Tom stepped off the tram at the blue shift main sector, he had buttoned up his shirt and managed to clean all the jam and toothpaste from his face, but he still had no shoes. Tom entered the door, and his shift supervisor, West, was right on the other side. West looked Tom over a few times before he spoke.

"What the hell is this Tom?"

"Sorry sir, I was late for work, I Forgot my shoes."

"late for... Dammit Tom, you're the first person I've ever seen show up 12 hours early for his shift."

"12 hours? But..."

"Tom, go back to your unit, get dressed, and learn to read your damn roster."

"Yes sir,"

"And next time you plan to come to work without shoes, don't come at all."

"Yes sir."

Ian sat in the tram alone, contemplating the results of the experiment, Breen was probably right, in fact Ian himself had helped design the experiment safety measures, a resonance cascade was practically impossible, and now he could lose his job over it.

The tram stopped at a platform and the door opened, Tom stepped on.

"Hey doc, hey, weren't you supposed to be at that experiment today?"

"You mean that experiment that no one outside Sector C is meant to know about?"

"Oh, yeah, that one, word spreads ya know?"

"Well Breen doesn't want me at Sector C any more, he doesn't like me complaining all the time."

"Ah well, maybe you'll get a job where you don't have to regularly handle toxic waste?"

"Maybe," Ian looked at Tom's bare feet, "Late for work again Tom?"

"DAMMIT JACKSON! You handle that piece like a three year old! SHOOT LIKE YOU'RE TRYING TO HIT SOMEHING!"

James was lying on the ground firing at targets along with his 5 squad mates. Sergeant Wilson was overseeing them and 'motivating' them.

"JESUS CHRIST BOLTON! HOW THE HELL DID MAKE IT THROUGH BASIC TRAINING!"

"BLIND LUCK SIR!"

"THATS PRETTY DAMN OBVIOUS JUDGING BY YOUR SHOOTING!"

The Sergeant checked his watch.

"CEASE FIRE! Alright, now everyone get down to the barracks and get suited up, I want you ready for action, meet me in the VTOL hangar three in ten minutes, DISMISSED!"

The Sergeant walked off as the squad disarmed their weapons.

"What do you think this is about?" asked Jackson.

"Must be expecting trouble at Black Mesa" Replied lance.

"This has training mission written all over it" Said James.

"Man I hope not, I want some damn action! Bag me an ALIEN!" Said Jackson, punching Lance in the shoulder.

"Shutup!" said Lance, "I'm telling you, you'll GET your alien."

"HOO-HAH" Said Jackson.

"HOO-HAH" Followed the rest of the squad.

A voice came to life over the radio, "Alright Sarah, we're about to begin the experiment, DO NOT let the equipment become unstable!"

Sarah got up from the floor where she had seated herself, "I'm ready".

The gauges monitoring the equipment came to life, Sarah watched them carefully, after half a minute a voice came over the radio again.

"How's it looking down there?"

"Everything's stable."

Sarah kept watching the gauges for another half a minute, then the temperature gauge began to unexpectedly and steadily rise.

"Sir, heat's rising slowly, everything else is..." Suddenly sparks erupted from the gauges and they began going crazy, there was also a rumbling in the ground, an alarm started going off.

"SIR! EVERYTHING'S GOING CRAZY DOWN HERE!"

A voice came back over the radio with an alarm in the background and people shouting "SARAH! GET AWAY FROM THE MACHINE!"

The Monitoring device exploded in sparks and flames, Sarah panicked and ran down the hallway to the door. She opened it and saw alarms blaring everywhere, there were several sudden vibrations that caused chunks of the ceiling to fall. Sarah quickly ran to another door, she went through and saw a security guard on the other side.

"Ma'am, don't panic, come with..." Suddenly an explosion breached the wall and ignited the security guard. Sarah screamed and ran past. Running past explosions and collapsing ceilings she eventually reached the entrance to Anomalous Materials. The security guard stationed there was checking the pulse of an unconscious scientist. There were several sudden violent explosion which caused a large piece of ceiling to fall and crush the guard, another explosion blasted through the wall sending a piece of debris flying towards Sarah, it hit her in the head and she fell unconscious.

"12 hours? Honestly Tom how could you be 12 hours early?"

"I don't know, misread the roster."

"HAHAHA, god you can always make me laugh Tom."

A slight vibration shoo the tram.

"The hell was that?"

There were several more powerful vibrations, and the tram stopped moving. The tram played a message through its speakers.

"Do not be concerned, there has been a slight problem with..." There was suddenly a very violent vibration that knocked out the tram lights. Emergency lights came on and the voice began again. "Do not be concerned, there hahahahahas been a mechanininininical faiiiiiilure on this rail..." There were several sparks and the voice stopped again.

"What's happening!?"

"A resonance cascade."

"What?"

"We're in a lot of trouble."