Chapter 08 – Aftermath
Gordon and Alyx were engulfed by the blue light of the teleporter. The device gave them the sensation of being pulled backwards through space. The teleporter they were destined for began to spark. The gears on the great machine began to whir and spin. Finally, a blue bolt of electricity struck the teleporter from above. A great mist filled the portal chamber. When it cleared, there stood Dr. Gordon Freeman with his love Alyx Vance clutched in his arms. The two were still embracing as if the headcrabs were still there with them. There were 12 rebels in the room with them. One who later identified himself as the group's captain spoke up.
"Dr. Freeman! Ms. Vance!" he said. Gordon opened his eyes and lifted his head off of Alyx's shoulder. He was met with the friendly faces of the rebels. Alyx looked up as well. They walked out of the portal chamber to take a look around. The room they were in was once a functional laboratory. There were two overturned lab tables on the left side of the room. On the left wall there was what once was a group of water preservation tanks. They had been smashed open and shards of glass still littered the floor around them. The right wall was occupied with what was once a two way mirror. It had also been shattered and the adjacent room was visible, the contents of which were 4 desk chairs and a long table across the windowed wall. The only working thing in the room other than the teleporter was a computer terminal. The terminal's monitor was cracked in numerous places and the keyboard below it was missing a bunch of keys. A message appeared on the screen stating 'Incoming Call'. Dr. Kliener's face appeared on screen after that.
"Congratulations Gordon and Alyx, the trackers I implanted in your com-links say that you've made it to Alaska." Kliener stated. Gordon's relief at hearing that statement was large. They were seconds away from being headcrab food just moments before.
"Thanks for the congratulations doc, but we're not done yet." Alyx said. Suddenly, a bright purple spark flashed behind the group. Gordon turned around to be greeted with the faces of his Vortigaunt friends Lo-gen and Rezlan.
"Lo-gen! Rezlan!" Gordon said. "Thanks again for your help back there."
"The Freeman is lucky to be alive. The headcrabs overtook the rebel base and attacked the teleporter after the Freeman and the Alyx Vance escaped." Lo-gen said. His Vortigaunts brother finished his statement.
"The teleporter imploded and destroyed the base. There will be no return trip. The rebels are dead. The captain sacrificed himself to save his troops from the horrible fate of becoming headcrab zombies." said Rezlan.
"May they rest in peace. As for the teleporter, that's a problem." said Dr. Kliener. "However, Magnusson and I have been working on a teleporter here. It should be ready soon enough for you to return. In the meantime we will try to learn anything we can about what became of Dr. Mossman."
"Where is the Borealis?" Gordon asked. Kliener didn't answer that, a rebel beat him to it.
"Dr. Mossman went north with a squad of rebels. She agreed for us to inject a tracking chip in her arm. Here have a look." The rebel pulled up a window on the computer monitor beside Kliener's message screen. There was an aerial view of Alaska on the screen that quickly zoomed in to show the Aperture Science Center from above. "This is us." The rebel said. He moved the camera over to a more Northern location. The place where the camera stopped didn't look like much. It was in the center of the Arctic tundra and there was nothing but snow showing. "And Doctor Mossman is here."
"But there's nothing there. Isn't the boat supposed to be there?" Alyx asked. No one had an answer for that at the moment. Then the Rezlan spoke up.
"I am sensing something amiss with this picture. The ship is not on the surface, it is below it." The group gasped. How in the world could a freightliner suddenly disappear and reappear underground? It just didn't make sense. Before any new questions could be arisen, a voice sounded over the intercom system.
"Captain, we have a problem. You should have a look at this. Come to the roof, quick." The voice said. Apparently, a rebel was stationed on the roof.
"Come on Dr. Freeman. You should see whatever it is too." The rebel captain said. Gordon and Alyx followed him out of the laboratory into a small hallway leading to the left. After two doorways, the group came to a large room that looked like a entrance lobby. There was a long line of windows and glass doors leading outside to the Arctic tundra. In the center of the room, there was a receptionist's desk with the Aperture Science logo above it. Behind it, there were two sets of stairs leading from both sides of the desk to upstairs. The group ran up the stairs and to a doorway on the right of the second level. The door was marked "Employees Only" but that marking meant nothing to them. The door led to another flight of stairs. When the group reached the exit, they walked out onto the roof and met the rebel who radioed them over the intercom. Next to the rebel, there was a turret equipped with a telescope.
"Captain, I…Dr. Freeman! I didn't know you were here. Well, all the same, you should see this too." The rebel offered them to look through the telescope. In the distance, not surprisingly in the direction Gordon had to travel, stood two giant Combine Striders.
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A few hours later Gordon woke up in his and Alyx's makeshift bunk room. He had decided earlier to check out the building while Alyx was asleep. Gordon pulled on a T-shirt and some pants from the old staff storage room. He walked outside into that lobby from earlier. The Aperture Science center had long been abandoned long ago. Gordon walked up the stairs and walked through the door on the left side of the second floor, this lead to another hallway. There was a door at the end of the hallway that was marked "Only Maintenance Admitted". Gordon reached out to turn the handle, but a voice startled him.
"Got curious didn't you?" The rebel captain stood on the other side of the hallway. "I explored my first day here too. That room's by far the most interesting. Go on, open it." Gordon opened the doorway. It was a massive room, circular in design. There was a raised area that held a small control panel and an incinerator sat across the room. But those weren't the center pieces of the room. Hanging from the ceiling was an odd looking super computer. Plasma screen TVs hung from many places on the machine. A giant eye-like gadget hung from the bottom of the great machine.
"What is it?" Gordon asked.
"This is the supercomputer that controls all security and maintenance in this center. We shut off the power so we could run the building ourselves. Gordon Freeman, meet GLaDOS."