After the test goes wrong and she is put in suspension for decades, Mel is woken up and finds much of the facility in disrepair. Aperture's CEO, Cave Johnson, speaks to Mel through prerecorded messages via intercom, informing her that she will take part in one of their smaller tests, the Aperture Innovators Short Term Relaxation Vault. She arrives by tram at the Aperture Science Innovators headquarters in Michigan, and makes her way through Aperture's company town and into a massive underground complex. Players take control of Mel, an German olympian who has been recruited as a test subject.

Portal Stories: Mel is set in the dilapidated underground complex of Aperture Science.īased in the same universe as the official Portal games, the story is initially set in 1952, when Aperture Science is still a fledgling company.