Color to Simplicity

Chell coughed breathlessly as all the air was forced from her lungs; a sound nearly drowned out by the loud, unnerving, rattle of the metal beneath her.  Aged and unattended, the thin, weak, metal catwalk underneath her stunned body, trembled violently and cried from the abrupt weight that crashed against it.  

Chell laid flat on her back, the cold, neglected metal pressed against her bare arms, sending a chill through her as her mind wheeled from the impact and her lungs stretched across what seemed an impossible void, for the oxygen that eluded her.  

For seconds, she coughed and gasped as her mind came full circle and engaged.  The first thought clawed to the forefront of her mind and made her heart jump was, 'Where is the portal gun?'  The thought of dropping it in the fall made the faintest of breaths she had gained, catch in her throat.  Her head shot up just as her hand tightened around what she saw to be gun, still clutched in her hand.  She let out a relieved breath and rested her head back against the metal walkway, silently cursing herself for her clumsiness.

Suddenly, a frighteningly sharp shriek of straining metal rang out from the already shaking catwalk and her body stilled instinctively as every bit of attention keenly locked on the structure underneath her.  She waited for the quivering metal to become tranquil, but then suddenly, the bars that held it secure to the wall gave and the catwalk broke away.

Chell felt brief weightlessness as it fell a short distance, but then painful gravity returned and slammed her hard into the metal railing that saved her from falling another hundred feet as the last of the weak and old restrains, attached to the wall, caught the walkway.  A quick flash of pain spread across her back as the hard bars dug into her skin and through her white tank top; the pain feeling numb at first, but spreading quickly, making her wince even as she grasped at the bars for safety.

She knew the catwalk wouldn't hold much longer and all other things were cast from her attention as she scrambled for an idea.  

Her free hand shot out and grasped tightly at the edge of the walkway, clutching the cold metal in her fingers and pushing the soles of her shoes against the railing to pull herself up.  The catwalk screeched and whined at the movement, threatening to fall at any second.

Pulling herself into an odd standing position, her eyes darted around urgently as they tried to catch sight of a flat, white, portal compatible surface she could fire her portal gun at.  Her eyes searched only a moment before locking onto such a spot -- against a wall, beside a similar catwalk and high above her.

She raised the portal gun to align with the far above wall and squeezed the left half of her hand around the handle, firing the gun.  She absorbed the slight, audible recoil up her arm as the languid, orange matter shot across the cave and splashed against the stark wall surface, appearing as a perfectly oval, tangerine portal.

The catwalk quaked underneath her again and gave a little more.  She clutched hard on the metal railing as the restrains caught it again and brought it to an abrupt stop, nearly making Chell loose her hold.

She was running out of time.

She aimed the portal gun at the bleak, pasty wall beside her and squeezed the right half of the handle, this time firing a blue portal made of similar consistency as the first.  As it formed on the wall, an instant connection was established between the two and they opened from a simple, colored shape to a perfect window to each other.

She took a tight grip on the metal railing beside her and raised her foot to rest on it, preparing to leap into the portal, just as the catwalk broke away completely.  She took her last chance and pushed with all of her might, diving away from the walkway and plunging head first into the blue portal.  

The next thing she knew was pain blossoming in her shoulder as her body slammed into hard, cold, metal bars;  a screeching and a splash of water sounded below her.  The metal walkway underneath her body rattled with the sudden weight, but proved much stronger then the first and soon steadied.

She glanced down off the catwalk to see the other, broken metal walkway she had just escaped from, sink into the murky water below.

She breathed a sigh of relief and settled her head back against the metal bars, suddenly glad that GLaDOS -- in her potato form on the end of Chell's portal gun -- was still unconscious and silent.

What had gotten her into this predicament?  She had slipped when jumping to a portal and not managed to land on her feet.  Just another thing to add to her list of stupid moves -- a list that was getting progressively longer.  As she silently scolded herself for not doing the simplest of tasks, her mind couldn't help but wander to the largest of her mistakes.  Namely, the incident with Wheatley - the very reason she was here.  

Although she couldn't think of how she might have avoided it, her mind still couldn't let it go.  Maybe it was the puzzle solver in her -- unable to leave something until it was completely resolved.  

Chell knew Wheatley was just an AI - computer program meant to replicate a human being; but it didn't seem to matter, when she thought about it -- it was just information that existed, but she didn't care about.  He had a quirky personality to him that made him personable, friendly… charismatic even.  It made him seem human.

It made them an odd team -- the puzzle solver and the AI.  Wheatley had the plan -- if flying by the seat of your pants counts as a plan -- and she had the ability.  

In a way, he was just like her -- just as confused and not sure what to do, but willing and determined to try anyways, because that's what they were meant to do.  He was created to watch and take care of the test subjects, she was created to solve puzzles and test the portal gun.  Both of their sole purposes were for someone else's gain.  Maybe that was why she trusted him.  Maybe that's why she'd still trust him if he'd come to his senses.  

He had power, and he didn't want to give it up.  She could understand that.  But why'd he betray her?  Because it blinded him.  

She could tell something was terribly wrong the second his voice changed.  It was slight, but noticeable to her.  It deepened slightly from his normally friendly tone, and his words became more calculated, rather then spoken just as they came to mind.  She knew in that moment that something was wrong.

Never had she wished she had her voice so badly.  She wanted to plead with him and tell him to calm down.  Tell him that he could have the power and the control, but he had to slow down and think it out.  

Like her puzzles.  They made her think things out.  If she rushed into something without thinking out the options, she'd either be there for hours, jumping from one end of the room to the other with no idea how to get out, or she'd miscalculate and be shot by the turrets, burnt with the lasers or fall into the toxic vats.  Her body was littered with burns and cuts from her stubbornness.  The tests were easy at first, but got progressively harder and she had to use her head.  If she'd just calm down and think it out, everything would fall into place.

That's all Wheatley had to do.  Think it out.  Calm down, ease off the power rush and think.  But he wouldn't listen, and GLaDOS just kept taunting him.

She had a resentment against him -- how could she not?  Something deep inside her that weighed like a stone when she thought of how he turned on her.  But mostly she felt anxious - anxious to get out of this dark, open place and find Wheatley; anxious to talk to him.  Nervous that he wouldn't listen.

Chell shook her head in an effort to clear her thoughts and brought her mind back to the world around her.  Grasping at the metal railing, she pulled herself to her feet -- the springs on the back of her shoes making a strange sound against the metal, and bouncing slightly with her weight.  She held the portal gun in both hands; her mind and body fell into the familiar rhythm of looking for a solution to the puzzle at hand.  

The cavern stretched on forever around her -- dark, wet and massive.  It was a nice change from the confined, white rooms, but was a bit unnerving in the same sense.  In the testing chambers, she knew there was a solution to each puzzle, otherwise she wouldn't be there.  Here, there was no such guarantee.

Her eyes moved around her, looking for the signature white surface and caught sight of a piece, not far from her.  She backed up to get a clear shot and raised the portal gun.  

The process seemed simple, routine and unexciting to her by now.  Look, find, aim, fire, walk through; look, find, aim, fire, walk though… an ever reoccurring pattern; one that was only broken by moving into the next problem.  

Sometimes she wondered if her purpose was worth anything.

But Wheatley changed things.  He brought color and flavor to the tests, added a purpose to mindlessly solving puzzles - a chance to escape from it all.  He brought new hope with his idea of freedom…

She just hoped he'd listen to her; that he was sincere when he wanted to help her… she hoped more than anything that, unlike the cake, it wasn't a lie.