Portal: ApertureScience.com (Possible Spoilers)

zukeft · #1 05-09-2006, 07:23 AM

I take it that nobody has posted this since I've looked everywhere (I think) and didn't find anything at all. Anyway...

The short:
I stumbled upon a website that might interest you: http://www.aperturescience.com

The long:
I was checking out Wikipedia's Portal entry and saw a peculiar link, one that was labled ApertureScience. Upon further sleuthing, I found out that the domain is legit, owned by Valve in fact.

The site itself is very, very odd indeed. Basically it's a terminal of some sort, à la DOS which consists of four main sections.

The first section is the login (unbeknowest to you the first time), as if you were trying to telnet into a machine. Here all you see is an command line interpreter. The first thing that came to mind was to enter 4 8 15 16 23 42, but alas, nothing happened. Anyway, after entering some random commands, I found (at least) 2 of them that did something: HELP and LOGIN. The primer doesn't do anything except intrigue you. As for LOGIN, you'll be asked for a typical username and password combo. Any username with 3 or more characters will do. As for the password, the only one that I've found that works is PORTAL. (What a lucky guess)

The second section of the site is the OS itself, the GLaDOS v1.06 (c) 1982 Aperture Science, Inc. to be exact. Fortunately this time around using the HELP command will display a small list of available commands. All of them are completely useless (or down-right odd) except for three; DIR, LIB and LS (this one's unlisted), which all do the same, that reveal a single executable: APPLY.EXE. It also reveals that you're a "new employee" of some sort. Oh, and you can only enter numbers and letters so you can't change drive.

After you execute APPLY, you'll load an application form (ENRICHMENT CENTER TEST SUBJECT APPLICATION PROCESS) which is the third section of the site. You're initially treated to the PART1: PERSONALITY & GENERAL KNOWLEDGE form, which is riddled with 50 absurd questions.
Before you start, however, the first thing you're required to do is to "memorize" a 64 character alphanumeric code. (Copying is almost impossible to do so I took a screenshot for safekeeping, though it didn't help) Be warned that this code flashes every half-second or so and will be generated again if you leave it running for some undetermined amount of time. (Less than half a minute at least)
After you complete the 50 questions, you're requested to enter your unique 64 character alphanumeric code. From the two times that I've completed this form, it doesn't matter if you enter it perfectly, it'll still invalidate it and request you to remain where you are while somebody comes to get you. (Maybe I haven't been able to enter it properly in both occasions) After pressing any key, something strange happens...

The fourth section is the most confusing of them all: apparently somebody else hacked (?) the terminal, leaving a message saying that the hardware is 20 years old among other things. (So what is this, 2002?) Anyway, you can also see a video feed in your screen with something peculiar in it. Pressing return (or any other key) switches your video feed/message to a to a spreadsheet (with a bill?) and vice versa.

Hopefully somebody else will be able to make more sense out of this than I have... Mods, feel free to format the above if it contains noteworthy spoilers.

Mr. Ed · #2 05-09-2006, 08:05 AM

Nice find. I don't know if it means anything, but a lower case 't' on one of the pages fades in and out a bit.

EDIT: and an 'e' on page 30...

EDIT2: teilie were the flashing letters I had. I don't think they mean anything.

A Big Fat CoW · #3 05-09-2006, 08:18 AM

A couple letters flash... I'm gonna go through and see which ones I can find. I'll post again when I'm done.

Also, on the page where it asks if you'll be missed if you suddenly disappeared, I swear I saw something green flash on the left side of the screen... I wasn't looking at it, though, and I can't seem to get it to happen again

TheMastahC · #4 05-09-2006, 08:21 AM

This is very insane. Lots of weird things. Many times I would see images flash, but I wouldn't be able to make them out. Or letters blinking. Or my brother said he saw where one word in a question changed completely.

Also the 64 number seems to possibly be in hex. Could look into that.

Atomic_Piggy · #5 05-09-2006, 08:33 AM

...

cojawfee · #6 05-09-2006, 08:38 AM

When it asks for your favorite color (one of the two times) a weird symbol flashes and disappears if you leave it long enough. Maybe it was with the animals, anyway, it was one with a lot of choices.

AJ Rimmer · #7 05-09-2006, 08:44 AM

this is seriously weird, but cool

DaMaN · #8 05-09-2006, 08:48 AM

Woah, sweet...

A Big Fat CoW · #9 05-09-2006, 08:54 AM

Okay, we might be on to something with the letters.

After going through once and documenting them, I've come up with this; (Number is the page number the letter was found on)

1 - t
3 - h
6 - e
7 - c
8 - a
24 - k
30 - e
31 - i
36 - s
38 - a
39 - l
46 - i
48 - e

The cae is a lie? Definitely something there, but it looks like I missed some letters. I might go back and try again.

Other things I noticed; All the flashing letters that I found are located in the questions, not the answers. Also, they always seem to appear as the first letter in a word, not the middle. Of course, I might have missed some, so who knows.

Also, I see things flashing on the screen a lot, but can't tell yet what they are.

Anyways, back to researching.

Edcrab · #10 05-09-2006, 08:57 AM

Hmm, very interesting. I'd say you're on to something with the letters, but you're also probably right about missing a few of them out on the first pass...

When I get home, I'm going to give this a proper look

Atomic_Piggy · #11 05-09-2006, 09:02 AM

Someone email Valve with this. I have emailed them but no reply

(well actaullly it was Gabe).

A Big Fat CoW · #12 05-09-2006, 09:09 AM

Found another letter. Page 24, k. Updated previous list.

The cake is a lie?

AJ Rimmer · #13 05-09-2006, 09:10 AM

after you fail entering your UIN, type HELP. It seems to generate a different message than Zukeft described

And a pretty freaky one at that

MuToiD_MaN · #14 05-09-2006, 09:15 AM

Two perfect things were created in 1982 ... GLaDOS, and me.

A Big Fat CoW · #15 05-09-2006, 09:18 AM

Page 49 is a question about cakes... The cake is a lie... I dunno, is anything on that list not a type of cake?