dan, you can't blame this one on me. I can be blamed for many things, but not this."

"Of coursh you can my robotic friend, you know the rulesh of thish game. Every time you or the Wheatley in-game do something stupid, I takes a drink. You've died 30 timesh, I take 30 drinksh. The Wheatley in game smashesh the room you're in through a wall stupidly, I take another drink. Currently you're at 30-1 with the game Wheately."

"That's hardly a fair tally, we haven't got to the point where I do my most stupid things in game."

Just then, Chell took a nosedive from a badly placed portal into an area of toxic slime. The discussion had torn Wheatley's attention from the game enough to misjudge his aim, resulting in another death and another drink for Dan.

"31-1."

"That's so not cool, Dan, how am I meant to focus when you're constantly teasing me like that?"

Dan gave another hiccup, "I don't knowsh. I thought an artificial intelligence would be good at playing a game."

"Of course I'm good at playing a game, check my scores on COD and you will see how good at blowing people up.  Puzzles, that is something I'm not good at."

"Oh calm down fushpot, portal'sh a good game to practice both skills." Just then, Chell got toasted by a lazer beam. "And it seems like you could do with all the practice you couldsh get."

Dan reached for his shot glass and bottle of tequila but realized he was out of drink. "You keep playing, Wheately, I'm just going to get some more drink. Don't forget to tell me how many," hiccup, "times you've died when I get back."

He stood up, unsteadily swaying on his feet he reached out for the sofa to stop himself from falling.

"Heh, I think you've had plenty to drink tonight, mate. How about you go and sleep it off?"

"Nah, itsh fine, I drank far more in collage. And tomorrow has nothing planned anyway."

He pushed off from the sofa and started to walk towards the rather well stocked drinks cabinet. A tumble along the way was only halted by quickly grabbing onto a light fixture.

"Really, Dan, I think you've probably had enough for tonight."

He just waved his 'paranoid' AI's concerns away and stood back up. He resumed his walk towards the cabinet, however on his next stumble he wasn't so lucky. He had almost reached the cabinet when he slipped forwards, smashing his head against the wall in the process. A rather large crack could be heard as his head made contact and Wheatley quickly turned his attention to his master, dying in game at the same time.

"Dan, mate, are you alright?"

Dan didn't respond.

"Dan? Dan!"

Wheatley quickly zoomed over on his management rail, seeing the still body, he feared the worst. For a moment, concern overwhelmed his circuits, but a quick study of the body showed he was breathing. He was alive at least.

"Oh bloody hell, only knocked out. You shouldn't shock my circuits like that."  He zoomed in on Dan's head and noticed the rather large bruise. "Maybe some ice is in order." He quickly zoomed off to see if he could find something appropriate.

One minute Dan was stumbling across the living room, light spinning through his hazy vision. The next, he was falling into a deep black void, it's emptiness chilling him.

It was quite obvious from the darkness that he wasn't awake anymore, most likely unconscious. But his awareness of the situation unnerved him. He had never experienced a black out like this, it normally involved falling asleep and then immediately waking up in great pain. No awareness present of any time having passed.

Time stretched on as he was left floating in this void, and he was bored. For some reason, despite being aware, he was unable to control any aspects of the dream.

Suddenly the black void was filled with a flash of light all the colours of the spectrum, a rainbow. It was accompanied shortly after by a tomboyish voice that seemed vaguely familiar to him.

"A-actually, I've got clouds to clear before sundown in an hour..."

The last few sounds echoed on in the darkness for what seemed like forever and Dan found a blush soon rising to his cheeks. He didn't know why, but something about that voice felt somewhat... attractive.

As the array of colour and that voice faded away, he found himself longing for more but despite his objections he was once again left with nothing but the darkness for company. Not for long, however.

After just mere moments of darkness again, he felt a force tugging him forwards, dragging him through the darkness towards an unknown destination. This tugging while interesting at first, eventually became nothing more than a distraction as Dan tried to think.

"What on earth did those colours mean? And why does that voice sound so..." A blush rose to his cheek as he thought again about that cute tomboyish voice, "familiar? Could they be connected somehow?"

He was brought out of his ruminations by a small pin-prick of light far off into the distance. Unlike the previous rainbow light, this one stayed and seemed to get brighter and brighter. It appeared that whatever force was dragging him was taking him towards the source of this light.

The closer he got to the light, the larger and brighter it got. Dan had to shield his eyes and before long he had to close them completely in fear of being made blind. Even through his eyelids, the light was bright and he was soon engulfed by it, the light surrounding him at every side. Then suddenly everything went black.

Slowly, Dan opened his eyes. Memories of rainbows and a voice filled his head as he began to wake up. Bright white light scorched his corneas, and he shielded his eyes. He lay still as he got adjusted to the new level of light and noticed objects near to him but he couldn't make out what they were. They seemed bleary and unfocused. He must of drunk enough to fell a small horse if his sight was this bad.

"Wheatley?!" He called out, his voice raspy and dry. There was no response.

"Wheately?" he called again, but silence was all that met him.

He lay still for a few moments as he wiped the sleep from his eyes, figuring out what to do.

"Well, I can't just stay here. Better get up and see if I can find some coffee and Wheatley."

With a plan, basic as it was, he sat up. He had barely moved from the surface he was lying on when his head made contact with some sort of object causing a great pain and knocking him back. He waited for the pain to subside before slowly raising his head again, this time being careful not to hurt himself. Once again his head made contact with something rather solid. He raised his hands hands and they were met with similar resistance.

He wondered what on earth it was holding him back, but as his breath began to frost the surface it dawned on him. Glass. He was stuck in what seemed to be a glass lidded coffin. Except the glass was curved and whatever he was lying on wasn't the typical cushioning that a coffin normally contained.

He ran his hands over the surface, trying to work out what it was when his hand came into contact with something round. He pushed hard against it and it moved, almost like a button. There was a click and with a rush the glass lid flipped up, granting him access to the outside world.

Slowly he managed to sit up and take in his surroundings. Where he appeared to be didn't seem to be his new home. He appeared to be in a white paneled room, and the nearby objects - a table, chair, toilet and radio - were well in focus. The blurring being nothing more than an affect of the glass. Two great white strip lights were placed in the ceiling, and two more on the opposite wall to where what appeared to be the bed capsule he had been in, framed a circular door.

He continued to study the room as he struggled to his feet, hoping to find anything he may have missed. There was nothing, the room was remarkably bare.

With nothing else to do, he clumsily walked over to the door, hoping to find out where he was and why he was here from anyone outside. Unfortunately, the door was locked, or at least there appeared no obvious way to open it. Other than a crack running down the center horizontally and a blue light affixed to the top, it was bare. Nothing to do but wait he guessed.

Confused and anxious, Dan walked over to the table, sat down on the chair and turned on the radio, maybe there would be some or a radio play to entertain him in the mean time. He switched through all the available frequencies, but no matter what he switched the dial to, all he got was static.

He through the radio across the room in frustration and it smashed against the wall, its remains scattering over the floor.

"Wise move, Dan," he thought to himself. "Now, in addition to your boredom, you have to watch where you're walking." Whoever it was that had brought him here had neglected to leave him any shoes.

Devoid of anything else to do, he checked over himself. Apart from his shoes and socks, he appeared to be wearing all the clothes from the night before. Alcohol and sweat stains included. He searched his pockets and found his house keys, his wallet and some loose change. Whoever it was that brought him here wasn't a thief it seemed.

He returned his stuff to his pockets and almost fell off the chair when a beep sounded through the room.

Test subject 51251351420:7 also known as "Ace" has been detected awake, begin waking welcome.

Dan was left confused as what sounded like a automated computer message finished. He wondered what the welcome could be when he was almost knocked off his chair a second time as a loud male voice rang through the room.

Is this on? What? Oh that's what the red light means? Very well. Greetings test subject, if you're hearing this then you have passed our selection process and have been chosen to participate in one of our many amazing tests. Here in our fabulous well stocked laboratories... the voice was interrupted by what appeared to be murmurings from off the mic. What? You mean the laboratories aren't well equipped? What happened to all the funding I gave you guys? More murmuring. You did what? That's it you're fired. Ahem, anyway here in our functioning laboratories you will be passed through a series of various tests depending on what stream you applied for. Do your best, regardless of the tasks ahead of you, the work you do is important to the advancement of science. Good luck, and remember, testing is the future and the future starts with you. ??? out. The final part of the message was corrupted so Dan couldn't hear who it was who had been speaking although whoever it was sounded familiar, a theme that seemed common to him today. Familiar and yet unknown. At least the corruption meant it was a recording which might explain why it was sounded like something he had heard before, maybe he had.

He shook his head, even if he had heard the person from the recording before he was still nowhere closer to working out where he was. Although why seemed rather clear. Whoever it was that brought him here obviously intended to put him through some kind of tests. He wasn't happy about that, but at the moment it seemed he had no choice but to comply. Whenever it was that the tests actually started that is.

Starting to get nervous about his fate, Dan almost had a heart attack the moment a second voice started throughout the room. Unlike the first voice however, this one sounded female.

"Hello, is this on? Hello, anyone in there?"

Dan was stunned into silence, he hesitated in answering fearing it was a recording and that he would look rather stupid.

"No one there? Just my luck, I finally get a living signal and they go and die on me."

"No, no I'm here. Don't worry." Dan responded quickly, the fear that whoever it was speaking would turn her attention elsewhere and leave him here spurring him on.

"Really? Oh you wouldn't believe how happy to hear that. For a moment I was thinking it might of been a computer glitch." The woman's voice was a mixture of nervousness and relief.

"Er, do you get those often?" For some reason Dan felt obliged to converse with the voice, after all it seemed his only hope of freedom.

"He he, usually? No. But recently? Well I guess the servers need replacing again."

"Right..."

"Anyway, luckily this time wasn't a computer glitch and you're really alive. You're are alive aren't you? You're no some sort of cyber zombie?"

"Cyber Zombie?!" Dan was more than a little bit worried about where he was. "No of course not, I'm real."

"That's good, right where that protocol list? Haven't done this in a long time."

He became even more worried, the fact that whoever was calling the shots hadn't done this in ages, and that the computers were braking down was hardly a confidence boost.

"Are you alright?"

"Yes, just searching for it.... Ahh, here it is." Whoever it was coughed before continuing. "Right, first say hello to the test subject? check. Introduce yourself to the test subject...? Right, okay. Greetings test subject, Ace. I'm Caroline, test coordinator for this facility. It seems you're down for test track... Three! Ooh this will be fun."

Dan was stunned by the sudden enthusiasm that had come over her.

"Right, I guess we better get started. On one of the walls of your chamber one of the panels should be opening to reveal a storage space." With a click and another gust of wind, one of the panels on the wall to his left opened up as described. "Inside should be a set of clothes as well as a set of boots for you to wear for the duration of your test. When you have put them on, you can put your own clothes back inside the storage chamber for safe keeping."

'Your own clothes?' Dan was suddenly came over with a wave of embarrassment.

"Is this really necessary?"

"Of course it is, it's to ensure that any results we get are reliable. Every single test subject to go through this course has worn a set of those clothes.  Don't tell me you're embarrassed of getting unchanged?"

"Well..."

Caroline gave a girlish giggle, "Don't worry, I'm not watching you at the moment. The closest camera I have to your position is in test chamber one. So don't worry, your modesty will be preserved." She finished her speaking with another set of giggling.

Red faced, Dan set about getting changed. Just in case she was lying and there were cameras in this room, he made sure to change his underwear with lightning speed. He finished getting dressed, placed his own clothes in the storage space and began to inspect himself. He stood in an orange jump suit lying over a white cotton shirt. His bare feet were now covered with black socks and a set of white boots that seemed to have a built in spring mechanism. He wouldn't admit it to anyone, but the clothes fit really well, providing plenty of comfort. They also looked pretty cool.

He was just looking down and fastening some buttons when his blood froze in his veins. On the front of the jumpsuit was a white bar with the name of the lab printed inside it. It couldn't be, how on earth could he be there. That place didn't exist, nor was it run by someone called Caroline.

Standing there, he was brought out of his shock by the sound of the panel closing shut on his clothes. Now he realized why he recognized the announcer and why the whole room seemed familar. It should be with how often he's seen this place through his computer.

The name on his jump suit simply read, Apeture.