2. New Discovery
Disclaimer: Half Life 2 and all characters are copyrights of Valve Corporation
8:12 AM, 25 days, 16 hours after City 3 Research Facility shutdown, Salvage Camp, City 17
Dr. Gordon Freeman was in a fitful sleep in his tent in the salvage facility. In his dream he was standing in Dr. Wallace Breen's City 17 office.
"Hello - I- See you've been making a- name for- your self." said a disembodied voice "You have repelled- the invaders and- forced them to- the stars once more- I am- Proud..." Suddenly the door opened, Gordon spun around with his crowbar in hand. As soon as he turned it vanished into thin air. "Now- Dr. Freeman- there will be- no need for- that, i come here- to congratulate you." said the figure clad in a gray tuxedo holding a briefcase as he entered the light of the office. "Yes, you have- managed to save the world- and humanity again- but are you so ready as to- find the catalyst of your impending doom. The man turned to walk out, he looked over his shoulder. "Wake up Dr. Freeman, wake up and smell- the ashes." and Gman walked into thew void of the office door and was swallowed up by the abyss, Gordon woke with a start.
He stared around at the bleak white canvas of his surprisingly roomy tent, accomidating a small bunk, desk and computer. Gordon got up and walked to the desk and put on his thick black glasses. he sat down in his desk chair and tried to process the dream he had had last night.
It seemed so real. He thought. He stood up from his desk put on a T shirt and shoes and walked outside of his tent. Taking a few seconds to get adjusted to the light he marveled at how fast City 17 was being restored. He corrected himself, trying to call City 17 by its old name: New York City. He stared up at the Citadel, watching as cranes and demolition crews continued dismantling the enormous construct. It was nothing but a skeleton now, a few 400 foot tall metal beams with the occasional colossal metal piece still being removed by the crews. He quickly composed himself and proceeded in a small jeep to the central command center of the recovery effort, the former Combine transit station.
It took less than 20 minutes of maneuvering between the crews and citizens to reach the transit station. He turned off the engine and jumped out of the jeep, not bothering to remove the battery cables to the motor. He smiled to himself, besides who would steal from Dr. Freeman he thought to himself. As he entered the newly installed double doors he was immediately greeted by a chorus of "Hey! Dr. Freeman" and "Wheres your crowbar?" He smiled and continued on his way, past the ticket booths, converted into temporary archives while the Citadel was being deconstructed and the central lobby, now filled with citizens helping with the cleanup effort and some Resistance guards were hanging around, walking around workers handling TNT compounds and steel girders, he shook hands with the common folk and even got a hug. He finally managed to reach the stairs to the observation area of the lobby where he met up with Barney, he seemed happier today.
"Hey Gordon" Barney said as he saw him coming up the first few steps of the spiraling metal stairs.
"Barney" said Gordon as he nodded his hello. "You seem particularly happy today."
"I am Gordon, We managed to clear out transit tunnel 2 and open wired communications with Cities 12, 18, 19, 20, 6, and 7."
"That's incredible." commented Gordon as he glanced at his watch which read 9:45 AM. He bid Barney farewell and continued up the stairs to the observation platform. He opened the door and walked inside. The observation would have normally had chairs and a railing, but those were removed to make room for the several computer servers and access terminals. He found Alyx Vance staring out into the central platform.
"Can you belive it Gordon, we are finally free. Free to do whatever we want, humanity is finally in control of its destiny again..." Alyx thought out loud as Gordon bid his greetings.
"It still amazes me just how-"
Gordon was promptly cut off by the ringing of his cellular phone. "Excuse me, I should see who it is." Alyx nodded as Gordon answered his phone. "Hello, Gordon Freeman speaking." The response from the other side of the line was a weird electronic crackling that fluctuated in pitch and and tone. "Hello...HELLO!" he yelled
"What is it?" Alyx asked, she seemed to be turned on edge by the tone of Gordon's voice. Gordon motioned her to keep quiet, he opened the in-call menu and selected "Record" and then put it on speaker for Alyx to hear.
He kept the line open for about 2 more minutes and then finally pushed the end call button. "What in the hell was that?" Alyx asked after Gordon had pocketed his phone.
"I don't know" Gordon said "but I think I know who might."
There was an insistent knocking at Dr. Kleiner's lab door, which irritated him even more. "I'm coming! OW!" Kleiner hit his head on the bottom of his desk. He waked to the door, rubbing the top of his head as he deactivated the locks on the lab's double blast doors. It opened with a whooshing sound. "Ah, Gordon and Alyx, say you haven't seen Lamarr have you." he asked as the two walked inside, the doors shutting with another whooshing sound. A small shape darted out from under a supply crate and jumped on Gordon's leg and climbed up to the top of his head. "Ah there you are Lamarr, she missed you Gordon." Kleinier commented with a smile as he walked over to stroke his beloved pet. "So just dropping by or is there something you need?"
"Actually Kleiner," Gordon began, pausing to brush one of Lamarr's legs from his glasses "I was hoping ypu clould analyse something for me, its on my phone." Gordon handed Kleiner his phone and the three of them walked over to an immesne computer display. Kleiner removed the phone's memory card and inserted it into a slot on the machine. It worked for less than a second and then opened the file directory. "I think this is it Doc." Gordon pointed at a file labled "Recording_0001".
Kleiner opened it and after a few seconds of decrypting the same noise from the phone call broadcasted over the computers Dolby Digital sound system, the sound was enough to send Lamarr scrambling for cover. Kleiner showed no signs or reaction, just deep thought.
"Any Ideas Isaac?" Gordon asked after a short time.
"This noise resembles something I've heard before, I'll need to speak with Eli." Kleiner promptly brought up communications between his lab and Black Mesa East. after a short connection process, Dog came onscreen. "Erm, what is that?" Kleiner asked confused.
" Don't worry Doc," Alyx interjected as she remembered Kleiner never met Dog before "Hey boy, go get Dad." Dog nodded his acknowledgement and ran off screen only to return a minutes later with Eli behind him.
"Yes? Oh, ALyx, Isaac, and Gordon what a pleasant surpirse, and to do i owe this visit?" Eli asked.
"Well, Dr. Vance I've seem to have stumbled upon something very odd." Gordon said "Have a listen." Kleiner replayed the sound at Mesa East through a streaming player.
"Well this is strange, I'll run it through our sound database." Eli said, opening a compressed sound cache. After a few minutes of the noise being distorted and slowed it finally seemed to come through clear. "Strange, the signal matches a Combine distress broadcast, let me run it through again." Eli translated the signal and ran it through a text-to-speech program, the computer's monotone rang through Keiner's lab.
"City 3 research facility, Status: offline but functional, awaiting response, extraction of vital technology required, beacon broadcasting to all multidimensional frequencies, location: Terrestial planet 245, N 80, E 120." The message looped.
"This is bad...." Gordon commented "If this is broadcasting to all frequencies, the Combine may be comng back."
"But why did you receive the signal Gordon?" Asked Eli.
"It probably has something to do with my modifications" Kleiner explained " I modified Gordon's phone with leftover Combine tech in order to be able to detect any leftover Combine beacons, apparently the receiver picked up this one, and it was a good thing too, we could all possibly be in grave danger."
There was a long silence until Gordon finally said "Eli I'm coming over there."
"Right, we'll be expecting you here Gordon, Eli out." the communications terminated.
"Isaac, I'm gonna need that thing I asked you to hold." Gordon said, his face darkening with the knowlegde of the last few minutes