INT – BLACK MESA – ACCESS CORRIDOR – CONTROL ROOM
The control room at this end is smaller than the other one, barely an architectural footnote. Against one wall is a security console, smeared red with blood, with a red arc of what looks like arterial spray marring the wall above it. Something very bad happened here, but the perpetrator seems to have wandered off. We can see a gun turret in the ceiling of the access corridor she just bypassed; a red light blinks at its base, indicating it is active.
There is a watchful silence for a few seconds, before the vent cover in the ceiling is kicked open from within. Dr. Green looks out, checking for any danger before reversing herself and slipping out of the duct feet-first to land on the floor near the console.
DR. GREEN
"I'm through."
DR. CROSS, radio
"Okay. Do you see the security console?"
DR. GREEN
"Yeah… I think I found where a guard got jumped." [grimaces] "He's gone, though."
DR. CROSS, radio
"Okay. On the console you should see a red button marked 'Security Override'."
Dr. Green scans the console until she finds the button in question. It is big and red, sitting under a mollyguard.
DR. GREEN
"I see it."
DR. CROSS
"Push it."
Dr. Cross flips up the mollyguard and pushes the button. Text starts printing on the screen
DR. GREEN
"It's asking for a passcode."
DR. CROSS
"Five-six-nine-four-three-two-alpha-tango."
Dr. Green types in the passcode.
COMPUTER VOICE
"Security… override… engaged."
The red "active" light on the visible gun turret goes out.
DR. GREEN
"Okay, it's safe!"
INT – BLACK MESA – ACCESS CORRIDOR – ENTRY
DR. CROSS
"Okay." [to Dr. Rosenberg] "Let's go."
Cross and Rosenberg head down the neutered access corridor. Rosenberg glances uneasily at the turrets as one would watch a snake that one is unable to identify as non-venomous.
INT – BLACK MESA – ACCESS CORRIDOR – CONTROL ROOM
Rosenberg and Cross enter the control room, and Rosenberg keys open the security door. Through the doorway we can see a service trolley, used to transport goods to and from the surface.
They head for the trolley, eager to get out of the thick of things. A few headcrab zombies stagger forward from the shadows, roaring, but Cross and Green bundle Rosenberg onto the trolley. Cross punches the power button and pushes the throttle forward. The trolley begins rolling into a dark tunnel. Cross and Green switch on their helmet-mounted flashlights.
DR. CROSS
"Keep your head down, sir… anything could be lurking in these tunnels."
Rosenberg glances around nervously as, distantly, inhuman voices roar and screech.
DR. ROSENBERG
"My life is in your hands, ladies…"
He ducks down as the trolley plunges into the darkness. There is a squeal and a crunch as they run over an unwary headcrab.
INT – BLACK MESA – OFFICE COMPLEX
The office complex of Black Mesa is a sterile while corporate nightmare, lit dimly by sputtering fluorescent lighting overhead. The floor space of this particular room has been divided into cubicles; the nearest cubicle wall has a few clipped comics from the newspaper pinned to it (possibly "Dilbert"), and there is a dead body lying on the floor in the foreground. Somewhere we hear the beep-beep-beep-beep of a computer with a stuck keyboard.
Gordon enters, leading with the beam from his flashlight; once he sees that it won't be needed here, he switches it off. He glances around, notes the dead body, and proceeds cautiously, his footsteps sounding hollow on the tiles of the raised floor. Hearing a scuffing noise, Gordon investigates the cubicles more closely.
Hiding beneath a workstation in one of the cubicles, we see a scientist folded in next to the computer tower, one hand clamped over a burn mark in the shoulder of his coat, and the other hand clutching a pair of yellow-smeared scissors for self-defense. There is a dead headcrab nearby in a puddle of yellow blood, with several frantic stab wounds in its thorax. He hears heavy footsteps (Gordon's) coming closer and shrinks back with a white-knuckled grip on the scissors, striking out with a yip of fear as the footsteps close in.
The scissors skip off the armored greaves of the Hazard suit. Gordon's reflexes prove to be faster than those of the terrified scientist, and he grabs the scissors away. He crouches to the scientist's level as the other man cowers away.
GORDON FREEMAN
"Hey. Hey. Chill, all right? It's Dr. Freeman, from downstairs."
He raises the visor so the man can see him better.
SCIENTIST #7
"… Dr. Freeman?" [recognizes him] "Oh yes! Dr. Kleiner's boy!"
GORDON FREEMAN
[unimpressed at being called anyone's "boy"] "Yeah. Listen, I'm headed for the surface to get help down here. There are a couple of people hurt in Anomalous Materials, and probably a lot of people trapped, too. I need you to tell me as much as you know about what's up here so I don't blunder into something bad."
SCIENTIST #7
"There's a handful of people down the hall in some of the offices – I've heard them yelling. Charles and I tried to go help, but there was some sort of big green monster in the hall. It shot some sort of electricity at us." [nods at his injured shoulder] "We had to run back in here – but then some sort of giant spider jumped on Charles' face. I haven't seen him since."
GORDON FREEMAN
"Okay. Where's the nearest supply closet?"
SCIENTIST #7
[a bit puzzled] "At the end of the hall."
GORDON FREEMAN
"Damn."
Gordon thinks, considers his crowbar, but realizes he needs a more effective distance weapon.
GORDON FREEMAN, cont'd.
"I need you to help me find a few things."
SCIENTIST #7
"Is it safe to come out from here?"
Gordon glances around, sees no immediate danger. There is a distant roar and a scream.
GORDON FREEMAN
"Uh, yeah. We're fine for now. Come on. What's your name?"
SCIENTIST #7
"Um… Steve. Steve Barnaby."
Gordon tugs at the scientist's sleeve, and the scientist reluctantly unfolds and emerges as Gordon set him to work.
INT – BLACK MESA – TROLLEY TERMINAL
The service trolley emerges from the tunnel, still occupied by the watchful Cross and Green, and their charge Rosenberg. It appears that nothing attacked them in the tunnel (though we see the squished headcrab stuck in one of the wheel wells), and the trolley terminal is also empty. Opposite the tunnel entrance we see a heavy mesh gate, beyond which a short tunnel opens onto the surface. All we can see through the access tunnel is white, from the hot sun reflecting off the desert sand.
Rosenberg peeks up over the control panel as Cross eases back on the throttle. The trolley slows, coasting to a stop. It softly hits the bumper at the end of the track.
DR. ROSENBERG
"Is it clear?"
DR. CROSS
"Looks like it. Stay close, though."
They dismount from the trolley and head for the cargo door. Their footsteps echo hollowly; otherwise there are no signs of life.
When they reach the cargo door, Dr. Rosenberg pulls it open; it rattles heavily across its rollers.
DR. ROSENBERG
"Now that we've reached the surface we can try to call for help outside of Black Mesa. The satellite works independently from the phones, and it has its own power supply."
DR. GREEN
"Perfect for an emergency."
DR. ROSENBERG
"Indeed. Once we contact Santego, I'm sure they'll send every available resource to help us out."
The three scientists continue outside into the desert heat, Rosenberg in the lead.
EXT – BLACK MESA – SURFACE
The desert is white hot in the late morning sun, the sunlight reflecting in oppressive waves off the sand. Distantly, we see heat-haze near the horizon. A paved road rendered pale with dust blown in from the desert leads from the cargo bay away into the distance. There are no signs of civilization anywhere near Black Mesa.
They approach a low, sprawling cement building, its roof bearing a satellite dish. This is the satellite communications station.
They reach the building and try the doorknob; it is locked. Dr. Rosenberg tries to break down the door with his shoulder, with little success. He steps back, rubbing his shoulder, as Dr. Cross steps up and applies her crowbar and forces open the door. She peers in.
DR. CROSS
"It's clear."
They head through the door into…
INT – BLACK MESA – SATCOM STATION
This room is the main communications room. The walls are lined with monitors, each one featuring a graphical representation of a slowly rotating Earth. On one of the consoles is a microphone. We see the satellite radio is indeed operational, but there is an eerie lack of people attending to it. To the right a ramp leads down into the innards of the building.
Dr. Rosenberg takes a seat in a swivel chair and starts typing at a terminal. The display on the monitors zooms in on earth as he types in the coordinates, and small blinking red arrows show up to correspond with the "Origin" and "Destination" coordinates; the former indicates a spot in New Mexico, while the latter indicates a spot fairly nearby (in geographical terms) in Arizona.
Rosenberg hits "Enter", and the word "ALIGNING…" appear on the monitor.
We hear movement down in the darkness at the far end of the ramp, followed by a blat from the monitor. As we watch, the message on the monitor is replaced by "ALIGNMENT ERROR!"
DR. ROSENBERG
"Crap. Something must be jammed downstairs. I need one of you to see what's wrong."
DR. GREEN
"I'll go."
DR. ROSENBERG
"All right. I'll keep an eye on the screen so we can transmit as soon as possible. Dr. Cross, keep an eye out in case something nasty comes up the ramp."
Dr. Cross nods and takes her post at the top of the ramp, while Dr. Green turns on her helmet flashlight and ventures down the ramp.
INT – BLACK MESA – OFFICE COMPLEX
Gordon is putting the finishing touches on a mechanism that he has crafted out of binder clips and a couple of thick rubber bands. (Note: He's using a design that can be found on the site, specifically the Super Maul, if anyone cares to look it up.)
DR. BARNABY (Scientist #7)
"What's that?"
GORDON FREEMAN
"Well… think of it like a hand crossbow made out of paper clips. I built one of these in college to take care of a mouse that got into my dorm room."
DR. BARNABY
"Does it work?"
GORDON FREEMAN
"It got rid of the mouse. Hey, can I borrow a pen?"
DR. BARNABY
"… Should I expect to get it back?"
Gordon considers the question briefly.
GORDON FREEMAN
"Probably not. I'll try, though."
Barnaby fishes in his breast pocket and offers a cheap pen.
DR. BARNABY
"Here you go."
Gordon removes the cap with his teeth and breech-loads the pen into the binder-clip crossbow. He spits the cap onto a nearby desk.
GORDON FREEMAN
"How many pens do you have?"
DR. BARNABY
"How many do you need?"
GORDON FREEMAN
"Probably more than one."
Barnaby looks at the remaining collection of pens in his pocket. Most of them look expensive. He makes a face.
DR. BARNABY
"I'll see what I can dig up."
GORDON FREEMAN
"Don't worry about it. If I'm very, very lucky, I'll only need one."
He pauses to consider how lucky his day has been so far, and grimaces.
GORDON FREEMAN, cont'd.
"Just stay here until I give the all clear."
He turns to the door leading into the hallway. We hear something big and angry in there.
DR. BARNABY
"Wait – you mean you're going in there?"
GORDON FREEMAN
[obviously] "Yeah. Someone has to."
DR. BARNABY
"Armed with a Bic pen and something you cobbled together from paper clips and rubber bands?"
GORDON FREEMAN
"And this."
He indicates the crowbar in his belt.
DR. BARNABY
"You're a braver man than I."
GORDON FREEMAN
"See if you can hunt up first aid supplies – medkits, anything we can use as bandages, that sort of thing. There could be people hurt in there, and I want to get them taken care of as soon as possible. It's going to get kind of loud in that hall for a bit. I'll call you when it's clear."
DR. BARNABY
"And if you don't call?"
GORDON FREEMAN
"Then you have my permission to have 'Damn Idiot' engraved on my tombstone."
He heads to the door, shutting the visor on his helmet. Barnaby scuttles away to find supplies.
INT – BLACK MESA – SATCOM STATION – BASEMENT
Dr. Green makes her way quickly through the darkened basement, gun at the ready. She hears movement behind her and to the right, and she pauses, glancing in that direction, but sees nothing.
She reaches a control panel set at roughly waist-height in a wall, with a green button and control wheel collectively labeled "SATELLITE DISH – MANUAL OVERRIDE". Above these is an access panel at roughly head-height, with a small amount of yellowish fluid dribbling from under the bottom edge of the panel. She holsters her gun.
DR. GREEN
"I found the manual override. There's some yellow stuff dripping from behind the access panel – I hope it's not hydraulic fluid."
DR. CROSS (radio)
"Hydraulic fluid for this system would be red. I doubt it's a leak."
DR. GREEN
"So it would look even more like it's bleeding. Great."
DR. CROSS (radio)
"Don't be morbid, dear."
DR. GREEN
"Alright. Engaging the override now."
She hits the button, which lights up, and we hear machinery shifting gears to allow manual control. As she begins turning the control wheel, we hear squishy, chitinous noises behind the access panel, accompanied by even more yellow fluid. Dr. Green makes a face.
DR. GREEN
"Ugh…"
DR. CROSS (radio)
"What is it?"
DR. GREEN
"Something's getting crunched up in there. Looks like one of the borderworld life-forms might have gotten in the gears."
She opens the access panel to see the chopped-up remains of a headcrab gumming up the gears.
DR. GREEN, cont'd.
[sotto] "…Gross." [aloud] "Yup. One of the spiders got caught. I'm clearing it out now."
She reaches in and starts removing headcrab chunks from the machinery. Something moves silently in the shadows behind her; it looks like a Vortigaunt. She glances around, sensing danger, but sees nothing. She finishes removing the chunkier bits of exoskeleton from the machinery and closes the access panel.
DR. GREEN
"Okay, the gears are clear. I'm rotating the dish now – say when."
She starts turning the control wheel again. We hear the gears moving inside the machinery; no further alien goo issues from the access panel.
INT – BLACK MESA – OFFICE COMPLEX
Gordon opens the door on its pneumatic hinge and steps into the hallway with his improvised weaponry. Lining both sides of the hall are closed office doors, and at the far end of the hall we see a Vortigaunt, and beyond it is an emergency exit door straight ahead; to the right of the emergency exit is another door with a sign reading "SUPPLIES".
The Vortigaunt turns as Gordon steps into the hallway. It snarls. Green lightning leaps from its fingers, and arcs towards Gordon, who flings himself into a corner to one side to avoid it. The bolt skips off his shoulder…
HAZARD SUIT (FREEMAN)
"Electrical damage detected."
… and the suit absorbs the impact with a ripple of energy. Gordon pushes himself out of the corner and steps back to the middle of the hallway, taking aim with his binder-clip crossbow as the Vortigaunt snarls and charges.
Gordon fires the pen at his foe, and the projectile embeds itself in one of the peripheral eyes. The Vort roars, but keeps charging…
GORDON FREEMAN
"Shit. Shit shit shit—"
…and Gordon barely has time to brace for impact before the Vort hits, driving Gordon back against the wall. It grapples with him, clawing and biting. One of its claws swipes across his visor, leaving thin scratches. Gordon looks like he is very glad that it was the visor and not his face.
Gordon strikes back immediately, punching the thing in the teeth when it tries to bite, before tearing the pen from its bleeding eye socket. He jabs the pen into its central eye, which seems to have a more rewarding effect, driving it temporarily back. It roars, clawing at the pen, finally managing to pull it out.
This distraction gives Gordon the opportunity to draw his crowbar from his belt. He swings at the Vort's head, but it blocks the crowbar with its forearm. Gordon grunts tries desperately to shove the thing off him.
GORDON FREEMAN
"I could use a little help here, Mark IV!"
HAZARD SUIT (FREEMAN)
"Initializing heavy lifting module."
We see power surge into the arms and legs of Gordon's hazard suit.
GORDON FREEMAN
"Heavy lifting module? What's that going to—?"
He shoves the Vort again, successfully this time, accompanied by a whirr as the suit augments his strength. The Vort is knocked back several steps. There is a startled pause. Then Gordon glances at his hands, looks up at the Vort, and smirks.
GORDON FREEMAN
"Cool."
HAZARD SUIT (FREEMAN)
"I aim to please, sir."
Gordon rushes at the Vort, knocking it briefly off its feet. It regains its footing, still locked together in a sumo grapple, but its feet skitter and skid backwards as Gordon regains his forward momentum. Its claws skip off the armor plates of his Hazard suit as it tries to find a weak spot, but it loses its grip at the shock of being rammed against the emergency exit door. The door is driven open into a set of fire stairs.
The Vort releases Gordon and braces in the doorway, grabbing onto the doorframe and hanging on grimly. Green electricity starts to crackle at the fingertips of its chest-arm.
GORDON FREEMAN
"Oh no you don't."
He jabs two fingers into its bleeding central eye socket. It roars with pain and releases the doorframe, staggering backwards and tumbling down the stairs. It comes to rest on the landing and is still. Gordon stands at the top of the stairs for a few seconds, still breathing hard, and then heaves a sigh of relief, sagging against the doorway.
GORDON FREEMAN
"When I get out of here, I'm getting Dr. Cross a book on trans-dimensional wormholes and a new soldering iron."
HAZARD SUIT (FREEMAN)
"So noted."
He straightens up with a groan and heads back up the hallway.
INT – BLACK MESA – SATCOM STATION – BASEMENT
Dr. Green is still at the manual override, finishing the final adjustments.
DR. CROSS, radio
"A bit more… there we go. Now hurry up and get back up here."
DR. GREEN
"Will do."
She deactivates the manual override and turns to go back the way she came.
In the shadows, she sees a shadow moving across the basement. It looks like a Vortigaunt. Presently, it turns, its six eyes gleaming in the beam from her flashlight. Green instinctively ducks below the safety rail and switches off her light. The only light that remains comes from dim, widely-spaced light bulbs. It is difficult to see with any clarity. Green listens hard, trying to regulate her breathing.
She hears a clatter to her left and slightly behind her. She glances in that direction, quietly drawing her gun and readying it.
She holds her breath, listening hard.
Behind her, she hears the sound of a creature being beamed in from Xen. She turns her head to peek behind her, and she sees a disoriented Vortigaunt standing on the service platform behind her, trying to get its bearings. She glances over at the sound of guttural alien language from the direction of the first Vort; the two have a brief conversation. Green estimates that she might be able to take out one of these – but maybe not two at once. Vort #1 points in the direction of the service platform, still talking. Vort #2 turns; it locks eyes with Green. There is a startled moment.
Green recovers first – she bursts into a dead run. There is a roar behind her, but she does not look back.
She dodges around the railings and storage crates in the basement, vaulting over a low obstacle moments before an arc of green lightning slams into it. Seconds later, one of the Vorts leaps over it after her.
She reaches a steel door and barrels through it into a stairwell leading up. She stops and slams the door behind her (showing the words "BASEMENT ACCESS" stenciled in white on the stairway side of the door), bracing her feet on the bottom of the concrete stairs as two hundred pounds of alien slam into it from the other side. The door shudders and is jarred briefly open a few inches under the impact.
Green turns, aiming her gun at the basement door, daring the thing to try again at this natural bottleneck. She is equal parts resolved to kill the thing and hoping it doesn't come through with its buddy.
DR. GREEN
"Come on… come on, you ugly bastard…"
For a few seconds all we hear is Green's breathing. There is no activity from the other side of the door. Either the Vort knocked itself out on the door, or else it has abandoned the chase.
Slowly, cautiously, Green backs towards the stairs and starts backing up them to the main level.
DR. CROSS, radio
"Everything okay down there?"
DR. GREEN
[still rattled] "I'm okay… I'm okay… we, uh, got monsters in the basement, though."
DR. CROSS, radio
"Jesus. This just keeps getting worse. Are you hurt?"
DR. GREEN
"I'm on the verge of a coronary, but other than that, I'm fine. I, uh, I think they're contained for now."
DR. CROSS, radio
"Okay. Get up here as fast as you can. I'll meet you at the top of the stairs and we'll seal off the basement. Got it?"
DR. GREEN
"Okay, I'm on my way."
She watches the door carefully for any further signs of activity for a few more seconds; seeing none, she finally turns and jogs up the stairs.
INT – BLACK MESA – OFFICES
Gordon glances over at one of the office doors as the blinds swivel cautiously open in the window. In his hand he is carrying a spare helmet radio and a screwdriver.
Half a dozen scientist types peek out the window through the blinds. He gives them a thumbs-up. The door lock clicks, and the office door opens. One of the bolder occupants ventures out. Behind Gordon, another set of blinds opens, and we see the G-Man, looking quite calm.
SCIENTIST #8
"Thank goodness you came! I thought we'd be trapped here indefinitely with that… thing. Are you hurt at all?"
GORDON FREEMAN
"I got zapped on the shoulder a bit, but I'm okay."
SCIENTIST #8
"Let me take a look at that for you."
As he checks the scorch mark on the shoulder of the Hazard suit, the G-Man casually exits the office behind Gordon and heads down the hall towards the stairs. He is followed out of the office by some more scientists, who appear not to notice anything amiss by his presence. The G-Man enters the stairwell and is gone. The Hazard suit has not been breached, and as the scientist examines the burn, it repairs itself, as do the claw marks on Gordon's visor.
GORDON FREEMAN
"See? I told you, it's fine. Dr. Cross knows what she's doing."
SCIENTIST #8
[impressed] "Remarkable. Are you one of the security team?"
GORDON FREEMAN
"No, I'm one of the physicists from Anomalous Materials. I'm Dr. Freeman."
SCIENTIST #8
"Well, you certainly seemed to know what you were doing, fighting that thing."
GORDON FREEMAN
"Actually, I was kind of improvising. Mark IV, status report."
HAZARD SUIT (FREEMAN)
"Power levels at 50%."
GORDON FREEMAN
"I'm going to need a battery pack for this thing pretty soon if it's going to take this much punishment for long."
SCIENTIST #8
"There might be a couple in the office here, let me look."
GORDON FREEMAN
"All right. Meet me in the cube farm. I need to switch out my radio. Is anyone hurt? Okay, you three go see Dr. Barnaby – he should be able to help."
Gordon heads over to the door leading back to the cube farm, pausing to retrieve something from the floor with his free hand. He opens the door and leans through.
GORDON FREEMAN
"Dr. Barnaby? It's Gordon. Everything's all right."
Dr. Barnaby peers over the top of the cubicle wall. Gordon waves and Barnaby venture out, seeing that it's safe.
DR. BARNABY
"You're okay? What happened to the… the alien?"
GORDON FREEMAN
"I threw it down the stairs. Hey, I brought your pen back."
He holds up the pen in question, but it is caked with yellowish gore and intraocular fluid. Dr. Barnaby makes a face.
DR. BARNABY
"… you can keep it."
GORDON FREEMAN
[shrugs] "Okay. Did you find what I needed?"
DR. BARNABY
"A couple of medkits. I stole a set of curtains for bandages."
GORDON FREEMAN
"Good. Who knows first aid?"
Most of the rescuees raise their hands.
GORDON FREEMAN, cont'd.
"Great. Help Dr. Barnaby make bandages. There should be a couple extra pairs of scissors around here. If the restrooms are still working, get any open wounds cleaned up with soap and water."
He selects one of the few well-lit desks and sits down with the helmet radio and screwdriver. He takes off his helmet and begins working, unscrewing the old one from its mounting.
SCIENTIST #8
"Dr. Freeman?"
Gordon waves above the cubicle wall.
GORDON FREEMAN
"Over here."
Scientist #8 heads over with two battery packs.
SCIENTIST #8
"I found some battery packs. They should work with your suit just fine."
Gordon does not look up from his work; he is in his zone.
GORDON FREEMAN
"Great. Set them on the desk, here."
He points with the screwdriver. He returns his full attention to the helmet radio, detaching it cleanly. The scientist sets a couple of battery packs on the end of the desk nearby.
GORDON FREEMAN, cont'd.
"With any luck I'll be able to get in touch with some more people in the A-M lab."
SCIENTIST #8
"Is there anything else you need?"
Gordon is about to install the new radio. He pauses, considering this question.
GORDON FREEMAN
"I could go for a Red Bull."
Scientist #8 looks puzzled by the request - here they are, in the middle of an alien invasion, and the man wants an energy drink?!
INT – BLACK MESA – SATCOM STATION
Dr. Rosenberg glances up from the keyboard as Cross and Green return.
DR. ROSENBERG
"Is everything all okay?"
DR. GREEN
"We had to seal off the basement. Hostile life-forms."
DR. ROSENBERG
"Well, fortunately we won't have to make any further adjustments. I was able to send off a distress signal to Santego. With any luck the military should be here by lunchtime."
DR. CROSS
"That's great to hear. I can't help wondering how much worse this is going to get."
DR. ROSENBERG, cont'd.
"Now, don't talk like that. I'll just let Dr. Keller know help is on its way."
He goes to the microphone on the desk and presses the "talk" button.
DR. ROSENBERG, cont'd.
"Richard? It's Stanley. The military are on its way."
DR. KELLER, desk radio
"That's good to hear. Don't get your hopes up, though – the dampening fields are approaching critical. They need to be reset soon, or this whole thing could blow completely to hell."
DR. ROSENBERG
"All right. I'll send Dr. Cross and Dr. Green to help."
DR. KELLER, desk radio
"Good. Tell them to hurry up."
Dr. Rosenberg steps back from the radio.
DR. ROSENBERG
"Well, you heard the man. I'll stay here and wait for the military, while you go get those fields reset."
The women, bolstered by the apparent change in fortune, snap off military-precision salutes and head out of the satcom station.
EXT – BLACK MESA – SURFACE
As they leave the building, their helmet radios start to crackle and hiss with static. They hear a voice under the static, but it is distant and indistinct. When they head through the gate to the cargo area, there is a final bark of static, then the patient silence of an open line.
GORDON FREEMAN, radio
"Uh, hello?" [clears throat] "Hello? Can anyone hear me?"
Cross and Green pause, recognizing the voice.
DR. CROSS
"… Dr. Freeman?"
GORDON FREEMAN, radio
"Yeah. Who's this?"
[Note: for the rest of the conversation just switch the camera back and forth between the two locations as needed.]
DR. CROSS
"It's Dr. Cross. I have Dr. Green here with me, too."
DR. GREEN
"Good to hear from you, Dr. Freeman. We thought you were dead."
GORDON FREEMAN
"Same here. This Hazard suit has saved my life about three times today. Dr. Cross, you are an engineering genius."
DR. CROSS, radio
"Thank you, Dr. Freeman. Where are you?"
GORDON FREEMAN
"I'm in, uh, Sector A, in the offices. I've got a bunch of survivors trapped down here. Hey guys, I've made contact with people on the surface!"
The scientists cheer raggedly in the background.
GORDON FREEMAN, cont'd.
"So, got any good news for them?"
DR. GREEN
"A distress signal has been sent out to Santego. They should be here around noon."
GORDON FREEMAN, radio
"So… about an hour and a half. Great. I'm on my way to the surface to get help. Any idea where they'll land?"
DR. CROSS
"The north helipad will give them the most direct entry point to the complex. I suggest you head there so you can lead them to the survivors in the lower levels."
GORDON FREEMAN
"All right. Anyone else on your team I should know about?"
DR. CROSS
"Dr. Rosenberg is in the satcom building – he said he'd meet up with the military there. Dr. Keller is still in the control room. We were just headed there to help him reset the dampening fields."
GORDON FREEMAN
"The cascade is still going on, isn't it?"
DR. CROSS
"All signs say yes."
GORDON FREEMAN
[resigned] "Okay. Good luck. And be careful."
DR. CROSS
"You too."
The radio link closes.
INT – BLACK MESA – OFFICES
Gordon gives a sigh of relief. It appears the day is improving.
End of Chapter 4.
Author's note: I had a good time writing this chapter. As you can see, I wanted to show that Gordon was not only a badass, but a smart guy as well, without resorting to cheap MacGyverisms. He's going to need his brains after the military lands, though...