Sorry fellas, she's married. To Science! (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
yessirmrjohnson) wrote2012-02-01 08:10 am
yessirmrjohnson) wrote2012-02-01 08:10 am
Further Caroline Headcanon
History:
It's important to state that there is no canon for Caroline's life before Aperture. She would have been born sometime in the mid 20's, when there was heavy discrimination against women in the workplace even into the 50's. It would have been incredibly difficult to gain a position in a scientific field for even a college educated woman. As such, most women would have to settle with pink collar jobs such as domestics, waitressing, and clerical work.
"I am!"
"Ha ha! Now, you already met one another in the limo ride over here, so let me introduce myself. I'm Cave Johnson. I own the place. That eager voice you heard is the lovely Caroline, my assistant. Rest assured, she's transferred your honorarium to the charitable organization of your choice. Isn't that right, Caroline?"
"Yes sir, Mr. Johnson!"
"She's the backbone of this facility. Pretty as a postcard too. Sorry fellas, she's married. To science!"
No one in the whole of the Portal canon has as much of an impact on their world as Cave Johnson. From him rose all that Aperture Science would be and in the same moment such a larger-than-life character is introduced, he also introduces his humble, dedicated, and ever-ready assistant Caroline. To the very best that society could offer, this man readily states to them that she is the backbone of his company. An audacious thing to say, Cave claims it with sincerity and hints of affection.
This was the early 50's, a golden era in Aperture's history. Founded in 1947, Aperture Science Innovators would grow to be the second best in their field, behind their competitor Black Mesa. Through tenacious efforts and the sacrifices of the few, Aperture strived to be the best. Their triumphs included cube and button based testing, repulsion gel, and the Quantum Tunneling Device.
Growing success was all Aperture knew and money was not an object then. Waiting rooms were lavish with red velvet-draped art deco details and only the best test subjects that a man could buy. Science spheres rose high throughout the Michigan salt mine the laboratory was based in.
While we don't know when Caroline was hired, or why she was chosen, we can assume that she was there from the early beginnings of the company. The recording above plays in the second room ( as designated by Peer Review ) in the 6th chapter, suggesting that she was there from at least 1952. The trust Cave Johnson has in her hints that she may have been there for longer than that, perhaps at the founding of the company, or even further back when Aperture Science Innovators was simply Aperture Fixtures. The details are unknown.
In the mid to late 50's, Aperture struggled to try to find a marketable use for their repulsion gel. In an attempt to make some money, the bouncy blue gel was marketed as a dietary aid where once ingested, any food eaten afterwards would simply bounce back out of the consumer's mouth. The toxicity of the product and the danger of severe malnutrition had repulsion gel pulled from the shelves almost immediately, causing a financial loss for the company. It was likely that this blunder was what earned the company the growing attention of safety regulators.
Born and raised in a time of child labor, and before unions, or before even the FDA, it would have been hard for Cave to bend his vision of science for government officials and safety regulators. In 1968, Cave and Aperture would feel the effects of his choices to favor innovation over the safety of others. In 1968, Aperture Science was brought in to face the Senate. Due to missing astronauts and lack of empathy for his test subjects, the military revoked their contracts with Aperture, cutting off their funding. It's also likely that the company faced serious fines, or that bribing had to be done to keep Cave and other officials from being put in jail. That blow coupled with some stolen patents soon saw Aperture bankrupt.
OSHA being founded in 1970 could have had an implied correlation, to help prevent such things in the future.
---It's from this point that I would like to take Caroline. The company that she had helped grow from humble beginnings to a great success is now in the throws of financial crisis and a public relation firestorm.
Further on in the history of Aperture, science would continue through the support of investors and creditors. In the 1970's propulsion gel would be invented and remain unmarketable like its blue counterpart. With Aperture in financial ruins, they had no choice but to turn to using the homeless, wanders, orphans and the elderly for testing. With a mixture of self esteem crushing and promises of money, they coerced test subjects through testing.
When money became even tighter in the late 70's and early 80's, the company resorted to making employees test as part of their job description. In an effort to make their portal gun more marketable, Cave began work on finding a way to make surfaces able to form portals. As it turns out, moon rocks were the perfect portal conductor, but it also ended up being a highly toxic substance. The same lack of care that caused the death of countless test subjects was the same that would cause his own illness. Still, he was able to create conversion gel, a white substance made of moon rocks that allows the creation of portals on any stationary flat surface. Instead of focusing on re-marketing the portal gun which might have been able to bring the company back into the black, Aperture began to focus on artificial intelligence.
In hopes of cheating death, Cave wanted desperately for a method of saving his personality and memories on a disk and having that installed on a computer in hopes of being immortal. He states, however, that if they are unable to finish in time, that Caroline should be the one uploaded instead--no matter how she may feel about it. It's implied that he did die before the project's completion and that Caroline was uploaded against her will, but the canon stops abruptly, leaving room for the fandom to speculate.
It's from Caroline's uploading that GLaDOS rises.
Personality:
I should state that there is very little of Caroline that the player sees directly within the canon. She appears in the game as a handful of lines, all consisting of only a few words, and one hidden portrait. However, her presence in the game is always there. Throughout the time spent in lower Aperture, Cave refers to Caroline in his recordings, asking her for favors or opinions. In part, she is within GLaDOS as well.
For a man like Cave Johnson, there was science, the company, himself and little else. Even though he speaks highly of his initial test subjects, the dangers he puts them through makes it clear that his priorities stood with the innovation and not with the innovators. As the game progresses, we see that not even the government hearings could change his methods and that the tests were just as deadly for innocent people and his own employees. He fired employees on a whim, condescended and insulted test subjects and undermined the advice of highly educated and probably male accountants and engineers.
Yet, Caroline is the only consistent exception to this treatment. No matter how hard things got for the company, when Cave spoke to her it was never with hostility. Cave compliments her readily where others have to risk their lives to earn even a 'good job' from the man. He asks for her input on things, relies on her to handle the paperwork concerning the test subjects, and looks to her to provide things that he needs. With just a few words, Caroline was able to regain Cave's focus when he falls off track. When it becomes uncertain that he might live long enough to become immortalized in a computer, it's her that he chooses to lead, even with a whole facility filled with the greatest minds of a generation to pick from.
The only conclusion we can gather from all of this is that Caroline was, in some way, precious to him. Too important to risk on testing, too special to just let go of over something silly, Caroline is spared his wrath and given special treatment. Treatment that was even higher than those of his highly specialized, highly educated employees.
A woman that was dedicated from the very start to the very end. We know that Caroline was with Aperture from the early years, most likely before the company's bigger successes. This would prove that her care for Aperture and her seriousness about her job was genuine. Caroline wasn't simply in it for the paycheck, but for the things they could accomplish. She didn't cater to and support her boss simply for the hopes of winning his heart and getting close to his billions, she was focused on her work. As things declined for the company, Caroline was still there by his side, even when it became questionable where the payroll might come from.
A woman that shared similar interests. Cave mentions that she's "married to science," suggesting that she had a love for the subject that was just as great as his. Caroline would have to have the same sort of dedication to the furthering of science to follow Cave's vision of its innovation. In her position, it is likely that she would have been surrounded for hours on end with talk of science, how to apply it and how to push it forward. To endure that, there had to be at least interest in the subjects being discussed.
----I believe her love for science and a belief in the company's potential would have been at the very heart of everything that she did. For Caroline, the furthering of science was one of the noblest causes that a person could work towards. Even if she couldn't participate in the science herself like a scientist, simply being a part of the whole of Aperture would have given her great satisfaction. To be in the same place and calling herself part of the entity making such great strides in science would be worth any hardship, any stress, any moral-challenging decision she would later face. It's likely she expressed this to Cave sometime early in their working relationship and the willingness to give up her dreams of doing science personally for the sake of simply getting close to it would have resonated deeply with him.
A woman who did her job and got things done, no matter what that meant. It was up to Caroline to handle paperwork that had to do with the test subjects including compensation. It's easy to assume then that it would have been up to her to handle what happened to them after they tested. It's likely that this included getting rid of evidence of their deaths, their bodies, and changing records to cover their tracks. These were heroes at first, then the innocent and impoverished, and later her own coworkers. That willingness to do anything for him and Aperture would have meant something to him.
A woman who respected him and didn't ask questions. Cave easily fires someone who asked him why they didn't do safer science. Many of his tests were obviously lethal with no foreseeable application, tests such as changing a test subject's blood to peanut water or gasoline. Still, Caroline remained by his side and did what she could to make these tests a reality, even though anyone could see what would happen to anyone forced to undergo them.
----I believe that in some part, Caroline's actions to overlook the deaths of test subjects was selfishly motivated. Her job at Aperture would have meant the world to her and doing anything that could jeopardize it would have been incredibly hard for her to do. Questioning Cave's ideas and suggesting that they would be ultimately useless would be as good as writing your own pink slip. Even with her obvious good standing with him, she'd still not take that risk.
Instead, Caroline saw it as her job to make the most of what he gave her. If a test seemed improbable, she'd find a way to make it happen. If the goal of a test seemed inapplicable to anything, it was up to her to find a use for it. Not just optimistic, that job also held self-serving perks. That task made her important and that importance spelled security. Being the person who put Cave's ideas into motion would have given her a feeling of power. Not just a crucial step in the process of science, she was also the one who knew of and got rid of the company's dirtiest of secrets: the growing piles of bodies and names.
Her almost pious view of science would also go a long way to justify the countless deaths of those who came into Aperture. They, much like crusaders, were dying for the noblest of causes. Coupled with her unshakable belief in the potential good that Aperture could do for humanity as a whole, it would mean that each sacrifice was worth it. At the time, I think she would have thought if it were her, she'd make the same sacrifice.
During her time, the pinnacle of a successful life for a woman was being a mother and wife. When her heart set on science, Caroline chose an uncertain future with little chance to find a position that would allow her what she wanted most, or even offer her much respect or room for advancement. However; with Cave, Caroline found someone who loved science as much as her and someone who only asked her to be herself. He could have had a vice president to help handle the workings of the company, but instead, he put his trust in her. Instead of being banished to simply a receptionist desk outside his office, it's likely that she was by his side throughout the day. From meetings with engineers, to personally overseeing tests, he'd have included her in it all, partly due to her job as assistant, but also perhaps because it pleased her.
That would have earned her undying loyalty to him, his company and cause. No matter what laws had to be broken, no matter what she might have to tell herself in order to sleep at night, there was no other possible life for her. With Cave, there in Aperture, was the only place she could belong and any other occupation or outcome was inconceivable. I believe that his endless ambition and lack of fear also attracted her. She, like a number of others, was caught up in the man's charisma.
"Sir, the testing?"
"Right.(...)"
Being Cave's personal assistant, it was likely up to her to make sure that things were as streamlined as possible. Reports and data would cross her desk, she'd arrange meetings with different branches of the company and be a sort of liaison between employees and her quick-to-fire employer. It was up to her to make things run smoothly so that Cave could do important things such as thinking up the next big innovation.
So, when things began to take a turn for the worse, the responsibility of turning it around would have fell heavily on Caroline's shoulders. It's unknown whose idea it was to market repulsion gel as a dietary aid, Caroline would likely to have handled any and all paperwork that comes with a massive recall. Regaining the public and the government's trust in the company would have been a difficult task. It was likely Caroline who would have had to speak to the press, in fear that a wrong question may throw the man into a rage. After dealing with reporters, she would have then had to return to Aperture and pick back up where she left off with her regular duties and all the responsibilities being second in command entails.
This implies that Caroline was skilled with her wording, and knew how to carry herself and represent the company even in the face of hostility. Being the spokeswoman would have also been in an effort to be the company's public scapegoat and spare Cave the stigma of an incompetent CEO. Her patience would have been unending to deal with both the fallout of the recall and then her personal assistant duties. Tirelessly hardworking, Caroline would have held her head up high even as the skies over Aperture's horizon began to darken.
When the senate hearings happened, it was a horrible blow for her personally. It was her job to make sure that test subjects were taken care of and having it come back to hurt them would have felt like a personal failing. Without government funding, it was possible that they could lose everything. It's likely that she eagerly did whatever it took to keep any criminal charges from being brought on the company. Pricey lawyers were hired, bribes likely happened, but in the end the damage was done. When Caroline comes into Ataraxion, she will still be reeling from this horrible loss and still hold that guilt. Even though the hearings and all their dealings have just concluded, she'd know there would be almost no way to recover from it financially.
The big reveal of Portal 2 is that GLaDOS was once, in some part, a simple human. As soon as GLaDOS is exposed to Cave Johnson's voice, she begins to feel the affects of Caroline awakening in her programming. Once GLaDOS becomes aware of the fact of her origin, there are a few subtle changes in her demeanor. GLaDOS stops insulting Chell and even at one point apologizes with sincerity. She even goes as far as defending Chell during a confrontation with Wheatley, asking why being adopted was bad and stating that Chell obviously isn't fat, even though GLaDOS had made those same claims a number of times in the beginning of the game. Before fighting Wheatley, GLaDOS confesses that she's beginning to hear the voice of a conscious and in the end, GLaDOS saves Chell's life. She contributes the act towards her time as Caroline in lower Aperture before deleting Caroline from herself.
There are a lot of things that are unclear as far as where Caroline's personality influences GLaDOS'. It's obvious that Caroline's influence on the AI is dormant until her time in lower Aperture, but I feel there are some ingrained things that both share.
- The jaded stance that death is part of the testing and application of science. GLaDOS' willingness to dispose of a body and bring the next subject in may come in part from Caroline's job of doing the same while living.
- The belief that science is higher than any other pursuit and that it requires all resources that one can allow to continue its innovation. During Caroline's life, she didn't stop to have children, or even get married. She likely made a number of personal sacrifices for its sake.
----As far as the events of Caroline's death and its impact on GLaDOS, I only have headcanon to offer. There are a few unused lines where Caroline expresses to Cave that she doesn't want to be involved in the project. After arguing over it, I believe she would have let it go and just agree with the thought that they would find a cure for his illness or complete the brain mapping project in time to have him uploaded instead.
I don't believe that Cave would have wanted her to, or forced her to do it while still alive. I think above all else he truly wanted to be the one in the computer, so I subscribe to the theory that they simply finished too late. All this time, Caroline would have been by Cave's side, as the company struggled to stay above water, and as he slowly died. When his passing finally happened, she would have been exhausted emotionally, mentally, and physically. It's likely she'd even have blamed herself for his illness in the first place, whether or not those feelings were true. Alone and racked with guilt in a future that neither wanted for the company they both worked hard to build, I believe Caroline wouldn't have fought against his final wishes and hoped that maybe the process would simply kill her.
Instead, it was a success and she had now transitioned into the body of GLaDOS. Denied the rest she wanted so dearly, or the theoretical chance to be reunited with the man she had cared for, she did the next best thing and buried herself deep inside GLaDOS' mainframe. Displaced guilt could have been translated into hostility that fueled the AI and developed it's own personality independent of Caroline. Only the voice of Cave could draw Caroline back out of the deep recesses of GLaDOS' programming.
Should she ever find out about her end and GLaDOS' beginning, I don't think she would feel betrayed by Cave. I think she would simply feel awful that that's what everything came to and hope that perhaps there is now something she can do to prevent it from happening.
----A small side note on relationships: While I believe that Caroline cared for and would do anything for Cave, I believe there was never an official relationship. I think it was an unspoken dedication and need that existed between them, or at least on her side. If things had turned about better for Aperture, there could have been more, but with all that happened, the timing for such things just wouldn't have been there. Now that they're taken from their setting and there's a great deal less stress to handle, who knows how things may develop.