"This is irresponsible!" Ian exclaimed to Administrator Breen, while Breen sat calmly at his desk. Ian was wore a white lab coat with a black mesa logo on it, old age was beginning to creep up on him and he had a head full of graying hair. "You don't even care about the consequences do you Breen?"

"Ian, as one of the most experienced men in this field your opinion is highly respected, but I can assure you you're just being paranoid, there is no danger."

"No danger? I don't know how you can sit there and say that, you know just as well as me that the possibilities of a resonance cascade are very real. I'm sure I don't have to remind you of what happened 6 years ago."

"That incident was a slight oversight, anyway, our security force responded very efficiently, and with minimum casualties."

"Minimum casualties? People died Breen! It doesn't matter if it was one or two or fifty, there are people dead because of the resonance cascade that YOU let happen. And I don't think I have to tell you what the effects of a resonance cascade would be with a sample this pure, you could be putting the entire facility in danger."

"Ian, I assure you that I understand what is at risk if a resonance cascade DOES occur, but even you must agree that the chances are very low, and with the new safety systems we've installed I'd go as far as to say that a resonance cascade is not even possible anymore."

"And what if it DOES happen? Do you expect the blue shift to be able to secure the ENTIRE facility?"

"The Black Mesa task force is on standby, in the unlikely event of a resonance cascade they will be able to respond within 15 minutes."

Ian twitched, he hated the military, each and every time he had been on the forefront of a scientific breakthrough the military had stepped in and tried to turn it into a weapon, usually they succeeded.

"So you're a military man now Breen, is that it? Are you going to hide behind your grunts when this whole facility goes to hell? Maybe afterwards you'll even award some of them medals."

Breen shot to his feet knocking his chair down to the floor, he had taken all he could handle.

"Ian, I'm sure you would agree with me that I have taken a lot from you, just because you're an experienced scientist it does not mean that you have the right to consistently question everything I do, and THEN try to insult me. The experiment goes on as planned in exactly…" Breen checked his watch "83 minutes! Now I am taking you out of sector C, feel free to visit the leisure centre as I decide where to assign you, and consider yourself lucky if you don't end up a lab assistant to someone half your age!"

Ian was shocked, he had been working in sector C for almost 13 years "alright Breen, I'll leave, but you had better be prepared for the consequences of your actions."

Note: for some reason I hate doing bits with lots of dialogue, it just seems so complicated trying to keep everything neat and still be able to figure out who's talking to who, but of course, you can't make much of a story without character interaction, and after all, I am here to tell a story.

So thanks for reading and I look forward to your feedback.