Author's Note: I hope you enjoyed the first chapter of my story. Chapter 2 goes into what it was like to work at Black Mesa and introduces some of the main characters from the Half Life series.
Entry 2, Black Mesa
Whew! Last night sure was an epic adrenaline pumping event. The other Resistance members and I sure had a heck of a time taking turns putting multiple holes into the zombies. Was pretty fun until a pack of those damn spider zombies arrived. Last thing I remember was hearing that dreaded howl, and then a sharp blow to the back of my head. I woke up on a mat back at Station Twelve with the worst headache I had ever experienced and a few cuts. Wasn't the pain that got to me but the embarrassment. I am supposed to be a Resistance leader who sets examples for others to follow by. Last night I was incredibly immature and let my guard down. At least no one was killed or seriously hurt. I can only imagine if it were a group of Combine Soldiers that had found us instead…probably would have been the end of Station Twelve. I can only hope the other Resistance leaders don't hear of this. Well no use beating myself up about what happened or what could have happened. Lesson well learned.
Fortunately one good came of last night, all day bed rest yay! This means I have the whole day to write in my journal instead of being stuck on watch outside. I find it rather curious that while I'm an 'egghead' and a Resistance leader, I've yet to be transferred to an area of safety. Shouldn't I be in a lab somewhere conducting experiments and inventing devices to help aid the Resistance? I know Kliener has been wanting me to help him with the teleport chamber he's been working on, but Eli insists that I remain at Station Twelve for the time being. I guess I'll just have to ask him for more detail later.
What to write about, what to write about… Oh I know, I can continue my story about my past from yesterday. So once I got my acceptance letters, I practically jumped for joy and called Kleiner right away. I could hear the joy is his voice and I felt proud. To me Kleiner was like my dad when my own wasn't there to congratulate me; I really admired him. After reviewing the letters more in depth, I discovered I was to begin work immediately in Sector F, Lambda Complex. So after packing my bags and grabbing a plane to New Mexico, I moved into one of the dormitories topside of Black Mesa.
The first few months were pretty interesting. Now that I was actually working at Black Mesa, I was able to meet up with Kleiner for lunch. We would always end up talking for hours past our lunch break about Xen, the border world. As most people do we had different views on teleportation, but we both agreed that Xen would have to be used as slingshot in order to attempt teleportation (at least for the time being).
My favorite part of working in Sector F was having Hazard Team members come back from Xen with specimens. Of course the higher ups always got to choose the name for each different alien race, but that still didn't stop me from giving them a personal name. I often enjoyed visiting the Biodome Complex in Sector E to view all the aliens. I remember one specific Bull Squid that I had named Spot. He was the only Bull Squid I had ever seen with only one spot, and he was a great listener even though he was behind almost five inches of glass. One topic I always found interesting to think about while I was working is how I always doubted aliens existed. Being up close and personal with beings from another world really opened my mind to different views and aspects.
Other then scientific purposes, there was of course the lack of other females at Black Mesa. There were only two female scientists that I had heard of but never met. Their names were Dr. Gina Cross and Dr. Colette Green; both were stationed at Sector C in the Anomalous Materials Laboratories. Other than those two, I heard no other stories of female scientists. This made it incredibly hard for the males I worked with to restrain themselves from flirting with me. Luckily female security guards would be stationed in Sector F sometimes and they enjoyed the attention. This at least allowed me a day to work undisturbed.
I do remember one particular scientist named Dr. Arne Magnusson though. He was extremely egotistical and respected no one except the administrator and unfortunately me. There were two main things that bugged me about him. One was the constant need to compliment me, flirt with me, and bug me to go out to lunch with him. He always threw a fit when I said I'd be meeting with Dr. Kleiner for lunch instead. That was probably because he was either jealous (even though Kleiner was nothing more than a friend), or because he was competing against him for grant money. The second thing that I REALLY hated about Magnusson was that he always wanted me to view his inventions and the layouts for them. I made the hugest mistake when I said yes one day. After viewing a few layouts for his Magnus Pulse Energy Compactor, I told him it might beat Kliener's upcoming inventions. I think his chest might have exploded if it would have swelled a few more inches with pride. He then went on for about an hour going into detail about his contraption. Later I even heard he renamed it to the Val Pulse Energy Compactor. This may sound evil to say but he's one of those people I really hope didn't live past the Seven Hour War.
My oh my I sure have written a lot today! I suppose I can continue about Black Mesa tomorrow, but for now I need some rest. My head still aches a bit and I'm tired anyway.
-Val