One Big Aperture Family Ch. 9

Another Stranger Me

 

Genetic Lifeform and Disc Operating System (GLaDOS) Log Function

Initiating Log Program

Begin When Ready…

So, the children are aware of the Moron’s plight? How interesting. For children, the Small One and the Tiny One are quite intelligent. I sometimes forget the Tiny One is the product of the Older One and the Idiot. She seems to take after her mother in the intelligence department but she does have mannerisms of the Moron. She’s always unusually happy, she seems to take pride in small accomplishments (even for a toddler), and even though she can barely form sentences, she babbles incoherently until someone shoves a sippy-cup in her mouth. But she is a fast learner, which comes in handy.

But the children seem to be the least of my worries. Things have grown quiet at the facility again, despite my latest safeguard upgrade. While I doubt he’s actually given up, I think I may have stumped him this time. I hope so, anyway.

Hope…what a useless thing to do. A very human thing. I hate to say it, but I think I’m letting these humans grow on me. I should probably avoid contact with them for a while. I might have to, seeing as my energy reserve seems to be malfunctioning and uses up energy even as I enter into sleep mode. Orange has also been complaining about odd “shivers” which is the best way she could describe it. I’ll run a full diagnostic on both Blue and Orange when I am done with my own repairs. I estimate it will take a few days to repair anything that might be broken. I hope the Maniac doesn’t miss me too much while I’m incapacitated.

Wait, why do I care?

Genetic Lifeform and Disc Operating System (GLaDOS) end log function

The alarm clock read two a.m. and it was blinking. If it wasn’t obvious to Lil that Wheatley was still having nightmares before, it was pretty obvious now. Lil woke up to Wheatley gripping his pillow tightly and grunting as if he had a stomachache. Lil sat up and put her hand over Wheatley, but took it away softly. Lil felt that Wheatley was distancing himself from her. Even during the day when the two ran errands or ran the bookstores, Wheatley didn’t seem to keep himself near Lil like he used to.

While the thought of him finally being comfortable with humanity enough to do things on his own was appealing to Lil, she still felt lonely. After establishing her equilibrium, Lil got up from bed and left the bedroom after putting her bedroom slippers on.

Her due date was in a few weeks, and though everyone else was keeping a close eye on Lil, she was sad that Wheatley wasn’t. She closed the bedroom door slowly and started for the stairs. The house was so quiet, it scared Lil a bit. Outside, the snowstorm that the weathermen had been warning everyone about was starting to happen. While Lil wasn’t too scared that they’d need to leave the house for any reason (the Jeep was an all-terrain vehicle built for rough weather like this), Lil still found the snow quite eerie.

Upon stepping on the last step, Lil saw a little light come from the living room. Before she knew it, their turret dog, Rover, emerged from sleep mode and made his way to Lil. He barked once until Lil shushed him, from then on only making simple whimpering noises. Lil sighed and made her way toward the kitchen. Rover followed loyally, his legs making odd tip-tip-tip noises as he walked on the hardwood floor. “I’d ask if you need to go outside to use the bathroom, but I think that’d just be insulting my intelligence and yours.”

Lil poured herself some orange juice and sat at the table. Rover just stared at her with his one eye. “I’m glad she gave you four legs. I bet walking around on three was tough. I know it sucks staying inside all the time. I know exactly how you feel. I’m so close to my due date that Wheatley doesn’t want me away from the house too much. Chelly was actually early, but I think this one might be a little late. The attention is nice, but sometimes it gets pretty lonely, you know?”

Rover made a soft barking noise and sat by Lil’s feet. “Well, at least I have you. I’m glad you aren’t like your cousins at the facility. I hate those things. Did I tell you I had to run tests for GLaDOS once? She tried to steal my body but I doubt she wants it now. What with me being pregnant and all. She likes to call me the ‘Fat Older One’. Of course, she calls Wheatley ‘Moron’ and Dr. Rattmann ‘Maniac’.”

Sighing softly, Lil played with her glass. “I worry about Wheatley. He’s so distance lately. I know he has trouble sleeping, but I figured it was just because we were in a new house.” Lil got up without putting her glass in the sink and walked to the living room. Rover followed behind her loyally. “New houses take some time to get used to. I know I had a hard time getting used to all the space. But we’ve been here for a while now and with the baby almost here, I had hoped things would settle. Then ‘Grandma’ and her two companions show up out of nowhere and start living in our attic. Of course, then you appear out of nowhere. Literally.”

Rover barked and sat next to Lil, who perched herself on the couch. She fell back with an “oofff” and tried to sit up. “I should probably start using Dr. Rattmann’s cane whenever I sit down so I have some type of leverage to get up.”

After settling into the spot on the couch, Lil reached under the coffee table and pulled out a big book. Rover looked at Lil with his one eye anxiously. “I have tons of these photo albums. My mom has always loved taking pictures and I guess she passed it on to me and Angie. She was always taking pictures of things. My dad told me she was just excited to be out and about, since her illness kept her inside. I think Mom just wanted to remember what life outside our apartment was like when she was confined to bed.”

Lil looked like she was fighting back tears and opened the photo album. “This is our newest one. The earliest pictures go back to mine and Wheatley’s wedding.” Lil opened the album to the first page and pointed to a picture of a big reception. Rover looked over and then looked at Lil again. “It was a nice wedding. It was a beautiful spring morning and everything was just perfect.” Lil chuckled and turned the page again. “Oh, here are a few good ones; Wheatley bought a new camera and kept taking pictures of me when we were at the hospital.” Lil closed her eyes and sat back.

“Wheatley was out at the time. I sent him on a few errands because I was so close to my due date. I remember going into labor and having to get my friend May to drive me to the hospital because Dr. Rattmann had to stay home with Angie. When she called Wheatley and told him I was having the baby, Wheatley literally dropped everything he was doing and nearly crashed getting to the hospital.” Lil laughed softly, placing her hand on her stomach. “When he finally got here, Wheatley was in such a panic he couldn’t figure out what was up or down. I think he got lost in the gift shop, too.”

Lil didn’t notice Rover laying down and resting against her. “Eventually he found his way to my room and stayed with me the entire time. When Chelly was born, he fainted. After he came to, they put Chelly in his arms and I think it was love at first sight.” Lil glanced over at the turret dog and sighed happily. “You know, I never thought I’d get used to Wheatley or the past he shares with my mother. But now we’re married and expecting our second child together.”

Sighing softly, Lil leaned back and stared at the ceiling. “I’m scared, actually.” She murmured. “I’ve never admitted that I’ve been scared of anything. I always felt I needed to keep up a strong front for Angie, but I’m actually pretty scared of losing all this. Everything Wheatley and I have worked so hard to gain together. I remember when we met. I didn’t know what to think of him, just standing there with Angie at that abandoned gas station. I was sure he was some kind of pervert or homeless guy. But something in my mind told me I could trust him. I’ve never really been religious but I do believe there are other worlds out there beyond human comprehension. At first, I didn’t believe him about just rejoining the human species, but after watching him interact with everything like he just woke up from a long nap, I started to believe him. Then he told me he was ‘seeing ghosts’ of another time…”

Lil put her hand over her mouth, trying not to cry. She looked up at the mantle, specifically at the picture at the beginning. In a silver frame sat a very old picture of Wheatley that Angie had found when they scoured the old part of the city. Lil told Wheatley she didn’t mind having it around, but Lil often found herself feeling jealous of the woman in that picture. She knew it was silly to be jealous of a ghost, but Lil often felt that way. She sighed softly and closed the photo album. “I wish Wheatley would tell me what’s wrong.”

Meanwhile

Wheatley gripped the pillow tightly and tossed onto his side. Sleep was his enemy tonight and it was giving him quite a struggle. He didn’t even notice Lil wasn’t beside him anymore.

“Who’s that bloke, Mr. Harvey?” Wheatley asked as Mr. Harvey slowly took him off the rail. Wheatley was always told to never jump off the rail or he’d die. He wasn’t sure what death was, but by the way Mr. Harvey cringed at the word, he wasn’t volunteering to find out. Mr. Harvey always took Wheatley down for maintenance. After hooking Wheatley up to his console, Mr. Harvey started typing. Wheatley was of course referring to the picture Mr. Harvey kept on his desk near the keyboard.

Wheatley narrowed his optic a bit and then looked up at Mr. Harvey. The picture was of Mr. Harvey without his snazzy lab coat standing with a really tall man. The two looked pretty overjoyed in the picture, which appeared to be taking place at some sort of party. Something about this man seemed familiar, but Wheatley couldn’t put his nonexistent finger on it.

“Oh, he’s…an old friend. You don’t need to worry about it.” Mr. Harvey answered as he began his routine maintenance on Wheatley. Aperture was full of secrets and Wheatley often heard the other cores talk (they ones that had the ability to speak without breaking into inane banter randomly) about happenings around the facility.

Wheatley kept staring at the picture. The tall man had a pretty wide grin and he wore the color blue well. He had glasses on, so Wheatley deduced this man couldn’t see too well. “Well, he must have been a pretty happy man, just sitting there with you. I enjoy sitting here with you, Mr. Harvey. I bet he and I would have scads to talk about. With me being so tiny and him being so tall. I bet we’d go on all day. Tall and tiny talk as it were. You’d be able to chime in, though. Not polite to leave people out of a conversation.”

Mr. Harvey only chuckled and continued his work. Wheatley didn’t know why, but something about this man was familiar. “Say, Mr. Harvey, has this man ever been to the labs? Given a visitors pass or anything? I feel like I know him or at least met him once.”

Jolting up, Mr. Harvey took the picture and put it away. “Wheatley, remember that talk we had about asking too many questions?” he warned, going back to his work.

“…that too many questions cause me to shut down and it’s getting bloody expensive to keep fixing me.” Wheatley recited, nodding his optic back and forth. Mr. Harvey nodded and went then started typing at his console. Wheatley didn’t like the secrets that floated around. He sometimes felt funny when talking to Mr. Harvey, but Mr. Harvey often ignored it.

Wheatley had begun to notice some people acted strangely whenever he was around, and not the normal “Ignore that moron sphere and keep going” strange. Sometimes, he’d see the nice front desk lady and he’d say hello to her when he passed by. The first time he did that, she burst into tears and ran away. Wheatley had asked Mr. Harvey if that was a normal reaction for women. Mr. Harvey didn’t answer.

“Hey, Mr. Harvey! You never told me how that date you had went!” Wheatley shouted. Mr. Harvey stopped and looked at Wheatley with an awkward smile. “Did you two ‘go all the way’?” Wheatley made a winking motion with his handles and his optic.

“Wheatley! Where did you learn that?!” Mr. Harvey shouted, trying to hide his blushing face.

“I heard some of the other guy scientists say it. Well, what is ‘all the way’ and did you go there? Was it nice? Where there those fancy frilly drinks I hear that women like? I think they like them, I mean you told me they like them but I don’t know what they are. Where there birds? I have a whole file on birds in my memory banks!” As Wheatley prattled on, Mr. Harvey chuckled softly and shook his head. “Hey, did your tall friend have a girlfriend?” Wheatley asked, out of nowhere.

Mr. Harvey stopped everything a looked at the metal ball with shock. Wheatley squinted his optic and looked away from Mr. Harvey. “I don’t know why I asked that, but he looks like a guy who’d have a lady at home waiting for him. Maybe, I don’t know. Something ticked in my system when I asked that. She’d probably be shorter than him…”

“Wheatley, stop…” Mr. Harvey warned.

“…this really dull blond color for hair, maybe past her shoulders…”

“Wheatley…”

“…fair skin, a few freckles on her cheeks, and these big green eyes that just lit up a room…I bet her name was…”

“…Wheatley, stop right now!”

“…Pam…”

Wheatley’s optic widened and he then looked around as Mr. Harvey typed wildly on the computer. “…Harvey? Harvey, what’s happened to me? What’s going on?!” Wheatley shouted right before his eye went blank. Before Wheatley could do any damage to himself, Mr. Harvey shut him down manually. He’d have to go into Wheatley’s memories and start deleting stuff again. The program wasn’t perfect and there were cases where some cores regained their memories. Mr. Harvey knew what happened to those cores. He refused to lose his best friend again.

Wheatley woke up with a shout and breathed heavily. He felt himself sweating hard and couldn’t seem to ignore the horrible shock going through his body from head to toe. Wheatley found his glasses and sat on the side of the bed. His side of the bed was no drenched in sweat and so was his pajama top. Wheatley slowly unbuttoned his pajama shirt and threw it in the clothes hamper. Though weather outside was frigid but Wheatley’s body temperature was as hot as a summer day.

The master bedroom had a big window right over the bed. Wheatley liked that because he was always first to see how the weather was in the morning. Lil, being about 5’5” without shoes on, usually had to stand all the way up before she could see out the window. Wheatley, being as tall as he was, could just sit up and see outside. It was snowing pretty hard now and pressing his hand on the glass, he could feel the cold.

Deciding Lil might be chilly (or not, her hormones kept her body temperature fluctuating) Wheatley decided to go get a spare blanket from their closet. It was only when he looked up from the closet did he realize that Lil wasn’t in bed. Though he wasn’t panicked, Wheatley decided to go look for her. He deduced since the bathroom door wasn’t closed (they had been married for three years and she still kept the bathroom door closed when she used it) that Lil wasn’t in their bathroom.

Not bothering to grab his bedroom robe, Wheatley left the master bedroom and started for the living room. As he descended down the stairs, he immediately saw Lil sitting on the couch. “Lil?” he whispered, walking into the living room. Lil looked up from the photo album she had on her lap and smiled a tired smile. “You shouldn’t be up. You need your rest.” Wheatley reached for Lil, only to hear a growling noise behind her. Rover poked his head around Lil and growled at Wheatley.

Lil shushed Rover and invited Wheatley to sit with her. “He’s been up with me, keeping me company.” Lil giggled as she closed the photo album. “Wheaters, is something wrong?” she asked bluntly. She knew she’d never get an answer out of Wheatley if she pussy-footed around. Of course, Lil was a very direct person either way. “I know you sometimes zone out and lose yourself in a flashback, well that’s what Angie calls them, but I know you’ve started having nightmares again. Why didn’t you tell me?”

Wheatley sighed and leaned against the back of the couch. “I didn’t want you to worry. We have enough on our shoulders as it is what with the baby, the kids, and now GLaDOS and the Androids. I didn’t want you to stress out and become sick.”

Rover jumped down from the couch and wandered back to his pillow where he initiated sleep mode again. “Wheaters, I’m your wife. You know you can come to me if you have a problem. For a marriage to work, both husband and wife have to talk to each other. I know it’s tough having all these memories still circling around in your head and coming out whenever they feel like it, but if you need anyone to talk to about it, you can always come to me. We can figure out something together.”

Lil laid her head on Wheatley’s bare chest and sighed softly as he stroked her hair. Wheatley suddenly felt better and sighed happily. “I’m sorry I’ve been hiding it from you, Lil. I just didn’t want you to worry.” Wheatley kissed the top of Lil’s head and reclined his head back. He felt like sleep might actually come to him tonight and he’d have enough energy to go outside in the morning and play in the snow with the girls.

Unbeknownst to them, someone was watching them from the top stair. This little figure slowly made its way down stairs and with a small whimper, got Wheatley and Lil’s attention. “Chelly?” Lil whispered as Wheatley got up.

Wheatley walked over to Chelly and picked her up. “Why are you out of bed, Love?” he whispered, holding her close.

“Bad dream…” Chelly whispered in her toddler speak. “Big scary place and talking ball!” Chelly raised her hands and waved them about as if trying to describe her dream. Wheatley cocked an eyebrow as Chelly continued. “A man turned talking ball off and played on the computer.” All of this was in toddler speak, but Wheatley deciphered it well.

Lil, having finally gotten up from the couch, waddled over to Wheatley and took Chelly from him. Wheatley, wide-eyed, stood in his spot. “Wheaters, you coming?” Lil asked as she carried Chelly upstairs. Wheatley nodded and leaned against the bannister. When he heard Chelly’s door shut and then the master bedroom door shut, Wheatley raced upstairs and knocked on the attic door.

The door opened slowly, revealing GLaDOS. Wheatley was starting to wonder if she ever actually slept (or shut down for sleep mode, as it were). “What do you want at this hour?” she murmured.

With his fists clenched, Wheatley swallowed hard and glared at GLaDOS. “Is it possible for my daughter to have the same dreams as me?” Wheatley asked. GLaDOS just stared at Wheatley. She folded her arms and just stared at him. “A little while ago, Chelly woke up around the same time as me complaining of having a nightmare. It was a particularly memorable nightmare and tonight, she describes my most recent nightmare in the best way a toddler can. Now, answer my question.”

GLaDOS let out a mechanical sigh and kept her arms folded. “I have researched dreams and there have been cases where children will have corresponding dreams to their parents. It’s a phenomenon that even I find quite intriguing and is in need of further study. I’d dive into it more if I didn’t have other projects. You’re obviously close to the Tiny One, so it’s not unusual. If these nightmares are causing you this much panic, imagine what they are doing to her.” GLaDOS watched Wheatley grab some of his hair and lean against the door frame. “I suggest you find out what is causing these nightmares soon or risk much more than your own sanity.” With that, GLaDOS slammed the attic door shut.

Lil was already asleep when Wheatley came back into the master bedroom. Wheatley sat up in bed with his arms folded, thinking about his nightmare situation. To him, it was like watching a really bad movie that starred him and his old handler, Mr. Harvey. Sometimes, Wheatley felt like a different person each time he had a nightmare.

Wheatley slowly sunk into bed as Lil turned over and wrapped her arm around him. Wheatley sighed and tried not to think about his nightmares anymore. He feared sleep now that there might be more at stake. For the most part, if Chelly was sharing his nightmares, it wasn’t an every night occurrence like it was for Wheatley. This gave him some comfort as he lay back on his pillow.

Wheatley slowly regained power and found himself once again hooked up to Mr. Harvey’s computer. He must have been asking too many questions again. Mr. Harvey warned him about that, but of course, Wheatley didn’t listen and now he was getting another program check. Wheatley hated these. He noticed Mr. Harvey wasn’t around and glanced around. “Probably stepped out for something to eat. Yep, eating, certainly a human thing. I wonder what it’s like to taste stuff. Mr. Harvey sometimes eats at his desk and it seems to make him happy.”

The office door opened and in stepped Mr. Harvey holding a can of the fizzy drink he liked so much. “Oh, you’re awake?” Mr. Harvey put his can down and closed his office door. “I had to go back into your programs again, Wheatley. You were out for a good while, so I decided to get some lunch.”

“Ahh yes! Lunch! You talk about lunch all the time but I have no idea what you humans do at lunch. I’ve been in the dining hall whenever you have this ‘lunch’ thing, but all I see is people talking and laughing and yelling at me to stop bothering them while they’re eating. It looks like jolly fun, but the whole eating concept seems a bit weird to me.”

Mr. Harvey chuckled and finished his updates. He unplugged Wheatley from the console (which caused Wheatley a bit of discomfort) and picked him up. “It’s as fun as a necessity can be.” Mr. Harvey answered as he held Wheatley up to the management rail. “It’s about time for me to head home, Wheatley.”

“Home…” Wheatley murmured softly. “…do I have a home, Mr. Harvey?” he asked.

“Well, they put you in charge of patrolling the Extended Relaxation Wing, so I guess that can be your home. Of course, then there are the core receptacles where you ‘sleep’ when not in use. I guess one of those can be a home as well. I know you share that big room it’s located in with some of the other cores.”

Wheatley blinked and followed Mr. Harvey. “What is your home like, Mr. Harvey? Does it have a core receptacle? Do you sleep in a relaxation bed? Can I come visit you like you visit me?” Wheatley seemed excited about that last part, wiggling his handles around.

Mr. Harvey chuckled and started taking off his lab coat. “No, I live in an apartment. I wish I could show you sometime, but I could get into a lot of trouble if I took you out of the facility.” Wheatley didn’t see Mr. Harvey get a contemplative look on his face. Wheatley noted that sometimes Mr. Harvey looked at Wheatley and sighed longingly as if missing a friend, and wondered if the tall man in that picture he often saw on Mr. Harvey’s desk was the “best friend” that left Mr. Harvey behind. Whenever Wheatley thought about the tall man, he’d get a mild discomfort in his systems, so he decided not to think about him much.

“Can I be honest with you, Mr. Harvey?” Wheatley asked. Mr. Harvey wasn’t really paying attention but he nodded anyway. “When you go home at the end of the night, I get lonely. The other cores, nice blokes by the way, don’t seem to like to talk about the same stuff that me and you do. That one core that talks about nothing but flowers seems to get on my nerves. I don’t have nerves like a human would, but you get the idea, Mr. Harvey. I really hope that one day I can go home with you. When I’m around you, I just feel…happy.”

Looking up, Mr. Harvey smiled at Wheatley and started to leave the area. “We’ll see, Wheatley. Maybe you can…but don’t tell anyone, alright? Just go back to your department and I’ll see you tomorrow, okay?” With that, Mr. Harvey left for the night. Wheatley decided to go back to his department, feeling a little better about his talk with Mr. Harvey.

Wheatley always felt better after talking to Mr. Harvey. He knew that as long as he had Mr. Harvey, everything was going to be fine.

Moaning softly, Wheatley turned in his sleep and pulled the covers over him again. This dream seemed to be peaceful, but Wheatley still moaned a bit as he tossed and turned. The light from the street lamps outside could be seen through their window as the snow continued to pile on the sill. The Pendleton household was calm and peaceful for another night. Wheatley turned over and put his arm around Lil again, bringing her closer. He woke up just for a moment to kiss her on the cheek and then snuggled close to her.

Enjoying each other’s warmth, Wheatley and Lil slept the cold night away.

----------------

As the children ran around outside with the Androids, GLaDOS kept a close vigil from the kitchen door window. Wheatley and Lil had left for the day to take care of their bookstores, leaving Dr. Rattmann in charge. ATLAS and P-Body ran around outside with the children, building snowmen, making snow angels, and being pelted with snowballs. Rover was outside too, chasing the shouting children as the Androids chased them with snowballs.

“The Moron came up to me last night with an odd question.” GLaDOS said after a long pause. Dr. Rattmann looked up from his coffee and his face urged GLaDOS to continue. “He asked me about the probability of him and the Tiny One sharing dreams.”

Dr. Rattmann stood up and walked to GLaDOS, joining her at the window. Outside, the kids ran around in their big coats and the Androids (who didn’t need to wear coats but did anyway) with them as the window blew snow from the trees and into the yard. “I’m not a metaphysical person. Well, not when I’ve had my medication. But there are some that believe people can transfer dreams to their loved ones without realizing it. It’s not something that can be controlled or learned. Those dreams are manifesting for a reason. It’s only a matter of time before Lil and Angie start having nightmares. I have no idea what could be causing their on slot as of late, seeing as the dreams started before you three arrived.”

GLaDOS, standing pretty close to Dr. Rattmann, nodded. “I’ve studied many things that were uploaded into me. Mythology interested me a lot during my time with those cores stuck on me. I found it a nice escape from the voices that were constantly pouring into my brain. Some ancient cultures believe dreams are a window into another plain of existence. I don’t know if anything like that exists inside the Moron’s mind, of all places, but it’s something to ponder. I believe he’s still somehow linked to the facility. It would explain how he knew of our presence before he opened the door the night we arrived.”

Dr. Rattmann looked around and then at GLaDOS. “A place like Aperture stays with you. The things in Aperture stay with you. The feelings and people stay with you.” Not taking her eyes off the children outside, GLaDOS pondered what Dr. Rattmann said, even when he went down to the den. GLaDOS focused on Chelly, who had decided to bury Rover under some snow.

   

“I know what’s causing the nightmares…now I have more reason to stop him…”