Work Text:
Cave glared at the screen in front of him. It had a list of the names of test subjects who had managed to make it all the way through a testing track, currently preserved in cryogenic stasis, presented in neat, orderly rows for him to judge their fate.
Which ones would go to the next rounds of tests.
Which ones would go into long-term storage.
Death now or death later.
Perhaps never.
Either way, they would do a great service to science. What a concept! What a fate! To live forever, to serve science for eternity in death. He could think of no greater reward.
And oh, how all of these people deserved it!
Astronauts (they had caused a bit of a kerfuffle when they had been found missing but, well, it wasn’t their fault).
War heroes.
Olympians.
The occasional employee who had drawn from a reserve of strength theretofore unknown.
All of them worthy, except for her.
No one knew where she had come from, but she had shown up and blown every one of their architects out of the water, and then, once she was pulled for mandatory employee testing, had blown all the test subjects out of the water too.
She wasn’t just persistent, she was tenacious.
The lab boys had said perhaps even more so than him.
That wouldn’t be a problem-he knew he was better-but, well.
They weren’t the only ones who had noticed.
It’s not like he hadn’t seen how Caroline’s eyes lit up during her interview, how intently she had watched her rapid ascent through the ranks of the architects, her almost hungry observation of her tests.
The way his assistant had launched herself into her arms, cheering and laughing, when she became the first (the only) employee to successfully complete an entire testing track.
That night, they had left together.
Caroline hadn’t informed him of where they had gone.
In what he would later tell himself was a very calculated and informed decision, he jabbed the “Long-term” button.
She was a high quality test subject, and Aperture needed those now more than ever (especially considering his recent… purchase), but he couldn’t bring himself to take advantage of her talents.
There should be nothing else to distract Caroline from the science she loved so dearly now.
He turned his attention back to the list, but before he could continue his vital work, he was overcome by a fit of coughing.
He grimaced and took a swig of his water. This cold was simply refusing to go away. He could continue his work tomorrow.
He stood up and grabbed his briefcase, switching off the lights as he left his office.
Caroline’s was the only spot of light on the entire floor, now. She had been working since dawn, and if he didn’t let her know how much time had passed, she would probably be working until dawn as well.
He raised a fist to knock on her door, but hesitated.
He couldn’t stop thinking about the architect, the one she had, for lack of a better word, cherished.
The one whose potential he had squandered.
He turned away from the warm, yellow light of his assistant’s office, towards the darkness of the bowels of aperture and the haunting emptiness of the surface, and left without a word.