Minutes after our impromptu decision to teleport to Xen to reestablish a vital component for localised teleportation on Earth, Rod guided me and Shephard back to the survey team supply depot to ready ourselves for the leap to the border world.
The armoury itself was tucked away behind a large door that had been closed upon our arrival, and upon Rod opening it up, we were introduced to the Aperture Science Environmental Assessment Suit―or the EAS for short. These suits were worn by survey teams who would go explore and research Xen, and Shephard and I were expected to do the same. There was a small fleet of these identical sturdy armoured suits back here behind clear vacuum-sealed canisters, all of which had the subtle markings of MK4 printed on their collars, and they looked quite impressive.
They were bulky armoured suits that were primarily white in colour, consisting of nearly all of the protective plating while the joins were accented mainly with grey and darker grey colours. They had boxy chest pieces with a control panel of some kind around the upper abdomen region, and a moulded bright blue circular Aperture logo was christening the flat panel directly above it. The leg armour plating was smooth and a glossy white, as well as heavy rubber boots that looked like they could adhere to the roughest terrain. At the head of each suit was a boxy helmet with a chromed angular visor and triangular air filter for the user.
Rod stated that these were designed to navigate hazardous environments with "style". They were shown as glorified radiation suits to dazzle the shareholders Rod said, but their true confidential purpose was to navigate the alien and often hostile landscape of the relatively recently discovered Xen. I guessed that was the reason why these suits looked more militaristic than they did for strictly conventional research purposes. The researchers were expected to defend themselves against the hostile conditions of the border world, and it looked like me and Shephard were destined to follow in their wake now.
Wanting to be as well equipped as we could be when venturing into this border world, Shephard and I picked out a suit from the lineup. Or rather, only Shephard was able to pick out a suit because these suits were designed for human wearers. I was a fox from another universe, and I had certain differences in anatomy, such as a tail and a pronounced muzzle, keeping me from wearing a helmet made for the considerably 'flatter' faces of humans. Rod reassured me that Aperture catered to all body types, and asked me to follow him to something called the evaluation platform.
While Shephard was busy trying to slip one of the suits on while being carefully instructed by the automatic guide speaking from the suit's now-opened pressurised canister, I followed Rod to a grated platform wear a camera could be seen dangling next to it. I did as he asked; I stepped up on the platform and held my arms out, standing as still as I could while the camera did a slow and thorough 360 scan of my body before the camera thanked me and prompted me that I was free to step off and wait for the "auto tailor" to finish modifying a custom suit for me.
Rod left me to ponder that notion seconds after it was briefed to me as he scurried through another square cavity in the wall near the ceiling to see if the machine for modifying my suit was even working. I could have easily mistaken that hole as an air duct if it were not for the little management rail junction that ran straight through it. While I waited idly amongst a new set of sounds occurring just beyond the wall near the scanning platform, where I soon noticed a rail in the floor was protruding from beneath a faint seam in the wall―suggesting that it could open up―I could sense Shephard coming down the aisle to meet me along with a set of heavy-sounding footsteps.
I turned to see him emerging around the corner wearing his EAS, and to my surprise, it was a fetching image for him. He strolled around in it like it hardly weighed anything, giving me hope I would feel the same way with mine. Shephard naturally had a bulky physique, even without all of his military gear on, but the suit seemed to almost make him twice as big and strong. I thought he wore his suit very well.
I smiled at him as he approached me, holding his helmet underneath his right arm. "My word. You certainly appear well-strapped," I noted, looking him up and down. While he wasn't any taller than he was before stripping off his combat boots and fatigues, Shephard definitely appeared larger thanks to his suit's design.
"It's kind of comfy, not gonna lie," Shephard shrugged, pleased with the outcome as he did a few poses to illustrate his point. "Good mobility, nice range of motion, and I feel like I can lift a car over my shoulders. This thing apparently enhances one's strength by a dozen pounds or so according to that little briefing thing back there. Not sure how that's supposed to work; could be hidden hydraulics in here, I don't know."
"Oh, brilliant," I said, admittedly enticed by such a piece of hardware. "I hope mine doesn't impede my agility. I have always relied on it in any fight. I've never been one to have brute force at my disposal."
"Oh, you'll do just fine in it, I'm sure," Shephard reassured. "And hey, if not, you can finally have a chance to be like a man for once and have actual weight to carry."
I gave him a very stern warning glare. "Watch what you say, Adrian," I warned with a low voice. "In my experience, the bigger, thicker ones fall much harder than nimble little rascals like myself."
"Hey, don't come any closer, I've got a flashlight in my belly button," Shephard raised his free hand placatingly before reaching down and turning a tiny nob on the interface panel on his abdomen, revealing a handy flashlight that shone right on me.
Though annoyed by the glare, I managed to laugh. That was kind of out of nowhere and did catch me off guard. "I wouldn't say that," I giggled, covering my eyes, "it's more like on your lower ribs."
"Basically the same place," Shephard teased. I enjoyed his almost brotherly sense of humour when he wasn't constantly on the surveillance for threats.
A moment later, a little green light up on the wall flashed to life, prompting me to look in its direction and making Shephard switch off his flashlight. Just then, Rod flew through the square hole in the wall and back into the room. "Aye! She's finished! Here she comes…"
The wall opened up just seconds after Rod's declaration with a dramatic whoosh of steam coming out of the splitting crevice in the wall. Emerging out from the wall was a trolly carrying out another EAS, only this one looked a little different. It still bared the same colour scheme as all the others lined up in this room, but it was slightly smaller, and protruding out from the tail end was…well…a large sleeve big enough to fit my tail, made out of the same robust material that the joints were made from. This presentation enthralled me quite a bit.
"Thank you for waiting. Enjoy your modified EAS, genetically altered survey member!" an automatic voice announced from a speaker on the trolly. Clearly, this machine presumed I was a mutated survey team member, which was hardly worth getting miffed over at this point. I was just so elated to see what it presented to me.
"Oh wow, it's got a tail," Shephard noted in surprise after leaning over to get a better look at the side.
"It sure does," Rod nodded in delight on par with mine. "That little closet back there where this popped out from? That's where we've built these suits and their preceding models―right here in-house. We could afford to make minor design alterations to certain suits if any needed to be made for certain wearers. So, a win-win for alien anthropomorphic fox women, right kid?"
"Oh, I concur!" I beamed, getting more excited to try this on now that it looked much more suitable to my physique. I examined the new armoured suit more closely, even giving it a few impulsive sniffs, and found the sterile smell somewhat inviting. It was not long before I noticed that my suit's helmet was different. I would have settled for the flattop that all the other suits had, but this one had something else.
"Oh my, are those ears?" I wondered, looking upon two triangular peaks in the helmet's plating near the back of the head.
"Yeah! Ain't it nifty?" Rod asked. "It doesn't provide any enhancements, but the machines figured you would appreciate the space."
"How lovely," I grinned, pulling my helmet off my suit to look at it in my hands. It was then I realised the actual face of the helmet appeared to be altered as well. It was a little more pronounced and stuck out a bit farther towards the front, no doubt to accommodate for my snout―which was admittedly kind of on the shorter end anyway.
"That's kind of adorable," Shephard admitted as he leaned in over my shoulder for a look, making me glance at him.
"You think I'll be able to carry some weight wearing that piece of hardware?" I wondered, giving Shephard a cocky eyebrow.
"We won't know until you put it on, now won't we?" Shephard retorted, subtly disguised as an order.
A little while after slipping my custom-tailored suit on, we were shown to the firearms section of the armoury by Rod.
It was there we equipped ourselves with our choice of weaponry provided by what was in the gun lockers. Shephard was delighted to see military-grade automatic weapons and readily picked out a semi-automatic shotgun, which he said was called a Spas 12, and a combat rifle called the M4 with a grenade launcher attachment―and a couple of nine-millimetre pistols for good measure.
Shephard was glad to return to what he was accustomed to and was happy to give the Combine rifle a break. He was particularly partial to this M4 because of its relatively compact size and for just how pleasantly "punchy" it was to fire, which must have meant something because he even stated he wasn't the greatest rifleman. I wasn't one to stop the marine from equipping his preferred arsenal, and I was doubly pleased to see that he was able to strap as much onto himself as he was able to.
Our suits had various clips and racks along their backs and thighs to holster a tiny arsenal, but the offering of supply packs somewhat negated the back storage feature. There were also plenty of clips around the waists for the storage of ammunition pouches, water canteens, and other essentials. The clip for my staff around my belt fit snuggly on the suit's loop, making it easy to equip on my person.
I also armed myself with a Beretta 92FS pistol and an essential pouch of seven nine-millimetre magazines. As I holstered my pistol into the snug slots along my lower left hip, I suddenly remembered something I nearly forgot about since my attention was pulled in so many directions upon coming here.
"Oh, Shephard, what about Aaron's parting gift?" I asked, looking up at him while he was busy inspecting the inner chamber of his shotgun.
"Huh?" he looked down at me. He was standing up while I was kneeling on one knee by the open gun lockers.
"You know, his favourite gun? He gave it to me before we left and you so graciously volunteered to hold it for me."
"Oh yeah, the six-shooter," Shephard remembered, setting down his shotgun before stepping over to his green backpack. He rummaged around in it for a moment before pulling it out; its scratched but still chromed finish glistened in the light of the overhead lamps. Shephard spun the cylinder in its chamber as he looked at me for confirmation.
"You want to strap this on?"
"I do. If you would be so kind," I nodded. This made Shephard look at me a little quizzically.
"You sure?" he wondered, looking at the girthy-wheeled handgun in his hands. "This is a Colt Python. I think it's a little too big for you to handle."
"What's that supposed to mean?" I frowned sceptically. "Aaron gave it to me for good luck on our trip."
"I think he had unwarranted confidence in you," Shephard said with a mild tease, holding up the silvery handgun. "I mean look, even I can barely close my fingers around it. Colts aren't made for little girls."
Without saying a word, I stood up and walked over silently to him before snatching Aaron's gun from his hand. "I've fought Aparoids on the ground with a Gatling laser. With my own two hands. They are not lightweight weapons," I said, flaring my whiskers assertively. "I can fire a measly handgun."
Shephard appeared unmoved despite leaning back some. "Sure, but that's still a 357, Pop-Tart. It'll fly out of your hand and into your eye if you're not careful."
"Then I'll be careful," I winked assuredly, making him shrug his armoured shoulders placatingly.
"Fine, suit yourself, Ms Bonnie Elizabeth Parker," he relented.
"Who?" I cocked my head a bit, forfeiting my size up a lower notch.
"A famous gangster who robbed a lot of banks with her gangster boyfriend, some guy named Clyde," Shephard explained. "I would compare ourselves to ol' Bonnie and Clyde, but I don't recall them ever wearing bullet-resistant high-impact reactive armour."
"Well, that just makes us better than them," I said with a confident swish of my sleeved tail. "And we have the benefit of not being lowlife criminals."
"But we are," Shephard disputed. "Criminally awesome."
Shephard was a fun boy. Demeaning as he was sweet and encouraging. I had little trouble understanding why a girl like Sam would fall for him.
Less than a minute later, we nearly had everything in order. Shephard had his pack on over his suit, which was stuffed with ammunition and spare weapons, while I took the neutering role of our duo's medic. I filled up my backpack with provided rations and medkits along with other sedatives and supplies.
My suit indeed doubled my strength; I found that I was able to carry quite a lot on my person without feeling weighed down like I would have been otherwise. As comfy and efficient as my suit was, it still made me feel bulkier than I was normally used to. I was very reliant on my agility, which was why I was more comfortable wearing things fur-tight to lessen drag and weight.
Even still, I couldn't complain. I knew I needed to be as protected as I possibly could be for where we were going, and the modifications made to my suit―officially branded as the MK4.5 on my collar―were commodities I had to be grateful for. A little wag from my tail in its cosy protective sleeve conveyed that I was content with what I was provided with.
"All right. I think I'm all squared away here," Shephard soon announced, going over his pack of supplies one last time. "How about you?"
"We have plenty of supplies for us both if we need them," I said, double-checking my cache of medkits and vials in my own pack before promptly zipping it all up nice and tight. With medkits on my mind, I recalled that administering them was a little different while wearing one of these suits. I began to fiddle with the control panel around my abdomen section and located the hose before pulling it out of its element-protective slot, ringing it out long enough to where I was holding it out to my face.
According to the automated briefing I heard when I was putting on my suit, the medkits here had little ports for these hoses to plug into so that the medicine inside them could be directly injected into the suit and administered by its automatic medication administration system, where a small group of tiny needles inside both upper arms would poke out and break the skin very finely, administering the drugs into one's bloodstream without drawing any blood at all. I found such a method could be quite a nauseating prospect to the trypanophobic, but I was more concerned over whether or not the systems could penetrate my fur and pelt, which I had come to discover was quite thicker than human skin. I could always still ingest the drugs if that wouldn't work.
Seeing me fiddle with my plug prompted Shephard to conduct his own brief systems check on his suit. "Well, it might not be a PCV, but the interface is pretty similar," he said. "I'm kinda eager to put on the helmet. The comedian said it would start speaking instructions once it was linked up. I'm looking to know this thing a little more intimately, you know?"
"Me as well," I agreed, looking over to the bench where both my vulpine-friendly helmet and Shephard's helmet were placed side-by-side. It had been creeping up on me gradually, but looking at those final components of our armoured attire this time made me reassess what it was we were really doing. Going to this border world was never part of the plan when coming here, so I was still a little in over my head admittedly.
"You good?" Shephard inquired sincerely, waking me from a pause I didn't realise I was stuck in. I looked over at him and nodded.
"Yes, I'm good," I said. "But I will admit, I'm a little nervous about this. You were there for a brief time, Corporal. What do you make of it? I don't believe I got a true glimpse of it when I unintentionally saw fragments of your past."
Shephard looked at the floor contemplatively, tapping his index finger on the end of his shotgun's pump. "It's a weird ass place, Krystal. Like a living fever dream kind of weird," he informed, looking like he was struggling to articulate his account.
"What was the terrain like?" I asked, trying to help him out.
"Terrain?" Shephard repeated. "There hardly was one where I kept ending up: tiny sparse floating islands above a void. I had to jump to each one to get back to Earth through what I guess were stray portals floating around. There's probably a lot more to it than that, but… I'm honestly going into this blind like you myself. I've got no clue what to expect."
"Hmm," I nodded. "But at least we've got each other's backs, right? Nothing compares to teamwork."
Shephard smiled. "Sure. We can do more damage that way."
That already made me feel a little better.
Moments later, after triple-checking through all of our gear and making sure everything was holstered snugly in their places, Shephard and I picked up our helmets and regarded them for a moment. Along our suits' collars were a series of small picks and clamps that were meant to slot straight into thin hollow grooves that surrounded the outer base of the helmet, and when twisted on, the helmet would lock into place, creating an airtight pressurised seal for the user. A nifty feature I imagined when treading through hazardous environments of numerous kinds.
"All right. Time to be an astronaut," Shephard resigned with anticipation as he lifted his helmet up before beginning to fit it over his head.
I followed right behind his lead and pulled my helmet over my head. I made sure to pull it in snout-first before making sure my ears fit comfortably inside the thoughtful extensions made to the helmet's plated cranium. My hearing became quite condensed as I was now fully encased in my armoured suit. I could feel the outer slots fit into their places, giving me the go-ahead to clamp down on it a bit harder before swivelling it to the right and finally clicking loudly into place.
A sharp hiss immediately went off as I fully became airlocked inside my EAS MK4.5, and right away the clear, honeycombed visor flashed with an array of soft light blue light igniting across the rims of the glass as a soft jingly tune going off near my ears at the same time, making me take an impulsive step back with defensively raised arms as everything began happening.
"Hello, and welcome to the Aperture Science EAS protective system. For use in environmental assessment operations," a chirpy but robotic voice perked up inside my helmet as I looked around in slight disorientation, indirectly finding out that I could turn my helmeted head quite fluidly, showcasing a full range of motion that I didn't fully appreciate given these new distractions as graphic displays began appearing before my eyes.
"High-bearing mercurial armour: active. Barometrical pollutant feelers: active. Vital assessment systems: active. Automated medical administration systems: active. Wary armament variety system: active. Munitions level monitoring: active. Communications interface: online."
While the suit's automated voice system was speaking these readouts, corresponding graphics began displaying themselves across my visor as it read them out. The first graphic was a light blue illustration of my suit before different graphics appeared in different corners of my field of view. A stream of binary code danced across the top half of my visor while a little number readout in my lower left corner projected a numbered vitals and suit power readout, showing as 100 | 0, a circling array of soft red lights spiralled around before fading, and another set of numbers in the lower left corner appeared, currently fixed to 0 | 0. Soon enough, the numbered metres on both my lower and right-side views were all that remained from the flurry of graphics that had now faded away as the automated voice continued speaking.
"Have a very safe and productive day," it said. "Remember to meet your daily testing quota. Testing is the future, and the future starts with you. And don't forget the swivel chair sweepstakes, running from September to November, 200X. All participating associates who score the highest on their preliminary biweekly reports will have a chance to reintegrate a premium quality swi―*REDACTED*."
Despite having been left confused by that abrupt ending to a rather unnecessary stream of information, everything else I witnessed was nothing short of impressive. I had a look at my gloved hands and was visually reminded of the light blue number icons on my left and right side once my forearms passed behind them. I could hear myself breathing quite crisply inside this helmet; it was anything but stuffy; the respirator must have been very high quality because I felt like I had never breathed cleaner air in my life.
"Whoa…rock on," Shephard suddenly said in my ears, his voice laced with a faint static overlay, uncanny to a voice through a comm channel, which took seconds for me to realise that's what it was. I looked over at him to see that his helmet was now sealed on his suit as well and was now looking around spaciously like I was. He no doubt underwent the same automated systems check as I did.
"Shephard?" I said to him, promptly making him look my way.
"Krystal?" he aptly answered back. "Oh, sweet, we've got a live comm feed between us."
"Quite so," I replied. "I guess we're all set to go now, no? Is your helmet secured nice and tight?"
"Yeah, I'm set," Shephard confirmed, tapping his helmeted noggin with his gloved knuckles. "Guess we should meet back up with the metal melon at the desensitising chamber. Recheck your person to see if all your weapons are accounted for," he advised.
I did as he said and checked my plated outer thighs, seeing my pistol and Aaron's gifted revolver where they should have been, as well as all the ammunition pouches corresponding with their respective calibres. And, of course, I triple-checked that my retracted staff was hooked snugly around the side of my waist, right where it should be. It was the only weapon I couldn't afford to leave behind.
"I'm ready," I confirmed with a nod.
Despite not seeing his eyes through that one-way visor, I could feel Shephard's smile as he nodded back. "All right then. We're Oscar Mike."
Shortly after being shown to the nearby charging stations to power up our suits, which changed the vitals metre in our visors to 100 | 50, Shephard and I were then directly led to the centre platform of the teleporter chamber.
While we were getting into position, Doctor Mofuni and Rod were operating the ginormous machine in the control room at the end of the chamber and were communicating to us through the loudspeaker as he initiated the startup sequence. The four giant arms on all four corners of the platform were beginning to groan to life as power began to surge through them. The floor beneath us began to groan as well; the main reactor core powering this immense contraption was beneath the chamber, directly linked to the arms as they began to crane outward and curl their hinged ends inward towards me and Shephard, releasing a droning whirring ambience that made our suits rattle.
"All right, one last review before we start, my brave dear friends," Doctor Mofuni announced on the loudspeaker as he operated the portal initiation controls. "You will spawn in the main research outpost point. Its signal is still receptive. The focal point emitter for the Xen relay is located not too far from the base―a quarter mile or so, give or take. It's a large structure hugging a giant xenium crystal, you'll know it when you see it. There are very simple instructions printed on the main relay console on how to reengage it. When the metre's green, you're clean! Then, you come straight back to the base and ring me from the drop-off point. Both me and Rod will be on standby waiting for your signal, then we'll buzz you right back. Understood?"
Shephard gave Mofuni a silent high thumbs up in understanding, gesturing on my behalf as well.
"Perfect," Mofuni said, sounding pleased as much as he sounded nervous. "All right. The teleporter charge has reached full strength. I will now commence the manifestation process. Hold on tight as I do so, my friends…"
Moments after this announcement, a set of four trembling clicking sounds went off in a circle around me and Shephard, coming directly within the arms of the teleporter generator. A klaxon began to sound off in the chamber along with several spinning red warning lights spaced around the chamber now flashing to life, whipping the walls with bold red rays.
The coil devices tipping the ends of the giant arms began to angle horizontally about twenty feet above our heads, aiming directly at one another. The clicking sounds in the arms became higher pitched as they persisted, almost like they were climbing up the arms themselves before reaching the literal tipping points. The final set of clicks occurred less than a second before all the coils on the arms fired identical beams of bright energy at each other, meeting directly in the middle, creating a ball of energy that kept growing bigger and more intense with each second.
"Jesus…" Shephard uttered anxiously as we looked up in awe at the occurrence happening right over our heads. By the time the expanding ball of energy grew to the size of a Combine APC, the clicks began to go off again, though the sound of them had been muffled considerably by the loud electric hum of the cultivating energy. When the clicking reached its peak once again, another stream of energy fired out from the coils, which began having a profound effect on the matured energy ball.
The sustaining energy started becoming so bright and unstable that we averted our gazes. The grated floor was basking in a ray of intense white light, making our shadows as sharp and as black as the darkest paint, when all of a sudden, an eery, glutenous green began to fill the whole chamber―along with a noticeable dip in the frequency pitch.
"Attention. High volumes of resonance displacement energy detected," my helmet reported. I really didn't want to, but I dared a glance up, only to see that the ball of gathered energy had now adopted an entirely new form. It was now an intense green with an unstable yellow orangish core. Its composition waved around unsteadily like a star casting magnetic bands of plasma into space before snapping back down onto its surface.
I was also quick to notice that a strengthening updraft began picking up inside the chamber, straight towards that culminated anomaly. That thing had now possessed sucking power. We finally knew what it was that was going to take us to the border world, and I was now feeling remorse over my hasty decision to do this, and so did Shephard as far as I could sense from him.
"Oh, it's all coming back to me now…" he moaned with dread, shuffling a bit closer to me. Both as a means to be protective of me and because he was frightened himself. I had no right to blame him, and I appreciated him keeping close.
"Final sequence," Doctor Mofuni announced over the loudspeaker, sounding focused and stoic over the outputting electric noise. "Commencing…now."
The hinged arms of the coils began to stir with resounding metallic clanks before their massive hinges began to compress the arms, pulling the newly matured portal to Xen down towards me and Shephard. The pull became so much more intense the closer it came. My clipped staff began violently jerking upward in the direction of the portal, prompting me to keep a tight hand on it as the maintained portal came closer and closer.
"Godspeed, my friends," Doctor Mofuni called with faith as the portal continued to lower, now twelve feet above our heads. "Hurry back, and be careful…"
"And don't do anything I wouldn't do!" Rod butted in, trying to encourage us in his own way. "The last time I saw a black hole with this big an appetite was my girlfriend on my last date after she stole my wallet to―"
Rod had no time to finish his joke, for me and Shephard were already consumed by the portal and were now being flung across the membranes where the dimensions intersected, holding each other's hands for as long as we were possibly able to.