Portal/Escape 00

Your escape continues, as you maneuver around tons of pistons and portal your way around. The mysterious writings continue as well, helping point your way, while making you wonder about the sanity of this unknown helper.

Five-piston room
Shortly after climbing out of the vent, you will see a set of pistons smashing themselves against the ceiling, and the exit, as indicated by the red arrow, to the far top available through a crumbling ladder.

There are a number of methods to get there. One way is to portal your way up to the top side room, from which you can shoot a portal at the exit. The center piston, however, doesn't touch the ceiling. As such, you can climb on it and ride it to the top. Shoot a portal into the corridor, then go through another portal you set at ground level.

Ceiling portal


"Didn't we have some fun, though? Remember when the platform was sliding into the fire pit, and I said, 'goodbye', and you were like, 'NO WAY', and then I was all 'we pretended we were going to murder you.' That was great... is anyone there?"

- GLaDOS

Follow the corridor, and you should see two pistons touching the close ceiling, with almost no visible exit. However, there is a usable section to the left on a slightly higher ceiling. Put a portal there, and a portal above one of the nearby pistons and go through. Aim to land on top of one of the horizontal pistons so you don't get crushed.

When you climb up onto the platform, you should see a marker showing the exit upward, along with a usable wall up high. Fire a portal up there, and shoot a portal on the ground, and jump through. When you fall, fire a second portal to complete a double fling. Alternately, use the side room that you can portal into to create a wall portal that you can simply walk through to start the fling.

The next corridors are obstructed with wall-to-wall pistons. To get past these obstructions, simply fire a portal on the other side, create a local portal and go through.

Cross-pistons
You should be in a tall room filled with pistons, and you need to climb it. Looking to the left of the portal you just entered from, the helper has pointed the way to the exit once again. The fastest route up is firing a portal at the location in the screenshot, but if you can't get a clear shot, you will have to work your way up slowly.

Once you have the portal in that position, go slightly into it, and fire a portal on the opposite floor. Go through to reach a place with glass piping.

Cube tubes
There are no nice floors here, so you must walk across a few glass tubes, and you will need to jump down. Quite quickly, you will come upon a piston that's mysteriously smashing against a wall. Fire a portal above the point against which it's smashing to create the exit.

Next, you need to find a place to create your entrance. The safest location is on the lower wall where the glass tube bends, on the same side of the piston. Time your jump so that you pass through the portal as the piston is extended.

Cross the piston, and drop down the hole.

No Cheating SpeedRun in One Segment for Mere Mortals
(For background on this section, refer to the Portal speedrunning overview page.)

Three of the four sections of this part of the game can be solved more cleverly than described in the Walkthrough, above. As always, you need to memorize portal positions and practice the movements to make it through in the fastest time.

Five-piston room : To avoid having to wait for the pistons to move to the desired position, solve this section using portal standing.

Ceiling portal : As noted in the Walkthrough, when you enter the room with pistons that hit the ceiling, you can't at first see where you should portal to. The way forward described is the first that comes to hand, but there is a much faster way. Facing the pistons, back up as far as you can, looking up. Place a portal as high as possible on a wall section that you will see way up there. Jump onto a piston, place the other portal directly overhead and ride up through the portals. As soon as you emerge, look down and move the second portal color to the floor below, turning the maneuver into a double-fling. You will go directly to the landing that leads to the next section via the short corridor with wall-to-wall pistons. Portal past them normally (but promptly).

Cross-pistons : As in the five-piston room, waiting for the pistons to move into a favorable position wastes time, so again use portal standing.

Cube tubes : There is no special way to get through this section, so just follow the instructions of the Walkthrough and execute quickly and perfectly.