Don't Make Lemonade

I have Portal 2. It's a great game, I must say. So when the Perpetual Testing Initiative came out, I was excited as can be.

So I went on the workshop. There were a few, nobody, early test chambers, and some test chambers made with the Hammer World Editor. So I tried downloading a few of the hammer-made maps, and some of the more early ones. Everytime I tried to download, or subscribe to them, an error message appeared. The error message said:

"Her name was Caroline..."

It spooked me out a little, because that was one of the Oracle Turret's quotes. You know, the perfectly intact turret heading for doom in Chapter 5.

So I tried hard as I could to get the text box to go away. So I clicked on the back-arrow, and surprisingly, a well-made test chamber for it's time appeared on the workshop. I eagerly clicked on it, and I didn't see the name. But I looked at it's page and the test chamber's name was Fratricide. Which oddly enough, it was an achievement from Portal. But it didn't tell who made the test chamber. I was assuming it was a experienced mapper, who practiced making test chambers using the puzzle creator. I subscribed to it, and another error message appeared, and said:

"Don't make lemonade..."

I was surprised it wasn't one of the "Her name was Caroline..." messages. I exited it out, but another error message appeared. It said, "YES NO". I was a bit spooked, so I hit YES. I regret doing that nowadays...

It took me to a level called "Don't Make Lemonade" of course, it had a lot of grammatical mistakes. But I fixed them when I was writing this. The level was an Old Aperture-themed level. A slowed down version of PotatOS Lament was playing in the background. I noticed something strange about the level, but it wasn't the music. On the catwalk where you exit the Elevator where you enter the level. There was a body, slumped in pain, and it was, well...

Turned into glass.. I was freaked out, for the first time when I was playing a Portal 2 level. I walked to the boxy test chamber, I looked to my left, there was a sign warning you about your future self. There were some nonsensical scrawlings in the room where I was. I solved the first puzzle. I looked around, there was a stairwell. At the bottom of it, there was a portable surface.

Brilliant! I said out loud, but of course, curiosity got the best of me, and I walked down the stairwell, on the portable surface, I looked at it, "VITRIFICATION ORDER" it said on the portable surface, but it wasn't scrawled in with chalk, it was scrawled... In blood, it was a bit scared, because you wouldn't see such gore in a game rated E10+.

So I walked back up, and just solved the puzzle. It took me a good 5 minutes to solve the puzzle. There was a Vitrified Door, and I looked at it, Oh man. There was a Pipe with Propulsion Gel streaming down. There was also another one of those bodies turned into glass. I was starting to wonder what Aperture Science was really doing, with their Vitrification Orders...

So I just shot a portal, and solved the next puzzle. A flash of light appeared on the screen, and I was in shock for a split-second. Then I saw a Thermal Discouragement Beam. I was surprised that 1950's/1960's/1970's/1980's Aperture had Thermal Discouragement Beams.

So I just solved the puzzle without any care. There were no scrawlings, or glass corpses. I chuckled, this part looked like a legit Enrichment Sphere part. But then, the music just stopped. I sure wasn't chuckling then. I solved it, and I was surprised! The Exit Elevator closed as I was catapulted at it. I looked, and there was a boxy building. It read: "CONTROL ROOM" on one of the sides of it. To the left of it, there were morse code scrawlings.

I gingerly walked toward the "CONTROL ROOM" It looked like a normal office, but there was some stuff removed. And there was blood stained across the walls and floor. There were a lot of Bodies, just littering the floor, all limp, and what seemed to be knife wounds. I literally, nearly puked. There was a scrawling on the wall, it read:

"DON'T DO IT, JOSEPH..."

I was freaked out, how did the level, know my name... There was a button, I walked to it, should I press it or not? But I pressed it anyway...

All of a sudden, another Chell walked into the room, the music changed into a loud screech that nearly damaged my hearing. The other Chell just walked toward me, her face, expressionless. The screech became louder as she came closer, I got up from my chair, and ran to the door, but it wouldn't budge. When I looked at my computer, the other Chell was near my player. Which was Chell. She just stopped walking, and stared.

After 15 seconds, Portal 2 crashed. The door was suddenly unlocked, but I walked to my computer, a text file was created. It said:

"You did it anyway, Joseph."

I opened the text file, and I was greeted with an ASCII version of Chell. I screamed and closed the file shut, and ran out of my room.

A few days after playing "Don't Make Lemonade", I decided to write the morse code down, and translated it. It read:

"YOU DID IT ANYWAY, JOSEPH. YOU JUST HAD TO PRESS IT."