4. Human Beings : ff.net | AO3
Title: Impact
Fandom: Portal
Rating: PG
Genre: Adventure, Friendship, Character Study
Warnings: Portal 2 Spoilers, Character Death
Summary: ATLAS and P-body set out beyond Aperture, life rebuilds itself, and a catastrophe speeds toward earth. Post-Portal 2, microchapters of 500 words.
ATLAS and P-body had seen human beings before, within the walls of Aperture Laboratories: they could still perfectly recall the walls of human in cryogenic storage and the single, orange-clad test subject, standing with quiet dignity.
Two fields away from the facility, partway in to a forest, and four beacons less than when they began, neither robot had expected a tiny human being to stumble out of the bushes. It was the smallest they’d ever seen: it came up to ATLAS’s optic, at most, and the robots made no effort to run or even hide themselves. The human stared, and ATLAS and P-body stared back.
The human being took one step back, then another, and then reversed direction and ran back in to the trees.
ATLAS and P-body turned to each other, staring in to their opposite’s optic briefly, and then followed behind the frantic human. They tried their best to keep their distance, despite their brisk pace; neither robot knew how well human beings could hear, and they didn’t particularly want to find out.
The human was surprisingly ungainly, as well – maybe humans gained athleticism along with their size?
The trees there were overgrown, and reminded P-Body of some of the higher floors of the facility before they were restored. P-body stepped carefully around branches, some nearly as thick as its elongated core, while ATLAS went forward more recklessly, jumping over exposed roots and occasionally looking back at P-body with a chirp of excitement.
It wasn’t long before the human ran in to a clearing of short grass and thatched-roof houses. P-body had to grab the container on ATLAS’s back to keep the robot from running out of the trees right behind it. The hid on the fringes of the forest as the tiny human ran in to one of the houses.
They waited, peeking out from behind the fringe of the clearing. From the edge of the forest, they could see the entirety of the human settlement, a mere seven structures.
They waited, unmoving, and the tiny human exited the house with a much larger, heavily built human behind it. The larger human stared long and hard at the forest, but the foliage was heavy enough that neither robot was seen. ATLAS and P-body, however, stared back through the bushes, taking in the humans and their settlement with wide optics.
Through holes in the other houses, they saw more humans of many shapes and sizes, some looking worriedly outside.
The large human smiled, whispering, and led the small human back in to the house, the others losing interest. But, overtaken by curiosity, the robots still stared. Then, they turned to each other.
As soon as the thought of staying there longer crossed their minds, they expected to hear their mistress’s ire echo through their heads. But there was no reprimand, no violent disassembly, no reawakening in the facility in a room of turrets or above pit of spikes.
Observing the settlement for just a little while wouldn’t hurt.