Chapter VI. Experiments
Me again. I hate to keep you waiting, so many chapters were halted due to the mix-up will all be released at once! Also, I had to modify the script to blend it in with the other chapters. Enjoy #6.
Dr. Cross and Dr. Green walked down a darkened hallway, weapons out.
"What's your suit status?", Dr. Cross said.
"Stable, 80% power, 95% Auxiliary. You?"
"The exact same. According to schematics, we need to take a left."
They both turned left, and found an electrified vent to a sealed bulkhead. Dr. Cross vainly tried to pry it open with her crowbar.
"Damn. If the vent wasn't electrified, one of us could crawl through to the other side."
Dr. Green flipped a nearby switch. The wire died out, a nearby door leading back to Keller opened, closed, and the wire turned back on.
Dr. Cross flipped the switch again, and stuck the door open with her crowbar. The door failed to close, keeping the door open, and the wire dead.
"All set. Simply crawl through. I'll make sure the door stays open. Use your radio."
"Are you sure this will work?"
"As sure as my PHD."
"Fine. When I tell you, just unblock the door."
Dr. Green quickly crawled into the vent, and stepped out into another vent, emptying into a small laboratory. She walked out onto a small bridge.
"Okay, I made it. Unblock the door."
[Roger that.]
Dr Cross took her crowbar out of the door. The door closed, and the wire turned back on.
[I'll wait here for you to override security.]
Suddenly, a portal storm swept over the area. 2 Vortigaunts warped in, one in front of Green, another behind. The one in front pushed Green into the one behind her, which grabbed her arms and held them back. The first one walked up to her, and cackled. It jokingly dangled a claw up her neck and around her face, causing tears to stream down her face.
Sensing the desperate situation, she swung her legs, tripping the vortigaunt, and causing him to fall backwards. The vortigaunt angrily rose up and clawed her across the face, leaving bloody scars on her right cheek. The second vortigaunt cackled, saliva dripping down it's jaw-less face.
"Damn it! Let me go you sick bastards!"
The creatures talked amongst each other. When they finished, the second one thrust Dr. Green to the ground. The second continued holding her down. The first one raised it's arm for a blow directed at her neck, meant to behead.
Dr. Green let out an angry scream. She kicked the second vortigaunt in the head, sending it over the side of the bridge. She rolled out of the way of the blow, then eviscerated the vortigaunt with a blast to the face from the shotgun.
[Dr. Green! What's happening? I heard screaming.]
"I got jumped by 2 vortigaunts. I guess that was me."
[Remind me not to tick you off.]
Dr. Green walked down the hallway into a security office. There were two revolvers and 6 boxes of revolver ammo.
[There's some revolvers with ammo in here. I'll save you some.]
[You'd better. But first, how about deactivating security?]
[Right.]
Dr. Green flipped the switch marked, "Security Override", causing the lights to go out. Green's ears sharpened. She heard a metal thunk-thunk noise outside the security office. She sealed the security door and looked out the safety glass.
Suddenly, the lights flicked back on, and she saw the biggest alien so far. It was slightly larger than her, muscular, and wearing armor plates. It's left arm was shaped like a club, with no fingers, and the right arm had a strange weapon attached to it. It had an arm in it's chest, similar to the vortigaunt. It stared at her for a moment, displaying a full 3 rows of teeth, and glowing red eyes.
The alien clubbed the safety glass, cracking it badly. After failing at that, it raised it's right arm-mounted weapon. 5 hornets flew out of the gun, cracking the glass further. At that point, it gave up, and started pounding on the door.
"Damn it! There's something new after me! It's trying to get in!"
[Did you deactivate security?]
"Yeah, but it isn't processing it! Damn it!"
[You have to hold out until the door opens. I should have thought this out better.]
The door flew off it's hinges. Suddenly, a message came from the intercom:
[Security Override Processed. Opening all doors.]
Dr. Cross saw the door open, and heard Dr. Green scream over the radio, as the hulking alien swatted Dr. Green unconscious. Dr. Cross cautiously watched as it carried Green away on it's armored shoulder.
"Shit! Dr. Freeman, come in!"
[This is Freeman. What's wrong?]
"I've lost Dr. Green. She's been captured."
[Crap. It wasn't one of those weaklings, was it?]
"No. It was some sort of bulking behemoth alien, with armor plating and a strange gun on it's right arm that fires alien hornets."
[Interesting. If the hornets are made inside the gun, then they never need ammo. Of course, hornets can't hurt that much, can they?]
"That's not the point. What am I supposed to do? I made the idiotic decision of splitting up, and it may cost Dr. Green her life…."
[Just calm down. Gina. Do you have any idea where it took her?]
"I don't know. Down some corridor to the right. There's some revolvers and ammo inside a nearby security booth."
[It seems obvious to me. Grab the revolvers, and track him down!]
"Thanks, I feel a lot better now. What would I do without your helping hand?"
[What would I do without your suit?]
"Flatterer."
Renewed, Dr. Cross grabbed the revolvers with ammo. She jogged down the hallway, guns fully cocked and loaded.
Elsewhere…..
Dr. Freeman found a barricaded entryway. Gordon pried the boards off with the crowbar, then shot up two head crabs He walked up to a ladder leading down to a freight elevator entryway.
Taking a path to the right, Gordon found a lever to activate the elevator. Suddenly, a zombie burst through a steel door and grabbed Gordon's arm, pulling and scraping with dismembering force. Gordon reached for his shotgun, and blasted the zombie twice in the face. It finally released his arm and fell over backwards. Inside was another crowbar, with resharpened prongs, and 5 more grenades. Gordon grabbed them, dropped the old, badly cracked crowbar, and left.
He started up the freight elevator. Warning lights sounded, and the freight elevator rose up, along with transfer panel. Gordon quickly got in the elevator, and transferred over to the lowest level. 4 Hound eyes sprinted over, and into Gordon's shotgun.
"God, you'd think that aliens might actually be an intelligent species, but we were all wrong."
Dr. Freeman quickly got onto a freight tram, and punched the transfer button. It blasted on at jolting speed, forcing Gordon to hold onto the panel to stay on the tram. Several aliens attacked, but the tram was too fast, and it ran them over.
Noticing the dead end, Gordon pulled the brake lever, which came off in his hands. Gordon simply screamed as it smashed into the steel stoppers, flinging Gordon into a pile of greenish fluid.
Warning: Hazardous Radiation Levels Detected.
The tram flung him into radioactive ooze. Gordon frantically swam up onto a box, then shot a nearby oblivious Bullsquid. He quickly jumped across the pool of radioactive ooze, then climbed into a pipe to escape the following alien creatures.
Meanwhile….
Barney, along with the soldier and scientist, walked down into an enclosed area. The door leading out was sealed shut, and blocked by a train.
"Hold on. I bet there's a way around."
Barney stepped onto the tram, and smashed several boxes out of the way. Next to the door were 4 tanks of compressed air. The scientist and soldier walked up to him.
"What's the plan?"
"Just stand back, and watch basic science do it's magic."
Barney shot the narrow end of the 4 compressed tanks. They instantly over-pressurized and blasted through the door. Barney charged out, guns blazing, dropping the 3 soldiers guarding another storage. The others carefully followed.
Barney stepped into the storage container. A sleeping scientist was inside. He quickly woke up, and saw him.
"Thank god. A fellow security guard. Get me out of here."
"Are you Dr. Rosenberg?"
"No, but you'll still help me, won't you?"
"I guess."
Suddenly, the door to the next train yard opened, and 5 soldiers ran out, all carrying M4s.
"Crap! Stay put!"
Calhoun ran out and closed the door. Before he could pull out his weapon, a centrifugal grenade exploded, fully renting his armor, and breaking many bones.
He painfully, crawled on the ground, unable to move his legs. He quickly unboxed a machinegun. The soldiers didn't have time to notice before he screamed and mowed them down with miles of bullets. Afterward, he laughed maniacally. Pain-induced dementia was setting in. He pulled himself off the ramp, and onto the warm ground.
"Ha! How do you like that? I'll take you all on with both legs tied behind my backs."
Calhoun deliriously crawled some more, turned over, and passed out from blood loss.
Meanwhile…
Dr. Cross continued down the hallway, blasting two vortigaunts as she ran. She saw the alien drag Dr. Green into the maintenance areas. Dr. Cross quickly charged at the alien and blasted the back of the creature's head. The armor plating deflected the pellets, shredding Dr. Cross's left arm.
Sensing weakness, the armored alien proceeded to deliver a kidney punch to Dr. Cross, sending her flying back into the hallway. The alien's grabbing arm picked up Cross by the neck, threatening to suffocate the poor scientist. Attempts to reach for a gun only resulted in clubbing blows to Dr. Cross. In a desperate attempt, Dr. Cross threw her loaded revolver over to Dr. Green, who was still unconscious.
Tears rolled down Cross's cheeks as she realized her last-ditch plan had failed. She simply looked into the alien's eyes, which burned with intense blood lust She felt the life within her fading….
Dr. Green suddenly stirred to see the creature choking the life out of Dr. Cross. She realized Cross's plan and acted accordingly. She screamed out to the creature:
"Hey, over here!"
The alien turned around, still choke-holding Dr. Cross. Dr. Green pulled the trigger. The .357 caliber slug connected with the creature's head, forcing the alien to drop Dr. Cross. It angrily rebounded on Dr. Green. The alien picked up Dr. Green and force-fed her several hornets, puncturing organs and blood vessels.
Dr. Green's eyes bulged, her pupils dilated, then shrank, then her body went limp. Before she even knew what hit her, the alien was starting to claw through her jugular. Cutting through one layer of skin at a time.
Dr. Cross finally struggled to her feet, and put the shotgun up to the creature's exposed chest cavity, and unloaded all of the shells in her gun into the alien. It dropped Dr. Green, sub-consciously fired off the rest of it's hornets, and slumped over, dead.
Dr. Cross quickly pulled Dr. Green to her feet, and handed her a medkit.
"Dr. Green? Are you okay?"
"Ow. I'll be fine. So, what do we call that thing?"
"I'm thinking just Alien Grunt."
"I'd complain further, but I feel like I just got hit by a hammer."
"Let's go."
Dr. Cross and Dr. Green headed into the maintenance area. They both quickly reset the secondary locks, dealing with minimal resistance along the way.
[Excellent. The secondary locks have been reset. Opening Primary Bulkhead now.]
[Good. Now go to the Primary lock and reset it.]
Dr. Cross and Dr. Green walked out and up the stairs.
Elsewhere:
The soldier and captive scientists run over to Barney, who was still breathing.
"Appears to have lost consciousness. Broken legs, Dementia, blunt trauma."
"I say we just put him out of his misery."
"What? No! We need him! Do you know Dr. Rosenberg?"
"No. Then again, I haven't been here long enough to "settle in"."
"He works on teleportation technology. He could be the key to us getting out of here. Find some morphine. I'll stabilize him."
The soldier considered complaining, then decided against it, finding the morphine in a small medkit next to some security armor. The soldier gave the morphine to the scientist, who quickly finished treating Calhoun.
"Alright. He should be fine in a couple of minutes."
"Yeah, not anymore."
The soldier took Barney's revolver and aimed it at the defenseless scientists.
"What are you doing?"
"You must think I'm stupid or something? I know what you're planning. You'll find Rosenberg, then ambush me. Or maybe you'll force me to kill my buddies at gunpoint. Well, the game doesn't run like that."
The soldier killed one of the scientists, the loud noise of the revolver firing off waking up Calhoun. Before he could get up, however, the other scientist had a hole in his head.
Barney angrily charged the trooper from behind and shoved him to the ground. The soldier rolled over and had the gun knocked from his hand. Barney whipped out the shotgun and put it up to the soldier's mouth.
"Hey! Fuck you!"
Barney jammed the shotgun barrel down the soldier's throat and pulled the trigger, smearing brain chunks everywhere. He angrily took his equipment back, along with the borrowed med kits, then walked down into the next hallway.
He opened the door blocking another storage container. Another scientist was inside.
"Hello? I'm in here? Can anyone hear me?"
"Hold on. I'll get you out of here."
The container was hitched onto a loading tram. Barney got in the tram and moved it back across the tram line. Barney cracked open the lock and walked up to the scientist. Suddenly, 3 soldiers closed the door on him.
[Ha. We got that bastard. What's the status on Freeman?]
"Please, for the love of everything merciful, please tell me you're Dr. Rosenberg"
The scientist looked to up see Calhoun, and took a deep breath.
"(Sigh) Yes, I'm Dr. Rosenberg Though I'm not happy to admit it, considering how I'm partially responsible for all of this."
Dr. Rosenberg stood up, somewhat puzzled.
"How did you know my name?"
"A dying friend of yours told me to look for you."
"Oh, I see. Poor Harold, never saw it coming."
"He said you had some sort of plan for escape. Mind explaining?"
"Yes, we had planned to use the prototype labs nearby to make our own escape by piecing together a teleport that could be used to warp outside of Black Mesa, before we ran into them. Of course, that doesn't do us any good while we're trapped in here, does it?"
"Hmmm. Got any ideas?"
"The ceiling vent looks loose. Maybe, you could get out through the vent, maybe even catch the soldiers off guard. Try this."
Dr. Rosenberg lifted Barney through the vent. He leaped over the wall of the container, and immediately silenced two soldiers guarding the entrance. The third soldier saw it, but took a revolver slug in the neck before he could raise his M4. Calhoun opened the door.
"Come on! Let's go!"
"Alright. We'll need to go back to where you found Harold."
Calhoun and Dr. Rosenberg ran into the manifest control office hallway.
"Hold on, Calhoun. I need to catch my breath."
"Fine, old man. So, what were you doing before this?"
"Me, Dr. Cross and Dr. Green established the uplink used to call in the military. If we had known, we would have looked for different ways to stem the onslaught."
"Alright."
He pulled out his radio.
"Dr. Cross, Dr. Green, I found Rosenberg"
[Good. I hope you're staying in good health.]
"Certainly, thanks to Calhoun. Thank goodness you're still in one piece, also."
[Thank the suits.]
"We'll stay in touch. Okay, let's go, Calhoun. We're almost there."
Rosenberg and Calhoun walked up to a patch of boarded up wallpaper.
"Okay, the access elevator is up here. We'll need to break through the newer construction."
Barney said nothing, but pried open the blockage with the crowbar, and they headed into the elevator.
"We could have chosen the Lambda complex at the other end of the base, but the staff there are intent on fighting off the creatures, placing faith in a Dr. Freeman. Let them fight a war they can't win. I just want to get out of here."
"Hey, don't count him out. I know the guy. Rule #1: Don't underestimate him."
Rosenberg and Calhoun stepped out into the teleport labs entrance.
Meanwhile….
Dr. Cross and Dr. Green entered the observation area for the Primary Conduit lock.
"There is a security system allowing only one person in there at a time."
"So, rock, paper, scissors?"
"No. You do it, Dr. Cross. I've had enough excitement for quite a while."
After both of them grabbed some revolver ammo from a supply closet, Dr. Cross entered the conduit maintenance area. A catwalk extended to a awkwardly-shaped wheel. A ruptured pipe lay overhead.
[Drs, this is Keller. Be careful. The containment pipes have a hole in them right over your head. Most likely, you'll be attacked as you try to reset the dampening locks. Good luck.]
Dr. Cross began turning the wheel. Green resonance flooded the room from the burst pipe. Flying aliens teleported in. They had shriveled bodies, oversized heads, and sharp claws. They had very tiny mouths, which emitted high-pitched shrieks. The instantly descended on Dr. Cross, pelting her with fireballs. She dodged them, and began shooting them with the revolver, burning through all of her ammo.
[A little help would be appreciated, Dr. Green!]
"Give me a minute!"
After a second, she broke out the observation room window and attracted the fliers.
"Okay, do it! Now!"
Dr. Cross reset the Primary lock.
[Okay Keller, the locks are reset.]
[Excellent. Hold on, there's an energy surge.]
Dr. Green let Cross back into the observation room, and they continued to mow down the flying aliens.
"What do we call these?"
"Controllers. Saw it in a movie once."
"Alright."
[Damn it! The system's overloading. Commencing emergency system shutdown!]
A minute later, the resonance lessened, and the lights temporarily went out.
[Damn it! That's the second time in a row the dampening fields failed us!]
"It's clearly obvious that the fields aren't powerful enough."
[Head on back to the tram station and join me. I have another plan.]
"Alright. I hope this works. Frankly, I'm beginning to think that between the soldiers and the aliens, it's the perfect storm."
"Nonsense. These creatures have to have a vulnerability somewhere. If we exploit it, we can force them back."
"Alright. Let's go."
They both left and headed to the tram station.
Meanwhile…
Barney and Dr. Rosenberg walked down the entrance. Barney broke into a small security locker connected to a storage room. He grabbed 3 sets of spare security armor and many 9mm clips. He went into the storage locker and grabbed satchel charges, laser-triggered claymores, grenades, shotgun shells, and revolver ammo. When he finished, he shyly strolled back to a large bulkhead.
"Okay. With any luck, my fingerprint I.D is still valid and on file."
Dr. Rosenberg put his hand on a small scanner. It beeped and the door slid open. They both walked into the teleport labs. 2 scientists were working on electrical wires. One of them looked up at them.
"Dr. Rosenberg, thank *god* you made it. We've prepared most of the larger equipment, but you'll oversee the rest of the equipment."
"Excellent work, Walter. Simmons, get up to the control room. Calhoun, come with me."
Simmons, Rosenberg, and Calhoun walked into the chamber. A large yellow device hung from the ceiling, with a flat receptacle underneath it. Simmons climbed the ladder and walked over to the control room. Rosenberg walked over to a ground level control computer.
"Excellent. The equipment is in far better shape than I expected."
"Good. Let's get out of here."
"It's not that simple, Calhoun. You see, teleporting isn't a matter of transporting matter from point A to point B. It's a delicate and complex equation. There was a borderworld somehow involved into all of this. In order for any of us to get out of here, we'll need your help."
He walked over, and punched in some more buttons.
"Borderworld?"
"Yes. The folks in Lambda call it Xen. We believe that a device utilizing crystals found on the borderworld could be used as a focus emitter, and relay the teleport signal to escape from Black Mesa."
"Alright, so an emitter was placed. What's the problem, then?"
"The research team placed it, but we lost contact before it could be activated. I hate to do this to you, but…..Smithers, turn on the main power!"
Smithers pulled a red lever, and the device activated. 4 lights around the receptacle activated, the device opened up, and a yellow beam of energy came from it.
"You'll have to go into Xen, find the relay, and power it up. We'll try to get you as close as we can, but the likelihood of those creatures trying to stop you is very high."
"A walk in the park, compared to the soldiers."
The power meter to the left was half-full.
"Hey, Gordon. Gordon, you there?"
[Yeah. What's up in your little corner?]
"One small step for man, one giant teleport for Barney-kind."
[What?]
"Dr. Calhoun is about to give the aliens a little house-call."
[Hope the medicine has a lot of Buckshot in it.]
"You know it. I'm going in to activate a relay that could be used to get out of here. What about you, Cross and Green?"
[Peachy. The dampening fields aren't powerful enough, so we're trying something else, via Dr. Keller.]
"Alright. Dr. Keller, any advice?"
[Well, I suggest you keep your head down, your gun loaded, and your objective in sight at all times. Good luck.]
The power meter read a full charge.
"Simmons! Release the dampening locks and open the field."
Simmons pushed a red button. The area in the center became a teleport.
"Go now, Calhoun!"
Barney took a deep breath of air, then charged into the portal. His senses dissolved in a green light.
He landed in a small staging area. There were some young tentacles, and a series of vents. A dead research team member was inside a small crawlspace. Barney pulled him out. He had an empty ammo container. There was no ammo, but a note scrawled in blood that read,
"Before you live, you must walk. Before you walk, you sneak. Before you sneak, you crawl. Crawling is the key. Key is crawling….."
At that point, it turned into a red streak across the rest of the note.
Calhoun sighed, grunted, then crawled into the vent, his backpack barely fitting into the crawlspace. The extra weight didn't help.
"Man. Now I know how a TV dinner feels. Just come on down, have a few laughs."
He slowly struggled through the alien ventilation systems. He then blasted a Houndeye staring down the end of the vent. He struggled out of one vent and into another.
Suddenly, he heard a noise. The vent closed behind him. The ground above him cracked, and a red liquid trickled on his helmet. It was watery blood.
"What sick place has blood for water?"
Barney had an idea. He dug at the crack. The entire reservoir emptied into the vent, washing Barney out of the vent. Barney got up, and spit out the blood.
"Ugh. Not one of my better ideas. Still, could've been worse."
He happened to notice his impeccable luck. He was right in front of the relay! The other team members died from the alien attacks, and were piled up on top of each other. Barney shielded his eyes from the horror, and walked over to the power generator, and turned it on.
Again, apologies for the script changes. Hope you keep on enjoying the series.