Chapter 9: Orange and Blue

The sleep deprivation that loomed over her like a hawk faded away. Chell was shaking with fear, excitement and curiosity. She was with an honest-to-God human. Perhaps he was small enough to squish with her pinky, but it was a hell of a lot closer to flesh and blood than anything else she had to interact with.

That being said, the little guy wasn't saying a word. Fair enough, Chell thought. The room must be the size of a city to him. When she lifted her finger, he immediately curled back up into a ball. The expression on his face was one of confused terror, as if the world sat upon his tiny shoulders.

This was no good. Chell wanted more. She wasn't about to have the only other human in this place hide away from her. She plucked his arms up, lifting him off the ground carefully. Bringing him eye-level, she dangled him like a marionette over what must have seemed like a hundred foot drop.

Something seemed to click in his little brain. Chell could see him stare down at the ground, and then all the way back up at her. Wiping his eyes that were completely soaked from the hibernation, the terror in his face gradually melted into acceptance. He looked at her, distraught but hopeful, seeming fully prepared to die right here and now.

And that made Chell feel strangely powerful. She felt like GLaDOS, bringing him close to her face and staring him down.

He met her gaze, his expression cold and firm. His quivering lower lip hurt the act, and Chell could see him take a few deep breaths to calm down. Slim as a sheet of paper, and clothed in that long white cloak, he had an almost angelic look to him. Just from the way his reaction shifted, Chell could see he had been through something like she had. Despite the proportions, he was standing his ground.

Chell nudged him backwards playfully - her own test. A test to see what he saw, and how he would react. He looked surprised, lowering his eyebrows in confusion. Rocking back and forth, he opened his mouth as if to speak, but nothing came out. Chell brought him closer to her ear, as if to motion him to try again.

Again, he tried to say something, but his little lips were locked in place. He put his hand on his chest, frustrated, like something was locking him shut. Something wasn't working right, but Chell couldn't tell what. 

He pointed to something on his hand, and up towards his little fingers. It was barely visible to Chell - she had to hold him up to her eye. He was pointing at a tiny ring, with little ridges on the surface. Like the painting from before, one side was tinted orange and the other was colored blue. 

He started tapping at it, still looking up at Chell. What did he want? Was his... brain even functioning? Was she just imagining-

The tapping intensified, and it was clear he wanted something from her. He was trying to twist the ring in the orange direction, but it wasn't moving. 

Chell thought about the whole situation for a minute. She found him under a foggy tile. His movements and reactions seemed erratic... if it wasn't all just a delusion, maybe the little guy was just crazy. Was it just in her nature to follow other people's directions at this point? 

No. This wasn't what she needed. Another human was just another problem - something else to keep track of. She lowered him onto the ground, ready to leave him there. Chell came very, very close to discarding him like a piece of scrap.

He seemed fully aware of how he appeared - completely crazy. He reached out to the center of her palm, flattening his hand against hers. The acceptance too, had been a facade. His eyes became watery again, but not from the long sleep. Desperately, he clasped his hands together, and again, tapped the ring on his finger. He gazed up at her, like it was the single most important thing in the world.  His eyelids began to sink down, losing hope. He stared down at the ground, seemingly defeated.

It felt... familiar. One last chance. Chell thought she might understand. Carefully, she placed her own fingers onto the ring, and moved them sideways. She felt a tiny dial between her skin, which she moved effortlessly compared to him.

He smiled, and the tears kept rolling out of his eyes. She could hear his breathing again, like when he was in his little chamber under the tile. They just sat there for a moment, staring at each other, sharing a warmth that didn't exist in the cold machinery surrounding them.

He finally broke the silence:

"Hi!" 

His voice was audibly amplified. It started off quiet when it left his mouth, but it intensified, as if the sound went through a loudspeaker on its way to Chell. He could talk! She felt like she had to respond - to say something! But the memory of GLaDOS squeezing her open was fresh in her mind, and when Chell tried to open her mouth, she just choked up. It was quite strange for him.

"Uh... okay. I don't think I've seen you before. I... don't know where I am." He said.

Now she really couldn't say anything. He didn't know what Hell he was waking up in... 

"You can talk to me, you know. I won't break." He had to rub his eyes again. "How am I even alive? Is... Mr. Johnson still after me?"

She hadn't heard that name in a long time. He said it like he knew Cave Johnson in person. 

"I'm Dean, by the way. Do you uh... just not talk? I need to know where we are - what's going on. Can't you tell me? I'd like to go home."

'Go home.' It was such an innocent idea. Chell thought about the tirades Dad used to go on about Aperture, and Mr. Johnson's lack of a soul and how not a single test - not a single datum was worthwhile.

How much she wanted to pour it all out onto this... Dean. How much she wanted to talk about things that only they would understand. But would he? What if it was only her. What if he was just as robotic as anything else in this facility? Or worse yet - what if she had become the robotic one, same as the technology that tormented her.

And yet, Chell went on being silent, the irony totally lost on her. To Dean, she might as well have been that Dr. Min, the man with a notion of what he was doing and why he shouldn't, but doing it all the same. Chell's expression shed empathy, but her words shed none, because she didn't have any. She couldn't pry them out.

"Okay. Well, thanks for your help. Guess I'll find my way out." Dean began to clumsily make his way to the exit, a hobble in his step.

At this rate, he'd be there sometime tomorrow, Chell thought. And when he got through the doorway, he'd be an insect doing battle with a horrible monster. For company, she could look forward to GLaDOS and new quirky cores and helium-voiced, bullet-packing turrets. She was just going to let him walk right out.

Dean turned around, as if to give Chell another chance. It wasn't just an invitation to follow him - it felt like something more. His pale face shone like a beacon in what was a dimly lit room. Even more disappointed, he shook his head and turned around, doubtlessly thinking her to be some crazy mute. No. No!-

"Wait!" Chell gasped. "Please."

Dean watched, as she tripped over nothing and fell onto her knees. She hadn't missed him by much.

"Don't go out there. You don't know what it's like. Just... stay with me a while. Stay here. It's safe in here." She managed, her shadow completely encompassing him.

He squinted his eyebrows again, and then smirked:

"There? What are you talking about?" He laughed.

"Things aren't the same. Those machines aren't what they were. We're- you're not gonna make it out there. It's dangerous."

He didn't get it. Dean just kept shaking his head, confused.

"I've done these tests before. Those folks don't scare me. 'Machines,' ha, I like that. They are pretty out of touch!"

Chell didn't know what to say.

"Look," he went on, "If you're worried... why not come along? I don't wanna do this alone - I'm sure you don't either."

Being alone. Was that her problem? Could she really do this with... someone else? This little guy had woken up from his nap confident as a lion, and he was ready to take on the world. Why wasn't she?

But it was terrifying. GLaDOS was out there, readying some new and terrible surprise. She'd barely made it out last time. Chell saw Wheatley at the chamber entrance again, staring down dejected. 

She made up her mind. Chell grabbed Dean, and closed her hand around him. 

"Mmmmffff" He muffled, stunned.

She tied him to the waist of her jumpsuit, so that his head was sticking up high enough to breathe, but that he would never be seen.

Things were clearer now, and ironically, a lot less clear. Chell thought the fog from the tile had disappeared, but now, it seemed to swallow the entire room. And yet, she was finally seeing things for how they were. There was only one way out, and she took it.

Chell made her way through the exit door.