Far below the surface of upper Michigan there lies an abandoned labyrinth of testing centers,
offices and enrichment shafts.
Before it was abandoned to the elements, this was the central headquarters of a research
corporation that for decades had been a pioneer in scientific development; Aperture Science.
Aperture Science had its humble beginnings in 1943 as company founder Cave Johnson sought
to revolutionize the shower curtain industry.
The name “Aperture Fixtures” was chosen to make the curtains appear more hygenic and
the company’s high-tech shower curtains quickly flew off the shelves.
This success rocketed Johnson to billionaire status in just under a year.
Soon thereafter, Johnson used this new wealth to purchase an abandoned salt mine in order
to create an expansive new facility for the company.
Aperture Fixtures remained focussed on innovating shower curtain technology for the next three
years while construction was underway on their new facilities.
In 1947, Aperture Fixtures was renamed Aperture Science Innovators, again for the purpose
of making their shower curtains seem more hygenic.
The company also diversified into experimental physics and their efforts here became a key
part of Aperture’s Research and Development division.
Though their methods were unorthodox, Aperture Science quickly became a fixture in the scientific
landscape, earning an award for “Best New Science Company” later that year.
In 1956, the Eisenhower administration signed a contract with Aperture Science, making them
the sole manufacturer of shower curtains for the US Military, with the exception of the
Navy.
This exception continued to wrankle Cave Johnson for the rest of his life, but it didn’t
stop his progress.
The company was repeatedly named the Runner Up for the Department of Defense's Contractor
of the Year and also received the Spirit of Idaho National Potato Board award for the
promotion of Potato Science.
Johnson was very involved in the testing stages of various research projects, particularly
those involving live test subjects.
These subjects represented the very best America had to offer, astronauts, olympic athletes,
war heroes, and Cave Johnson recorded welcome and information messages for them personally.
Much of Aperature’s work in this era was focused around the development of a type of
Quantum Tunneling Device, Repulsion Gel and an army of Mantis Men hybrids, with limited
success.
After millions of dollars were sunk into these outlandish products without any return on
the investment, Aperture Science began to suffer financially.
In addition, many of its more conventional products had been pulled from shelves nationwide
for violating health and safety regulations.
Under increased governmental scrutiny, Cave Johnson ordered Test Shaft 09, the site of
Aperture’s most secretive and unethical projects, be sealed.
After being implicated in a string of astronaut “disappearances” in 1968, Aperture Science
was forced to appear before the US Senate, declaring bankruptcy soon after.
Johnson refused to give up on his company however, and continued his tests with less
desirable subjects.
Propulsion Gel being was perfected by 1972, but this success was overshadowed by the looming
threat of Aperture Science’s greatest rival, Black Mesa.
While Aperture languished, Black Mesa was flourishing and Johnson suspected the company
of corporate espionage.
Without any evidence, Johnson grew paranoid and frantic.
The company further relaxed its standards for test subjects, actively recruiting child
orphans, psychiatric patients, and the elderly.
Desperate for a new product that would reverse his company’s fortune, in 1982 Johnson invested
70 million dollars the company didn’t have into the purchase of moon rocks.
With the discovery that moon dust served as a remarkable conductor for wormholes, or “portals”,
Johnson took an active role in the company’s continued development of portal technology.
Cave Johnson’s prolonged exposure to moon dust however had severely damaged his lungs
and kidneys, and his health slowly began to deteriorate.
Before his death, Johnson mandated that all employees were also to act as test subjects.
While this reduced the cost of acquiring new, higher quality test subjects, it sharply impacted
Aperture Science’s employee retention and the practice of human testing was eventually
phased out.
With his death clearly imminent, Johnson prioritized the development of an artificial intelligence,
intending to back up his consciousness.
The work was not be completed before his demise however, and Cave Johnson appointed his most
trusted and loyal assistant, Caroline, to succeed him as CEO.
Regardless of any protests she might have, Johnson’s dying command was to have Caroline’s
consciousness integrated into the completed AI, to continue his work in perpetuity.
The Genetic Lifeform and Disk Operating System, or GLaDOS, as it came to be known, was the
pinnacle of artificial intelligence, surpassing anything even Black Mesa had produced at the
time.
Completed and brought online in 1998 after 12 years of development, GLaDOS immediately
became self aware, took control of the facility, and flooded Aperture’s facility with a deadly
neurotoxin during the company’s first annual bring your daughter to work day.
GLaDOS’s murderous streak and unpredictability was partially solved through the installation
of a Morality Core, and she began a permanent cycle of testing aimed at beating Black Mesa
in the race to develop functioning portal technology.
In a stroke of luck, Black Mesa suffered some sort of cataclysmic incident, leaving Aperture
Science as the sole leader in their field.
The company was unable to properly take advantage of their newfound position however, as atmospheric
disturbances and other dangerous anomolies, apparently connected to the Black Mesa incident,
quickly spread across the Earth.
Aperture’s facility was locked down and its remaining employees were forced to continue
their work on increasingly antiquated equipment.
The facility was later completely abandoned, left entirely under the supervision of GLaDOS.
Eventually, the course of human civilization was forever altered in a mere seven hours,
in which all the effort in the world went to waste.
What remains of Aperture Science today is just the odd bit of discarded equipment alongside
old stories and legends within the surviving scientific community.
One legend in particular has recently become the focus of great interest.
The Borealis, a research vessel owned by Aperture Science has been found.
The ship was rumoured to have vanished with all hands, and even a section of its dry dock.
Whatever secret is present on the Borealis is almost certainly powerful and immensely
dangerous, and might be the key to overthrowing our benefactors.
The Templin Institute investigates alternate worlds and realities.
If you’ve enjoyed this video and would like to directly support us, vote in polls to determine
future topics, and receive some cool rewards, please consider pledging to our Patreon Page.