mewtwowarrior (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
mewtwowarrior) wrote2010-11-24 07:28 pm
mewtwowarrior) wrote2010-11-24 07:28 pm
Entry tags:
NaNoWriMo: Chapter 18
Just finished level 17/Chapter 18 of my Portal novelization! :D
This time, it was the Companion Cube level. I think it's one of my weaker chapters in describing things, a lot of it feels off.
I'd love any crit or comments on this chapter, thank you!
Chapter notes:
17
-I've lost 5 Companion Cubes now, just have run through the level for screenshots. Was able to take better ones this time.
-There's not a lot of crazy details to this level, so maybe it won't be crazy long like the turret one. XD
-Description of the first stairs is wonky, they're not really stairs but raised section of floor. They work like stairs though. :|
-I relied heavily on the wiki page to tell me what the scribblings said. They are kind of hard to read. I could make them out, but it was easier to use their text version of it. I did check the two against each other to make sure they were right.
-The descriptions of the concrete walls with all the writings on them seem awkward somehow.
-Description of the poster is wonky, but it looks weird, so I don't know how to describe it. XD
-Didn't describe the light or what the other half of the hidden room really looked like, is this okay?
-Some descriptions are odd sounding or there's a bit of repetition of words from one sentence to the next. :|
-Description of platform hopping is wonky.
-So many wonky/weak descriptions of things, argh!
-Make that 7 Companion Cubes lost. XD
-Is Chell's musings in the elevator necessary?
-Having some was/were issues with the grammar checker, need help with that. :|
-Outside resources:
http://half-life.wikia.com/wiki/Doug_Rattmann
I once read something where somebody brought up that the Companion Cube cannot pass through the Grid. Unfortunately, I can't remember where this was.
Chell remained sitting on the elevator's floor quite some time after the doors open. It's possible she could have dozed off for a few minutes, exhausted by her ordeal.
After a while, she opened her eyes. These tests weren't going to solve themselves. She needed to get on with it. There were only a few more to the end. It didn't matter if the cake was a lie or not, she just would like to be done risking her life in these tests.
From her position in the floor, she looked out to the next test chamber to see what lied in wait.
The only things of interest she could see was a cylinder full of cubes and a window on a wall somewhere behind it.
Chell picked herself up and walked out of the elevator, the sooner she started this test, the sooner it'd be over.
She walked down a metal hallway, when she got close to the room, the voice spoke, "The Vital Apparatus Vent will deliver a Weighted Companion Cube in Three. Two. One."
After the voice said 'One.' there was a hissing rush of air as the cylinder opened and the cube inside fell to the ground.
The voice had called it a Companion Cube, what made it different from any other cube that she had already used?
She took a closer look at the cube. Instead of that symbol in a circle that had been on the cubes previously, this one had a white circle with a pink heart inside on the middle of each side of the cube. The only other difference was that the lines that came from each side of the circle in the middle were pink instead of blue.
That was it? Sticking hearts on a cube made it into a Companion Cube? As far as she was concerned, it was just another cube.
On the ground in front of where it had fallen were two lighted squares next to each other. The first was the warning picture of the cube falling out of a cylinder. The second one was new; it showed a stick figure holding a cube with a heart floating next to their head.
The real Companion Cube was bigger than the one the picture showed, unless the stick figure pictured was a giant. The cube came up to her waist, just like the other ones did. If she was to pick it up with her hands, it'd be awkward and ungainly. She'd just stick to lifting it with the portal gun.
On the wall to the right of the cube was an information board. It had a giant number 17 on it, counting this test, there'd be 3 left before the end. She could do this.
Four of the hazard squares were highlighted; they were the first four on the top row. They were the two about the cubes and the two about the Pellets. Nothing new or insanely dangerous and no robots would be present. That was a relief. Maybe this test was sort of a break after the last, harrowing one.
Chell ignored the cube for now; she didn't want to have to lug it around until she was ready for it. Sometimes it was hard to see around the cubes she lifted with the portal gun.
She exited the cube room and went into the next. There was a window on the back wall. It lead to a thin room with a red button on the floor.
On the wall across from the window was a window to another room. She couldn't see much of the other room, but Chell thought she saw a Pellet collector in there.
She turned to her right. The entire room from floor to ceiling was made of metal and there was a couple of stairs created by the metal blocks that made up the room. However, these stairs were too tall for her to climb up on. She'd have to use the cube to get up them.
Chell turned around and headed back to the previous room. The cube was near the door, so it was an easy matter to get to and lift up.
As soon as she had lifted the cube up, the voice spoke again, "This Weighted Companion Cube will accompany you through the test chamber. Please take care of it."
That was interesting. Chell guessed they wouldn't give you another cube if you messed up this time, so that's why you had to take care of it. They seemed pretty sturdy though, except if you stuck them in a Grid. She'd be just fine.
She went back to the other room and brought the cube over to the stairs. One section of the lowest area stuck out next to the wall to her right, so she brought the cube and dropped it down in front of it.
Chell clambered on top of the cube and then easily to the landing. She leaned down and used the gun to snatch the cube and brought it up with her.
She took several steps before reaching the second stair, then placed the cube in front of it. Once again she climbed up the cube and then up the stair, then leaned over to pick the cube up and bring it with her.
So far, this test wasn't too bad at all.
There were walls to the front and right, so the way to continue had to be to the left. Sure enough, there was a small hallway with an arrow pointing to the left down it.
However, on the ground was a warning against Pellets.
The hallway was metal as well, except for a concrete wall that already had burn marks from a Pellet bouncing off of it.
The hallway was small and dangerous, she couldn't tell how long it was and wasn't going to risk getting hit by a Pellet to find out.
How could she pass it? There wasn't a way to redirect the Pellet, and even if she did, once it exploded, a new one would be formed.
What about the cube? Was it sturdy enough to hold up to the Pellet? Well, it was her only option at this point.
Since the cube hovered a couple feet away from her body, Chell could stick it in the hallway without risk to herself.
She slowly walked forward and positioned the cube level with the burn mark. After a moment, a Pellet came sailing down the hallway; it hit the cube and bounced off, leaving a burn mark. Otherwise, the cube was perfectly fine.
So, she could use it as a shield. If she left as soon as the Pellet bounced off the wall and held the cube in front of her, she could get through just fine.
Chell waited for a Pellet to hit the wall, then she quickly walked down the hallway after it, holding the cube directly in front of her to block it, should it come back.
Several steps down the hallway, the ground felt different under her feet. She was now standing on some sort of window. Chell didn't really look at it though, she wanted out of this hallway as soon as possible. The longer she was in it, the greater the chance the Pellet was going to hit her.
She passed an arrow on the wall and the Pellet bounced off the cube. Then, the voice spoke to her yet again, "The symptoms most commonly produced by Enrichment Center testing are superstition, perceiving inanimate objects as alive, and hallucinations.
The Enrichment Center reminds you that the Weighted Companion Cube will never threaten to stab you and, in fact, cannot speak."
That was pretty strange; she'd have to think more on that once she was safely out of the hallway. She turned her attention back to the test.
As she got closer to the end, the Pellet bounced off the cube more and more, until it went flying around the room beyond randomly.
Finally, she reached some stairs and walked down them, keeping a close eye on the Pellet as it bounced around. Eventually it exploded and she walked down the last few steps. The Pellet couldn't reach her since she was too low and no longer in the path of the dispenser.
There was another dispenser to the right and a little bit higher than the first. It was also pointed down a narrow hallway up some stairs. So she'd have to go through this again.
What would be the best way to go about this? She figured it'd probably be safer to follow after the Pellet and bounce it against the cube if it came back. She hoped that it would last long enough that a new one wouldn't be sent flying at her unprotected back. The hallway was too thin for her to easily turn around with a cube.
Chell walked to the bottom of the stairs and looked up, waiting for the right moment. The Pellet could make it down the hallway once, come back, and then make it again partially before blowing up. That should be enough time.
As soon as the Pellet passed by overhead, Chell quickly walked up the stairs and started down the second thin hallway.
She had gotten about two-thirds down the hallway when the Pellet came back and bounced against the cube. She took several more steps and it bounced off again.
Chell was now at the top of some stairs; the Pellet bounced again and went back and forth until it exploded. Once it was gone, she quickly walked down the stairs, knowing there would be a new one come flying down the hallway at any second.
She stood at a landing that had stairs to her left. She walked down them and found herself in a tiny room with a doorway to the left.
Chell walked through the doorway and found herself on a ledge in a larger room.
To her left was a window with a button on the floor, that must be what she saw from that room earlier. It was in an odd place, she guessed that the room would loop back to it again somehow.
She put the cube down to get a better look at things. The ledge she was on pointed out to the right and straight ahead.
Chell walked over to the edge of the right side and looked down. Below was a series of glass platforms in the ground that went off to the right. There were three of them and each one had a square with one, two, or three dots in front of it.
So, there were probably three tasks needed to be done in order to raise the lifts.
From her perch, she could see a doorway to the left, a doorway in front of her, and a Pellet collector off to the right and above the doorway straight ahead.
The Pellet catcher was on a slanted section of wall across from another slanted section. It beamed an orange light onto the ceiling.
If Chell placed a portal on the ceiling, at the spot that the collector shone on, the Pellet would just bounce to the ground. But, if she put it on the slanted section opposite the collector, it might just bounce in. It was worth a try, anyways.
She placed a portal on the middle section of the slanted wall on the left. Now she'd just have to go back to the previous room and use the Pellet in there.
Chell turned around and went through the doorway and looked up the stairs. She could see the scorched impact points the Pellet had left on the wall, so she waited to see which one the Pellet bounced off of, then placed a portal on that section.
She then walked back through the doorway and out into the bigger room so that she could see if she had done this right.
The Pellet flew out of the portal, bounced once off the ceiling and neatly into the collector.
The first platform rose up from the ground and stopped when it was level with the floor she was standing on.
Once that was done, she decided to go to the door on the right and see what puzzle awaited her there. Chell grabbed the companion cube and hopped off the ledge.
It took just a moment for her to regain her balance after jumping off; once she was steady she walked over to the door. From what she could see, the room was made completely of metal.
The hallway she entered went off to the right then widened out into a slightly bigger room. Chell turned and saw that on the wall opposite the opening had a Pellet collector. A moment later, she saw and heard a Pellet come whizzing by and bounced off the right wall, then went back to its previous destination.
Since all the walls were metal, she couldn't use portals to direct it where she needed it to go. However, the Pellets bounced off the cube harmlessly, so she could maneuver the Pellet to bounce into the catcher.
She edged the cube over to the Pellet in midflight. She didn't see what happened entirely, but the Pellet bounced off the cube and into the catcher.
As soon as the catcher activated, the voice addressed her, "The Enrichment Center reminds you that the Weighted Companion Cube cannot speak. In the event that the Weighted Companion Cube does speak, the Enrichment Center urges you to disregard its advice."
Chell raised her eyebrow slightly at this. Why would they need to mention that? The cube is an inanimate object, there's no way it could speak. It was made of metal.
No matter, she turned and headed back out into the main room.
The second platform directly across from where she was standing was lifted up. Only one platform left.
She happened to glance to the side and found that two panels of concrete were stuck out a little from the wall and that there was a handprint on the normal wall beside it.
The other person had made a hideout here as well? She walked over to take a better look.
This time, the opening wasn't big enough for her to get through completely, but she could stick the portal gun inside. This room was split by the beam that extended the wall, but she could only see the left side.
The left side of the room looked like it had writings on all the lower sections of walls, so she put a portal on one of the higher sections, so it wouldn't be in her way.
Chell then backed out and put a portal on a nearby wall, then stepped through it.
She fell the small distance into the room and started to look around. She'd check out the more interesting left side first, then make her way over to the right.
This room wasn't as cozy as the previous one, there was no light from the outside and she didn't see anything the other person could have used as a bed.
The floor was a mess, there were all sorts of miscellaneous papers strewn about and there were several cans of beans and one carton of milk.
More interestingly, there were two of the cameras in the middle of the floor and two more up against the walls. She had gotten used to the cameras and had forgotten that they were watching her.
She hadn't thought of taking them off the walls, but she supposed if you placed a portal just right, it would no longer be attached.
Chell walked over and picked up the two cameras against the wall one at a time with the portal gun and dumped them with the others. When they were resting on the wall, they were blocking some of the writings.
There were writings all over the place. Maybe they had spent more time here than in the other chamber. Though, if they had spent one hundred and eighty days in the other, how long had they been here?
Chell started looking at the piece of wall closest to the entrance. It didn't have as much written on it as the others did.
The person who had made this room had used something red to draw a camera and wrote on the left of it 'BEEP' and to the right it said 'SHE'S WATCHING YOU'.
Did this mean that there really was a person overseeing everything? Did the person in here previously know her? Or was he making assumptions based on the voice that instructed them?
Maybe she'd get more answers with some of the other writings. She moved to the next portion of wall.
This part of the wall was absolutely covered from top to bottom with pictures and words. In the middle were three pictures of what appeared to be guys, though it was hard to tell as the maker of the room had taped pictures of the Companion Cube over their faces.
The effect of the pictures was rather bizarre, it looked like that the person before had been fond of the cube. Where had these pictures come from, anyways?
She had to stand on her tippy-toes and crane her neck upwards in order to read the words written up top. They were smudged and at points hard to read, but she was able to figure it out. The first part stated, 'The Vital Apparatus Vent will deliver. oh it WILL'
Chell wasn't sure what to make of that, the Companion Cube had been dropped by the Vital Apparatus Vent, did the person before want another one?
The next part looped around the pictures, it looked like some kind of lumpy heart of words. It took her a moment to find the beginning of the first sentence, as the words were sloppy and smudged. The first sentence said, 'The weighted companion cube DOES speak.'
Okay, that solved that, the person who had come before her had believed the cube spoke. The person was obviously crazy, no matter how helpful they had been previously.
The next section was longer as part of it made the bottom of the heart, 'Superstition, perceiving inanimate objects as alive, and hallucinations I'm not hallucinating. You are. The companion cube would never desert me. Dessert. So long... Cake. Ha ha Cake. A lie. The companion cube would never lie to me'. The words had spilled over at times to the next part of the wall, so it was hard to tell if the last bit was part of this tirade or not, it simply read in large letters 'NEVER'.
That had been a somewhat disturbing read. They had written the warnings that had been given at the beginning of this chamber, so the warnings weren't in place because of this person; these problems had popped up before. This person seemed to honestly believe that the Companion Cube could talk and that the voice was lying. She couldn't argue the fact that the voice could be lying, but she knew the cube would never speak. The person had brought up cake again and that it was a lie, but did they have any proof of this? They hadn't left this chamber at the time of writing this, so they wouldn't know either way.
Below the rather wordy ramble was a drawn box, in it was written, 'login: cjohnson' and below that, 'password: tier3'. Was cjohnson the username of the person who had written this? What was the username and password for?
Next to the box was written in red, 'Trust Me'. The person had shown her how to defeat the nasty robots, so she had already trusted them; however, the writings had seemed saner in the previous room.
Below one of the pictures, written in red was, 'R.I.P.'
The next piece of concrete was less busy, though some of the words from the paragraph curved up the wall.
The main thing on this concrete slab was a calendar. The picture up at the top featured a girl in a red bikini and sitting on a lift. Her face was covered up by a picture of the Companion Cube.
The bottom part said 'THE GIRLS OF APERTURE SCIENCE' and below that, it looked to say, 'No One Owns The Future Yet'. It was dated September 1983. Was this current? The calendar looked worn, so she doubted that it was. She still had no idea what year it even was, though.
To the left of the calendar was a single red heart and to the right were five more hearts that went from the top of the concrete slab to the bottom of the calendar.
The next section of concrete was on the right wall. It simply had a large red 'HELP' at the bottom.
The piece of concrete next to that was more colorful. There were ten pictures of the Companion Cube situated around the test chamber. There were four red hears and one black one placed around the pictures.
Finally, interspersed around the pictures were the words 'Where are you? I will find you.' Had the person lost their Companion Cube? How? It was clearly there in the pictures.
The piece of concrete next to that had more words and only a single picture. It was the last section of concrete on this wall. Near the top, it said, 'COMPANION CUBE' in alternating colors of red and black. To the right of this was a black heart.
Next were several sentences that snaked around a poster. The poster had a stick figure with a Companion Cube that was taped over its head. The stick figure was pointing with one hand to their other hand. Below this, it said, 'Not Never But NOW'.
Above and flowing down to the right of the poster read, 'you said to take care of it.'
Down the left and below the poster, it continued, 'How can I you wouldn't let me. I should disregard your advice. Leave me alone!"
Chell remembered that she had been told to take care of the Companion Cube, but these words seemed to indicate that something had happened and the voice had changed. Why else would these words say 'you wouldn't let me'?
There was a red heart to the left of the previous statement and a black one below it.
Underneath the black heart was two words written in red and underlined, it said 'STOP WATCHING'.
Below this were a handful of sentences, 'Though earth and man are gone. I thought the cube would last forever. I WAS WRONG'.
That definitely indicated something was going to happen to the Companion Cube, but what? The person before thought it spoke to them, no wonder they were upset if something happened to it.
Well, the cube, if it was like the others, couldn't pass through the Grid anyways. Maybe the person had accidentally vaporized it without thinking. There had been a Grid after all the other tests; this one would probably be no different.
She turned her attention to the back wall and the scribblings upon it.
The first piece of concrete had a medium sized picture near the top. There were several people in the picture watching a TV. Like all the pictures in the room, the people's heads were replaced with Companion Cubes.
Underneath the picture was written:
'Because I could not stop for Death,
He kindly stopped for me
The cube had food and
maybe ammo
And immortality.'
The person believed the Companion Cube had food and ammo? They had gotten food before the cube, so where did they get the idea it came from the cube? And the ammo, what would they have done with ammo without a gun to use it with. Did they have a gun? That could be useful if they did.
Below the poem were two red question marks above a drawn cube. Instead of a heart in the middle was what looked like to be a skull. To the right of the skull cube was the word 'Why?' written eighteen times with ten red question marks on the row underneath.
The next slab of concrete looked to be the last with anything substantial on it. On the top, it said:
'Not in cruelty,
Not in wrath,
The REAPER came today;
An ANGEL visited
this gray path,
And took the cube away.'
Underneath this was a picture of the Companion Cube with a halo drawn above it and wings drawn to both sides.
So the person believed the cube was now an angel, so it was somehow 'killed.' She'll have to remember that.
The piece of concrete next to that one had just a sole handprint in the bottom right corner.
There was nothing more on this side, so Chell fired a portal on the back wall next to the corner on the upper part of the other half of the room, then placed a portal on the wall in front of her and walked through.
Only the two slabs of concrete on the back wall were adorned by the previous inhabitant.
The first one that had the cake poster that had been in the other hidden room and a handprint at the bottom of the concrete. The other one had a handprint next to the poster.
That seemed to be it for this room; it had given her quite a lot to think about. Chell walked back to the exit and poked the portal gun out, firing at the wall across from her. She then turned around and fired a portal at the back wall. Once it was in place, she walked over to it, then through it, and back out into the main area once more.
She still had one more task to complete and one door to go through in this room. She used the portal gun to grab the Companion Cube and walked over to the final room.
Chell stood in the doorway, looking over the room. It was made entirely out of metal. A few steps from the doorway was a red button on the ground. Several feet behind the button was a door.
She dropped the cube onto the button to see what would happen. The doors opened up to reveal another door. Chell picked up the cube and headed towards the back of the room, following the power line on the right wall.
Behind the second door and attached to the blue power line was a Pellet collector. She'd have to use the first Pellet she had encountered at the beginning of the chamber.
Chell walked around behind the door and found that there was a button on a raised piece of floor next to the door.
She couldn't climb up on it without the cube, so she'd had to use the gun to lift it up to the button.
Chell maneuvered the cube and placed it up on the button. The second door opened.
She left the cube where it was and went back to the first button, walking around the second.
Chell stepped onto the button and the first door opened. She could look back through both doors and see the Pellet collector.
This wasn't going to be easy to do; the button was in front of the doorway where the Pellet would have to come through. In order to stay safe, she'd have to hit the button right after the Pellet flew past her. If she messed up, it would bounce off the door and fly back to vaporize her. Even though it was dangerous, she didn't see any other way this would work.
Chell turned around and looked out the doorway. Straight across from where she was were the extended pieces of concrete that the secret room was hidden behind. She'd have to place a portal on them in order to line the Pellet up with the collector.
Chell could see a faint orange light shining in the middle of the square that the two sections of concrete made from the collector. She fired a portal right at the spot and walked out of the room towards it.
She paused in the middle of the main section to put a portal on the upper section of the room, close to the doorway.
Chell walked through the bottom portal and came out up top. She turned and walked through the doorway. She made her way up the stairs and down the long hallway. Chell then went down the short staircase into the room with the two Pellet dispensers.
She watched as a Pellet was launched and was sent flying down the hallway.
Chell fired a portal at the scorch marks it left when bouncing off the concrete wall.
Once the portal was in place, she turned around back the way she came, eventually coming out into the main room.
She walked over to the side of the ledge, looking down. She hopped off to the left side of the extended walls and made her way over to the doorway.
Chell would wait for the Pellet to be on its way back before she walked in to get into position.
After several minutes, it came out of the portal, flew into the room, bounced off of the door and went back the way it came.
She quickly walked into the doorway and stood on the left side of the button, waiting for the right moment.
The Pellet blasted by at face level, as soon as it was past, she stepped onto the button to activate the door.
The doors opened and the Pellet flew through, landing neatly into the collector.
Chell made her way to the back of the room to retrieve the Companion Cube. She lifted it up off the button and took it out to the main room.
The third platform was now raised, so she could get to the next section.
She dropped the cube for a moment, so that she could fire a portal on the upper level.
Once it was in place, she picked up the Companion Cube and walked through the portal on the bottom floor.
Chell exited out of the higher portal close to where the first platform was. She walked to the edge and hopped onto it.
So far, so good. However, the cube was slightly obstructing her vision; she would have to move it so she could see the distance between platforms.
There was a greater space between them than the minor gap she had just jumped. But, it didn't look like it'd be too much of a problem.
She hopped to the next one without any troubles and easily leapt from there over to the third.
From here, there was a hallway to the right, with the ground level below the top of the platform. Because it was lower, it'd be an easier jump to make.
After she decided how to approach the gap, Chell jumped down into the hallway.
The hallway was made of metal. After several feet, it turned to the right. She walked down it and went around the corner.
A few feet in front of her were some stairs. At the top of the staircase was an exit sign. Was she close to the end of the test?
Chell walked up the stairs and into a small room with glass walls and ceiling and a concrete floor. In the middle of the floor was a red button.
On the other side of the room were also some stairs that went down into another small room. On the wall she could see of this room was a door that seemed to be connected to the button at her feet, but it didn't have an exit sign.
She dropped the cube on top of the button to see what would happen.
As soon as the cube hit the button, the voice spoke, "You did it! The Weighted Companion Cube certainly brought you good luck. However, it cannot accompany you for the rest of the test and, unfortunately, must be euthanized. Please escort your Companion Cube to the Aperture Science Emergency Intelligence Incinerator."
Ah, this must be what the person had written about, the great tragedy that befell the Companion Cube. It didn't make much sense to incinerate the cube; it couldn't pass through the Grid. Why not leave it for the next test person? It seemed a waste.
Oh well. The doors across the way had opened up, so Chell headed down the stairs and into the next room.
The left wall of the room held the exit door. The right side of the room consisted of a giant, circular object that had a tiny opening in the middle. Around the top of the rim of the object it said 'CAUTION' in faint letters.
Below this object were two lit squares on the ground. The first one was the picture of the stick figure holding the Companion Cube, however this time the heart was broken. The square to the right of it showed the circular object with a large flame coming out of it and an exclamation mark in the upper right corner.
That must be the incinerator, but if fire came out of the top, she didn't want to get too close. But, everything was made of metal, so she couldn't use portals to dump the cube.
To the incinerator's left was a window that had a stick with a button on top behind it. That must be how to operate it.
Chell walked through the door to the small room and stood at the window. She reached out her left hand and pressed the button.
The incinerator opened and clouds of steam were rushing out of it. She heard a ticking noise that meant she didn't have much time.
Chell rushed out of the room and up the stairs. She then grabbed the cube off of the button and hurried back down, making her way towards the incinerator.
In front of the gaping maw, the heat was oppressive. Chell hit the button on the portal gun and dropped the Companion Cube into the unforgiving flame pit below.
As the cube tumbled in, the voice addressed her, "You euthanized your faithful Companion Cube more quickly than any test subject on record. Congratulations."
She turned around and found that the doors behind her were now open. She made her way down the short hallway, through the Grid and onto the elevator.
Chell leaned against the back wall of the elevator as the doors closed and it headed to the next destination.
That had been quite an interesting test. Thinking back on the scribblings of the person before her and how the mourned the loss of the Companion Cube, was that what the previously mentioned 'grief counseling' was for?
It hadn't bothered her, though. It was just a cube. But, she could see how a person who believed the cube talked, among other things if the writings were to be believed, would be traumatized by throwing it into the fire.
She hadn't seen the other person, so they must have finally gone on to the next chamber at some point in time. Maybe she'd see them when she got there, who knew.
Chapter Word Count: 5,889
Total Word Count: 41,843
This time, it was the Companion Cube level. I think it's one of my weaker chapters in describing things, a lot of it feels off.
I'd love any crit or comments on this chapter, thank you!
Chapter notes:
17
-I've lost 5 Companion Cubes now, just have run through the level for screenshots. Was able to take better ones this time.
-There's not a lot of crazy details to this level, so maybe it won't be crazy long like the turret one. XD
-Description of the first stairs is wonky, they're not really stairs but raised section of floor. They work like stairs though. :|
-I relied heavily on the wiki page to tell me what the scribblings said. They are kind of hard to read. I could make them out, but it was easier to use their text version of it. I did check the two against each other to make sure they were right.
-The descriptions of the concrete walls with all the writings on them seem awkward somehow.
-Description of the poster is wonky, but it looks weird, so I don't know how to describe it. XD
-Didn't describe the light or what the other half of the hidden room really looked like, is this okay?
-Some descriptions are odd sounding or there's a bit of repetition of words from one sentence to the next. :|
-Description of platform hopping is wonky.
-So many wonky/weak descriptions of things, argh!
-Make that 7 Companion Cubes lost. XD
-Is Chell's musings in the elevator necessary?
-Having some was/were issues with the grammar checker, need help with that. :|
-Outside resources:
http://half-life.wikia.com/wiki/Doug_Rattmann
I once read something where somebody brought up that the Companion Cube cannot pass through the Grid. Unfortunately, I can't remember where this was.
Chell remained sitting on the elevator's floor quite some time after the doors open. It's possible she could have dozed off for a few minutes, exhausted by her ordeal.
After a while, she opened her eyes. These tests weren't going to solve themselves. She needed to get on with it. There were only a few more to the end. It didn't matter if the cake was a lie or not, she just would like to be done risking her life in these tests.
From her position in the floor, she looked out to the next test chamber to see what lied in wait.
The only things of interest she could see was a cylinder full of cubes and a window on a wall somewhere behind it.
Chell picked herself up and walked out of the elevator, the sooner she started this test, the sooner it'd be over.
She walked down a metal hallway, when she got close to the room, the voice spoke, "The Vital Apparatus Vent will deliver a Weighted Companion Cube in Three. Two. One."
After the voice said 'One.' there was a hissing rush of air as the cylinder opened and the cube inside fell to the ground.
The voice had called it a Companion Cube, what made it different from any other cube that she had already used?
She took a closer look at the cube. Instead of that symbol in a circle that had been on the cubes previously, this one had a white circle with a pink heart inside on the middle of each side of the cube. The only other difference was that the lines that came from each side of the circle in the middle were pink instead of blue.
That was it? Sticking hearts on a cube made it into a Companion Cube? As far as she was concerned, it was just another cube.
On the ground in front of where it had fallen were two lighted squares next to each other. The first was the warning picture of the cube falling out of a cylinder. The second one was new; it showed a stick figure holding a cube with a heart floating next to their head.
The real Companion Cube was bigger than the one the picture showed, unless the stick figure pictured was a giant. The cube came up to her waist, just like the other ones did. If she was to pick it up with her hands, it'd be awkward and ungainly. She'd just stick to lifting it with the portal gun.
On the wall to the right of the cube was an information board. It had a giant number 17 on it, counting this test, there'd be 3 left before the end. She could do this.
Four of the hazard squares were highlighted; they were the first four on the top row. They were the two about the cubes and the two about the Pellets. Nothing new or insanely dangerous and no robots would be present. That was a relief. Maybe this test was sort of a break after the last, harrowing one.
Chell ignored the cube for now; she didn't want to have to lug it around until she was ready for it. Sometimes it was hard to see around the cubes she lifted with the portal gun.
She exited the cube room and went into the next. There was a window on the back wall. It lead to a thin room with a red button on the floor.
On the wall across from the window was a window to another room. She couldn't see much of the other room, but Chell thought she saw a Pellet collector in there.
She turned to her right. The entire room from floor to ceiling was made of metal and there was a couple of stairs created by the metal blocks that made up the room. However, these stairs were too tall for her to climb up on. She'd have to use the cube to get up them.
Chell turned around and headed back to the previous room. The cube was near the door, so it was an easy matter to get to and lift up.
As soon as she had lifted the cube up, the voice spoke again, "This Weighted Companion Cube will accompany you through the test chamber. Please take care of it."
That was interesting. Chell guessed they wouldn't give you another cube if you messed up this time, so that's why you had to take care of it. They seemed pretty sturdy though, except if you stuck them in a Grid. She'd be just fine.
She went back to the other room and brought the cube over to the stairs. One section of the lowest area stuck out next to the wall to her right, so she brought the cube and dropped it down in front of it.
Chell clambered on top of the cube and then easily to the landing. She leaned down and used the gun to snatch the cube and brought it up with her.
She took several steps before reaching the second stair, then placed the cube in front of it. Once again she climbed up the cube and then up the stair, then leaned over to pick the cube up and bring it with her.
So far, this test wasn't too bad at all.
There were walls to the front and right, so the way to continue had to be to the left. Sure enough, there was a small hallway with an arrow pointing to the left down it.
However, on the ground was a warning against Pellets.
The hallway was metal as well, except for a concrete wall that already had burn marks from a Pellet bouncing off of it.
The hallway was small and dangerous, she couldn't tell how long it was and wasn't going to risk getting hit by a Pellet to find out.
How could she pass it? There wasn't a way to redirect the Pellet, and even if she did, once it exploded, a new one would be formed.
What about the cube? Was it sturdy enough to hold up to the Pellet? Well, it was her only option at this point.
Since the cube hovered a couple feet away from her body, Chell could stick it in the hallway without risk to herself.
She slowly walked forward and positioned the cube level with the burn mark. After a moment, a Pellet came sailing down the hallway; it hit the cube and bounced off, leaving a burn mark. Otherwise, the cube was perfectly fine.
So, she could use it as a shield. If she left as soon as the Pellet bounced off the wall and held the cube in front of her, she could get through just fine.
Chell waited for a Pellet to hit the wall, then she quickly walked down the hallway after it, holding the cube directly in front of her to block it, should it come back.
Several steps down the hallway, the ground felt different under her feet. She was now standing on some sort of window. Chell didn't really look at it though, she wanted out of this hallway as soon as possible. The longer she was in it, the greater the chance the Pellet was going to hit her.
She passed an arrow on the wall and the Pellet bounced off the cube. Then, the voice spoke to her yet again, "The symptoms most commonly produced by Enrichment Center testing are superstition, perceiving inanimate objects as alive, and hallucinations.
The Enrichment Center reminds you that the Weighted Companion Cube will never threaten to stab you and, in fact, cannot speak."
That was pretty strange; she'd have to think more on that once she was safely out of the hallway. She turned her attention back to the test.
As she got closer to the end, the Pellet bounced off the cube more and more, until it went flying around the room beyond randomly.
Finally, she reached some stairs and walked down them, keeping a close eye on the Pellet as it bounced around. Eventually it exploded and she walked down the last few steps. The Pellet couldn't reach her since she was too low and no longer in the path of the dispenser.
There was another dispenser to the right and a little bit higher than the first. It was also pointed down a narrow hallway up some stairs. So she'd have to go through this again.
What would be the best way to go about this? She figured it'd probably be safer to follow after the Pellet and bounce it against the cube if it came back. She hoped that it would last long enough that a new one wouldn't be sent flying at her unprotected back. The hallway was too thin for her to easily turn around with a cube.
Chell walked to the bottom of the stairs and looked up, waiting for the right moment. The Pellet could make it down the hallway once, come back, and then make it again partially before blowing up. That should be enough time.
As soon as the Pellet passed by overhead, Chell quickly walked up the stairs and started down the second thin hallway.
She had gotten about two-thirds down the hallway when the Pellet came back and bounced against the cube. She took several more steps and it bounced off again.
Chell was now at the top of some stairs; the Pellet bounced again and went back and forth until it exploded. Once it was gone, she quickly walked down the stairs, knowing there would be a new one come flying down the hallway at any second.
She stood at a landing that had stairs to her left. She walked down them and found herself in a tiny room with a doorway to the left.
Chell walked through the doorway and found herself on a ledge in a larger room.
To her left was a window with a button on the floor, that must be what she saw from that room earlier. It was in an odd place, she guessed that the room would loop back to it again somehow.
She put the cube down to get a better look at things. The ledge she was on pointed out to the right and straight ahead.
Chell walked over to the edge of the right side and looked down. Below was a series of glass platforms in the ground that went off to the right. There were three of them and each one had a square with one, two, or three dots in front of it.
So, there were probably three tasks needed to be done in order to raise the lifts.
From her perch, she could see a doorway to the left, a doorway in front of her, and a Pellet collector off to the right and above the doorway straight ahead.
The Pellet catcher was on a slanted section of wall across from another slanted section. It beamed an orange light onto the ceiling.
If Chell placed a portal on the ceiling, at the spot that the collector shone on, the Pellet would just bounce to the ground. But, if she put it on the slanted section opposite the collector, it might just bounce in. It was worth a try, anyways.
She placed a portal on the middle section of the slanted wall on the left. Now she'd just have to go back to the previous room and use the Pellet in there.
Chell turned around and went through the doorway and looked up the stairs. She could see the scorched impact points the Pellet had left on the wall, so she waited to see which one the Pellet bounced off of, then placed a portal on that section.
She then walked back through the doorway and out into the bigger room so that she could see if she had done this right.
The Pellet flew out of the portal, bounced once off the ceiling and neatly into the collector.
The first platform rose up from the ground and stopped when it was level with the floor she was standing on.
Once that was done, she decided to go to the door on the right and see what puzzle awaited her there. Chell grabbed the companion cube and hopped off the ledge.
It took just a moment for her to regain her balance after jumping off; once she was steady she walked over to the door. From what she could see, the room was made completely of metal.
The hallway she entered went off to the right then widened out into a slightly bigger room. Chell turned and saw that on the wall opposite the opening had a Pellet collector. A moment later, she saw and heard a Pellet come whizzing by and bounced off the right wall, then went back to its previous destination.
Since all the walls were metal, she couldn't use portals to direct it where she needed it to go. However, the Pellets bounced off the cube harmlessly, so she could maneuver the Pellet to bounce into the catcher.
She edged the cube over to the Pellet in midflight. She didn't see what happened entirely, but the Pellet bounced off the cube and into the catcher.
As soon as the catcher activated, the voice addressed her, "The Enrichment Center reminds you that the Weighted Companion Cube cannot speak. In the event that the Weighted Companion Cube does speak, the Enrichment Center urges you to disregard its advice."
Chell raised her eyebrow slightly at this. Why would they need to mention that? The cube is an inanimate object, there's no way it could speak. It was made of metal.
No matter, she turned and headed back out into the main room.
The second platform directly across from where she was standing was lifted up. Only one platform left.
She happened to glance to the side and found that two panels of concrete were stuck out a little from the wall and that there was a handprint on the normal wall beside it.
The other person had made a hideout here as well? She walked over to take a better look.
This time, the opening wasn't big enough for her to get through completely, but she could stick the portal gun inside. This room was split by the beam that extended the wall, but she could only see the left side.
The left side of the room looked like it had writings on all the lower sections of walls, so she put a portal on one of the higher sections, so it wouldn't be in her way.
Chell then backed out and put a portal on a nearby wall, then stepped through it.
She fell the small distance into the room and started to look around. She'd check out the more interesting left side first, then make her way over to the right.
This room wasn't as cozy as the previous one, there was no light from the outside and she didn't see anything the other person could have used as a bed.
The floor was a mess, there were all sorts of miscellaneous papers strewn about and there were several cans of beans and one carton of milk.
More interestingly, there were two of the cameras in the middle of the floor and two more up against the walls. She had gotten used to the cameras and had forgotten that they were watching her.
She hadn't thought of taking them off the walls, but she supposed if you placed a portal just right, it would no longer be attached.
Chell walked over and picked up the two cameras against the wall one at a time with the portal gun and dumped them with the others. When they were resting on the wall, they were blocking some of the writings.
There were writings all over the place. Maybe they had spent more time here than in the other chamber. Though, if they had spent one hundred and eighty days in the other, how long had they been here?
Chell started looking at the piece of wall closest to the entrance. It didn't have as much written on it as the others did.
The person who had made this room had used something red to draw a camera and wrote on the left of it 'BEEP' and to the right it said 'SHE'S WATCHING YOU'.
Did this mean that there really was a person overseeing everything? Did the person in here previously know her? Or was he making assumptions based on the voice that instructed them?
Maybe she'd get more answers with some of the other writings. She moved to the next portion of wall.
This part of the wall was absolutely covered from top to bottom with pictures and words. In the middle were three pictures of what appeared to be guys, though it was hard to tell as the maker of the room had taped pictures of the Companion Cube over their faces.
The effect of the pictures was rather bizarre, it looked like that the person before had been fond of the cube. Where had these pictures come from, anyways?
She had to stand on her tippy-toes and crane her neck upwards in order to read the words written up top. They were smudged and at points hard to read, but she was able to figure it out. The first part stated, 'The Vital Apparatus Vent will deliver. oh it WILL'
Chell wasn't sure what to make of that, the Companion Cube had been dropped by the Vital Apparatus Vent, did the person before want another one?
The next part looped around the pictures, it looked like some kind of lumpy heart of words. It took her a moment to find the beginning of the first sentence, as the words were sloppy and smudged. The first sentence said, 'The weighted companion cube DOES speak.'
Okay, that solved that, the person who had come before her had believed the cube spoke. The person was obviously crazy, no matter how helpful they had been previously.
The next section was longer as part of it made the bottom of the heart, 'Superstition, perceiving inanimate objects as alive, and hallucinations I'm not hallucinating. You are. The companion cube would never desert me. Dessert. So long... Cake. Ha ha Cake. A lie. The companion cube would never lie to me'. The words had spilled over at times to the next part of the wall, so it was hard to tell if the last bit was part of this tirade or not, it simply read in large letters 'NEVER'.
That had been a somewhat disturbing read. They had written the warnings that had been given at the beginning of this chamber, so the warnings weren't in place because of this person; these problems had popped up before. This person seemed to honestly believe that the Companion Cube could talk and that the voice was lying. She couldn't argue the fact that the voice could be lying, but she knew the cube would never speak. The person had brought up cake again and that it was a lie, but did they have any proof of this? They hadn't left this chamber at the time of writing this, so they wouldn't know either way.
Below the rather wordy ramble was a drawn box, in it was written, 'login: cjohnson' and below that, 'password: tier3'. Was cjohnson the username of the person who had written this? What was the username and password for?
Next to the box was written in red, 'Trust Me'. The person had shown her how to defeat the nasty robots, so she had already trusted them; however, the writings had seemed saner in the previous room.
Below one of the pictures, written in red was, 'R.I.P.'
The next piece of concrete was less busy, though some of the words from the paragraph curved up the wall.
The main thing on this concrete slab was a calendar. The picture up at the top featured a girl in a red bikini and sitting on a lift. Her face was covered up by a picture of the Companion Cube.
The bottom part said 'THE GIRLS OF APERTURE SCIENCE' and below that, it looked to say, 'No One Owns The Future Yet'. It was dated September 1983. Was this current? The calendar looked worn, so she doubted that it was. She still had no idea what year it even was, though.
To the left of the calendar was a single red heart and to the right were five more hearts that went from the top of the concrete slab to the bottom of the calendar.
The next section of concrete was on the right wall. It simply had a large red 'HELP' at the bottom.
The piece of concrete next to that was more colorful. There were ten pictures of the Companion Cube situated around the test chamber. There were four red hears and one black one placed around the pictures.
Finally, interspersed around the pictures were the words 'Where are you? I will find you.' Had the person lost their Companion Cube? How? It was clearly there in the pictures.
The piece of concrete next to that had more words and only a single picture. It was the last section of concrete on this wall. Near the top, it said, 'COMPANION CUBE' in alternating colors of red and black. To the right of this was a black heart.
Next were several sentences that snaked around a poster. The poster had a stick figure with a Companion Cube that was taped over its head. The stick figure was pointing with one hand to their other hand. Below this, it said, 'Not Never But NOW'.
Above and flowing down to the right of the poster read, 'you said to take care of it.'
Down the left and below the poster, it continued, 'How can I you wouldn't let me. I should disregard your advice. Leave me alone!"
Chell remembered that she had been told to take care of the Companion Cube, but these words seemed to indicate that something had happened and the voice had changed. Why else would these words say 'you wouldn't let me'?
There was a red heart to the left of the previous statement and a black one below it.
Underneath the black heart was two words written in red and underlined, it said 'STOP WATCHING'.
Below this were a handful of sentences, 'Though earth and man are gone. I thought the cube would last forever. I WAS WRONG'.
That definitely indicated something was going to happen to the Companion Cube, but what? The person before thought it spoke to them, no wonder they were upset if something happened to it.
Well, the cube, if it was like the others, couldn't pass through the Grid anyways. Maybe the person had accidentally vaporized it without thinking. There had been a Grid after all the other tests; this one would probably be no different.
She turned her attention to the back wall and the scribblings upon it.
The first piece of concrete had a medium sized picture near the top. There were several people in the picture watching a TV. Like all the pictures in the room, the people's heads were replaced with Companion Cubes.
Underneath the picture was written:
'Because I could not stop for Death,
He kindly stopped for me
The cube had food and
maybe ammo
And immortality.'
The person believed the Companion Cube had food and ammo? They had gotten food before the cube, so where did they get the idea it came from the cube? And the ammo, what would they have done with ammo without a gun to use it with. Did they have a gun? That could be useful if they did.
Below the poem were two red question marks above a drawn cube. Instead of a heart in the middle was what looked like to be a skull. To the right of the skull cube was the word 'Why?' written eighteen times with ten red question marks on the row underneath.
The next slab of concrete looked to be the last with anything substantial on it. On the top, it said:
'Not in cruelty,
Not in wrath,
The REAPER came today;
An ANGEL visited
this gray path,
And took the cube away.'
Underneath this was a picture of the Companion Cube with a halo drawn above it and wings drawn to both sides.
So the person believed the cube was now an angel, so it was somehow 'killed.' She'll have to remember that.
The piece of concrete next to that one had just a sole handprint in the bottom right corner.
There was nothing more on this side, so Chell fired a portal on the back wall next to the corner on the upper part of the other half of the room, then placed a portal on the wall in front of her and walked through.
Only the two slabs of concrete on the back wall were adorned by the previous inhabitant.
The first one that had the cake poster that had been in the other hidden room and a handprint at the bottom of the concrete. The other one had a handprint next to the poster.
That seemed to be it for this room; it had given her quite a lot to think about. Chell walked back to the exit and poked the portal gun out, firing at the wall across from her. She then turned around and fired a portal at the back wall. Once it was in place, she walked over to it, then through it, and back out into the main area once more.
She still had one more task to complete and one door to go through in this room. She used the portal gun to grab the Companion Cube and walked over to the final room.
Chell stood in the doorway, looking over the room. It was made entirely out of metal. A few steps from the doorway was a red button on the ground. Several feet behind the button was a door.
She dropped the cube onto the button to see what would happen. The doors opened up to reveal another door. Chell picked up the cube and headed towards the back of the room, following the power line on the right wall.
Behind the second door and attached to the blue power line was a Pellet collector. She'd have to use the first Pellet she had encountered at the beginning of the chamber.
Chell walked around behind the door and found that there was a button on a raised piece of floor next to the door.
She couldn't climb up on it without the cube, so she'd had to use the gun to lift it up to the button.
Chell maneuvered the cube and placed it up on the button. The second door opened.
She left the cube where it was and went back to the first button, walking around the second.
Chell stepped onto the button and the first door opened. She could look back through both doors and see the Pellet collector.
This wasn't going to be easy to do; the button was in front of the doorway where the Pellet would have to come through. In order to stay safe, she'd have to hit the button right after the Pellet flew past her. If she messed up, it would bounce off the door and fly back to vaporize her. Even though it was dangerous, she didn't see any other way this would work.
Chell turned around and looked out the doorway. Straight across from where she was were the extended pieces of concrete that the secret room was hidden behind. She'd have to place a portal on them in order to line the Pellet up with the collector.
Chell could see a faint orange light shining in the middle of the square that the two sections of concrete made from the collector. She fired a portal right at the spot and walked out of the room towards it.
She paused in the middle of the main section to put a portal on the upper section of the room, close to the doorway.
Chell walked through the bottom portal and came out up top. She turned and walked through the doorway. She made her way up the stairs and down the long hallway. Chell then went down the short staircase into the room with the two Pellet dispensers.
She watched as a Pellet was launched and was sent flying down the hallway.
Chell fired a portal at the scorch marks it left when bouncing off the concrete wall.
Once the portal was in place, she turned around back the way she came, eventually coming out into the main room.
She walked over to the side of the ledge, looking down. She hopped off to the left side of the extended walls and made her way over to the doorway.
Chell would wait for the Pellet to be on its way back before she walked in to get into position.
After several minutes, it came out of the portal, flew into the room, bounced off of the door and went back the way it came.
She quickly walked into the doorway and stood on the left side of the button, waiting for the right moment.
The Pellet blasted by at face level, as soon as it was past, she stepped onto the button to activate the door.
The doors opened and the Pellet flew through, landing neatly into the collector.
Chell made her way to the back of the room to retrieve the Companion Cube. She lifted it up off the button and took it out to the main room.
The third platform was now raised, so she could get to the next section.
She dropped the cube for a moment, so that she could fire a portal on the upper level.
Once it was in place, she picked up the Companion Cube and walked through the portal on the bottom floor.
Chell exited out of the higher portal close to where the first platform was. She walked to the edge and hopped onto it.
So far, so good. However, the cube was slightly obstructing her vision; she would have to move it so she could see the distance between platforms.
There was a greater space between them than the minor gap she had just jumped. But, it didn't look like it'd be too much of a problem.
She hopped to the next one without any troubles and easily leapt from there over to the third.
From here, there was a hallway to the right, with the ground level below the top of the platform. Because it was lower, it'd be an easier jump to make.
After she decided how to approach the gap, Chell jumped down into the hallway.
The hallway was made of metal. After several feet, it turned to the right. She walked down it and went around the corner.
A few feet in front of her were some stairs. At the top of the staircase was an exit sign. Was she close to the end of the test?
Chell walked up the stairs and into a small room with glass walls and ceiling and a concrete floor. In the middle of the floor was a red button.
On the other side of the room were also some stairs that went down into another small room. On the wall she could see of this room was a door that seemed to be connected to the button at her feet, but it didn't have an exit sign.
She dropped the cube on top of the button to see what would happen.
As soon as the cube hit the button, the voice spoke, "You did it! The Weighted Companion Cube certainly brought you good luck. However, it cannot accompany you for the rest of the test and, unfortunately, must be euthanized. Please escort your Companion Cube to the Aperture Science Emergency Intelligence Incinerator."
Ah, this must be what the person had written about, the great tragedy that befell the Companion Cube. It didn't make much sense to incinerate the cube; it couldn't pass through the Grid. Why not leave it for the next test person? It seemed a waste.
Oh well. The doors across the way had opened up, so Chell headed down the stairs and into the next room.
The left wall of the room held the exit door. The right side of the room consisted of a giant, circular object that had a tiny opening in the middle. Around the top of the rim of the object it said 'CAUTION' in faint letters.
Below this object were two lit squares on the ground. The first one was the picture of the stick figure holding the Companion Cube, however this time the heart was broken. The square to the right of it showed the circular object with a large flame coming out of it and an exclamation mark in the upper right corner.
That must be the incinerator, but if fire came out of the top, she didn't want to get too close. But, everything was made of metal, so she couldn't use portals to dump the cube.
To the incinerator's left was a window that had a stick with a button on top behind it. That must be how to operate it.
Chell walked through the door to the small room and stood at the window. She reached out her left hand and pressed the button.
The incinerator opened and clouds of steam were rushing out of it. She heard a ticking noise that meant she didn't have much time.
Chell rushed out of the room and up the stairs. She then grabbed the cube off of the button and hurried back down, making her way towards the incinerator.
In front of the gaping maw, the heat was oppressive. Chell hit the button on the portal gun and dropped the Companion Cube into the unforgiving flame pit below.
As the cube tumbled in, the voice addressed her, "You euthanized your faithful Companion Cube more quickly than any test subject on record. Congratulations."
She turned around and found that the doors behind her were now open. She made her way down the short hallway, through the Grid and onto the elevator.
Chell leaned against the back wall of the elevator as the doors closed and it headed to the next destination.
That had been quite an interesting test. Thinking back on the scribblings of the person before her and how the mourned the loss of the Companion Cube, was that what the previously mentioned 'grief counseling' was for?
It hadn't bothered her, though. It was just a cube. But, she could see how a person who believed the cube talked, among other things if the writings were to be believed, would be traumatized by throwing it into the fire.
She hadn't seen the other person, so they must have finally gone on to the next chamber at some point in time. Maybe she'd see them when she got there, who knew.
Chapter Word Count: 5,889
Total Word Count: 41,843