Cave Johnson's Last

"... Caroline, please bring me more pain pills." Cave Johnson, lying in his bed with an IV and heart meter strapped to him, shut off the microphone. Why did I have to be the one to try ground-up moon rocks? I pay the bills around here! I should have gotten one of my engineers to do it! Cave thought. Caroline knocked on the door and then quickly entered the room. "Here are your pills, sir," she said.

"Only three?" Cave asked.

"Sorry, sir. Doctor's orders."

"Ah, well." Cave swallowed the red and white pills while Caroline placed a small manilla folder and a fountain pen on his desk.

"Here is the paperwork for the three-tier R&D project, sir," she said.

"Thank you, Caroline," the CEO of Aperture Science said as he began to sign the three documents. "You do know time is flowing backward, right?"

"Of course, sir."

"Excellent. If only I could convince everybody else."

Suddenly, the door opened. "We have an emergency, sir," an engineer exclaimed.

"What is it?"

"Our spy at Black Mesa has informed us that they are working on portal technology as well."

"What? That's...!" Cave Johnson started coughing blood. Caroline brought him a glass of water.

"What should we do?"

"Tell our spy to sabatoge their progress by opening a portal to another dimension, anything to keep Black Mesa from researching portal technology!"

"I'll get right on it!" The engineer left the room.

"I just don't think I can deal with this anymore, Caroline. It's just too much."

"I know, sir. I'm sorry."

Cave coughed. "Sometimes I just wish it would all end."

"But sir! You can't!"

Cave held on to Caroline's hand. "Listen, Caroline. If I die before the lab boys can pour me into a computer, then I want you to run the place. Don't argue. It's already in my will. Aperture Science can't be put into the wrong hands. Don't let Black Mesa defeat us. Do you understand?"

"Yes, sir. Absoulutely, sir."

Cave Johnson smiled foor the first time in two years. "Please, call me Cave."

"OK.....Cave."

The heart meter started flatlining. "Oh, and Caroline?"

"Yes?" Caroline said with shining tears in her eyes.

"Say goodbye....to Chell for me."

"I will."

Cave Johnson, CEO and Founder of Aperture Science, closed his eyes and breathed his last.

Caroline started to cry.