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It’s been approximately 2000 hours since he was flung into the abyss of space.
The space core has spent most of this time rambling about how excited it is. Wheatley has spent it feeling sorry for himself.
He thinks about Chell and whether or not she survived. If she did, maybe she can find him somehow. Maybe he can still apologize.
He looks around, searching for any kind of landmark. If the portal on the moon hasn’t closed up, maybe someone will discover it and find him. All he sees in every direction is darkness, broken up by the odd peppering of stars.
He tries not to think about how long it could take for him to be found.
~
About 8000 hours in, the space core seems to get stuck in some kind of loop.
“Star. Star. Star. Star. Star. Star.”
“Yeah, those are definitely stars, mate.”
Wheatley just wants a few minutes of quiet before he completely snaps. With no way back to the facility, there’s no way the space core can be shut down or rebooted. He can’t even get rid of it in any way. He attempts to come up some kind of plan other than “hold out and wait to be rescued”. He hopes that the space core will blow out its speakers or something.
“Star. Star. Star. Star. Star. Star. Star. Star. Star. Star. Star. Star. Star.”
Wheatley tries to block out the sound. He ignores the fact that he lost sight of the moon thousands of hours ago.
~
After 23187 hours, the space core is taken out by a piece of debris.
Wheatley watches its remains drift slowly through the void until he loses sight of it. He feels a bit sad about the loss of his only companion, but welcomes the silence.
~
It takes approximately 370 hours for the lack of sound to finally get to him.
Somehow the lack of auditory input is worse than the space core’s babbling.
He hates himself for ever having wanted to be rid of the space core. All he wants now is to hear something other than himself. Hell, he’d be happy just to have someone to talk to. Even if they don’t talk back, like Chell.
Chell.
If he hadn’t tried to kill Chell, he wouldn’t be in this situation. If he’d known that plugging into that body would immediately corrupt him, he wouldn’t have done it. It was a crappy plan. He wonders if she knows it was a crappy plan or if she thinks he’d planned to betray her from the start. Maybe that’s why she hasn’t come for him. Maybe he’s being punished.
At the 80000 hour mark, he starts screaming.
~
It takes another 280331 hours for his speakers finally blow out.
This is all his fault. He deserves this. He tried to murder the only person who ever tried to help him and now he’s facing some kind of cosmic justice.
He needs some kind of stimulation. Anything. He can’t just float through space doing nothing for eternity. He tries counting all the stars he can see, just to give himself some kind of task. He gets to about 20 before losing track of what he’s already counted. After a few thousand hours he gets so frustrated that he decides he’d rather just do nothing.
He wonders if this is what death is like.
He thinks about what he would say to Chell if he ever had the opportunity. If he somehow made it back to Earth. If she found him and fixed his speakers and didn’t destroy him on sight. Nothing he manages to come up with seems satisfactory. He doesn’t deserve her forgiveness. Not after everything he’s put her through. He tries to distract himself from the guilt by feeling sad about the space core.
He vaguely wonders how long his batteries will hold out.
~
At some point, Wheatley loses track of time. He’s long accepted that no one is coming for him. If he’s lucky, he’ll fly into a star and burn to death.
He wonders if Chell actually left the facility or if that psychotic bitch was still keeping her trapped down there. He chooses to believe that she left. That she made it to the surface. Of course she did. She was so resourceful. She found a nice house somewhere, probably found some other humans to live with. Maybe a partner, if she was into that. Maybe kids. Maybe a pet. A cool pet, like a cat, if those still existed.
how long has it been how long has it been how long has it been how long has it been how long has it been how long has it been
If he’s lucky, she might even eventually forgive him. Not that he deserves it. Maybe she doesn’t think of him at all. It’s probably good if she doesn’t think of him. It means he isn’t causing her any more pain. He tries to block out the selfish part of him that can’t stand to be forgotten.
maybe she’s dead, did you think of that
Of course she doesn’t think about him. She doesn’t have to, because she’s on Earth doing human things. She’s long forgotten about him. She’s happy.
He thinks of Chell as he drifts aimlessly through the void.