"Oh...Gordon?"
Dr Gordon Freeman, who had been admiring his HEV suit in his locker mirror, turned to see Dr Kleiner standing behind him, tweaking his glasses in consternation.
"I know you're running late – in fact, you should have been in the test chamber over half an hour ago – but something just came through from the administrator. Top level directive, I'm afraid."
Kleiner reached into his lab coat pocket, and removed a tiny electronic computer chip.
"This chip is called...a B-HOP device. I'm not sure what it does – the instructions just say to plug it in and the results will speak for themselves."
Gordon unclipped his chestplate, revealing the central control console. Kleiner slotted in the chip, and continued to read from the card.
"This card also advises that you try to carry out your normal work while using the device. Don't worry about having to do anything complicated – supposedly it's automatic."
The card buzzed, Gordon's chestplate hissed shut, and suddenly the bearded scientist began to move, slowly at first, then with increased vigour. The suit, using a complex system of hydraulic 'muscles', was moving Gordon's body without his input, throwing him forward in a series of jumps that were a strange mix of...crouching and jumping. With a wave, Gordon bounded gracefully across the locker room and slammed into the closed door with a crash.
"Gordon? Are you all right?"
The scientist hauled himself upright, and with an awkward thumbs up, he was gone in a blur of orange and black.
...
On he went, skipping through the facility at extraordinary speed, his feet barely scraping the ground before the B-HOP chip compelled his legs to crouch-jump again. In less than thirty seconds, by his wristwatch, he had reached the first airlock that led down to the test lab.
"Hey Gordon...looking pretty...sprightly today. Something up?"
Gordon tried to shrug, but the B-HOP chip had other ideas. Having detected a human obstacle, it put the HEV suit into 'conversation speeding mode'. Gordon crouched involuntarily, and began to bump the security guard gently in the legs with his head. The guard took a step back.
"Gordon?"
Gordon continued to push, his face reddening. The guard looked around, desperate to end this awkward encounter. He'd always tried to keep a professional distance from the science staff at Black Mesa, and this was clearly some sort of dumb prank. He reached out, and grabbed at the motion sensor. The doors beeped, and behind him Gordon straightened up with inhuman speed. The doors had hardly opened before the scientist cannoned through them and disappeared around the corner.
The guard shook his head. Some people clearly needed to get out more, he thought, and glanced around for the hidden camera. Surely they had something better to do?
Reaching the lift, Gordon's suit bounced off the lift call button. The door opened, but instead of taking the lift, Gordon was thrown out into the lift shaft. A pair of magnets that he had not noticed before telescoped out of his shoulder pads, and attached themselves to the maintenance ladder on the wall, sending him sliding down at breakneck pace and sling shotting himself through the open doors on the floor below.