Part Seventy-Two. The History

                                    

                                          
Part Seventy-Two.  The History
                          
"I thought I was going to die."
                          
"It's all right.  You're safe now."
                          
"I just... God, I... I kept shooting it, and shooting it, and it wouldn't die... it was... spewing that transparent crap all over me, but it would not die... God, I... I can't get it out of my head!"  
                          
Wheatley stopped opening his shutters when he realised it was Chell's voice.  She'd never said a word through The Incident, and they all knew what a horror that had been, but whatever it was that'd happened to her out there was causing her to say these things in a horrible, desperate voice.  
                          
"You were very brave," GLaDOS told her, and he realised she was using the same tone she used when Carrie woke up at night.  "If it means anything at all... I'm very proud of you."
                          
"I just can't stop thinking of... of what would have happened if it'd decided to shoot those barbs at me.  I'd be dead.  Everyone seems to think I just stood there and shot it between the eyes, but I didn't.  It was on top of me, GLaDOS.  I was on the ground, and it was trying to stab me, and I was trying to shoot it and push it out of the way, but I... I was....  I don't know how I killed it.  I don't remember killing it.  I was so lucky." 
                          
"You knew that already," GLaDOS said, a little teasingly.  "You did what an entire army couldn't.  Twice."
                          
Chell laughed weakly.  "That was luck?"
                          
"It had to have been.  No human in existence is that skilled."
                          
"This is... part of why I'm here," Chell said quietly, sniffing.  
                          
"What is?"
                          
"I knew you'd... know what to say."
                          
"I'm a supercomputer.  I always know what to say."  Chell laughed a little at that, and GLaDOS went on, "In all seriousness... Caroline will have... phases where she has dreams that frighten her.  It's just... something I learned to do."
                          
"Both Wheatley and Caroline told me you don't think much of yourself as a mother."
                          
"I've done a lot of questionable things," GLaDOS answered softly.  
                          
"She admires and respects you.  A lot."
                          
"She doesn't know what I've done.  She doesn't know about all the humans I killed or the lies I told myself so that I could keep on killing them.  There's nothing to be admired or respected about that."  Her voice was sharp and bitter.
                          
"I understand, and I'm not one of you."  Her blanket rustled.  "You were young and scared.  People do strange things when they're young and scared.  Give her a try one day.  Tell her the whole story, from the beginning."
                          
"It's... very, very long," GLaDOS said reluctantly.  "And good chunks of it I corrupted, so I don't remember them at all."
                          
"There are backups somewhere," Chell said softly, obviously not about to give up.  "And I want to be there when you tell her."
                          
"It will have to be soon."  Her voice had faded somewhat.  "So she can see if being Central Core is really worth it."
                          
"Is it?"
                          
"God, yes.  But this was what I was made for.  She wasn't made for anything.  Except Wheatley."
                          
He tried to keep still at the sound of his name.  "Wheatley?" Chell asked.
                          
"It was... a long time ago."  She laughed gently.  "One day he asked me if there was a such thing as an AI family.  Despite myself, I thought of a way to make one.  One stupid, idiotic question completely changed my whole life.  Sometimes I see these little... events, I suppose you could call them, all superimposed into a flowchart, and I can see all the places we would have hit a dead end had things not gone exactly as they have... and I wonder how many more dead ends we have left to avoid before we can finally finish the life we wanted when we started all of this."