Portal Chapter 21 Part 2

[mewtwowarrior]

It looked like another dead end, but Chell saw a wide piston raising and lowering to the left, so she went to investigate.

The piston was nearly as wide and tall as the small hallway it was in, so there was no walking around it. There seemed to be an identical piston behind it.

However, at certain intervals, both pistons were briefly lowered to reveal a room with a concrete wall across from her.

In the brief space of time she had, she could see that the person before her had scribbled something on the wall, so she was still going the right way.

Chell waited until both pistons lowered again and rapidly shot a portal onto the wall. She then turned around and walked through the portal she had used earlier.

She now found herself in a large room. Turning around, she saw that the person before had scribbled an arrow in black and the words 'Over Here.' So, she needed to go up.

Chell looked up and found that the area was crossed by several sets of horizontal pistons that would start at the walls, crash together, then go back. It was hard to see where she needed to go around them.

After watching the pistons for several minutes, she finally saw that around part of the top was a wire fence. If she could get a good look up there, she might be able to use portals to get past it.

So where should she start?

She watched the pistons for a bit longer, finally noticing that there was one that went right-to-left close to the top of the room. It was the highest one she could safely use the portals to get to.

It took several minutes of watching the pistons to get the portal placed where she needed, she kept having to reposition herself to get around the other pistons that were constantly moving.

Chell then walked back to the portal on the lower level and looked through.

She could see all the way across and to the upper area. On the wall beyond the fence, she could see that the person before her had drawn a red arrow pointing to a square opening.

When the piston crossed in front of her, she quickly stepped onto it and fired a portal onto the concrete flooring.

Chell then back flipped through the portal and landed on her feet close to the indicated exit.

The arrow pointed to a crevasse in the floor. Walking closer, Chell could smell the stench of a deadly floor nearby. A cube transport tube rose out to the left of the crevasse. Looking down, Chell could see that the tube continued lower and to the right. The ceiling was high enough so that she could walk on it.

She walked over to the hole and jumped down to land on the tube. She'd have to be careful and keep from falling into the fatal liquid below.

Chell followed the tube to its end against the wall. The only way she could go was down.

Below her was another transport tube; however this one was surrounded by the disgusting, swirling liquid.

Taking a deep breath, she hopped down to the lower tube to see where it would take her.

Thankfully she landed safely and turned around to follow its path.

Before she started on her way, the voice addressed her, "I feel sorry for you, really, because you're not even in the right place. You should have turned left before. It's funny, actually, when you think about it.

Someday we'll remember this and laugh and laugh and laugh. Oh boy. Well. You may as well come on back."

Chell had followed the only path she could; she wasn't going to start second-guessing herself based on what the voice said.

She turned back to the task at hand. The tube continued on into another room. The person before her had scrawled a red arrow pointing to that room, so she was still going the right way. She trusted her unseen helper far more than the sinister voice who had tried to kill her.

Chell walked along the tube until her progress was stopped by a horizontal silver piston going back and forth slowly. There seemed to be an exit just above the piston, so she'd have to find a way to get on it.

However, the only concrete in the room was the wall the piston ran into. She'd have to place a portal right above the impact point and time going through another portal to land just right.

She fired a portal at her chosen spot and then turned back around to go back to the other room. There was some concrete there, but in a rather inconvenient place.

Chell stood on the transport tube and turned to face the wall to her left. She fired a portal and placed it on the wall slightly below where she was standing. She'd have to make a risky jump out over the death trap and make sure she landed on the piston.

She was able to watch the piston through the portal from where she was standing. Once it approached very near the portal, Chell made a bold leap out over the liquid and through the portal, making a rough landing on the piston below.

She rode the piston to its wall and quickly stepped off and onto the metal floor.

Chell followed the hallway to a small room that had a square hole surrounded by metal fencing in the floor. On the wall across from her, there was a red arrow pointing down.

She looked down through the hole and saw a metal floor a distance below. Chell grabbed the metal railing and jumped, flinging herself over the fence and down into the hole.

Once she landed on the ground, she looked to see where to go next.

The main pathway was a dimly-lit hallway ahead of her. There was also what seemed to be some kind of air duct opening to her right. Chell crouched down and peered in and found that it seemed to be a hideaway the person before her had hidden in. In it were several jugs, cans, and computer towers. The word 'Help' was written on the floor in red. The room was small and didn't seem to lead anywhere, so she stood back up and looked back around.

Several feet down the main pathway, the floor stopped and gave way to 6 pistons firmly pressed against each other with three on each side. The floor then continued on the other side.

Chell didn't want to walk across the pistons, all the others had moved quickly, but there was nowhere she could place a portal on the other side.

With a resigned sigh, she made her way down the hallway and carefully stepped onto the first piston.

Nothing happened.

Maybe this wasn't going to be so bad.

Chell made her way across and stepped onto the second piston, just about halfway across the section now, when suddenly, the pistons retracted and the ground fell from beneath her feet.

She landed in a small enclosed area below.

There were several metal barrels standing about the area. There also were weird-looking things on three of the four walls.

Before Chell could investigate closer, an alert siren buzzed once and shortly after, the door on the right wall opened to reveal one of the nasty robots with guns. It saw her and uttered, "There you are."

Thinking quickly, she fired a portal behind it, then swiveled to fire one at the wall behind her and ran through it.

She appeared behind the robot. Not sure what else to do, she used the portal gun to pick it up. This prompted an "Uh-oh" from the robot. Chell moved a few feet, sticking it out of the enclosed box and roughly put it down. This caused it to topple over and shoot crazily, finally saying a last "No hard feelings."

No sooner had it done so when the alarm sounded again and the door to her left opened.

She couldn't see a clear view of the robot and by the time she had looked, the buzzer sounded once more and the door in front of her opened. The robot in there saw her and said, "Deploying," and started to fire at her.

Chell quickly shot a portal at the wall behind the robot across from her and ran back to the portal behind her, avoiding the bullets that the robot had aimed at her.

When she stepped through, she immediately picked up the robot with the portal gun, causing it to ask, "Who are you?"

Chell ignored the question and roughly put it down, causing it to fall over and fire randomly. When it was done, it said, "Shutting down."

She turned back around to look at the portal behind her and found that the small area now had a hanging claw dangling from the ceiling. There also was a grimy black handprint to the left of the portal.

Was the way out somewhere above the claw? Chell walked underneath it and looked up.

She found a red arrow pointing to an open area to the right. Looking closely, she finally saw a section of concrete ceiling. Chell fired a portal up there and then turned to look at the portal next to her.

The area below was clear, so Chell jumped down.

When she landed, the voice spoke to her. "You're not a good person. You know that, right? Good people don't end up here. Can you hear me?"

Whether she was good or bad didn't matter. All Chell wanted was to leave the crazy place.

She could hear a familiar, jaunty tune. There must be one of those radios around here somewhere. Chell turned to look and found a wire fence between her and three of the robots. One of the robots was on the ground, one was looking right at her but wasn't doing anything, and the other had a blinking laser.

Chell gave a sigh of relief. Apparently these were malfunctioning and wouldn't shoot her, thank goodness. She'd had had enough of these blasted robots.

Looking into the room beyond them, up near the catwalk on the right was another red arrow and a stick figure pointing the way.

She didn't see a way onto the catwalk immediately, but there was a cube transport tube above her.

Chell backed up and fired a portal where the tube met the right wall. Then, she turned around a placed a portal on the wall behind her and stepped through.

Up top, she started looking for a way to get to the catwalk.

There was a place on the catwalk near where she was standing where the railing simply didn't cover.

With a jump, she landed easily on the catwalk and continued her journey, heading towards the indicated spot close by.

It was another air duct-like opening, however, this one lead down. Chell crouched and made her way through.

She fell through the opening and landed below. On top of a robot.

This was a surprise, but she didn't move. The robot said, "There you are," but couldn't shoot her.

A door opened in front of her, but her main concern was to get off from on top of the blasted robot at the moment.

She stepped off to the side and quickly picked it up; this caused it to protest with a "Hey!"

Chell then took a few steps and dropped it out of the hole. It fell, and upon landing, started shooting wildly. When it was done, it said a final, "Malfunctioning," and ceased moving.

This was the first time the other person's advice had put her in danger, but to be fair, there didn't seem to be any other way out.

Chell peered cautiously out from the area in the wall to see if there were any more robots lying in wait.

There didn't seem to be any others, but she did see that across the way was a black arrow and the words 'Over Here' written.

She couldn't look up because the door had stopped at a slant, so Chell jumped off the enclosed area to take a look around.

She landed with a thud and immediately looked upwards to see where the other person was pointing to.

On the other side of the room and above there was a metal ramp that lead to an opening. Chell looked back at where she had been and saw that the slanted door was made of concrete. She could use it to fling herself upwards.

First, she placed a portal on the wall underneath where she had been. Then, Chell backed up and fired a portal on the slanted wall.

Once it was in place, she ran through the portal on ground level.

Chell came out of the upper portal and started falling towards the ground. She rapidly rolled over to face the ground, placing a portal on the floor at her estimated point of impact. She sailed through the portal and flew out of the upper one.

She somersaulted through the air and landed on her feet, then proceeded to head down the pathway.

After turning the corner, she reached an open doorway that lead to an area similar to the office section she had seen previously.

As Chell stepped through the doorway, the voice spoke to her again. "This is your fault. It didn't have to be like this. I'm not kidding now. Turn back or I will kill you.

I'm going to kill you and all the cake is gone.

You don't even care. Do you?

This is your last chance."

The voice had already tried to kill her once and had failed, so Chell wasn't too worried about the threats. She'd find a way to get out.

Chell walked down the hallway and found a door on the right. She opened it and found a small office. There wasn't anything of interest, so she continued on her way.

She came across three chairs sitting on the right facing across the hallway. On the other side of the hallway was a Grid covering a door.

Obviously something of interest was in there.

She passed through the Grid and opened the door.

Chell found herself in an odd room. The side she had entered on was quite small, blocked by a plate of glass stretching from one side to the other. Behind the glass wall was a section of room with some kind of small dome in the middle. Behind this section of room was another glass wall with more room behind it and what seemed to be a door leading to the right.

Also on this side was a button on a stick to the left. Lacking what to do next, Chell walked over and pressed the button.

The dome behind the glass rose to reveal that it was actually some sort of sphere on a robot arm. It unfurled itself, then a blue laser appeared from it.

The other robots couldn't fire through glass, so Chell assumed that this thing couldn't either.

So, she didn't panic when it locked on to her with a beep and the green eye in the center flashed yellow. The eye flickered red and something shot out of the robot.

Chell however, did jump when the thing impacted against the glass and it shattered, raining shards on her.

She bolted for the door, scrambling out of the room and cutting her feet on the broken bits on the ground. The door had closed behind her, so she wrenched the handle up and dashed into the hallway. The robot beeped, locking onto her.

Chell scrambled to the right and leaned against the wall, safely out of sight of the robot.

The rocket it shot blasted out of the room and hit the wall, oddly vanishing after it did so. The door closed after this happened.

Well, that wasn't fun at all. How was she going to get around it?

There was another glass wall behind it, she could get it to break it and then she could make a run for it. That was risky, but it did seem to be quite slow.

Chell crept over to the door and cautiously opened it.

The robot was looking her way.

She started running and it locked onto her. Chell swerved to the right and ran past the robot.

It fired at where it had locked on, missing her by a long shot.

She stood in front of the glass window, waiting for it to turn around and see her.

The robot rotated and finally saw her. It locked on with a beep and Chell dashed out of the way.

The rocket hit the glass and shattered it in an impressive display.

Chell then ran through where the window had been and to the end of the room, cutting her feet again. She ran through the door and made it to the hallway before the robot could lock onto her again.

She sat down in the hallway and picked out the tiny shards in her feet. It was a delay, but she'd be able to run better if they weren't jabbing into her skin at every step. Once she thought they were clear, Chell stood back up and continued on her way.

The pathway turned to the left and had a door blocking the way. Chell turned the handle and the door opened.

She passed through to an orange-lit room beyond.

The door closed behind her and she looked around.

Her progress was impeded by another glass wall. However, this one didn't have any robots behind it.

Chell thought for a moment, then came up with a plan. She'd just have to mess with that robot again.

She opened the door and walked back to the robot's room.

Once back at the robot's area, she peered into the room and fired a portal against the back wall.

When it was in place, Chell walked out of the room and back to where the glass wall was.

She placed a portal in front of the glass wall and stood in front of it, waiting on the robot to notice her.

It didn't take long.

The robot locked onto her with a beep and Chell took several steps to the side.

It launched a rocket and obliterated the glass wall.

Chell then put both portals on the wall, so that the robot could no longer see her. She carefully stepped over the rim and tried to avoid stepping on the glass shards.

There were several silver pillars stretching to the ceiling on the left and to the right, on the wall, the person before her had drawn arrows pointing to the left and the words 'Over Here.'

Chell looked at where it was pointing and saw an air duct with grimy handprints and an arrow pointing the way on the inside.

However, the air duct was above her head and she couldn't jump up in it or reach it.

It was obviously the way to go, but she couldn't get there.

Looking around the room, Chell saw the transport tube sending cubes on their way overhead.

The robot could destroy glass and the tubes looked like they were made of glass. If she could get a cube to fall out, she could climb on it and get to where she needed to go.

So, she headed back towards the robot's room, gingerly stepping around the glass shards on the floor.

When she got back to the room where the robot was, she leaned around and placed a portal on the wall close to the door.

Then, she headed back to the room with the transport tube.

First, Chell placed the portal in front of her and got the robot's attention. As soon as it locked onto her, she repositioned the portal so that it was on the wall behind the transport tube.

When the robot fired, it hit the tube and shot the bottom out of the section.

Moments later, a cube fell out of the tube and hit the ground. Success!

Chell used the portal gun to pick up the cube and placed it in front of the vent. From there, she climbed onto the cube and into the air duct. There were smudgy prints on the walls and floors. The ones on the floor almost looked like boot prints.

At the end of the path, there was a rusty fan that blocked her path. However, underneath the fan was another hallway with a concrete wall.

Chell placed a portal on the concrete wall, then backtracked out of the air duct. She fired another portal onto the nearby wall and walked through.

As she entered the next room, she smelled an awful and familiar scent.

Chell followed the pathway until she reached where the metal floor stopped and the deadly liquid floor started.

On the left wall of the hallway with the noxious liquid was a metal thing spanning the wall that Chell could stand on. She placed a portal onto the wall where it started, then turned and placed a portal on the wall next to her.

She walked through the portal and started making her way down the hallway.

When Chell reached the end of the path, she looked around. Not too far away was a level concrete area. She fired a portal onto one of the walls, then turned around and placed a portal behind her. She walked through and arrived at the safer area.

To the right, there was a small room where the wall ended. However, there was a scribbled black arrow pointing upwards. Chell walked over to investigate and found a metal grill she could look through.

She fired a portal through the grill and it appeared on the wall. She then put a portal right in front of her and walked through.

Chell found herself in some sort of canal in what appeared to be a larger room. There was some kind of liquid on the floor, it looked similar to the deadly liquid, but it was murkier. Maybe it was diluted or there wasn't enough to kill you here, because she was feeling fine, aside from some stinging in the cuts on her feet.

She walked forward to get a better look at the area. The liquid was sludgy, squelching every time she took a step.

Up to her left, she saw a door that looked identical to the ones that held the awful robots not so long ago. So, likely, there was going to be a robot behind this one as well. How many doors would this room have? It seemed large, from what little she could see of it.

Readying herself, Chell placed a portal on the wall in front of her. Then, she looked up and placed one on one of the walls above her and to the right. She stepped through and onto the higher level.

As soon as she did so, an alarm sounded and doors all around the room's walls started opening, revealing the robots behind them.

Chell acted quickly and shot a portal behind the first robot she saw and ran back through the portal behind her.

She picked up the robot with the portal gun. It protested with a "Hey!" She dropped it off the side and watched it go ballistic and finally shut down with a, "Critical error."

Chell then looked around to find the next robot to take care of. Looking across and to the left, there was another robot she could easily see. She fired a portal behind it and walked back through the one in her little section. She dispatched it in the same manner as the previous one, by dropping it down below.

There were eight robots in all, standing in alcoves in the walls. Chell carefully made her way around the room, always going after the robots from behind and dropping them to the ground below, where they ceased working.

Two of the robots were on ground level, so for those, she brought them over to the canal and plopped them in.

Finally, the room was safe. It stretched high above her, one of the largest rooms she had seen in the building so far.

Looking around, Chell discovered that two of the robot alcoves had slanted walls above them. Some distance above the one that was situated lower, Chell thought she saw an opening in the wall.

It looked like that if she flung herself using the portals, she just might be able to get up there. It was worth a shot, anyways.

First, she placed a portal on the lower of the two tilted walls. Then, she put another one on the ground nearby and dove through it.

Chell popped out of the higher portal and was able to see the roof of the other slanted wall, so she put a portal on top of it.

She let herself fall back to the ground to start it over again. She walked over to the portal on the ground and dove through again, this time popping out of the one on the higher slope.

As she fell to the ground, Chell put a portal onto the ground where she was heading and flew through it.

She blasted out of the portal on the higher slope again, and somersaulting through the air, landed on the alcove.

Chell walked straight ahead, it was the only way she could go.

As she made her way through the room, there was a siren and two robots were lowered down.

Thinking rapidly, Chell placed a portal under each robot and they fell through, flying out the other and randomly firing their guns. They finally stopped moving with an "Owww," and a "Critical error."

Once they stopped shooting, Chell continued walking through the room.

The room ended in a dead end, but she looked up to where the robots had been lowered down. There seemed to be a ledge up there she could get to.

Chell turned and ran back the way she had come, leaping off the ledge and falling to the ground.

She fired a portal below her and fell through it, blasting out the one she had left up top.

Chell landed neatly on the floor above the hole.

Looking around, she saw that up on the wall in front of her, there was a section of wall that had a rectangle hole in it. Chell put a portal next to the hole, then placed one on the ground next to her and somersaulted through it.

She walked over to the hole and looked through. It lead to a long bridge spanning the large room where she had faced the turrets.

Chell started across the bridge, there was a room at the other end. Maybe it would finally be the exit.

The room on the other end of the bridge was very plain with a single door.

She tried the handle and the door easily opened. It looked like it lead to another office area.

Chell walked through the door and down the hallway. She came to a crossroads; however, the hall to the right had a door with a keypad, so she went to the right.

Down the hallway, she soon came upon an alcove with chairs and windows. The view was odd; mostly it was looking over a large, mainly empty room. The only feature she could see was another room inside the room that had a walkway that came from this direction.

Chell went back and continued making her way through the hallway, quickly reaching a set of stairs that led to another door. She walked up them and tried the door. It opened, so she made her way down the windowed path to some kind of room at the end.

At the end of the path was a room with a Grid over the entranceway.

In the middle of the room, hanging from the ceiling, was a large, odd contraption with video screens above it. There were several spheres decorating it that looked quite like the rocket-shooting robot, except that they were different colors.

Curious and having exhausted all other possibilities, Chell entered the room.



Word Count For This Chapter:  10,771