Piecing together the story [SPOILERS]

[Teta_Bonita]

Here's what I could gather so far:

Aperture Science is founded in 1957 as a somewhat successful shower curtain company. In 1979, after their CEO Cave Johnson goes insane from mercury poisoning, Aperture begins working on portal technology for some reason. The government begins funding their portal project in 1981.

In 1986, in response to rival Black Mesa's portal project, Aperture begins development of the Genetic Life-form and Disk Operating System (GLaDOS), an advanced AI research assistant. Work on the genetic component of GLaDOS begins in 1996.

Several years later, the untested GLaDOS is activated for the first time during Aperture’s bring-your-daughter-to-work day. GLaDOS immediately goes insane and begins killing Aperture personnel. However, being a research AI, she can't help but collect some human test subjects for her experiments. She locks down the Aperture facility, and everybody who hasn't died or fled is trapped. Some personnel try to survive by hiding in little nooks and crannies and living off cans of beans.

GLaDOS begins experimenting on her humans, possibly beginning where Aperture left off. The test subjects are locked up in some sort of stasis field before being put through a series of sadistic tests in a brutal arena dubbed "the Enrichment Center," which seems to be Aperture Science's main project. The Enrichment Center was certainly built by Aperture Science personelle for some reason, but it is uncertain what exactly GLaDOS or Aperture Science meant to test with it.

Possibly several years after GLaDOS took control of the Aperture facility, Chell, the daughter of an Aperture employee, is awakened from stasis. In the meantime, the Combine have taken over the world. Chell doesn't know this, as GLaDOS has taken great pains to ensure that the Combine never get access to the facility, thus allowing her to continue her experiments unmolested.

We all know what happens next. Chell successfully completes the tests, at which point GLaDOS attempts to dispose of her. Chell then escapes, beats the system, and eventually confronts and destroys GLaDOS herself. GLaDOS and a large portion of the facility explode, leaving Chell injured but living on the surface in an Aperture Science parking lot.

In the end-game credits, we learn that GLaDOS is still alive and sarcastic as ever, and that she wishes to continue her "research" and kill Chell.

Here is a line kindof suggesting that you are the daughter of an employee:

"You're not smart. You're not a scientist. You're not a doctor. You're not even a fulltime employee. Where did your life go so wrong?"

Also, here are some lines suggesting that the events of the game occur post-combine invasion:

"Unless you have a plan for building some supercomputer parts in a big hurry, this place isn't going to be safe much longer."

"What's your point, anyway? Survival? Well then, the last thing you want to do is hurt me."

"I have an infinite capacity for knowledge, and even I'm not sure what's going on outside."

"All I know is I'm the only thing standing between us and them. Well, I was."

"Are you trying to escape? [chuckle] Things have changed since the last time you left the building. What's going on out there will make you wish you were back in here."

What do you think? Did I miss anything?

 

[spunge]

Aperture Science is founded in 1957 as a somewhat successful shower curtain company. In 1979, after their CEO Cave Johnson goes insane from mercury poisoning, Aperture begins working on portal technology for some reason. The government begins funding their portal project in 1981.

I must ask, wtF?!

edit; rest well gathered

 

[Stigmata]

I don't pick up any immediate flaws in this. Nice work

 

[spunge]

lol where does the shower curtain & mercury poisoning come from, did I miss something

 

[Rapstah]

Aperturescience.com.

logon/cjohnson/tier1/notes

 

[Yorick]

Excellent recollection. I only found one thing wrong.

Several years later, the untested GLaDOS is activated for the first time during Aperture?s bring-your-daughter-to-work day. GLaDOS immediately goes insane and begins killing Aperture personnel. However, being a research AI, she can't help but collect some human test subjects for her experiments. She locks down the Aperture facility, and everybody who hasn't died or fled is trapped. Some personnel try to survive by hiding in little nooks and crannies and living off cans of beans.

During the fight with Glados, when she releases the neurotoxin, she explains that she had a chip installed to stop her from releasing neurotoxin, after she'd done so originally. So she must have tried at least once before to kill everyone.

 

[simonjedi]

the song at the end also supports a post invasion scenerio

Go ahead and leave me.
I think I prefer to stay inside.
Maybe you'll find someone else to help you.
Maybe Black Mesa
THAT WAS A JOKE.
HAHA. FAT CHANCE.

the black mesa comment is likely to be about the RC

 

[Deleted member 56031]

I think it's just to do with the fact that they are rivals.

Yorick: So last night
Yorick: after I beat Portal
Yorick: and Sam beat Portal
Yorick: we baked a cake
Samon: rofl

lol so i'm not the only person who ate cake after finishing portal

 

[Acepilotf14]

I think it's just to do with the fact that they are rivals.



lol so i'm not the only person who ate cake after finishing portal

I ate cake before playing. D:

Anyway, nice work. Now we just need a portal 2.. or A Chell appearence in another game.

 

[poop100]

I ate cake before playing. D:

Anyway, nice work. Now we just need a portal 2.. or A Chell appearence in another game.

It would be cool to see Chell in HL2:episode 3... And the portal gun... And she gives it to you! and you use it !!! That would be awsome.

 

[Nitre]

It would be cool to see Chell in HL2:episode 3... And the portal gun... And she gives it to you! and you use it !!! That would be awsome.

Nah, that would be totally un-awesome i reckon.

 

[Teta_Bonita]

Excellent recollection. I only found one thing wrong.



During the fight with Glados, when she releases the neurotoxin, she explains that she had a chip installed to stop her from releasing neurotoxin, after she'd done so originally. So she must have tried at least once before to kill everyone.

Yeah, that's a good point, although it says on aperturescience.com that GLaDOS was tested for the first time ever on take-your-daughter-to-work day, so I don't know. I think it might have gone something like this:

-GLaDOS is activated, then promplty locks down the facility and begins flooding chambers with nerve gas and killing people.

-The survivors scramble to install the morality sphere thing.

-After aquiring the morality sphere, GLaDOS decides to sequester the survivors instead of killing them outright.

-She then sacrifices the survivors in her experiments "for the sake of science," hence giving her killing moral justification.

Of course, all that is speculation, but I guess it would explain for it.

Also, I want some cake now!

 

[V-Man339]

I think thats pretty much the timeline of it, and I wonder if there's more aperturescience.com references in the game... :naughty:

 

[Gorgon]

did you get this from the projector office ?
nice work by the way.

http://www.parallelmod.com/portal_still_alive.mp3

 

[Cube]

The commentary sort-of explains why it took so long to get the Morality Sphere Unit installed on GLaDOS:

The fiction behind this red phone is that, while GLaDOS was being developed, it was somebody's job to sit by it and if it ever looked like the AI was becoming sentient and god-like, that person would pick up the phone and call somebody to come help. In the point and time where the actual game takes place it's become obvious that the Aperture Science Red Phone Plan didn't 100% work out

The morality unit thing probably reduced her AI abilities, hence why they got someone to sit by her rather than install it from the start. Unfortunately for them, they underestimated how quickly GLaDOS could act after becoming sentient.

 

[Advisor]

I don't pick up any immediate flaws in this. Nice work

Agreed.

Go ahead and leave me.
I think I prefer to stay inside.
Maybe you'll find someone else to help you.
Maybe Black Mesa
THAT WAS A JOKE.
HAHA. FAT CHANCE.

^This is very ironic, because it probably will be Ex BM People (Gordon, Alyx) that clean up the mess.

 

[Sloth]

Right now I'm thinking how sweet it would be to have Chell as one of the leading people in epi3... Searching for Portal and AS tech.

 

[Tamer17]

The "Things have changed since the last time you left the building" line suggests that Chell has been in Aperture and out of it at least once. Mayber her father took her to the daughter-days several times before GLaDOS went insane.

 

[Acepilotf14]

Now: All we need to know is what is on the Borealis.
Perhaps a section of GLaDOS is on it?

We also need to know where Chell came out.. it seemed so peaceful. Birds chirping.. but it is harder to see everything with a mass of GLaDOS all about.

 

[Insano]

I would love to see Chell, GLaDOS or the portal gun show up in Episode 3

 

[CLASSIFIED]

Maybe the G-man knows.. Ask him

 

[Puffy2k316]

One thing I don't understand is that if GLaDOS killed everyone at aperture then where are the bodies? They couldn't have all been tricked into the furnace.

 

[Cube]

One thing I don't understand is that if GLaDOS killed everyone at aperture then where are the bodies? They couldn't have all been tricked into the furnace.

Perhaps the androids cleaned them up?

 

[Deleted member 56031]

I'm confused as to how a morality module was installed when everyone was dead. Who installed it?

 

[Cube]

I'm confused as to how a morality module was installed when everyone was dead. Who installed it?

Someone installed it before they died. It would take at least a few minutes after that for the neurotoxins to be removed from the air.

 

[Deleted member 56031]

But doesn't that mean that there should still be people at aperture, GLaDOS said they were dead. I'm confused

 

[Puffy2k316]

Perhaps the androids cleaned them up?

What androids? The only ones we see are the turrets.

 

[Cube]

But doesn't that mean that there should still be people at aperture, GLaDOS said they were dead. I'm confused

Most of them died before the neurotoxins were fully removed from the building. The rest were put in stasis and were given the Portal challenge.

What androids? The only ones we see are the turrets.

They had a testchamber designed for androids.

 

[Stigmata]

It probably went down like this:

- GLaDOS becomes sentient
- she floods the facility with gas
- people die
- Morality core gets installed
- Business as usual
- 7 Hour War begins, facility is hastily evacuated, GLaDOS's test subjects are forgotten
- GLaDOS continues her research on her own, waking up individual test subjects to go through the Enrichment Center tests
- This is where all the graffiti comes from
- Perhaps up to a year or more after the 7 Hour War starts, Chell wakes up.
- Portal takes place.

 

[Tenebrous]

If GLaDOS was activated on bring-your-daughter-to-work day... then Chell would obviously be the daughter of an employee who was put into hibernation so that she could become a test subject. Then again, she may have had other adventures before the events of Portal. I like that idea much better: I don't want to meet her in Episode Three only to find she has the mind of a little girl or something.

Actually, and I might make a more comprehensive thread about this later, I would prefer Chell as a new protagonist for the Half-Life series instead of Gordon Freeman. I want Gordon Freeman to stay with the rebels, marry Alyx, continue the fight against the Combine and enjoy his life. Unless the G-Man takes Alyx as well, I don't want him to put Gordon Freeman into stasis again for another job in the future (Half-Life 3). The G-Man might just find Chell as an adequate new personal employee to be used in the future. She could use a lot more character development.

 

[Para]

I want Gordon Freeman to stay with the rebels, marry Alyx, continue the fight against the Combine and enjoy his life.

1) HL2 isn't a love story.
2) Gordon is G-Man's asset, simple as that.

 

[Tenebrous]

I'd be devestated though if there wasn't something of a happy ending for the Episodes.

 

[SPARTACVS]

I'd be devestated though if there wasn't something of a happy ending for the Episodes.

Considering how utterly wrist-slitting emo depressing (yet still brilliant) the end of Episode Two was... yes that would be nice indeed.

 

[Psychanalysis05%]

It probably went down like this:

- GLaDOS becomes sentient
- she floods the facility with gas
- people die
- Morality core gets installed
- Business as usual
- 7 Hour War begins, facility is hastily evacuated, GLaDOS's test subjects are forgotten
- GLaDOS continues her research on her own, waking up individual test subjects to go through the Enrichment Center tests
- This is where all the graffiti comes from
- Perhaps up to a year or more after the 7 Hour War starts, Chell wakes up.
- Portal takes place.

This is the most intelligent thing I have seen anybody post in relation to Portal's backstory. If I could sticky just this post, I would.

I also really don't think changing the Ep3 protagonist to Chell is a good idea. It would make next to no sense and would be completely outside the entire HL2 storyline. I really just think Portal was created to introduce Aperture as a sinister new entry of forgoten technology, and somebody is going to get their hands on that Portal Gun. Hell, I wouldn't be surprised to find out that Chell is dead by Episode 3, killed by either some wacky accident or a Combine trying to make master proud.

 

[Para]

Considering how utterly wrist-slitting emo depressing (yet still brilliant) the end of Episode Two was... yes that would be nice indeed.

I've seen enough happy endings since about 99% of them are like that. Valve better have some class and not go by the lowest determinator with Ep3.

 

[Kornflake™]

So AS Labs were flooded with a deadly neurotoxin? What are we basing that on? GLaDOS's claim that the module we destroyed was a morality chip to stop her doing it again? GLaDOS isn't exactly the most reliable source of information.

It seems odd to me that if AS was so concerned about their AI becoming rogue that they would give it complete control over a neurotoxin with the ability to pump it throughout the labs. Giving her control over gas, and for that matter turrets, shows they trusted the AI and wanted it to be able to defend itself against attack ... but from what?

My guess is that GLaDOS is doing exactly what she was originally progammed to do, run experiments. The employees of AS likely evacuated in a hurry somewhere during or between the portal storms and the seven hour war, in their rush to escape and attempt to find safety they left behind human test subjects, possilby daughters of employees, possibly kept is stasis. GLaDOS, continuing with her research without the guiding hand of AS, became more and more sentient, and quirky.

Upon Chell reaching GLaDOS's chamber the AI claims to have a surprise and begins counting down from five. What surprise? Most likely a couple of lung fulls of neurotoxin. Before she has chance to pump the gas a module drops off her, she forgets about her little surprise and tries diversionary tactics to get Chell to leave the module alone - whatever function it serves.

GLaDOS would be reluctant to try and kill Chell, Chell has a clearly important part of GLaDOS in her hands and provoking her may prove ill. Chell however throws the first punch though and destroys the module leaving GLaDOS with little choice but to kill Chell before she can cause more damage.

Interesting side note, the modules don't appear as if they need to be attached to GLaDOS to function, as she isn't affected by them dropping off, only them being incinerated.

 

[Sulkdodds]

So AS Labs were flooded with a deadly neurotoxin? What are we basing that on? GLaDOS's claim that the module we destroyed was a morality chip to stop her doing it again? GLaDOS isn't exactly the most reliable source of information.

Well, she does actually flood the chamber with a deadly neurotoxin if you run out of time.

 

[DeltaBlast]

Maybe the death of all the AS people isn't related to the war or the toxin, but to the Borealis. There was an accident with the Borealis which portalled it to the arctic, maybe something similar happened to the people at AS?

 

[Kyorisu]

Once taking her morality sphere out of the picture I think it's a fair assumption to say her lines about flooding chambers with a deadly neurotoxin are true. It doesn't help or hinder you so why lie about it?

 

[Apocalypse89]

Maybe the death of all the AS people isn't related to the war or the toxin, but to the Borealis. There was an accident with the Borealis which portalled it to the arctic, maybe something similar happened to the people at AS?

A teleportation accident on the scale of BM's Resonance Cascade would cause a lot of physical damage to the facility. From what we can see the facility is abandoned and parts of it are rusted and in disrepair, but we don't really see any actual major damage.