James lay down his breakfast tray at the table in the cafeteria. He was a corporal, Corporal James Bolton, or Jimmy to his friends, part of the HECU Black Mesa Task Force, He was tall and strong, but he wasn't awkwardly built, He sat down with the rest of his squad.
"So what do you make of it?" asked Private Walter.
"Of what?" said James.
"We've been on high alert for 3 days now, what do you thinks going on down in Black Mesa?"
"Probably that piss weak administrator got some death threats in the mail."
"You know what I've heard?" said Corporal Lance. "I heard those scientists found a crashed spaceship, with bodies on board, and there worried that the aliens got off some sort of S.O.S. signal before they crashed and we're gunna get attacked."
Everyone at the table laughed, Corporal Lance was a nut for conspiracy theories.
"Would it be these same aliens that abducted you?" said James.
"Could be." Again the table burst into laughter.
"I'm serious guys, think about it, why else would they have us on high alert and not tell us why, if it was terrorists we'd already have their names by now, there's something fishy going on and it's out of this world."
Private Jackson, the machine gunner, stood up and leant forward in a very dramatic manner "Or maybe, get this, they were experimenting with teleportation devices, and they accidently tunneled through to another world, and now they're doing dangerous experiments and they're worried we might get attacked by some alien force we can't even imagine"
He paused for a few seconds for a dramatic effect.
And again the table burst into laughter.
"What the hell is going on here soldiers!? What bullshit are you talking about now!?" Sergeant Wilson had just approached the table.
"We're discussing the recent alert status sir." Replied Private Jackson.
"Oh discussing it are you? Well let me tell you this, they do some crazy dangerous stuff down there, and people who ask questions about it, have an odd habit of occasionally disappearing, so maybe you'd be better off discussing last nights Army versus Marines football game and worry about your job when it comes time to step into your field gear!"
"Yes sir!" replied the whole table in unison.
"Now I don't wanna catch you talking about that crap again! And meet me out at the rifle range in 20 minutes, I wasn't impressed with yesterdays performance, and for some reason I think you're going to be doing a little better today with my new motivation techniques!"
The sergeant cracked his knuckles and walked off.
"I still say it's nothing." Said James.
Note: Don't worry, only one more introduction until we get to the story.
Thanks for reading and please review if you think I can improve it.