MIOCD: Chapter 3

Dead branches snapped as Wheatley clumsily crashed through the forest. "Come on," he muttered, scanning the woods. "It's big, it's pink; it shouldn't be too hard to find in all these trees--!! Oh!" He had emerged into a small clearing. Miraculously, in the center of it was the object he was looking for--a Companion Cube, slightly burnt, but still recognizable. Relieved, he went over to it and picked it up, happy to have found it. He instantly staggered back under its weight, but regained his footing just short of falling over. Now balanced, Cube in tow, he began to walk back to where he'd left the others. He stopped short. "Is this the right way?" he mumbled, confused. "All these bloody trees look the same..."


Suddenly, from a bit to hit left, Wheatley heard a faint shout. "SPAAAAAAACE BUUUUDDYYYY!!! Where aaaaare yoooou????" the voice called.


Quickly, Wheatley weighed his chances. On one hand, Space Core was most likely coming from wherever Chell and the others were. If he went that way, he could give Chell her Companion Cube quickly. Only problem was that he'd gain Space as a travel companion for the few minutes it'd take to get there.  On the other hand, he could bypass Space entirely by running in the opposite direction. He'd have to backtrack in order to get to the beach, and it'd take a while, but if it spared him 10 minutes of hearing about space...!!


Seconds later, he was stumbling through the woods again, heading into the thicker parts. Finally, he grew too tired to move on, and he dropped the Cube in a nearby pile of leaves. After listening for Space's calls and hearing nothing, he sat down on it. Slowly catching his breath, he glanced around.


In his haste, he had gone very far into the woods. It was getting a bit dark, not much light filtering through the treetops.   Now that he listened carefully, he couldn't hear anything. He drew his legs up to his chest and wrapped his arms around them. Glancing around nervously in the quiet, he was glad for the soft glow of the Companion Cube's hearts. He sat in silence for a moment, still on edge.


Hoo, hoo!


Wheatley's eyes widened. He shot up quickly, and shoved his hand into his pocket. After a second, he pulled out a small silver object. Pressing a button on the side nervously, a beam of light shot out. "I may not die from turning this torch on," he muttered, "but I'm probably going to get murdered by some hungry bird...!"


As he swept the beam across the treetops, he gasped. About 5 feet away from where he was standing, a pair of yellow eyes gleamed in the light of the flashlight. Squinting hard in its direction, he stood up and took a step towards it...


And then the owl flew down from the tree.


"AUGH!" Wheatley yelled, and dropped the flashlight. He quickly lifted the Cube up, and ran for his life. "BIRD, BIRD!" he screamed. "Oh, bloody--DON'T HURT ME!!" The owl continued to fly after him. Juggling the Cube in his arms, crashing through several tree branches that were nearly invisible in the darkness--until he smacked into them--he tried to evade the bird by zigzagging. Sadly, this proved to be a less than a foolproof way to navigate a forest. Worried that he was lost, he glanced behind him to see if he could find the clearing--and to see if the bird was still there.


Hooooo!!


Yelping, he scanned the trees behind him for the bird, still stumbling forwards. Suddenly, his foot caught on a tree root. Before he could catch himself, he had tripped; right off the side of a hill. He rolled over a few times, miraculously maintaining his grip on the Cube. Finally, he stopped falling, landing in a small cave formed by a pile of rocks that were at the bottom of the cliff.


"Oooow...!" Wheatley groaned. "This...this is why I don't like nature. It's out to kill me." His eyes widened as he heard another faint hoot, but he seemed to have lost the bird. He winced. And possibly the ability to use his legs. Probably not, but he didn't try to move. "I guess I have some time on my hands..." He ran his hand over the surface of the Cube. "I wonder why she left to out there. It's just a normal Cube, the Cube she used when she was testing, so why--??" On the heart on top of the Cube, he felt an abnormal little bump. Scratching away the scorch marks on its surface, he made out a small button. His eyes lit up. "A button! Buttons do things!"  With no second thoughts, he pressed it.


After an eerie pause, the Cube began to beep. Worried, Wheatley backed away from it. But
as soon as it had started, it stopped.


"Finally. I thought you'd never find that." the Cube said. Except, it wasn't the Cube, he thought. It was the voice of GLaDOS, the slightly murderous AI who controlled Aperture Laboratories.


Wheatley let out an involuntary yelp at the sound of her voice. It's not exactly pleasant to be confronted by a person who wants to murder you.


"Hold on..." GLaDOS said, "Who is that?" The Cube beeped again, and the top of it lifted up. Under it, Wheatley could make out the red lense of a security camera. He paled, and waved nervously as it swung towards him. "Oh, you are kidding me..." She groaned. "Why do you have the Aperture Science Weighted Companion Cube?"


"Uh, heh, well..." Wheatley wrung his hands nervously. "She--Chell, that is--well, she had left it outside the exit."


The glow the Cube's hearts were emitting flared violently. "That clever little--" GLaDOS stopped short, and sighed. "That still doesn't explain how you came to have it in your possession."



"I-I figured--just to be nice, do her a favor, nothing else!--that she might have just forgotten it, so I..." He paused, a bit embarrassed--in retrospect, his decision didn't seem the smartest. "I took it with me so I could give it to her when I found her."


A small sound--was that laughter?--came from the Cube. "You carried that heavy thing for hundreds of miles, trying to return it to someone who's most likely dead?!"


Wheatley frowned, oddly annoyed that She'd assume Chell couldn't survive on her own. "But she's not dead!"


The laughter stopped. "She's not?"


"No..." he confirmed, regretting his hasty outburst.


"And how, exactly, do you know that? 'Hope' isn't the same as 'fact', you know."


"I know that," he muttered, "I'm not a moron..." He sighed in defeat. "We actually did find a town, this little country club. And, wouldn't you know it, she's living here." When GLaDOS didn't reply, he began to get worried. "Y-you aren't planning on...doing anything to her, are you? If you let her go, then she's out, and you can't do anything to her--"


"--Shut up, you moron!" GLaDOS snapped. "Let's get one thing straight--I didn't 'let her go'. She...escaped after she shot you out into orbit. Secondly, you of all people shouldn't be telling me what to do. I'm certainly not going to bring her back into my facility. She's a murderous monster, and she almost caused my facility to explode. Actually, the latter is your fault. But don't worry...I won't do anything to her. Yet." The glow of the Cube dimmed. "I hear someone coming."


Wheatley listened carefully, and frowned. "Oh, boy, I think that might be the giant bird thing..."


The Cube's hearts flashed brightly before going out completely. "BIRD?!" GLaDOS yelled.


"Oh, no, wait, it's only Space Core." Wheatley said, with a hint of a smile. He had...forgotten that GLaDOS had developed a phobia of birds as well.


He could almost see GLaDOS' yellow optic glaring at him. "Well, have fun walking back to whatever little town she found with him. Bring the Cube with you."


"What??" Wheatley said. "Why?"


"I want to...observe that mute for a while. And see all the people she's aquatinted herself with." She said, being purposefully vague.


Hearing Space coming closer to his hidey hole, Wheatley sighed. "Fine. I'll bring it back. As long as you don't...do anything." The only reply was the camera disappearing into the top of the Cube, and the soft, normal glow of the Cube returning.