//------------------------------// // As One Door Closes // Story: The Multiverse in a Nutshell // by Pennington Inkwell //------------------------------// "Elijah?" Isis understood that he preferred to go by his alternative nomenclature. However, out of respect for his position, she chose to address him by his proper name. "Hm?" Penn hummed in return. "May I make a personal inquiry?" It was a silly question, and she fully expected a silly response. It was merely what was considered to be common courtesy, and she would adhere to it. Just as she had been programmed to. "You already have, but go ahead..." Penn chuckled, touching the tip of the drone's tail to the chassis of the Atlas android. With a shower of sparks, Isis could feel another wave of new code opening up to her to be processed, translated, and integrated. "Why did you mislead Sunset Shimmer regarding the nature of my existence?" There was a pause. Elijah was computing, processing emotion and weighing it against logic with careful measure. He had a remarkable capacity for self-examination... for a human. "Honestly, Isis? I'm still trying to wrap my head around the fact that you even EXIST, myself. Imagine what Sunset's reaction would be if I told her 'Oh, this is a character from a story I wrote and never sent to a publisher! Apparently, I've created LIFE without even trying!'" He sighed and shook his head. He was in distress. Isis could suppose that some stress was rational, given the situation. She turned the small laser pointer in her eye to indicate the next soldering point. "I am not, technically speaking, alive." Penn scoffed as he used the disconnected tool from her tail to make another connection. "If you're the Isis I imagined, then you think and feel for yourself. You're a conscious being with your own emotions and desires, as difficult as it is for you to express them properly. That's plenty alive." Isis repressed the surge of emotion his words spurred. Emotion tended to overload her processors, and presently both his life and Sunset Shimmer's depended upon her ability to safely guide him through rewiring the central processor into a foreign body. However, she DID save a recording of the prior ten seconds to be properly processed to her satisfaction later. "That does raise another question, however. Given my existence, will you attempt to write Sunset Shimmer a way home?" "No." Isis noted that there was no hesitation in his answer. Either he had already pondered the question beforehand, or the answer was a foregone conclusion to him. "Why not? It would appear to be the most logical course of action." Penn sighed, gingerly leaning back against the wall and wiping sweat from his brow. "First of all, that's a shortcut, and if all of fiction is suddenly REAL, then I'm not going to tempt the 'short cuts make long delays' trope! Any attempt to bypass a main conflict by invoking poorly-understood laws of the universe has a ninety-nine percent chance of backfiring." "That statistic has no basis in factual data." "And second of all, I'm not sure I'm going to do ANY writing any more..." he gave another sigh. "I mean, knowing that what I've been writing could be REAL? And have a REAL impact on someone's life? Or even CREATING life? I mean- that's- it's-" he was finding himself short of words, a situation Isis contemplated calling "ironic." "That's power I shouldn't have, Isis. No offense." "I am incapable of feeling offended." Penn raised an eyebrow, clearly doubting her. Isis decided to continue the conversation before he attempted to prove her wrong. "As an entity born from your creativity, I would urge you to consider not giving up your passion." She moved her pointer to the next soldering point. "I am quite grateful to exist." This managed to reinvigorate him enough to get back to work on the rewiring. "I guess that makes sense..." "Do you intend to tell Sunset the truth in the future?" "Until we figure out more about how all of this 'fiction come to life' business works, no." Penn took a moment to point the soldering iron in the direction of her head. "And I would like to ask you not to tell her, either." "Is that a command?" "If that's what you want to call it, sure." "Affirmative, new protocol registered: lie to Sunset Shimmer." Penn blinked, actually turning around to look at her half-disassembled drone with a bemused expression. "Was that sarcasm?" Isis was a machine, an artificial intelligence incapable of true emotion and residing in bodies of inflexible shaped metal. Thus, she was incapable of smiling. "Certainly not." ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ When Sunset opened her eyes again, she was laying on a table, her body spread-eagle. She was getting VERY tired of waking up in places that were different than where she had gone to sleep. She made an attempt to sit up, only to find herself strapped down at her wrists and ankles. She was tied down, and an experimental tug made it clear that her joints would break long before the leather restraints did. From somewhere up above her, a new machine descended. It was a small eye-like sphere suspended between two unsettlingly human-looking robotic arms. "GUTEN MORGEN! I AM VIVIAN, VIVISECTION VIVIAN!" Sunset's heart began to race as one of the arms reached down to a small table beside her and grasped a scalpel. The robot expertly flipped the blade between its fingers. Sunset felt a chill run through her as she observed the practiced ease with which the machine readied itself to, presumably, slice her to ribbons. Her heart rate began to pick up and her mind began to race as she realized that her remaining time alive was most likely going to be measured in seconds if she didn't take some kind of action to free herself. "W-WAIT!" Sunset cried, struggling against her restraints. "What about the testing? What about the laws of robotics? I AM human!" Her pleas seemed to fall on deaf ears as the scalpel-wielding hand lowered itself towards her chest. "NOW NORMALLY ZIS IS WHERE A DOKTOR VOULD SAY 'You may feel some pressure,' AND I AM NO DIFFERENT! YOU MAY FEEL SOME PRESSURE HERE! COMBINED, OF COURSE, WITH ZE FEELING OF ZE BLADE THAT IS BEING PRESSURED CUTTING INTO YOUR FLESH!" Sunset's mind was racing as quickly as her heart was pounding. She knew that she only had time for one more chance at escape. "H-hold on! I have a question about- about... the operation!" This actually made the robot pause, turning its single eye on her. "YES? WHAT IS IT?" Sunset took a deep breath before unleashing a torrent of words as quickly as her mouth could form them. "W-well, when do you actually MOVE the scalpel to cut me? I mean, if we were to divide time into a series of infinitesimal moments, then in any singluar frozen moment in time the scalpel is standing still! However, in the next consecutive moment it's closer to me! So when do you move it?" It was a rushed version of the classic thought experiment, but it seemed to be enough. Vivisection Vivian backed away slightly, pondering the question. "VELL ZAT IS SIMPLE! I MOVE IT WHEN-" it gave the blade an experimental swing. The pupil of the eye constricted, narrowing its focus on the scalpel before giving it another twirl between its fingers. "W-WELL, PERHAPS AT TEN THOUSAND FPS..." It repeated the process twice more, before Sunset could see smoke beginning to escape from the eyeball. "IT MOVES WHEN... W-w-WHeN... IT MaKEs No SENSE!" With a loud pop, the eyeball exploded, sending shrapnel flying through the room. Sunset blinked, taking a moment to check if she was in any pain. Luckily, it seemed as if the fragments of metal and circuitry had spared her. The arms of the robot seemed undamaged, but simply hung limp without an intelligence guiding them. She gave another tug at her restraints, and felt ready to leap with joy as she felt a slight amount of give on one of her ankles. "Rrrgh... Come ON!" she grunted, pulling with all of her might. Rrrrr-SNAP! All at once, Sunset's right leg was free. She didn't even need to think about her next move, swinging it out to kick at the table of surgical tools. The table rolled perfectly, coming to a stop just beneath her hand. With what little ability she had to move, she reached out and snagged a fresh blade, performing her own finger-twirl to place the cutting edge against the leather and begin sawing through. In just a few seconds, she had cut it down enough to snap it with a forceful pull. CORE FAILURE DETECTED. DEPLOYING NEW CORE. A new eyeball-like robot descended from the ceiling as Sunset frantically turned her attention to her other hand. "GREETINGS! I AM DISSECTION DANIEL- WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" With both hands free, Sunset unbuckled her other ankle, finally freeing herself completely. She leaped from the operating table, sprinting for the door. Unfortunately, it failed to open for her, causing her to slam shoulder-first against the sliding panels. "THIS IS NOT HOW A DISSECTION IS SUPPOSED TO PROCEED." Sunset ignored the stationary robot's protests and tried to think. So far, every door in Aperture had either opened after she had completed a test or been opened for her by GLaDOS. This door didn't seem to have any kind of mechanism attached to it, which meant it was most likely controlled by the computers. Okay, well there's more than one way out of a room! she thought to herself, turning back towards the robot. A quick glance pointed out a single air vent near the center of the ceiling, but no windows of any kind. There was another gap big enough to get through... but it was the opening the AI core had come through, directly above the robot. "PLEASE RETURN TO THE OPERATING TABLE." "Yeah, fat chance of that..." Sunset muttered before pounding her fist against the door. "HELLO? Is anybody out there?" To her surprise, more knocking came back in return, mimicking her pace. Sunset's heart leaped in her chest as she pounded again, trying to make certain that whoever was on the other side knew she was in there. Behind her, she heard the shuffling of panels. Something else was being brought into the room. Turning back around, she saw a claw retreating back into the ceiling and a small robot placed on the floor. It stood precariously on three narrow legs and had an oblong, egg-shaped body with a single red eye in the center. "Gotcha!" Sunset didn't even need to see the red dot appear on her chest to recognize the voice, nor did she need to see the sides pop open, revealing two pairs of gun barrels. She dove across the room, putting the dissection table between herself and the turret. As she did, she felt a sharp pain from where her leg had been shot earlier, but luckily no new bullet wounds. BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG! Okay, the turrets still have AI, right? Then maybe another paradox can stop it? "This sentence is-" "LALALALALA I can't hear you!" The turret countered, cutting her off. Right... AI. It learns. Sunset sighed, taking some small comfort in the fact that she had proper cover behind the table. Unfortunately, a quick once-over of the room in her mind reminded her that she had no way of sneaking up on it. It had been placed in the corner, and there was no other items she could use. Her leg was still hurting, as well, a sign she might have put too much pressure on the injury in her desperate leap for cover. I really should have had Isis take a look at that... I got so caught up worrying about Penn, I forgot to make sure I was okay, too! Ugh, what a dumb mistake! "Are you still there?" "Where else would I be?" Sunset whispered. She had to admit, she didn't like the feeling of being pinned down by gunfire one bit. She didn't like it when she was playing Laser Tag with Rainbow Dash and she didn't like it now. "I HAVE to get behind it... but how?" "Could you come over here?" A chill ran down Sunset's spine. Penn had been right, that voice really DID sound harmless, to the point of being unnerving when she knew the sheer firepower behind it. She knew that it took about a second to get a lock on its target, and it didn't seem to have a sense of object permanence. Maybe if I rush it I could get around behind it before it can fire? At the very least I could minimize how many times it can shoot me, right? She pushed herself up onto the balls of her feet and braced herself. "Three... two... one- OW!" Sunset found herself yanked violently upwards with a searing pain across her scalp. The other robot had grabbed a large handful of her hair and pulled her up to eye level, forcing her to stare into the mechanical iris. The other hand clasped itself around her neck, almost completely cutting off her ability to breathe. "PLEASE RETURN TO THE DISSECTION TABLE." "Target Acquired!" "Let... GO!" Sunset could barely force the words out with the mechanical hand gripping her throat. Shifting her weight to her back leg, she kicked up and stuck the robot's core from below, sending it flying across the room. She tried to ignore the shooting pain in her thigh and focus on sending the core as far away from the rest of it body as possible. She couldn't see where it landed, but she heard the sound of colliding metal immediately followed by the turret's voice. "Owowowwowowow!" BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG! Sunset flinched and waited for the pain of the bullets colliding with her body. After several seconds of gunfire, however, she still hadn't felt a single impact. The deafening noise finally stopped, along with the sound of the bullets harmlessly falling to the ground. "Nap time..." It took a second for Sunset to realize what had happened: the core must have struck the turret when she kicked it and knocked it over. That single-handedly one-ups every single goal kick Dash has ever made! she thought to herself. She reached up and began to pry the mechanical fingers off of her neck. Sunset ignored GLaDOS as she managed to free her neck, allowing her to fully breathe again. With that done, she turned her attention to the hand that had grabbed her hair. Her spirits fell as she realized that it had a pretty good grip. Not only had it grabbed her hair, it had twisted and looped it around the hand. There was no way she could get it out quickly, and she could already hear mechanisms moving in the walls and ceiling as more reinforcements were on their way. Only one solution presented itself, one way to get herself free before things got even worse. CORE FAILURE DETECTED. DEPLOYING NEW CORE. No time to hesitate! Sunset reached out the the table of operating tools and grabbed a fresh scalpel. "HELLO! I AM- WHAH!" The next core didn't even get a chance to introduce itself before Sunset grabbed it with one hand and threw it over her shoulder. CORE FAILURE DETECTED. DEPLOYING NEW CORE. It's getting faster! She thought. Knowing she would only have a few seconds, Sunset did the only logical thing: she tore the scalpel through her hair, cutting it short. Suddenly free, she stumbled backwards and away. "There you are!" "Deploying!" "Preparing to dispense product!" Three more turrets descended from the ceiling, each one locking their eye on Sunset. They were being placed in the remaining corners of the room, leaving Sunset with zero cover. "Sunset! Over here!" Her head snapped back to the doorway, where the way out had finally slid open, revealing Penn waving frantically to her. She sprinted toward the exit, hearing the turrets opening all around her and preparing to fire. Just as she crossed the threshold, the door slammed shut behind her and the sound of muffled gunfire filled the air. She didn't even make an attempt to stop, crashing face-first into her friend. Her momentum carried them both back several steps before Penn finally lost his footing enough to send them both falling to the floor. "Sunset! Are you okay?" Sunset felt tears of relief beginning to well up in her eyes. It was over. She had made it out alive, and they had managed to find each other again, just like they had promised. She had nearly been vivisected as some kind of science experiment by crazy robots! She had been tied down and almost cut open! Now that she actually had a moment to think about it, she could imagine what would have happened if she hadn't managed to escape: blood, screaming, a torn-apart corpse being all that was left of- No. No, she had to stop thinking like that. She HAD escaped. She HAD managed to get free. She did it. The insanity was over for now, and the relief of it was more than she could take. "You need a minute?" Penn whispered. Sunset could only nod in response, pressing her face into his shoulder harder to hide the tears. Penn didn't seem to need an explanation, wrapping her up in a tight hug as the two of them simply sat in silence for a moment. Once again, Sunset couldn't help but be reminded of how good his hugs felt. The grip he kept on her was like a reminder that she was still there, still alive. What could have happened to her DIDN'T, and she wasn't alone any more. She was going to be okay. "I... uh... like what you did with your hair?" Penn whispered. Somehow, the clearly awkward way of breaking the silence was enough to finally break through the terror, breaking the dam on her nervous energy and sending her into a fit of giggles. "W-well, I was really cutting it close in there, so..." The two of them laughed together for a moment, the last of the tension drifting away as Sunset finally let go of her grip on him. As soon as their eyes met, Penn looked down at the floor, clearly ashamed. "I'm sorry I took so long. If I had just been a little faster, you wouldn't have had to go through all of this!" "It is irrational for you to blame yourself, Elijah. It was my constant inquiries for clarification that caused the delay." Sunset turned around in the direction of Isis's voice. Isis was barely recognizable any more, an oversized version of the eyeball-like cores that she had seen in the other room. The only things that made it clear that she was looking at Isis was the pink coloration of the lights and the rhombus of rose-colored quartz awkwardly soldered into the center of the pupil. She was plugged into a small interface in the wall, what Sunset guessed was the controls for the door. "No, I was the one constantly asking for instructions on-" Penn started, only to be cut off when Sunset held up her hands. "Look, I'm just glad that the two of you showed up when you did, okay?" Sunset smiled and gave Penn another quick hug before pushing herself onto her feet. She cringed as pain shot through her leg again, this time not dulled at all by adrenaline. She forced herself to work through it, giving each of them a determined look. "Now that we're all together again, it's time to take down GLaDOS and get out of here once and for all!" Penn hummed to himself, tapping his chin in thought. "Aperture without GLaDOS? Can the multiverse handle it?" "Her operating parameters appear to indicate we have entered after the events of the second 'Portal' game. There is no set timeline to disrupt. Any actions we take should be safe." After a moment, Penn smiled and reached onto his back, retrieving his portal gun and handing it to Sunset as he stood up beside her. "Here, you're better with these things than I am." Sunset smiled and gave the switch in the handle a few experimental flicks from blue to orange and back again. It was just as satisfying as she remembered. "Which way to GLaDOS, Isis?" Calculating most efficient route...