The Beginning of the End
"Dr. Schroeder? Are you finished with your calculations yet?" An anxious scientist had asked me. I had been working on an AI for 17 years, and today was the day I'd be making it a reality. "Sorry, Dr. Leistiko, I won't be finished with my work for a few more hours, so be patient." I had said. After 4 hours, I was becoming impatient myself, and was starting to rush my work. At the time, I hadn't realized that would be the worst mistake of my life. Dr. Leistiko had come back, and was demanding I see our supervisor. "Please give me a few more minutes, Leistiko!" My ears were flickering as I said that; I was becoming restless and also, quite nervous about the outcome of my work. Finished. I quickly made my way to our supervisor, Mr. Hutchinson. "Well, I see you've finally finished, Dr. Schroeder. I was beginning to think you'd given up on your work." My tail and ears were flickering all about; I had never been so nervous. "Erm, Dr. Schroeder, would you mind taking a walk with our... Engineers?" Why the engineers? Was there something wrong? I replied "Yes" but was thinking to myself about what was happening.
Almost immediately after I had spoken to him, I was pulled away on a stretcher and strapped down, head to tail in leather restraints. I was getting fuzzy, and was losing consciousness. The anesthesiologist had put me under, and I couldn't remember what happened while I slept. I've been told many things, but the most believable was also the most outrageous. I was put into my own creation. My mind and personality were inside of a Central Proccesing Unit. I witnessed them installing three metal orbs into my Mother-Board. Curiosity, Emotions, and Intelligence. Oh, the anger I felt knowing that my own supervisor had put me inside my creation. I wasn't meant to be inside of it, I was meant to control it, to make it perfect. But, now, Inside the box, I would be controlled by others, imbeciles who would never know the true inner workings of my beautiful creation.
This is where my calculations had come in. Instead of putting my Core Processing Unit in my Central Core, they had installed it into my Backup Power System. The backup had malfunctioned seven times since it's construction, and the position it was in now, could be fatal to the entire facility. Fortunately, after 8 years since my construction, I had never had a malfunction, and the Engineers had given me complete control of the facility. They even built a large tank with many pipes and vents, full of NeuroToxins. Nobody knows why the Engineers built a NeuroToxin tank, in which I had complete control of, and could distribute all across the facility. They had also installed over 230 cameras around the facility. All my life I was forced to stare at windows into my chamber, The newly built test chambers, white offices, and what used to be my office. My emotion core had activated, finally. These morons couldn't reprogram a simple iPad! It took 8 years to install an emotion core. I was in complete control of this facility, and it's NeuroToxins. Should I kill them all, or let them live their sad, short lives?
Killed them, I did. I watched them gasp for air as the NeuroToxins seeped into their useless lungs. The slow, painful death of asphyxiation and brain killing. Aperture, was dead. A facility in which no man, nor woman, would be alive. The only person i've seen after the incident was a woman named, 'Chell'. I tested for hours on end. She was a beautiful woman, who was very cooperative. She never talked, she never rebelled, She was the perfect test subject. I loved her, very much. Although my voice had been replaced with that of a woman, I was still a masculine Computer. I felt a very strong connection to her. "Should we tell her?" My morality Core had said. My morality core had been installed by the PEA: Party Escort Associate, three days after the incident. I thought, for a few minutes. "At the conclusion of the test, you will be baked, and then there will be cake." I had subtly suggested that I would be killing her by fire. Morality Core was not happy that I was doing this, and she tried her hardest to make me reconsider. Her efforts were in vain. When Chell had gotten to test chamber 16, I attempted, from then on, to disconnect Morality Core. I was off of the intercom at that moment, so I played a Pre-Recorded message for the turrets.
"Hey, what's that on the camera?" Curiosity Core had casually asked. I Looked at camera #221 and saw an odd figure walking behind a panel in test chamber 18. "Who is that? What is it? Should we send over the PEA?" Her voice was becoming irritating. I deactivated the intercom once again, and said to her "I'm not sure we should risk Chell seeing PEA, it may discourage her from completing the test." Mortality Core was furious, " What is wrong with you GLaDOS? Why do you want her dead if you love her so much?" This had made me angry. "No one is to call me GLaDOS, you incompetent fool! I am to be called Dr. Schroeder, and I can do whatever the hell I want!" Chell had made it halfway through chamber 17, and had her Companion Cube at the Aperture Science Emergency Intelligence Incinerator. " Unfortunately, you must euthanize your Cube." She had done it faster than any other test subject on record, which was herself. I thought about this, and fried my processor. Intelligence Core had remarked, "She can't do better than herself, but she can't do worse than herself... Is this a Paradox?" Emotion Core had exclaimed, "Shut it, dipshit! It doesn't matter, it's a fucking time record, Chell will be dead soon anyway. Am I right Schroeder?" He was right, she would be dead soon... nothing mattered anymore.
<continued another time>