Sleep was close. Close, but not there .

She opened her eyes and looked to her left, where a small digital clock was sitting. There, the numbers '1:15' were displayed along with the letters 'AM'. All in a dim green color that produced just enough light to make her squint. Despite this, she kept on staring at those numbers, daring them to change.

Eventually they did.

1:16 AM.

She sighed softly and closed her eyes again, trying to ignore that voice. What was it saying? She couldn't tell. Their voice sounded far away, distant. Like it didn't matter.

But she lived alone, didn't she? Had she left the television on?

No, that couldn't be right. She hadn't paid her electricity bill in months. So… who was talking?

Who was… Is that…?

"Oh god, it's cracked. It's really cracked. You think I'm gonna be okay? Augh, everything looks weird. I thought that maybe reinforced glass would be stronger than this. Then again, we probably fell really far. I don't know how far, but I counted to at least a thousand. So a thousand second long fall. Or higher - probably higher now that I think about it. Waitwaitwait, what if something inside me is broken too?! I-I mean, that was a really long drop and-"

Chell groaned as she sat up. A sudden wave of nausea hit her, accompanied by a fresh surge of pain. The two intertwined with each other, spreading through her body like hot poison. She rose from the floor slowly, keeping her hand propped against the wall to support her.

"Oh, hey! You're awake! You know I thought for a bit that maybe you ended up landing on your head, or back or something. Of course, that would have meant you were dead which would have obviously been bad but-"

She retched. Then, she vomitted. It splattered messily on the pristine white floor, producing a warm gray puddle that smelled like hell. She retche donce more before spitting onto the puddle, wincing at the horrible burning sensation it left in her throat.

"Ah, okay, that's not good." Wheatley commented. He was laying on the ground a few feet away. His optic sensor seemed to be badly damaged - several cracks were visible on the lens, outstretched and spread like a web. "Um, you just threw up, huh? I think that most humans throw up from either food poisoning or motion sickness. I don't think I've seen you eat anything yet so it's probably the latter, considering that we were falling for a while there."

Chell used the front of her shirt to wipe her mouth. She stumbled backwards from the puddle of vomit and took a deep breath. The room they were in was fairly large but strikingly empty. The only thing in the room besides the two of them was an exit door. It was like the ones found in every other testing chamber - circular in shape and with a graphic of a blue stick figure.

"Wait, she offered you cake up there, didn't she? Oh god, did you eat some of her cake?! Because if you did, then she definitely poisoned it! Is that why you're acting all sick?!"

She shook her head and picked up her portal gun from the floor before walking up to the exit door. Unlike the other testing chambers she'd been in, this one didn't have anything connected to it. No buttons, levers, access points, anything . And of course, it didn't have any way to be opened manually.

"Ah, so you weren't poisoned. Just motion sickness or something then. Alright well, we've seemed to escape her . Erm, this place is a bit weird, don't you think? Very spacious. Minimalist, if you want to get artsy about it. I see that you're examining that door over there. Any way to get it open?"

Chell knocked on the door. It didn't respond.

"Erm, not to be a downer or anything, but I don't think that knocking on it is gonna do much of anything. I mean, you usually gotta solve some sort of puzzle to get it open, right?" Wheatley asked.

She turned around and crossed her arms, giving the personality core a blank stare.

"I-I mean, I guess there isn't really a p-puzzle to solve in this instance huh?" Wheatley stammered. "Y-Yeah, yeah, I see your point. And I guess even if it didn't work, no harm in trying! Just… do whatever you need to do to get us out of here, I guess. And really, I don't mean to pressure you, that's the last thing I would want to do. But, erm, this is a testing chamber. Or at least, I think it is. I mean, it's got the door and everything so-"

Chell blinked.

"Anyway! I'm just saying that there's a very very very slim possibility that she could find us at any point in time. I mean, that escape you did, whew! She must be fuming ! Which is great and all, but if she did find us, hypothetically of course, then we might end up in just a spot of trouble."

She sighed and turned her focus back to the door. But no matter how she looked at it, it was just a normal door. Only with no way to open it. She sighed again, this time with a hint of frustration. Experimentally, she shot her portal gun at the door. Of course, nothing happened.

"Just wondering, do you see anywhere I can be plugged in or something? Like, an outlet? Perhaps I could hack it open, or find a secret panel, or something like that."

Chell surveyed the room once more to confirm that there really was nothing in here.

"No luck? No luck. Huh, okay, okay hold on, let me think for a sec." Wheatley's optic narrowed. He started muttering things to himself, far too quickly and far too quietly for Chell to hear.

She shot some more portals to random spots on the wall and ceiling. Of course, nothing came of it. But what else was there to do? The answer was nothing. Literally nothing.

"Ah! I've got it!" Wheatley said suddenly. Chell turned to him with raised eyebrows. "Okay, so that portal gun of yours is pretty sturdy, isn't it? So what if we, - hear me out - used it as a battering ram?"

…

Chell started shooting more portals at the door.

"Aw, come on! Worth a shot, innit?" Wheatley complained. "At least I'm throwing around ideas! Haven't heard a single plan out of you since we've met. Well, not a single word actually… probably because you're mute… from the brain damage. Huh."

…

"W-Well, you're still not immune to criticism! Haven't you ever heard of morse code? Huh? We've probably passed a few pencils on our way, could have written something."

Chell began moving around the room, one hand gliding across the wall. There was a chance that there was a secret panel. If she found a line or crevice between the walls to indicate a panel, or some sort of section of the wall she could push in, then that could lead to escape.

"Hey, now here's an idea. That thing you're doing, you're looking for a panel, aren't you?" Wheatley asked. "We fell into this room, right? So there's gotta be a hidden panel on the ceiling . Yeah, didn't think of that, did you? But I did. Brilliant deduction, if I must say so myself… Which I must."

She took her hand off the wall and stares up at the ceiling. Wheatley had a point - they must have fallen in from somewhere . She shot two portals - one on the ground, and one on the ceiling. Then she kneeled down and carefully put her upper body through the portal so that she appeared upside down from the ceiling and started examining her surroundings.

She found nothing. So she shifted the portal slightly and began the process all over again. And again. And again. Moving only a few feet or so at every interval, she slowly but surely covered every single inch of the ceiling.

It took hours. Hours before she finally covered every spot. And found nothing. But that was impossible. It was like Wheatley said - there had to be something. So she started over, retracing her steps. Again.

And again.

And again.

And then she was halfway done through covering the ceiling for the 8th time, when she accidentally fell through the portal. Her knees were sore, and she just wanted to readjust. But that simple action caused her to fall through and appear at the end of the other portal - that is, the one on the ceiling.

She landed on her back, ending up right next to Wheatley. She let out a hiss of pain as a dull throbbing sensation overtook her. A quiet but high pitched buzzing noise filled her ears.

"Oh god, are you alright?! You fell! And not with your boots! Erm, that sounds a bit obvious now that I'm saying it out loud but still, you fell. Did you break anything? Humans are pretty fragile so I'm going to assume that you did. I don't know how to make a cast! Well, I suppose I couldn't even if I did know. Um, hold on just a sec, how about I look it up and then tell you how to make it?"

Chell pulled herself up, wincing at the fresh pain that pulsed through her.

"Huh, that's strange. I'm not getting any reception. Just how far down are we? I'd figure that every single inch of this place would be connected to the network. But nope, right here on my screen, it says no signal. In big red text at that." Suddenly, his optic lit up. "Hey, you think that means she can't get us?! This place might be independent from the network! That would mean she has no power down here! We're safe!"

She stared up at the ceiling thoughtfully. Then, she looked back at the door. If she didn't come in from the roof, and if there weren't any secret panels in the wall, then that must have meant that they came from the one and only entrance - the door. And if that were true, then someone must have put them there…

And who else would be here other than GlaDOS?

Chell looked at Wheatley and firmly shook her head. Now she was sure of it. GlaDOS was watching them. At the very least, she had put them here.

"Huh? You're shaking your head. Why are you shaking your head? You aren't disputing the fact that we're safe, right? Because, uh, we are. Definitely. No signal means no crazy megalomaniac AI trying to kill us. And I know that you're brain damaged and all which means that you're probably not all there in the brains department, but it's simple logic if you think about it."

She shook her head again and pointed at Wheatley, then herself, then at the door.

"Ummmm... . But no, really. You honestly don't know morse code or anything?" Wheatley asked. "That'd make things a whole lot simpler. Because that little gesture you did there really didn't tell me anything. Nope, not a thing."

Chell rolled her eyes. She was somewhat tempted to just start speaking, but there was still that very distinct possibility that she was listening. And for as long as she lived, she would not let GlaDOS hear her speaking. That was the one thing she held over her as an advantage. Was it a small advantage? Sure. Was it a practically nonexistent one? Maybe.

But hell if she was just gonna start speaking if she was listening.

Wheatley stared up at her expectantly, waiting for an answer and completely oblivious to her inner thoughts.

She sighed. Already, she could tell that this was going to be really annoying.