Portal: Regenesis
Written By: Monique Stabler Plot By: Tanai Markle & Monique Stabler
Chapter 1: The Admission
It was a sunny afternoon at Columbia University, there was a subtle breeze bringing in cool air from the East, causing the leaves of the trees to gently sway. Birds were chirping cheerfully as they flitted this way and that. Students mingled and also bustled about the main courtyard either trying to get to class or taking a relaxing walk after long hours in a dismal lecture hall. All of these happenings could be seen from the window of dormitory 1498. The curtains and window were open to let in the glorious weather and fresh air, causing the basic white muslin curtains to billow playfully in the early summer air. In the dormitory there was the furniture of two women who had vastly different tastes, giving the environment the vibe of controlled chaos. On the left hand side according to the door the room was highly structured with shelving like catacombs each holding books or knick-knacks of all sorts, from ceramics to family pictures to technological devices. The bedding was neatly placed over the bed and creased intently to make the bed look pristine and unused. Everything was put in its proper place and there was not an overabundance in meaningless objects. The other side of the room was jungle themed and the wooden bed-frame looked thrown together with assorted articles of clothing thrown about, hanging here and there. Books in a piled mess looked worn with use. The bed was not in the least bit made and it looked as though a fight might've occurred there given the discombobulated nature in the wrinkles on the bedding. All of this was cast in a dreamy glow from the sun poking in, causing the shiny objects to throw the light on the back of a young woman sitting at a desk supplied by the school while she was shredding newspaper clippings that her friend had been saving as a failed attempt at claiming nostalgia. She read through each of them before grimacing and shoving it down the slot of a paper shredder.
"Garbage…garbage…garbage—God these are all garbage. Why the hell are you saving all of these newspaper clippings, they're pointless!" The woman grumbled.
The woman shredding the articles hears the door crack open as another young woman with a small stature, shoulder length dark brown hair, wearing frameless glasses walks in. It is her friend and dorm-mate Monique Blaster. Irritation flashes in her normally doe-like eyes as she sees her friend shredding the remnants of recorded history illustrating the rewards they'd received from their senior project of building the world's first nearly sentient feline android. She sharply shuts the door whose hinges bellow with protest until finally coming to a sharp slam!
"Did you really just shred all of those newspaper clippings, Anita?" Monique asks slowly walking towards the woman at the desk.
"Yeah, so, what of it." Anita retorts.
"Really? Those were special, they depicted the happiest moments of our lives; the windows in which to see our future!...Oh well…I guess. Here, I have a letter, a little something else for you to shred. I got one too, so who knows, it'll probably be the same text with different names inside, those cheap lazy bastards." Monique scoffs as she hands over one of the envelopes to Anita.
Anita sharply grabs the envelope and quickly opens it, as if to just get the situation over with. Her usually kind, gold-ish brown eyes flit across the page with the frivolous intensity of boredom. She unceremoniously chuckles and smiles nonchalantly as she asks.
"Who the fuck is Black Mesa? Some kind of Escort Company? I know I'm sexy, but I am so not engaging in pornographic activities in any way!"
"No, I've heard about these guys, I've been told by many of the other students that they are a scientific company." Monique mutters.
"Hm, they seem to be asking for our interest in becoming interns at their facility. Right, they probably want us to play 'slutty interns'", making quotation marks with her fingers. "In low cut lab coats with fake syringes and test tubes and the like." Anita snorts mockingly
"I don't know, I think it could be a good opportunity to get our foot in the door for some really good science foundations." Monique mentions looking at her friend through her periphery.
"Well regardless we should be cautious about what we are getting into and do more research before we make a final decision," Anita points out, squinting disapprovingly at Monique for being too naïve from the get go.
It is later that night when Monique has typed her confirmation letter after which she runs to the college post office to send it in, almost too giddy with excitement at the prospect of working in a 'real lab' instead of one supplied by the school. She wanted the opportunity to work with robotics without too much of a budget constraint set out by the school. Anita however stayed up that night doing research on her laptop casting their dorm room in an eerie bluish white glow, while Monique slept all huddled fetus style in her bed. After a while of perusing the web, Anita soon felt as though the information that she had learned about the corporation was sufficient, and at that she started to type her letter to the recipient, to which she sent the following morning as she was feeling intensely groggy and sleep deprived.
Later that week the two girls hear from a woman who was the manager of the intern program at Black Mesa. She wrote back to both of them stating that she would appreciate the prospect of them coming down as soon as possible so that they may begin adjusting to the new environment and the other interns and start working for them right away. Anita and Monique decide that they would begin their trip to Black Mesa on the following Monday so that way they would have the ability to see their family and say goodbye to them properly, rather than being rude and just taking off.
Finally the night before their trip to Black Mesa, Anita's brother and sister show up, as well as Monique's mother and father. They came to say goodbye to the girls before they moved on to supposedly bigger and better things.
"Aww there's my wittle sister, oh, I'm so proud of you!" Anita's sister shouts verbosely as she pulls Anita into a hug, all the while nearly smothering her with her massive breasts.
Anita's brother slugs her on the arm while snarkily commenting, "you better call me you bitch."
Monique's parents obviously were taking a more elegant approach in saying goodbye and just how proud they were that their intelligent little girl had now turned into the intelligent young women they always knew she would be.
"We are very, very proud of you. You have done so well, and we hope that with this internship that it pays off greatly." Her father stated diplomatically.
"You see what I mean when I said work hard and put your nose to the grindstone." Her mother pointed out lovingly.
The night goes on with the two women sharing last pleasantries with their family, with talking and laughter and a lot of hugging and the exchange of memories both noble and embarrassing. To the last goodbyes and hugs that come before their family drove off for them to pack and finally retire for the following day.
Anita stepped out for a short walk to take in the last of the campus before the embarking on the rest of their lives, leaving Monique alone briefly to finish the rest of her packing seeing as how Anita had finished her packing before their family had arrived. As Monique was packing the rest of her belongings, she stops and sighs as she looks around; noticing that the walls were now too bare with the lack of posters, calendars and even artwork on the wall, it seemed that there was no longer any life left in the room. The overhead light above her bed being the only light source on, casts the room in a faint and eerie off yellow glow. Monique then looked at her luggage case before she pulled out a pamphlet that had been there for a while, she looked at it sadly. It was a pamphlet advertising career opportunities at Aperture Laboratories. It was this facility that she wanted so desperately to work for, but she had heard rumors that there was no one even running the place anymore, that they just fell off the radar in the whole scheme of scientific inquiry. Since that knowledge Monique hadn't proceeded to find a position there, and had been forced to look elsewhere. She knew that in going to Black Mesa that she would either be a good target to steal, or, unfortunately be a possible point of rejection if they still existed. She then put the pamphlet back, just as Anita stepped back inside the room. Monique quickly zipped up her luggage case and looked up at Anita who was looking back at her with a quizzical expression.
"Are you okay?" Anita asked.
"Yeah, I am fine. I just wish that I had gotten a letter from Aperture instead, but, I guess you can't always get what you want the first time around." Monique responds sullenly.
"Well, there is still hope, I guess. Are you at least ready to go to Black Mesa tomorrow?"
"Yeah, I have all my things packed and will be ready to take off straight away."
"Good, I am glad to hear it. I am ready too, but I'm a little nervous, only a little though."
Monique nods and says goodnight and Anita responds back, while they both slip into their dorm beds awaiting the joys and fears of what tomorrow would bring.
The following morning was a blur for the both of them; between saying goodbye to all of the friends that they had made while they went to Columbia U. and also saying goodbye to the instructors who they felt had enabled them to get this far, to the last minute taking of showers getting dressed and doing the usual morning activities. Their time was taken up so much to the point that they had to eat their breakfast on the way to Black Mesa.
When they finally reached the outer edge of the parking lot to meet up with the car, a pure black Lincoln Continental with tinted windows pulled up to the curb. Anita was the first to reach out to pull the handle to open the door when a young red headed man who was the driver frantically jumped out of the car shouting,
"No, no, no, no, no!"
"What? Wrong vehicle?" Monique asked.
"Are you Monique Blaster and Anita LeMark?" He asked breathing heavily.
"Yes," They both respond in unison.
"Then no, you're right…it's just…I must…open the door…for you…" He said still huffing.
"Oh, that's okay; we can take care of ourselves." Anita replied.
"No, I'm required by protocol. I'm a trainee, so they've got cams on me; so yeah." He said as he took of his cap and scratched the back of his head.
Taking pity on the poor boy we let him do his job, as he opens the door for us he spots our luggage.
"Don't worry, I will make sure that your luggage gets in the trunk," and with that he shuts the door, pops the trunk and gingerly places each of our bags in the trunk of the car.
The minute he got into the driver's seat he started to nervously babble.
"So, is this your first time ever visiting or seeing Black Mesa, ladies?" He asked in an all too cheerful tone.
Anita and Monique both grunt, giving their disapproval of the situation, to which he took the hint and did not attempt to engage them again.
The car ride to the facility was long, quiet and most of all, boring! They went through a series of sprawling gorgeous green forests and wooded areas, to great expanses of farming fields to mountains and smooth, lush valleys speckled with all sorts of wildlife. Then eventually the most dismal and desolate places anyone could ever think to be. Many cacti passed through the tinted windows as they thought that they had descended into hell. The spotting of a few buzzards that hovered over animal carrion gave way that they had motive to feel that way. They were out in the middle of nowhere also known as New Mexico.
"I know it's been a long trip for you two ladies but now, we are finally here." The red headed young man stated.