CHλPTER SIX

λNOMλLOUS MλTERIλLS

SECTOR C ANOMALOUS MATERIALS

There was a clang as the far side of the airlock started opening. Gordon checked his watch. That made it about a minute. They were slowing down. He jogged out into the Anomalous Materials lobby, up to the desk. A scientist was peering at the duty guard's computer screen.

"Good morning, Mister Freeman," the guard greeted him. "I had a bunch of messages for you, but we had a system crash, I don't know, about 20 minutes ago?"

Gordon nodded. It wasn't unusual. At least he wouldn't have to spend ages catching up on each of them before he got to the Test Chamber. Most likely they were spam messages and analysis reports that he never read anyway. No loss.

"Anyway," continued the guard, "I'm still trying to find my files. Just one of those days, I guess. They were having some problems down in the Test Chamber, too, but I think that's all straightened out."

"Do you know what went wrong down there?" Gordon asked him.

"I think it was something to do with getting the Anti-Mass Spectrometer to 100 plus percent."

Gordon started. This was new on him.

"They told me that you were to head down there as soon as you got into your Hazard Suit."

Gordon headed for the personnel facilities, feeling glad. The problems with the A-M S must have delayed them finding someone else. That meant his routine was back on track.

Around the corner, he was stopped by another scientist, Doctor Rissem? (he wasn't good at putting names to faces and he was still slightly hung over), carrying a large box of papers.

"Ah, hello, Gordon Freeman, it's good to see you," he greeted. "Could you possibly take this over to Development? There's some guard round there who won't let me in."

Gordon took the box, and the scientist went into the nearby databank room. As soon as the door closed, he heard a chuckling. Gordon thought about this. Then he twigged. He'd been conned.

Damn.

He carried the box around the next corner to Development anyway. Up the ramp, around the...

His attention snapped back to the office on the far side of the corridor. Clearly, through the glass, he could see the man in the blue suit he'd seen at the railyard station, arguing with somebody he didn't know. Gordon narrowed his eyes. That wasn't possible. His train had been stuck outside that station, and even if he managed to get out and change trains he'd still arive behind Gordon. There was just no way that...

He whacked into another scientist and fell to the floor. Papers flew everywhere. Both the men sat there for a moment dazed, then apologized to each other simultaneously and started clearing up the papers. Gordon glanced back at the office, and the man in the blue suit looked at him. Everything seemed to freeze for a moment.

Then, the man in the blue suit frowned, and turned back to his argument. By now, the papers were all cleared up. The other scientist offered to take them into the other Dev office for him. Gordon gladly accepted. He was already late. He backtracked, and walked around a few more corridors to the locker room.

On the way, he passed the cafeteria, inside which Doctors Scott and Magnusson were discussing the experiment, and Gordon couldn't resist sidling over to the microwave and disrupting whatever was cooking, as he had done multiple times in the past. It turned out to be a casserole, and made a nice 'splat' sound as it exploded. Doctor Magnusson shot up with an angry look on his face, and Gordon legged it.

As the door to the locker room opened, another scientist, who he recognised as Doctor Krins, was just finishing tieing his shoelaces. As Gordon headed for the HEV suit storage bank, Krins fiddled with his tie and complained loudly. "Why do we all have to wear these ridiculous ties?"

Gordon sighed and used his ID card to gain access to the last HEV suit. The other two had been taken, presumably, by Doctors Collette Green and... Gina Cross. The roster on the wall reported them to have both taken out suits for 'maintenance work in Test Lab 33/A'. That would mean they would be below him during the experiment.

He quickly stripped down to his underwear and slid into the suit. He'd commented on the fact that it made anyone wearing it look like a robot. All limbs went into their right holes, then Gordon flipped up the HEV eyepiece, and plugged the earpiece in.

"Welcome..." said the HEV suit's recorded system, "...to the HEV Mark 4 protective system. For use in Hazardous Environment Conditions."

Gordon bundled his clothes into his locker. He then remembered that his locker key was in his shirt pocket. A search through the bundle revealed it stuck to a piece of chewing gum. That went in the bin. After a few moments of struggling to get the key to turn in the lock, he gave up. Noone was going to steal anything, anyway.

Another few moments later, he was jogging down the corridor towards the elevator, ignoring the suit's diagnostical checks coming from the earpiece and the sound of Doctor Magnusson yelling at him. He would have signalled the guard to open the door early, but they'd recently tightened the security and it now required the guard's retina as well as a valid ID card.

Upon reaching said door, he slotted in his ID and waited patiently until the light on the reader turned green.

"Go right on through, sir," said the guard, moving to the retinal scanner. "Looks like you're in the barrel today."

Gordon nodded, and willed the doors to open faster. They didn't. They opened at their usual speed. And he had another pair to go. Those went at the same speed, slowing Gordon down even more. As soon as he was through those, he sprinted for the elevator. Punching the call button, he dashed into the elevator and slammed the down button. The elevator started to descend. Slowly.

About halfway down, Gordon had had enough. He leapt from the elevator to the service ladder, and slid down that. His boots hit the platform with a clang, and the doors triggered like they should do. At least these ones went faster. He dashed past another couple of scientists, through more doors, skirted around a repair man who was wedging a panel open with a crowbar, narrowly avoided knocking some more scientists over, and DID knock a security guard over.

One of the scientists checked her watch. "Was that the late 8:30 Gordon Freeman to the Test Lab?"

Another gave her a look. "Why are you asking me?"

Gordon burst through the door into the control room, panting heavily. It was a hubbub of activity as the experiment was a very important one. The assembly of scientists, as one man, turned to him.

"Ah, Gordon, there you are. You're late," stated Doctor Isaac Kleiner, putting his hands onto his hips. Gordon could only nod and catch his breath back.

"Tch. Anyway, we've just sent the sample down to the test chamber."

Gordon looked up. They'd only just delivered it? Him being late was starting to not look so bad. Some of the other scientists turned back to the controls.

Doctor James Marten spoke next. "We had to take some time to boost the Anti-Mass Spectrometer to 105 percent."

Gordon considered this. So it was true. "Isn't that risky?"

"Yes," James agreed, "it's a bit of a gamble, but we need the extra resolution."

"The administrator is very concerned that we get a conclusive analysis of today's sample," Doctor Felix Kimber pointed out. "He doesn't usually take this much of an interest, but he seems to do with this one. I gather they went to some lengths to get it. This is top security stuff, Gordon."

The scientists monitoring the computer banks called James over. He started walking to it, then stopped, and whispered something to Isaac. Isaac nodded slowly, and turned to Gordon.

"They're waiting for you, Gordon... in the test chamber," he said, drawing out the 'r' in chamber, before walking over to the exit on the other side of the room. He bent down, put his eyes up to the retinal scanner, and activated it. The door slid open with a whoosh, and Gordon walked through. He then wiped his forehead. He was lucky. Very lucky. Lucky to still have a job. If they'd finished calibrating the Anti-Mass Spectrometer earlier, and delivered the sample earlier, then he might as well have lost his job right then and there. But they didn't, and he didn't, so it was all right.

He continued walking down the corridor, past some observation tanks, to the Test Lab Rotary Lift. He was almost there, passing some scientists, when a console on the other side of the room exploded.

"It's about to go critical!" Doctor Parsons screamed, then all three of them, Gordon, Doctor Parsons, and Doctor Eli Vance, raced over there to examine it. If the equipment failed then Gordon's Ph.D wouldn't be a lot of good to him anymore.

"What the hell is going on with our equipment?" Vance questioned nobody in particular. Parsons, next to him, bent down to examine a fuse box.

"You do know," he said, peering at the fuses, "that it wasn't meant to do this in the first place, right?"

Vance shook his head. "Let's just hope it can withstand the experiment."

Gordon, now unnerved, slipped away back to the TLRL, and punched the button. It appeared out of the hole in the floor of the next chamber like a fish being pulled out of the water. He stepped into the lift. Going down.

On the lower level, he walked around a corner into the large passage leading to the test chamber, then along the corridor's curve. He was now minutes away from the experiment. He just had to hope that the equipment did hold out. The door to the test lab's antechamber opened in front of him, He stepped through, and it slammed behind him. He didn't know it yet, but it would be the last time he saw it like that. There were two scientists waiting for him in the antechamber. One, Doctor Stuart Mandon, spoke up.

"I'm afraid we'll be deviating a bit from standard analysis procedures today, Gordon," he informed. Gordon rolled his eyes.

"This is to do with the 'rare' sample, and the AMS boost to 105, isn't it?" he asked, folding his arms. "Don't tell me. I've got to be extra careful not to dislodge the sample, and to keep to instruction at all times."

"Yes..." spoke up the other scientist, Dr Joshua Yates, "but with good reason! This is a rare opportunity for us. This sample is high quality. It's the purest one we've seen yet."

"And," objected Stuart, "potentially, the most unstable."

Gordon sighed, put his hand on his head, and shook the latter. They did this every time. Arguing about experiment conditions. There hadn't been a time when they didn't do it. They had supposedly been doing it since Stuart was transferred over from Sector F. And it always ended the same way, in them finally agreeing on the point they were arguing over.

"Now, now, if you follow standard insertion procedures, everything will be fine," reassured Joshua. Gordon thought about this.

"So, should I just do what I always do?" asked Gordon, starting to get confused. Now it was Joshua's turn to sigh.

"Just listen to the announcements. They know what they're doing, if none of us do. They're the ones who make the experiment run smoothly," he explained.

"I don't know how you can say that," disagreed Stuart, "but I will admit that the possibility of a Resonance Cascade Scenario is extremely unlike-"

Joshua interrupted. "Gordon doesn't need to hear all of this."

They both glanced at Gordon, who was sitting against the wall fiddling with his HUD settings. So far, he'd managed to turn the display vomit green, and change the language to some language he didn't know. Still looking at him, Joshua continued, "He's a highly trained professional."

"Are you two getting to the point now or should I just continue to change the settings on this thing?" Gordon asked, looking up, completely oblivious to what had just been said. Joshua took this chance, and whispered into Stuart's ear. "Besides, we've assured the administrator that nothing will go wrong," he hissed, glancing at Gordon a second time.

"Ah, yes, you're right," said Stuart loudly, to attract Gordon's attention away from the HUD. "Gordon, we have complete confidence in you."

Finally. Gordon stood up. He also triggered the reset button on his HUD, changing the colour back to orange and the language back to English-American.

"Well, now," said Joshua. "Let's let him in now."

"Yes," agreed Gordon, "let's. Let's let Gordon in so he can do the experiment instead of listening to you two yammering away."

The two retinal scanners on either side of the room beeped as they recognized the retinæ of Dr Mandon and Dr Yates. The giant door hissed, then rumbled open, revealing the pride and joy of the Anomalous Materials department. The Anti-Mass Spectrometer.

While the door rumbled back behind Gordon, there was a high-pitched whistling. He covered his ears. It got him every time. Every time the announcement system did this, and every time he forgot to cover his ears before it happened. After a moment, he tested and released one hand.

"Testing, testing!" came Isaac's voice through the PA. He coughed. "Everything seems to be in order."

At times like these, Gordon wished there was a way to talk back to them. Yelling up to the control room window did not do wonders for a person's voice, and the experimental message delivery system complete with drive chain and buckets broke before it was even implemented. They had to resort to sign language, or the very basics thereof.

"All right, Gordon," announced Felix, "your suit should keep you comfortable through all this, and the specimen should be delivered to you in a few moments. If you would be so good as to climb up to the balcony, and start the rotors..."

Gordon was already on his way up. He'd overheard whilst in the control room that they hadn't got the connection to the rotor controls reestablished after the crash.

"...we can bring the Anti-Mass Spectrometer to 80 percent and hold it there, until the carrier arrives."

He sat down on the metal seat, and started typing away at the keyboard. The rotor software was already running, at least he wouldn't have to try and remember the password for the security blockout. He typed a few commands in, and the rotors of the A-MS in the centre of the cylindrical room started to spin. Now James's voice came over the intercom.

"Very good. We'll take it from here."

Gordon slid back down the ladder to the other computer, Typing a few more commands in, he brought up an overview of what they were doing in the control room. They were starting to feed power to the emitters.

"Power to Stage 1 emitters... building... and activating... now," said Issac.

In the centre of the room, a single beam focused itself from the emitter just below the rotors to a point in the centre of the Spectrometer.

"I'm seeing predictable phase arrays," Isaac continued.

"Gordon," came James's voice, "could you take a look at the phase lights and tell us whether Stage Two is available for deployment? Ours are broken. Again."

Then, quieter, perhaps to somebody else, he said, "Did they actually fix them last time, or tinker about with the settings and tell us they'd fixed it?"

The phase lights were situated on a panel on the floor-level podium that encompassed the focal point for the emitter. Gordon jumped off the seat and went over to check it. As he got close, Felix's voice came over the intercom.

"What is he doing in there? Tell him to stand away from the podium, that suit won't do him any good if he wanders into the beam."

Gordon rolled his eyes, then checked the panel. The upper light was yellow, because Stage One was active, but Stage Two's light was red... no it wasn't, it was green now. Above him, the three secondary emitters started to rotate around the central primary emitter. He turned to the control room window, and could just about make out James looking at him. Gordon gave him the thumbs up. James turned around.

"Stage Two emitters... activating... now," Isaac announced. The Stage Two beams focused themselves on the point where the primary beam struck. Gordon put his goggles on. It was going to get really bright in here, and it wouldn't do AM any good if his retinæ were burnt out.

"Overhead capacitors to... one, oh, and five percent," said James.

"Uhh..." started Felix, "It's probably not a problem... probably, but I'm seeing a small discrepancy in... no, it's well within acceptable boundaries again. Sustaining sequence."

This didn't sound good. Last time one of the team had sounded unsure about something the sample had blown up in their faces, and they only just had enough time to shut it down. Across the room, the four lights on the upper corners of a rectangular area grated off started to flash red.

"Are you sure, Felix?" Gordon yelled up, but he doubted he could be heard over the din.

"Ah, here we go," James reported, not hearing. "I've just been informed that the sample is ready, Gordon, it should be making it's way up to you any moment now. Look to the delivery system for your specimen."

He hadn't actually needed to say that last sentence, because Gordon was already there. Unless the sample was in the room already, which it wasn't, the delivery system was the only way it could get in. The metal cover over the carrier's elevator slid away, and the carrier itself arrived level with the podium's entrance ramp with a thunk. The barriers then slid away. The sample was a beautiful yellow crystal. Sometimes he wondered where they got the samples, but that was level 9 clearance bounds only. He grasped the handles of the sample's mount.


Aaaand that's all you get for this chapter.

NOW LOADING... RESONANCE CASCADE