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Who: GLaDOS and Baelheit
Where: Mintaka headquarters
When: February 11
What: A partnership is discussed
Warnings: Awful robots and robot sympathizers

In retrospect, GLaDOS probably should have been expecting a request for a meeting in person. Humans. It's certainly not going to stop her, of course - by the time the agreed-upon day rolls around, she's repurposed a turret frame into a mobile core platform, assembled in her sub-facility near LA. It's a little clumsy, but not bad for 3 days' work, she thinks, and it serves its purpose just fine when she uploads herself into it.

And so, three days after GLaDOS's initial correspondence with Baelheit, a little orange robot walks right into the Mintaka lobby and up to the front desk.

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To her credit, the front desk coordinator looks only mildly startled by the mobile platform and, seeing that it does indeed have an appointment with Baelheit, clears it to proceed toward his office. It's a modestly decorated office for the CEO of such an up-and-coming R&D firm, and for a man who designs rather flashy gadgets, his own personal aesthetic is rather reserved. He is sitting at his desk when the little robot enters, a pair of reading glasses perched on his nose. He looks up, eyebrows raising just slightly, and he rises from his chair to greet the platform.

"Ah, Dr. Naransky's representative, I presume?"

GLaDOS tilts the platform's chassis slightly, in either a nod or a bow, depending on how you look at it. She's still working out how much (if any) lying she should be doing in this case, but the general lack of reaction so far is encouraging. "Not precisely. Or at all, really. That would be giving her far too much credit." No, wait - she should probably lay off the insults for a bit. "I am GLaDOS, the current head of Aperture Laboratories."

"Ah." Baelheit's eyebrows inch up another millimeter, at best. Understanding, to a degree -- not all is as it seems with Aperture. Clearly. "It is a pleasure to meet you then, GLaDOS. Thank you for meeting me here. I take it, then, that 'Dr. Naransky' is merely a face for your company?"

"Yes," she says, without elaboration. She's not interested in having to talk around the current state of humans at Aperture; the less said about them, the better. "It's my pleasure. Leaving the facility is not something I do very often, but in this situation I felt that sending anyone other than myself would have been doing you a disservice."

"I'm flattered," Baelheit says modestly, spreading his hands. "It seems I'm at a disadvantage here, GLaDOS. It's clear you know much more about me than I do about you."

This seems to be an unfortunately common state of affairs lately. The price of being an increasingly public figure, he supposes.

"But I am both impressed and honored. I can't say I expected an AI to be interested in my work."

It's an assumption, but a safe one, he thinks. Elsewise GLaDOS could be a very ambitious transhumanist, downloading part of her consciousness onto a mobile platform, but somehow, that seems unlikely. Kit's about as ambitious as they come, and even with her resources and genius, she hasn't managed to get quite that far.

Knowing how to employ flattery unfortunately does not make GLaDOS immune to it, and she's glad for the relative lack of a manipulable face on her current platform. She also does not visibly respond to the assumption - to be honest, she would have called the whole thing off if he hadn't figured that out by now. "Your company may not deal directly in robotics or AI development, but that does not mean it isn't intriguing. I have quite a bit of free time outside of my work obligations, and your research has been a compelling read. And so..." She makes a cycling gesture with her hand. "Here we are."

"Here we are," Baelheit echoes, folding his hands on top of his desk. "Please, do go on, then, GLaDOS. I'm interested to hear what it is you find compelling about my work -- about what kind of proposal you've brought to me today. What does Aperture hope to gain through a partnership with Mintaka Industries? What is it about my cybernetics research that interests you?"

"Most of it, to be honest," she says. "Although I must admit that my personal interest and professional interests diverge somewhat. As you may or may not know, Aperture has... fallen on hard times, lately, and though our minds have not deteriorated, our resources have." GLaDOS blinks, even though she clearly doesn't need to. "I can provide you with public reports of our more successful projects, if you'd like. As for my personal interest in your research, I believe it was your older cybernetics development that originally caught my eye, so to speak. I myself have little practical need for the gadgets you're known for, but the more ambitious projects were very good reads."

Baelheit mulls over her words, carefully and slowly. He is clearly a man who considers before he speaks. "Yes, the gadgetry is merely a source of revenue," he admits, "a way to fund my primary research into cybernetics. I assure you, GLaDOS, Mintaka Industries has not lost sight of its goals -- far from it. It is, perhaps, the least public of my endeavors of late, but the cybernetics division is alive and well."

He looks over the mobile platform, his expression almost as unreadable as the platform's general lack of one. "But if it's resources you're after...it begs the question of what Aperture would bring to the partnership."

"Our ongoing research is on the table, naturally - you'll have a stake in projects completed with Mintaka's resources. Most of them will fit right in with Mintaka's currently available gadgets, I believe. I can also offer a portion of our robotics assets." GLaDOS almost motions to herself, then thinks better of it, and knocks on the mobile platform's chassis instead.

"My personal coding and schematics will, of course, be off-limits, but mobile platforms such as this one have been a large part of my more recent endeavors - if you are still as involved in the field of cybernetics as you say, I believe they may be of interest to you." She makes a show of inspecting the mobile platform's hand, putting it through its natural range of motion. There's a surprising amount of fluidity in it for something that looks so basic.

Baelheit watches with rapt interest, his eyes sharpening. Robots assets...yes, that would be extraordinarily useful indeed, especially in conjunction with the data he's already gathering on Cybertronian anatomy. "I believe you may be right," he says, nodding curtly. "I must say, it is a tempting offer, GLaDOS. I'll have our legal department draw up a preliminary agreement -- we can review the terms and be sure the details are to everyone's satisfaction -- but I think we may have a deal here, GLaDOS."

"Excellent." GLaDOS stands a little straighter, and the platform's cooling fans whir faintly. "You already have my primary means of contact, I believe - I look forward to working out the details of our arrangement, and, eventually, to working with you." Well, she's looking forward to his resources, at least. She wasn't lying about her interest in his cybernetics research, but if he actually follows through with anything she'll be surprised - humans.

Most of the world's mistake, as far as Baelheit and Daimon are concerned, is their underestimation of his motivation to through. Baelheit does nothing halfway, especially not when -- as he is so convinced -- the fate of all their race hangs in the balance. Baelheit almost smiles -- almost -- and he rises as well, bowing his head by way of greeting.

"I look forward to it as well, GLaDOS. It was a pleasure to make your acquaintance. I am sure that the partnership between Aperture and Mintaka Industries will be a fruitful one indeed."

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