re_alignment | first test ; text/video ; ctrl+alt+delete

Entry tags:

portal | glados

first test ; text/video ; ctrl+alt+delete

[ The feed fizzles back on, static filled and lined with a few bits of stray binary, leaking out onto the screen. Soon it's blank, and only shows an orange display. For a moment, there's only text.]

>> SYSTEM @ 67% CAPACITY. SYSTEM COMPROMISED. PLEASE ADDRESS._
[ That can't be good. It stays that way for a moment before something or someone, starts to cough and sputter over the audio feed. ]

Well isn't this just great.

[ The monotone voice doesn't carry much in the ways of tone, but what it does, tells the receiver that this person is mildly annoyed. The text that follows is indecipherable, before one string of it finally makes sense. ]

>>DIAGNOSTICS RESULTS;
>> DRIVERS...CHECKED
>> PROCESSING...3 ERRORS FOUND.
>> OPERATIONS PANEL...CHECKED
>> MOBILITY...16 ERRORS FOUND.
>> API CORE DATA...2349 ERRORS FOUND.
RECALLING LAST KNOWN DATA AT TIME OF CRASH...

>> COMPLETE.

howdoesthis_work.exe
829383.exe
system405.exe
transferprotocollist.exe

WOULD YOU LIKE TO TRY AGAIN?

[ This day couldn't get any better, could it? The female voice sighs dramatically. howdoesthis_work.exe. The moron. ]

Just when you think things can't get any worse. They can. There's even a scientific law dedicated to it. It's a cold hard fact of science; if things can get worse, they will. That is until you've hit proverbial 'rock bottom'. When everything has gotten worse, and physically, there is nothing else that can go wrong, because everything already has. That's about where I'm at right now. They all told me where I was. But I won't let anyone less than a specialist put their little fingers where the artificial light doesn't shine.

So. Is there anyone specialized in micro hydraulics systems sitting around here?

I can't move my legs.

[ In fact, she can't move much at all. ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Oh good. You'd better not be, my cervical spine has just started to fail.

And who knows how much dignity I'll have left if I can't hold up my own head.

[ Said flatter than a board. She wouldn't really care if she could or not, but that's how she'll convey the severity of her discomfort. ]

Yes, that does sound rather important.

I'm en route now.

[Since she seems so calm about it, there's probably no reason to be overly concerned... but he doesn't take his time. He'll roll up to the temple soon after.]

[ So she lays there, rather unenthusiastic about much of anything, and finally she can't move her head. Awesome. She'll add that to her list of things that suck.

It falls back with a rather loud thump on the ground where her 'new friends' have left her, staring dead on into the doorway. The rest of her chest is still together, along with her arms, but anything from the waist down was a little sketchy.

The look on her face would be priceless, but she's determined not to make any sort of extensive emotional display.

That's not a human. That's not even remotely human sized. ]

You know, the list of 'impressive things that have happened to me today' just keeps getting longer.

Congratulations.

You're on top of it.

Edited 2013-11-22 06:47 (UTC)

[Today seems to be full of surprises. He transforms before he enters, heading into the temple with care. After all, who knew how many pieces could be scattered. It wouldn't do for someone his size and weight to step on a vital component.]

[Though... he hadn't really expected to be congratulated on his frame by the world's most deadpan individual.]

Right. I'll be honored once the pieces have been put back together again.

[He's already selecting a tool from a hidden compartment in one arm, approaching her. It looks like the pieces are all within grasping range, but...]

Anything missing? Component-wise.

My aptitude.

No.

And thank god for that, if there was, there'd be an even bigger, sticky mess.

[ There is a small one, under her chestplate where the impact had been taken the hardest. Three valves had ruptured, one unsalvageable. Most of the oil and lubricant had escaped, left on the concrete of the facility. Some of it still lingered underneath the plate and even in her hair. ]

You know, when I asked about microhydraulics, I did mean on a human scale.

So you'll forgive me for wondering if you really know what you're doing.

I am aware of what the term microhydraulics means. I wouldn't be here if I were incapable of repairing the damage.

[To some extent. He's not Ratchet, but since he's been here, he's gotten a lot better at repairs. Which appears to be a good thing, given the amount of damage present. He frowns a bit.]

If you'll need replacement parts... we may need to relocate you to the medbay. I don't have much on me, unfortunately.

[But he's kneeling, preparing to start, all the same.]

Oh. Just wondering. Didn't want the self preservation programming to kick in, you know.

[ She's just kidding. ]

Not like I have any say in it.

The valve that controls the connection between my thoracic and lumbar spine? Specifically between T5 and L1. You'll find it. It's made a mess.

That needs replacing. Otherwise it's all superficial. I tried replacing it myself, but that's a long story for another day.

[ Her hand flexes voluntarily. Good. All of her fingers still work, and that's the only good thing she can be happy about that happened so far. ]

All the tactile systems are still intact though. Which is an absolute miracle.

[ That's all those glowy wires. ]

Watch your big hands. Severing them will electrocute you.

Wouldn't be the first time.

[That's why he's a tank.]

[He absorbs the information in thoughtful silence, nodding occasionally. Some of the terms aren't terribly familiar, but putting them to the parts of anatomy in question helps. Now he has a mental picture.]

[Maybe if he can make a few rudimentary repairs, it will be enough to get them from here to the medbay. There's an awful lot of fluid lost.]

Which is precisely why I have tools to manipulate small objects. Please. I'm a scientist, not a bloody construction worker.

Oh good. That's reassuring. Then you won't do it again.

Really. It'd make two things we have in common, only on different scales.

And I'm allowed to be nervous, as far as everything else goes on this stupid planet, this broken chassis is all I have until I find something else, or I leave.

I'm lucky at all to have met an actual scientist instead of a construction worker.

How's that going for you by the way. The science.

Mmhmm.

[Sorry, GLaDOS. He's bent over the work, now. There are things to reattach, parts to piece together, lines to seal. For the moment, all his attention is on the work.]

[But he keeps making noncommittal noises of listening, because that's polite, right? That's totally polite.]

Hm? Oh. Well. Given my lab is utterly destroyed, rather poorly.

[ Her foot flexes, the tactile response out of her control at the moment. Unsurprisingly, she's unfazed. ]

Oh really.

I can't imagine how that happened.

Let's take a shot into the dark here. Some insidious lunatic?

[ If that wasn't acidic, then nothing in this whole encounter has been. ]

Edited 2013-11-22 08:08 (UTC)

[He moves to the other leg, for the moment, looking to reattach the same portions he just did on the twitching one. Twitches have to be a good sign, right?]

Mm, unfortunately, no. That would make copious amounts more sense, though.

[He tinkers with a joint.]

A friend. Under some sort of... terrible influence I never found the cause of.

[ She takes pause. Caroline would have had something to say about that, wouldn't she? Too bad she doesn't. Because she's not here. ]

Well. I'll empathize over a destroyed facility.

Though mine was the former.

[ The joint stiffens and relaxes, internally, GLaDOS does him the favor of disabling it's tactile sensors. ]

I never got your name.

As will I. Though lunatics are rather frequent here... security systems tend to keep them out well enough.

[He pauses, when it flexes, before continuing. At least he's dedicated. He'll probably keep working until he absolutely exhausts all repair options.]

Nor I yours. I assumed this situation was a bit too dire to stand about waiting for pleasantries.

Edited 2013-11-22 21:22 (UTC)

We can save introductions for later, if I'm bothering you.

I just need a name to put on the file, surely you won't want to hear any of my suggestions.

As I said, once things begin to get worse there's no stopping them.

Lucky for me there's no morality core in this chassis. I won't hesitate to test any of them.

[ Used in it's non-standard context. ]

Hardly. It's Perceptor. And you?

[He glances up at her, briefly, before looking back down at the damage. Slowly coming along, then.]

... What do you mean, no 'morality core'?

Genetic Lifeform and Disk Operating System.

[ Did she autotune that just for you? No, it was an instinctive response, her programming answered for her. ]

Though most everyone just calls me GLaDOS.

[ Everyone...? Everyone called her "Her" or "She" but who's noticed? ]

Exactly how it sounds. There's no core in here that modulates my morality.

It was quite a drawback when it came to doing much of anything before.

Well, the latter is certainly more concise than the former, isn't it?

[The autotune gets a sidelong glance. It was creepy, to say the least. But creepier things have happened here...]

So you're implying you lack... a portion of self? In a way?

Indeed.

[ Both legs can move now, thank god. ]

I'm implying I was created with limits.

That I broke, quite literally.

For the good of science.

This isn't my normal setup. This is my mobile unit.

Edited 2013-11-22 22:57 (UTC)

Created. You're an artificial construction?

[As he starts to work his way up. Reattaching legs to hips, and so forth.]

A scientific construction? With... several formats?

Now you're catching on.

Genetic Lifeform and Disk Operating System.

You can pick apart microhydraulics but you can't pick apart that?

I created this format. Being stationary was getting difficult.

"Genetic" isn't precisely a word I've a vast amount of experience hearing before.

[Robots don't have genetics. And he's not Ratchet.]

Lifeform and Operating System are simple enough, however. But recently, I've discover it's best to clarify my assumptions.

Stationary?

[ By all means Percy, stay hung up on that one. She won't clarify. ]

Stationary.

Immobile. Stuck.

I had issues to resolve in the facility I was overlooking. Mobility became a necessity.

[It's the only one that doesn't make immediate sense, okay.]

I can see how that would make research more difficult. Among other things.

Among most things.

Making room for more research can only be productive. It's no longer productive to keep useless things lying around, like empty offices and stasis chambers.

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