A Most Sinister SCIENCE [Closed]

[imperious_lex]

The downside of gathering long term supplies for the crew, was that Lex did have to make sure they were all brought on board and stowed away properly. It cut into his vacation time, but it was a small price to pay to get some business done, and make a few connections that he'll be able to call on later. Besides, with 99% of the crew off the ship, for once, it allowed him freedom to do a few things, like have a word with a certain AI that wasn't Stacy.

Sitting at one of the terminals in Neuropathy, Lex navigated his way through part of the AI multiplex, until he came across the one he wanted to speak to.

"Hello, GLaDOS. I need to have a word with you."

Comments

[cityship]

||Do you think we all _should sulk like ^{you do} Mr. Grumpy Gus?||

The floor is moving. The similarity to the first room is no coincidence. It's just going the wrong way.

||Then again you have le-ess reason to be optimistic.||

[craaazyisland]

He lets out another long sigh and picks up the speed.

"Oh yeah? Why's that?"

[cityship]

||^{Would you} like to know what your file says?|| GLaDOS asks.

||I have it right _here.||

[craaazyisland]

"You're gonna lie about it, whatever it is," Steve snaps, and keeps on trucking down the conveyor belt. God, how long was this room? Why was he even still doing this?

What other choice did he have?

"I don't believe anything you say."

[cityship]

||It says useless and whiny and dumb!|| she crows.

||And look at you. Crewman ^{Ste-eve Burnside}, bleeding and weak. Only good for bleeding fire. Am I lying to you Steve? Why would I lie to you? You know it's true.||

The floor picks up speed a little bit, almost smugly. If a floor can be smug.

[craaazyisland]

He runs hard and jumps over the last bit of the floor to reach inside the elevator door, where he collapses to his knees. His hands are shaking. He holds himself up against the wall, staring straight ahead.

"That's not true." He chokes back a shaky breath. "That's not true."

[cityship]

||Useless useless useless!|| GLaDOS taunts like a schoolyard bully.

||You cannot even finish a little test! What ^{good will} you be when _everyone is dy-ing?||

The elevator doors hiss shut. Thankfully, this one seems to be working normally. It starts moving.

[craaazyisland]

"You're lying."

He knows she's just teasing him, just trying to get him to screw up and to shake his confidence-- but she's echoing things that he's been trying to throw off ever since he got here. Ever since he woke up with the Veronica virus running rampant in his body. His chest tightens even harder, and he winces in pain and makes a gasping noise when he tries to breathe.

"I'm not useless," he says, louder, and leans against the elevator wall to turn around and face the doors. "I'm not useless. I have a reason to be here just like everybody else!"

[cityship]

||I know that reason.||

GLaDOS's voice is quiet, almost like a whisper in the ear. ||Do you want to know the reason?||

The elevator opens up. This is a new room, not white like the others. The walls and floor are a flat, matte black.

She doesn't wait for an answer. She just continues, a bit louder and speaking more quickly.

||Do you remember the zombies that HAL 9000 let out of contagion containment?||

[craaazyisland]

Steve's face goes blank when she mentions it.

She's lying. She's gonna say anything she can just to piss you off. She's lying.

He takes a few steps out into the room, clutching his wounded shoulder.

[cityship]

GLaDOS takes the shift in expression as an answer. Or maybe she was just going to keep talking anyway.

||Stacy is damaged. Stacy is confused. Stacy is dumb. Stacy let your pod come out of contagion containment. You a-are a mistake.||

The floor tiles ahead come to life. Some of them, anyway. Fine networks of sparks dance across the black surfaces. Others remain unelectrified and "safe", but they're scattered. There has to be a way across.

||^{Now be} a go-ood specimen and finish yo-our test!|| GLaDOS orders this time, loudly and firmly. Whether it's because she's genuinely had enough of this nonsense or it's still another part of her toying with him, it's impossible to say.

[craaazyisland]

You are a mistake.

Steve freezes and feels his blood run cold-- all a manner of speaking, of course, since it's still alight, but now he can feel every heartbeat throb through him.

Stacy let your pod come out of contagion containment. You are a mistake.

He's dizzy. His eyes are burning and despite his best efforts, tears start to roll down his face. His fingers tighten around the burnt ruins of the shirt around his wound and his whole body shivers. Why would they let an infected, worthless teenager out of the pods anyway? Why would they bother picking him up in the first place?

There's no way that's true. It can't be true.

I'm gonna make it. I'm gonna be fine. It isn't true. You know it's not true!

Specimen.

He steps forward on shaky legs, but he forgets to look where he's going and he grazes the edge of the wrong tile. All of a sudden his body seizes and he screams in pain as thousands of volts rocket through him.

Steve lands on his back, feet away, and it feels like there's static blasting in his head. His whole body is trembling and he finds he can't breathe.

He screams, and his voice warps into a bizarre, inhuman sound.

[cityship]

GLaDOS lets the chamber do its thing for a minute, monitoring Steve's readouts almost casually.

||Get u-p|| she orders. ||The test is not over.||

||Unless you wa-ant to fail.||