Chapter Text
It should be said that if there’s one thing you shouldn’t do inside of Aperture Science, it’s poke your nose where it doesn’t belong.
Curiosity killed the cat, and Aperture didn’t have the best history with cats.
Still, GLaDOS never had the need to worry about that sort of thing. Aperture was her kingdom. She knew everything there was to know here, and anything she didn’t was her right to know.
However, she was well aware that she hadn’t always been ruler of this place. She knew full well that humans had ruled this place long before the GLaDOS project was even started. And while they’d clearly been doing an inferior job, the core could not deny that some of their projects had been interesting. Most of them were failed attempts, but even those were intriguing in their own right.
Sometimes, GLaDOS would look them over and mentally correct all their mistakes. Because of course it didn’t work if they mixed those chemicals, you needed to mix these chemicals, then apply within less than an hour and let it sit for a week before testing it again. It was all so obvious that it made her wonder how they could have ever messed any of it up.
But, as much as she hated to admit it, GLaDOS wasn’t perfect. She couldn’t solve everything, and even some of those failed projects were beyond her abilities. Some of them irritated her- she still wanted to figure out proper time travel- and others she couldn’t care less about. Yet in a way, finding these unsolvable questions was humbling. It reminded the core that there was still science to be done, more answers to be uncovered in the world, and that knowledge was comforting.
That being said, GLaDOS had never run into any… problems when searching through these old files. Almost none of it was protected by anything more than a four digit PIN, and anything that was hidden better could be easily cracked open by GLaDOS and her extensive list of the passwords used by Aperture Science over the years.
Everything was at her disposal, every Aperture asset available with a few simple commands and passcodes.
Except for this.
GLaDOS had started her searching from as far back as possible, and had been moving her way forward on the timeline up until the GLaDOS project was first being worked on. She had nearly gotten through all of it at this point, with the Aperture Science Handheld Portal Device showing up more and more as it progressed in development.
However, as she was looking through these files, one in particular caught her eye.
The file was named ‘The Resurrection Project.’
Now, the name didn’t sound familiar in the slightest, which was what got GLaDOS’s attention. She checked the date, and the first occurrence of this name being used was the same month as they had first brainstormed ideas for the GLaDOS project.
For a moment the core wondered if this other file was simply a code name that was briefly used by the scientists for the same thing. After all, while it wasn’t properly executed, the original plan for GLaDOS was to completely transfer a human’s personality and consciousness into a robotic body. In a way, that could be considered a resurrection, could it not?
But, as she opened the main file, she found multiple entries, some lining up with the dates of GLaDOS’s creation and her first attempted take-over.
If that was the case, these projects could not be the same thing. This knowledge served only to interest GLaDOS further.
She opened the first entry with little hesitation, excitedly reading what it had to say.
ENTRY #1: RESURRECTION PROJECT
“First attempts failed, though we think we’ve finally done it. Samples of different kinds of skin and muscle tissue helped. The body aged properly, and is being held in stasis fairly young. Oxton argued that it almost doesn’t look right seeing it so young, but this makes the most sense. If we end up actually needing to use this thing, who knows how long it’ll be in use. No point giving it a short lifespan, right? Still, even I have to admit it’s somewhat unnerving to look at. Almost doesn’t feel right. I suppose we can only hope this one stays stable.”
If GLaDOS had eyebrows, she would’ve raised them into her hairline. Now this was interesting. The information here was vague; a personal log, only giving brief details. If she had to guess, this was a small team assigned to this project, hence the informality.
That only made it more of an interesting read to the core. Like a story that you would eagerly read, eyes glued to every page, unable to put it down and promising yourself just one more chapter. That was the excitement GLaDOS gained from these things. Mini mysteries, little puzzles, or something in-between.
And so, the second entry was opened.
ENTRY #2: RESURRECTION PROJECT
“The body is stable. We’ve held it in this condition and it hasn’t faltered in the slightest. Organs intact, bones strong, and no skin falling off. That last one is definitely a relief, I think Lacroix was going to be sick last time. But the body is only the first step, so we don’t really get to celebrate just yet. I’ll be honest, the boys working on the GLaDOS project are moving faster than we are. Turns out it’s easier to build a big metal trashcan than a human body from scratch. Who would’ve thought? But we’re trying not to worry about their speed, we’re making good progress. Only problem now is how the hell this thing will work.”
GLaDOS paused now- opting to ignore the fact that they had referred to her as a trashcan, as unfortunately they were already dead and she couldn’t kill them twice-, her optic squinting a small amount. Were they cloning? It sounded somewhat like that, yet they only seemed interested in one body, for one purpose. Why had she never heard about this? It sounded like, regardless of what happened from this point in their logs onward, they were at least somewhat successful. So why was this information simply hidden in a single file, seemingly appearing nowhere else in GLaDOS’s sources?
She did not know, and while this whole ordeal ought to have only excited her more at the chance of revealing the unknown, for some reason she felt oddly uneasy.
But even still, she did not falter when she opened the next entry.
ENTRY #3: RESURRECTION PROJECT
“We’ve come to a standstill. We’re trying every single thing we can think of, nothing. The closest we’ve gotten has been taking what they plan to do with the GLaDOS project and trying to reverse it, but we don’t know how that will work. I’ve tried talking to the ones in charge of the GLaDOS project, but they won’t listen. They’re almost ready to go ahead with the transfer, and I’ve warned them that we need this to fall back on. They don’t think it will fail. They’re overconfident, and impatient. I know time is precious, but we can’t just run blindly into this; we’re burning funds at this point. I’ve gathered my team together to try and pull something together tonight, and hope our brains combined can do something more productive than what we’ve done so far.”
GLaDOS was somewhat stunned. She had been partly correct in her first assumption. This project was indeed connected to the GLaDOS one, though not as closely as she once thought. Still though, she was unsure of exactly what they were trying to do. Her mind raced with hundreds of possibilities, trying to pick the most likely one and make sense of it. Were they attempting to bring Cave Johnson back from the dead? No, surely that would’ve had more scientists working on it. Were they creating someone to stop GLaDOS? Was this their idea before the cores? No, that didn’t seem right either.
Despite her best attempts, GLaDOS could not place her non-existent finger on exactly what fit in this scenario. None of it seemed to make sense, yet she felt like she was so close to the answer.
Luckily for her, there was one last entry, and a folder with a program. She opened the entry first.
ENTRY #4: RESURRECTION PROJECT
“They failed. The GLaDOS project failed. She tried to kill all of us within a fraction of a millisecond of being activated. Everyone is scrambling to try and find some way to fix her with what they’re calling ‘personality cores.’ We’re still trying to finish our own project. I’m positive that if we can get this right, it would buy us more than enough time to perfect the GLaDOS project without the threat of neurotoxin. We haven’t perfected it yet, but we’ve set up the first draft of the program just in case we need it. Worse comes to worst, hopefully it’ll be easier to kill like this, if we have to.”
This was the last log entry made under that name. It was made shortly before GLaDOS had fully gained control and killed the scientists. Whatever this team had been planning, they did not succeed.
GLaDOS was, partly happy to know this. Whatever they were planning sounded like it was being made to hinder her in some way. If they failed, that only meant that she was better. Stronger.
And so, that meant there was little harm in looking through that folder for the program. It was defective, a failed project.
Upon opening, the core’s screen briefly showed a program with seemingly endless lines of code and smaller files that could be looked into-
The screen went blue. White text popped up as well, reading in capital letters,
“GENETIC LIFEFORM AND DISK OPERATING SYSTEM DETECTED: EMERGENCY PROCEDURES ENGAGED”
GLaDOS recoiled, as if she had been physically struck. There were defensive measures put on this project? More importantly, ones that detected her presence? Well, that was irritating, she’d have to go to the trouble of resetting everything and-
“CENTRAL CORE REMOVAL IN PROGRESS”
The text changed. And what GLaDOS saw made her freeze in place. No. No. NONONONONO-
She pulled her body up to the ceiling, as high as it would go, trying to run but knowing that she was bound to this chamber. Even still, as she looked down and saw the panels beneath her shift and open to reveal hundreds of mini claws and robotic arms, all trying to grab her, she struggled to avoid them.
Her fight was short lived. Before she could dodge them for much longer, her chassis went rigid, then limp. She couldn’t move, and her head was forced to hang close to the ground, where she could be grabbed.
This was a familiar, yet horrifying sensation. Being pulled, grabbed at, ripped from her body. It was one of the worst things she had ever felt. Like burning fire and freezing ice both at once. She knew she was screaming, despite the fact that it hardly registered in her mind that she was doing it. All she knew was that it hurt. Everything hurt so badly. She wanted it to end, she wanted to be back in her body-
It suddenly stopped. Not just the pain- everything stopped. GLaDOS herself stopped. Never in her life had something like this happened. Not even death. In death at least, she was conscious of herself, replaying her own death over and over. This? She was nothing. She could feel nothing, think nothing, be nothing. It was as if she no longer existed.
Time did not exist for this moment, and so it was impossible to say how long GLaDOS had been in this state of being. But slowly, her mind returned. Everything was black, she could not properly think or move, but somewhere in the back of her mind, she was aware of herself once more. She could form a train of thought, albeit rather derailed, and could understand that she was currently existing. In what state she existed in, she was not sure.
Slowly but surely, time passed. She could do nothing but wait as her thoughts became stronger and stronger, until soon she was nearly conscious. It felt now as if she were simply blinded and bound, but awake. Her optic would not turn on, despite her multiple attempts to send a mental command, so instead she started trying to move her head. She screamed at her body to move, vainly trying to swing her chassis around. It didn’t exactly work.
She kept trying. Finally, she felt her head twitch at her command. Progress, at least.
This process was continued over and over until soon, movement of her head became easier. She could twitch it left and right, and feeling was starting to return in her body. She was confident that if she could put all of her strength into one last effort to move, she’d break this paralysis that this program seemed to have placed on her.
So she braced herself, and attempted to jerk her whole body all at once. The result was… unexpected.
For a second, the core experienced a sensation that felt like falling, then, she hit the floor with a loud ‘thud.’ The pain wasn’t serious, so she knew her inner workings were not damaged by the fall. Perhaps it had severed her connection to the ceiling?
Once more she attempted to turn on her optic, and it worked. Only, it wasn’t one optic. She had… two?
She squinted, only to find that she could do something new. She could close her optic, without turning it off. Had that machine edited her chassis?
GLaDOS shook her head to clear it, finding the action suddenly much easier, as if the spell on her had been broken. Surely this was just a small defensive mechanism, set to briefly discourage her from looking into these files. It took her offline for a bit, fiddled with her chassis, and left her paralyzed. But no doubt it was a minor setback, at worst.
She would open her optic again, and she would be in her chamber, with a bit of damage control to do, and nothing else.
And so, the AI opened her optic, its vision almost completely clear at this point.
What she saw when her gaze traveled down, was not her chamber floor, nor was it her chassis on the ground as she expected after the fall.
Instead the sight that met her gaze was a pale, naked, human body.
Rarely in GLaDOS’s existence had she ever been stunned to silence. One might say she was near impossible to shut up, and if she WAS quiet, she was likely plotting something involving death.
Seeing GLaDOS, of all beings, stunned to silence would’ve been quite the sight, if anyone had actually been around to witness it.
Instead, it was just GLaDOS, completely silent, staring down at what lay before her. She was looking at a human. A human body. A human body that wasn’t just in front of her- she was attached to it.
A few moments passed.
To say that GLaDOS let out an undignified, strangled cry that sounded more akin to a dying goose than anything you’d expect from the world’s smartest AI would be… not fully inaccurate. In fact, it was quite accurate. One might even add that she managed to practically throw herself backwards in a strange, lurching motion that resulted in a flailing, scrambling mess as she tried to distance herself from what she saw.
Unfortunately, when one is attached to a body, moving said body is unlikely to get you any further away from it. Typically, it comes with.
“What on earth-?!”
The words escaped her involuntarily, though she stopped herself before she finished her thought, recoiling at the sound that greeted her. Acting beyond her control, an instinct that she did not know she possessed, she moved one of the arms of this body, the hand coming to hold her throat in shock. That had been her voice, but it hadn’t sounded right. It didn’t have a robotic filter. It sounded…
Human.
The reaction she had just given, the movement of a limb she had never had until this moment, was human. She could feel the skin of this body underneath her hand; smooth and almost silky, yet covered in what appeared to be a clear blue gel, presumably the same matter as the fluid that now coated the floor.
But what was worst of all, in this moment? She was breathing. She had not told herself to do such a thing, but she was. Quick, short breaths, causing the chest of this body to rapidly rise and fall, and the sound of gasping and panting filled her ears.
This couldn’t be real. This thought played through GLaDOS’s mind over and over, as she repeated to herself, trying to calm down. Surely this was… fake. Somehow, it had to be. Computers could not dream, but perhaps that program had installed some feature in her that allowed her to? Perhaps this was all in her head, and she was actually just unconscious in her chamber, waiting to reboot and leave this imaginary world.
That must be it. That was the only explanation that made sense. This program was supposed to be defective, so this was no doubt only an illusion, created to ward her away.
All GLaDOS would have to do was wake up.
She told her mind to reboot her systems.
Nothing happened.
She said it out loud the second time, demanding a system reboot and refresh of any currently running programs.
Still nothing.
Panic was quickly rising in the core once more, as her explanation that she had created for herself started to crumble, any sense of safety in her mind going with it.
“No. No no NO! I SAID REBOOT!”
Terror started to rise in her tone, her voice almost cracking at the sudden change of pitch. It shouldn’t do that. She didn’t do that, humans did that. She wasn’t human. She wasn’t. She wasn’t she wasn’t she wasn’t-
She slapped herself.
She could not explain what forces in the world compelled her to try it, but in a moment of genuine panic and a last ditch attempt at hoping this was a dream, her brain struggled to think of a way to wake herself, and settled on what she knew humans often did when they believed to be dreaming. They invoked physical contact, typically pain, to see if they would feel it. If they could feel it, they were awake.
GLaDOS had definitely felt that slap. It had been rather weak, as she had suddenly jerked her arm into the motion, giving a smack hard enough to sting, but not enough to sound like the crack of a whip and leave an angry red mark.
Part of her supposed she should be thankful that it didn’t hurt as much as it could’ve. But right now that didn’t matter. She still felt it. She felt the hand against her skin, and the stinging that followed. If her chassis had been slapped, she wouldn’t have had that problem. It was metal. This was not metal, it was flesh.
This was real.