Dr. Harry Robins' ears were ringing from the loud thundering of Dr. Freeman's machine gun. Robins had to concentrate on his task and ignore the flying beasts that shot spheres of energy at him and Freeman.
Watching the meter on the massless field flux to make sure it didn't go over the limit, he almost missed it once because one of the beasts nearly destroyed the control panel with their blasted energy spheres.
Robins feverishly clamped the manifold parameters to include the Hilbert inclusive CY and LG orbifolds. He saw in the peripheral of his vision one of the beasts fall to its death from Freeman's machine gun.
Finally, the fluxless field parameter had reached 80%, according to the Calabi-Yau model, and he pushed the button to open the portal to Xen. A loud crash like a bolt of lightning issued from the beam. An amorphous green orb appeared in the center of the transporter.
"It's ready!" Robins shouted, hoping Dr. Freeman could hear him over the gunfire. "You must go! Now!"
He continued to try to keep the fluxless field parameter at 80%, hoping that Dr. Freeman had heard him.
Apparently, he had, as there was a loud crack and a shockwave which shattered the glass around him. "Oh dear," he shouted as a green bolt of electricity hit the platform and sent him screaming into the wall behind him.
Another amorphous green blob open up in front of him and he blacked out just as he saw a soldier jump into it.
He came to sometime later and pieces of the transporter were dangling from the arms. None of the flying beasts were to be found.
Robins' entire body felt numb and he crawled along the floor to the door, which was hanging off its hinges. He had to get out of here. As he began to get his strength back, the pain began with a tingle in his extremities. He hoped Dr. Gordon Freeman would seal the interdimensional rift and he kind of wished he could be alongside him.
However, it was far too late for that now. Far too late. The portal was closed and nothing short of reconstructing the teleporter would allow passage back to the border world.
The pain began to get worse as he struggled through the hallways of Black Mesa. He heard a squeal from behind him and suddenly, one of those crab things leapt at his head. "Oh dear!" he shouted, but the crab suddenly exploded in midair with a loud bang.
He looked up and saw a person wearing blue holding a shotgun. "Looks like you need a hand," said the security guard, holding out his hand.
"Indeed," Harry responded, grabbing the outstretched hand and pulling himself up.
"You feeling okay, doc?"
"I appear to be wounded," he said, looking down at his bloodied lab coat.
"We'll get you fixed up, but we have to get out of here. C'mon. The elevators are out of order, but I found some stairs. I think they go to the surface. My name's Andy, by the way. Andy Taylor."
Harry nodded. "I'm Dr. Harry Robins." He placed his arm around Andy's neck for support and he limped in the direction of the stairs.
"I found some of your scientist friends," Andy said. "They're just up ahead."
They rounded a corner and suddenly a there was a blur of red and Andy cried out in pain and surprise. There were three loud blasts from the shotgun and an inhuman gurgle. When his vision came back, Harry saw a bloodied Andy kneeling over the corpse of a scientist.
The scientist's head was covered in one of those crab creatures; its body split open laterally from chest to intestines and its fingers mutated horribly into long claws.
"I think..." gasped Andy, "this was Dr. Drayton."
"Pity," Harry said. "Dr. David Drayton's was a fine mind indeed."
"Well, no time to mourn. We've got to get out of here. Who knows what we'll come across next?"
"Right. Let's go." With Andy's assistance, Harry limped to the stairwell.
There, two scientists were standing. A dark-skinned male was comforting a lighter-skinned male and he recognized them both immediately. "Dr. Vance! Dr. Kleiner!"
"Dr. Robins," cried Dr. Vance. He was clutching a picture frame in his arms. "I'm so glad you're safe."
"I could say the same about the both of you."
"No time for chitchat," Andy complained. "Let's get out of here!"
"Very well," Dr. Vance said. "With our brains and your brawn, we'll make an excellent team."
Andy smirked and they began up the stairs. As they trudged up the stairs, a door to the left smashed open and a brown-skinned alien shouted at them. There was a sound of electricity, but Andy blasted it with his shotgun.
Finally, they made it to the top of the stairs and opened a door.
The sun was setting in the sky when they arrived at a parking lot.
"Listen," Andy said. "You guys wait here and I'll hotwire one of these cars and we'll get the hell out of here. Find a hospital for my friend Harry here."
"Indeed," Dr. Vance said. "I think Dr. Kleiner might need some assistance, too." Andy nodded and ran off to one of the cars in the parking lot.
"Oh, fie, Eli," Dr. Kleiner said, holding his stomach. "I am quite alright."
"Nonsense," Eli said. "You might have internal hemorrhaging or something."
"So, Dr. Robins," Dr. Kleiner said, appearing to want to change the subject. "What have you been doing in all this mess?"
"I sent a Dr. Gordon Fre-" Harry began but was interrupted by Eli.
"Gordon! He's alive? Thank God."
"Indeed," Harry said. "I sent him to the border world to-"
"WHAT?" Eli exploded. "You sent him to Xen? How could you!"
Dr. Kleiner said, "Now, Eli, Dr. Freeman is an able scientist. I'm sure he can-"
Eli rounded on Dr. Kleiner. "Izzy, you're my friend. But even you know that the border world is no place for an MIT graduate. Going to Xen is-is-is for someone with military training and even they-"
"If I may," Harry said, interrupting Eli. "We've monitored Dr. Freeman's journey through the facility and through to the Lambda Complex. He has proven that he can handle himself in a battle."
"I don't care! Gordon should have come with the rest of us and-"
"Dr. Vance, please, just listen," Harry said exasperatedly. "Dr. Freeman was tasked with closing the interdimensional rift that will put a stop to these blasted creatures. There is a beast in the border world and, if he can kill it, it may put an end to this mess."
"Ahem," Andy cleared his throat loudly. The three looked up and saw Andy sitting in the driver's seat of a running car. "I hate to break up this lovely conversation, but I'm for getting out of here. Now."
They nodded and got into the car silently. Speeding off into the New Mexico desert, the sky was darkening. Dr. Kleiner sat in the passenger seat; Harry and Eli sat in the back seat as Andy drove.
Sitting in silence, Harry still could not believe that it had been only yesterday morning that the Resonance Cascade happened.
"How did this happen?" Harry queried aloud. He wasn't asking anyone in particular but hopefully one of them knew what happened.
"The administrator," Eli said gruffly. "Should've aborted that damned test."
"You mean you were there when it happened, doc?" Andy said.
Eli didn't respond.
"How'd you get out of there?" Andy pressed.
Eli still didn't respond. Instead, Dr. Kleiner did. "After sending Gordon into the test chamber, I-"
"Gordon had something to do with this, too?" Andy exclaimed as they drove into the desert.
"Yes, please, just listen," Dr. Kleiner said irritably. "After sending Gordon into the test chamber, we were monitoring the equipment. A man in a suit came up to us and told Eli here to prepare for unforeseen consequences. Anyway, the administrator wanted-"
"Dr. Breen," said Eli through his teeth.
"Yes, Eli. Dr. Breen said he wanted a conclusive reading on the test sample. They boosted the anti-mass spectrometer above the equipment's safety buffer to get an increased resolution on the sample."
"Never should've done it," Eli said in a low voice.
"However, after Gordon pushed the sample into the analysis port, this caused a resonance cascade. Foul beasts began teleporting in from the border world and Gordon ran off. Evidently, he ran through the underbelly of the facility and made it to the Lambda Complex on foot."
"Okay," Andy said. "But how did you two escape? Dr. Kleiner here doesn't look well enough to go romping through the facility."
"Fiddlesticks. I'm fine," Dr. Kleiner complained. "After Gordon left, I felt well enough to stand, but then these crab creatures began to attack us, but then vanished in a cloud of green smoke. There was green electricity everywhere and suddenly Eli vanished. And then I couldn't see anything."
"What happened, doc?" Andy said, rubbing his chin.
"Apparently, the space-time continuum continued to destabilize that close to the anti-mass spectrometer and the next thing I knew, I'm face first in a glowing puddle of ooze. I immediately began to feel better, but suddenly, everything went dark again and I appeared in the Lambda Complex. Eli appeared a short while later."
"It was the border world," Eli said quietly. "Thank God we didn't stay there long."
"Well, anyway, it was at that time that we met Andy here and then you showed up, Dr. Robins. How did Gordon get to the Lambda Complex so fast? The resonance cascade only happened a couple hours ago."
"Correction," Harry said. "It happened almost 40 hours ago."
"What?" Dr. Kleiner asked. "Oh dear. It must've been a slow teleport of some kind."
"Well, everything's all right now," Andy said. "The more distance we get from Black Mesa, the better."
"Indeed," Dr. Kleiner said. "The effects of the resonance cascade should only be within a small radius of the anti-mass spectrometer. No more than 5 kilometers. Thankfully, we didn't set it higher. Isn't that right, Eli?"
Eli still did not respond. Harry looked over to him and Dr. Kleiner turned in his seat.
Eli was looking at the shattered picture frame and was picking pieces of broken glass out of it. The car was silent as Eli finished pulling the pieces of broken glass from the frame. On the photo was Eli, a woman and a small child.
"Oh, Azian, Alyx," Eli said, his voice breaking as his finger stroked the faces on the photo.
No one in the car spoke for a time until Andy said, "Listen, doctors. We're about an hour and a half from civilization. I'll try to get to the town of Taos as fast as I can. I suggest you all get some rest."
They fell into silence after that. Eli just stared at the photograph, Dr. Kleiner pulled out a small book from his lab coat and Harry looked out the window into the pitch black desert.
Every time he closed his eyes, Harry could see those foul beasts flying around the teleportation room, shooting their damned energy spheres. Their heads engorged and would split open when killed, their three spindly arms-one growing right out of its torso, and the horrible yell it made still echoing in his ears.
He wondered if Gordon would survive to destroy the beast in the border world holding the rift open. He wouldn't know if he survived or was able to close the rift as there was no way to return to Xen short of reconstructing the blasted thing and there was no way back.
There were now lights on the horizon. "Gentlemen," announced Andy, "welcome to Taos. We'll get you and..."
"Isaac," Dr. Kleiner said.
"Isaac to Holy Cross Hospital so you can get checked up and-"
Suddenly, the sky flashed blue and the car began to shake.
Harry looked out the back window and saw a large sphere of blue light expanding up from the direction of the facility.
"What the hell?" Eli exclaimed, also looking out the back window.
Vertical shafts of blue light began to appear across the desert and they spread from the blue sphere of light, as if a shockwave was expanding quickly across the desert, approaching them.
"You might want to hold onto something," Andy shouted as the shockwave rocked the car, sending it spinning on the road. Eli smashed into Harry and Isaac fell against Andy. The car began to flip over and over again as the blue light pummeled the car.
Glass shattered all around them as the car flipped many times. The blue light faded and the car came to a rest on its tires.
"Is...is everyone all right?" Andy asked.
"I think we all might need that hospital now," Harry said.
"Where is it?" shouted Eli, his voice panicky. He searched through the car's glass-his fingers becoming bloody-and ripped upholstery. The smell of gasoline filling the air.
"We've gotta get out of here, this thing's gonna blow!" Andy opened the crumpled door.
"NO!" shouted Eli. "I have to find it!"
"Find what, doc?" Andy shouted.
Harry and Isaac had left the car and looked at Eli. "We have to move, Eli!" shouted Isaac. The front of the car was now engulfed in flames.
"Not until I find it!" Eli screamed.
"Find what?" Andy shouted again.
"There it is!" Eli pulled the picture frame from the debris in the car. Eli finally leapt out of the car and they ran from the car.
The car then exploded, sending Harry crashing into the road, his hands erupting in pain as they slid along the asphalt.
The car they had been in was now a raging inferno. Any more time in the car and Eli would've been killed.
"What were you thinking?" Andy exploded.
Eli ignored him and held the photo to his chest. After a time, Isaac suggested they continue on to Taos.
They didn't have to walk long before they heard clamoring. Entering the town, they saw chaos. People were looting from broken shop windows and police had arrived with batons.
"Maybe we should find another route," Isaac suggested.
"Indeed," Harry said. "Do you know how to get to this hospital?"
Andy nodded. "I have an aunt that lives here. I'll call her once I get you both to the hospital."
They went down a side street, avoiding the melee, but they could hear the shouting and sirens of the police cars.
Arriving at the emergency room, they saw that the place was swamped. People with broken glass in their face and other facial lacerations, bloodied arms and legs. Whatever that blue explosion was, it caused many injuries. Or maybe some of them were caused by the mob down the street.
The triage nurse came up to them and asked them what their injuries were. They mentioned the car wreck and the nurse assured them that they'll get to them in order of severity, but with the number of emergencies, they might be a bit.
Andy announced that he didn't really need a hospital and would go call his aunt.
Eli sat in the waiting room, clutching the picture frame to his chest. The frame was now damaged and broken off near the top. Harry put his arm around Eli.
"Oh, my dear, sweet Azian. Alyx," Eli whimpered, his voice not more than a whisper looking at the picture. Harry concluded that they must have died in the incident.
Tears were streaming down his face. Not from the pain of the wreck or the subsequent picking through the broken glass for the photo, but apparently from the loss of his family.
Harry didn't know what to say, but held Eli closely. Isaac sat across the way and attempted a smile, but it wasn't in him.
Over the din in the waiting room, Harry heard a nurse call out "Eli Vance?"
Eli didn't look up and just continued to look at the photo.
"Eli," Isaac said. "They called your name."
"I don't care," Eli said. "Nothing matters anymore."
Isaac looked up to the nurse and said "Eli's here."
The nurse walked up to Eli. "The doctor's not ready for you yet, but please come with me."
Eli looked up at the nurse, his eyes red and face wet with tears. Wordlessly, Eli followed the nurse. Isaac and Harry followed. If the doctor wasn't ready for him yet, then why...?
They walked through the corridors and then into an examination room.
"Wait here," the nurse said.
Eli just sat on the bed and continued to stare at the photo, which was now creased in two places at the top.
A doctor poked his head in the room in to the examination room a short while later. "Eli Vance?" the doctor said. "I believe this is yours."
He pushed something into the room. Harry moved to get a better look. It was a small stroller. Confused, Harry looked to Isaac and then to Eli for answers.
Eli looked towards the stroller. His face went from complete despondency to a look of confusion, then his eyes widened.
"ALYX!" he roared, leaping from the bed. In the stroller was a mop-haired little girl who had suddenly jumped at the sudden sound and began crying.
Eli swept the little girl out of the stroller and clutched her close. "Baby!" he cried, hugging her to his shoulder. "How...how...?" Eli couldn't talk. The child, Alyx, wailed.
"We don't know," the doctor said. "She just appeared at one of the nurse's stations with a note to return her to an Eli Vance who would be coming shortly. No one saw anyone drop her off. Do you know how she got here?"
Isaac shook his head as did Harry. "Well, I'll leave you alone then."
"Alyx, oh Alyx. Baby, you're okay." Eli looked at Alyx, his face joyfully shedding tears now. "I don't know how you got out of Black Mesa and I don't care! I'll never let anything happen to you again..."
Eli looked to Harry, then to Isaac. He pulled them into a group hug.
"My baby's alive," Eli bawled into Isaac's shoulder.