Wheatley was floating around the moon for three days. To be honest he believed it was a miracle he lived that long. He should have deactivated as soon as he was detached from Her body.
He should have been 'dead', or at least the robotic term for it. He should have at least shut down for a while, but he didn't.
»»ENERGY LOW - RETRIEVING ENERGY FROM POWER RESERVES««
»» . . . ««
»»RETRIEVAL FAILED««
~~HAVE A NICE DAY~~
The message flashed across Wheatley's blue optic for what he decided was the 'Millionth time', even though it was only the fourth. He hated the cheery voice narrating it, too. It was female, and it sounded a lot like Her. The only difference was that it sounded more human.
It couldn't be the lady, though. She couldn't speak.
Wheatley quickly blinked the message away.
The stars around Wheatley glowed brightly in the darkness of space. Their light reflected off of the moon, and brightened up everything around them. Wheatley watched the Earth turn ever so slowly, something he did to pass the time.
"Space, space, I love space! Mhm, mhm, space!" The Space Core laughed cheerfully, his yellow optic glowing brightly. Wheatley rolled his optic. The Space Core has been going on and on like that ever since they became stranded next to the moon. It got on Wheatley's nerves only seconds after they had been forced to meet, when he was in Her body. The Space Core continued conversing with himself. "Oh, hey, hey, hey, hey! Space. I'm in space!"
Wheatley had enough of the Space Core's unending chatter. He hoped that yelling at the top of his metaphorical lungs would silence the hyper robot. "Shut up! I know you love space, mate! You said it over one hundred times!"
The Space Core glanced at Wheatley, the moon reflecting off of his unmoving frame. Wheatley sighed and closed his optic, thankful for the peace. He opened his optic again and looked at the Space Core, who was still staring at him. Wheatley locked optics with the Space Core for a few moments before looking away. The Space Core stayed still. Only after Wheatley thought he broke him did the Space Core speak up again.
"Dad, your space! Yes, son, I'm space! Space!" The Space Core began yelling about his magical space father again, and for once in his life Wheatley wished that he could turn his audio sensors off. Then he remembered that he would die if he did, though now he wasn't so sure that was true. The last few times he did something that someone told him would kill him, he turned out fine.
»»ENERGY LOW - RETRIEVING ENERGY FROM POWER RESERVES««
»» . . . ««
»»RETRIEVAL FAILED««
~~HAVE A NICE DAY~~
Wheatley angrily blinked the message away again. He already knew that he was running out of energy, not matter how many times he told himself it was an error. Another error. Wheatley shuddered and closed his optic. He really was a moron, wasn't he? He thought about what he did to the lady. She was so nice to him, even though she refused to speak to him, and Wheatley turned her away for power.
No, he would not think about that anymore. Wheatley opened his optic and turned to face the Space Core. "Hey, mate?"
"Oh! Space friend!" The Space Core said, remembering Wheatley was there. The Space Core giggled happily. "What's your favourite thing about space?
Wheatley rolled his optic. He heard that question thirty times and he had never answered.
»»ENERGY LOW - RETRIEVING ENERGY FROM POWER RESERVES««
»» . . . ««
»»RETRIEVAL FAILED««
~~HAVE A NICE DAY~~
Wheatley blinked and the message was gone. He looked at the Space Core, his expression as close to a small smile as it could be, and finally answered his question. "Everything, mate."
The Space Core screamed in joy before Wheatley could continue. "My favourite part of space is spaaaaaace!"
"Sure." Wheatley sighed in exasperation before looking back to the Space Core, tiredly. He could not believe he was about to do this. "Why don't we sing about space?"
That question received another squeal from the Space Core as he shook in excitement. "Oh my god, oh my god, space!"
Wheatley felt his optic droop slightly. He waited for the Space Core to calm down a little before he spoke up again. "Okay, you start."
"Space, space, spacity space, space, space!" The Space Core started singing his own 'space' song, and Wheatley attempted to sing along, though he failed spectacularly. The Space Core sung to a tune Wheatley had heard from one of Aperture's radios. It was not the jazz version of the song he once heard Her sing to Herself. It was a song sung by a man. The man spoke of an exile.
Wheatley continued trying to sing, when suddenly, his voice was cut off.
»»VOCAL PROCESSOR OFFLINE««
»»REQUIRES IMMEDIATE APERTURE SCIENCE ENRICHMENT CENTER MAINTENANCE««
Like hell Wheatley was going back there. He would rather go to android hell then go through one of Her punishments. Wheatley blinked again and the message disappeared.
He looked over to the Space Core, who didn't notice he was singing alone. Wheatley felt bad about leaving the Space Core out here by himself. The Space Core had the personality of a human child. Wheatley knew from experience that human children did not handle abandonment well. On 'Bring Your Daughter to Work' day, a little girl got lost inside Aperture and cried endlessly until a man and a woman found her. The parents looked familiar, now that Wheatley thought about it.
A jolt of electricity ran through Wheatley's frame, forcing him from his thoughts.
»»ERROR-ERROR-ERROR««
»»SYSTEM MELTDOWN IMMINENT««
Wheatley read the message over and over again. He didn't want to believe it, but it was inevitable. Wheatley looked back to the Earth, sadly. He would never get a change to apologize to the lady.
Before Wheatley was in Her body, he had a backup power source that he had been running on since She was killed the first time. When Wheatley was transferred into Her mainframe, his backup had been deemed unnecessary, and was taken out, which was a very painful procedure. Wheatley was forced out of Her body, so his backup had not been replaced.
He should have known he wouldn't survive that.
»»ENERGY LOW-RETRIE-RETRIEVING ENERGY FRO- FROM POWERWERWER RESER-««
~~HAVE A NICE DAY~~
The voice glitched, but the ending was clear as day. The voice was taunting him, Wheatley knew it.
The Space Core still sang his song, which was oddly soothing. Wheatley listened as attentively as he could, but he was almost out of power. There was no way he could panic when he listened to that song, even if the lyrics were replaced by 'space'. At least, Wheatley thought to himself, no one would miss him. His optic closed. Wheatley fought to stay active, but the Space Core's harmonic melody lulled him into permanent slumber.
~~GOODNIGHT~~
"Space friend?" The Space Core spoke, tilting his optic innocently. "Are you okay?"