The general looked ahead of him again. Things hadn't changed.
"Sir... Sir, I believe we should call reinforcements."
The sniper's voice was calm, as usual, but even through the calm a hint of anxiety could be detected. He was the best in detecting this kind of change in voices - soldiers who start worrying are bad soldiers - but there was undoubtedly a justification for that.
They were prepared for security personnel. But they didn't get any.
They were prepared for enemy soldiers. And there were enemy soldiers, although luckily they hadn't attacked - yet.
And, in a pinch, they were able to take care of a few bioweapons... But these were not bioweapons.
"Agreed, sergeant. Keep your head down." The general approached the radio, and took the mike as offered from the major in charge of it. He changed frequency to the emergency one, and began speaking: "This is DF SOL. Requesting force 21 EP on my coordinates ASAP; repeat, this is DF SOL requesting Force Two One EP on my coordinates, over."
"This is DF base, SO Leader. Roger wilco, ETA is two hours. Over and out."
"Come on, people... Two more hours." he shouted, hoping that none of those things could hear him.
The man in the white urban mimetic suit looked up surprised as the black sole of an orange suit crashed into his belly, forcing him to the floor as his body eased Gordon's descent to the floor.
Was the man wounded? Or dead? He hoped neither - but he had no time to lose. Looking around quickly, trying to find any exit, he found there were none: all around him were short crates, concrete walls, the fallen platform, a few sacks of sand forming a bunker, a strange metallic structure...
Then he noticed a sound coming from the structure. Slowly, a large piece of what seemed concrete began lifting up, and the sound began more distinctively that of a freight elevator running. That was it. His goal. So close, yet so far away...
He dashed, madly, and climbed swiftly a few meters of the metal crossections, then, with seemingly inhuman agility, he turned around and grabbed the elevator counterweight at the very last moment. To his left, he could see the half a dozen of soldiers who were chasing him, some looking down perplexed for a moment.
Then they noticed the body, but it was too late: Gordon was almost beyond their sight, hidden by the walls that formed the elevator's chamber.
The elevator continued its descent, as the counterweight climbed in parallel.
Then, when the two were about fifteen meters apart, a white-covered face looked down, and the soldier to whom it belonged began shooting in three-round controlled bursts in his direction.
Gordon moved around so that the counterweight was shielding him, and it looked like a safe position - but whatever had taken over Gordon wasn't of the same idea, because the instant both the counterweight and the elevator were on the same level, the seven pellets of a 12 gauge shotgun shells cracked the soldier's helmet, and probably his headcase, open.
More gunfire erupted from below his position, but the soldiers were way too far to hit anything.
Then, slowly, the darkness began to clear and soon he found himself about a meter from the floor. He climbed up, and glanced down: vertigo apart, a few barely distinguishable white figures were climbing aboard the elevator, but they were too late, since Gordon was out and safe, and to the surface at last...
He was now on the topside warehouse, a few crates stacked here and there and a large closed double doorway was in front of him, with a smaller door for pedestrians inset in the leftmost one. No sign of a phone, a radio or anything. He dashed for the exit; the elevator was climbing and it won't take forever to reach the top floor - and he doesn't stand a chance against so many of them. The faster he finds rescue, the more time he'll have to hide.
But outside, he could just stop cold. How stupid of him, he thought, he should have figured all this out immediately...
The figure stepped in the elevator room after the soldiers on the platform were out of sight.
"Was that man with the Orange HEV the same as before?"
"There's only one way to find out."
The figure climbed down the rope ladder left there by the soldiers, and went just under the metallic structure that housed the counterweight. No time to call down the elevator, as there was a shorter way.
With one powerful yet silent thrust, the blue HEV was shot upwards of about five meters, grabbed a crossection and waited. The elevator was slow, too slow, but six soldiers head-on were too many to tackle.
The thrust was repeated, and the figure grabbed another crossection just a meter below the current position of the elevator.
"Wait! Try hanging under the elevator! It'll be a bit quicker."
A smaller jetpack thrust, and the figure grabbed a protuberance just under the freight elevator, as the radio, set to the enemy frequency, began to intercept something.
*Huh? Did you hear anything?*
*Negative.*
*Must've been my imagination.*
Another voice crackled in. He seemed like the boss.
*This is Alpha Leader. Return to previous assignment. We got the freak.*
*Roger that, Alpha Leader. Over and out.*
There was a bit of laughing over the radio, then the elevator slowly reached its destination. The figure swayed forward, grabbing the crossections with the feet, then, first with one hand then with the other, grabbed it and began moving right, towards the counterweight chute.
Pulling up so that the floor was exactly at eye level, the figure glanced around then climbed out, since the room was empty.
*...Who the hell are you? How the hell did you survive?*
The man was already being questioned, and the questions could be heard over radio. Peeking out of the pedestrian door, the figure's sight immediately turned to near-black as the suit detected that the noon desert sun light was way too bright for eyes used to interior light.
*You know in what trouble you've put yourself, mister? You're lucky we're looking for people of your skill. But you still don't convince me.*
A slight "OW!" could be heard even at that distance. The eyes slowly readjusting, and the black turning more and more transparent, the figure could see dozens of soldiers, plus one which looked like the boss doing the questioning.
The man definitely had an orange HEV.
*Beard's real, or you're using one hell of a glue. Let's try taking him off that thing, people.*
"What sound?" Then the figure realized. It was low, but audible.
*Goddamn, are we gonna need dynamite to get you out of there? Shut down the suit!*
*Sir, I hear something!*
*Negative, soldier, just... Wait a second...*
The noise was becoming louder by the second, and it was one the figure had never heard before.
"It has been so many years since I've last heard that sound..."
*Damned God what the hell is that thing?*
As something passed over their heads, no word could be made out due to the earpiercing noise. Soon, the shadow passed and the figure could see what the soldiers really found scaring even from that position.
This was too much. He had found out that the surface was the soldiers' main encampment; then he was questioned; then they had tried to see if he was a female - why, he didn't have the slightest idea - and now this.
One enormous, too large to be normal, jet flying over their heads. And just below it... Whatever it was, it was large: at least six meters tall and three-four wide, completely black and human shaped. Another of these monsters? He won't have time to find out, because when the soldiers discovered he wasn't a female at all, they'll surely kill him.
And no `evil part' is going to save him when the odds were this uneven.
Then, the enormous load was dropped, and it crashed down a few hundred meters from their position, the sound almost as loud as the roaring of the jet. Then explosions, seemingly coming all around him. Frenzied and out of his mind, as he was when he had escaped from the test lab, he dived for a short looking concrete hut, realizing only after passing through the door that the sign on it read `Sector E ventilation service shaft'.
*What the...?*
The soldiers were frenzying as the figure followed the two grenades with another three.
"We're lucky we found that store room!"
"Yeah, but it's not going to last forever."
Already the soldiers were reorganizing, as the blue HEV dashed madly through the bullet fire, diving forwards as a grenade exploded a meter behind. Standing again quickly, the figure dashed into the concrete hut, chasing the man with the orange suit down the twenty meters hole, grabbing one of the ladder steps after every five meters to avoid falling through the full height - which was dangerous even in an HEV.
Three... six... At least a dozen of grenades tinked down and exploded from the impact, but the figure was already well beyond their range into what seemed to be a maze of ventilation shafts - thankfully large enough for humans to walk inside.
Several shockwaves, making the blue HEV falter and almost fall down, as the entire corridor leading to the surface, already weakened by the explosions, gave way and crumbled.
"At least that's one less problem. But to the bigger one: why are we here?"
"It's obvious we couldn't go on from above. So, we'll go from below. Don't worry."
"It's a bit too late not to, don't you think? Sometimes I wish I could put my hands on your neck just to twist it."
There was no answer from the voice, because the figure was right to be angry. But there were more important things to do now.
The comlink crackled on.
"Ma'am... We... got some problems with unit one."
The woman knew it was a mistake to send the unit in so soon. And yet she took the risk.
"Unit one successfully tracked the target, but then released the clamps too late for meeting."
"Dammit!" she breathed deeply, trying to calm down "But it was my fault. I should have known. Recall it, and send unit two when it is fully operational."
"Impossible ma'am. The unit has smashed its way to about one kilometer underground, into one of the main power generator sections. Electromagnetic interference is too high, and we completely lost contact with it."
"Well, then leave it be - but make unit two ready as soon as possible."
"It's going to take quite a bit, ma'am. I don't suppose less than seventeen hours, even if we were working faster than we are."
"Do what you can." the woman shut down the comlink, and returned briefly to thinking. More problems. There's never enough of them, apparently.
Thumpings.
They were quieter here, and again Gordon still couldn't make out the source, but whatever they were, he remembered hearing them all the way through sector D. But weren't they isolated? No, they were probably different ones. He'd better find out where he was, and contact the rest of the world.
But will it be useful at all? He sat down to look around and think a bit. He had, somehow, got down all the way to this room. It was incredibly large and tall, and he was almost on top of it so he could see it all: cylindrical, about fifty meters tall, with several catwalks - like the one he was now on - running through the perimeter at different heights. Down below some incredibly bright green material, so bright in fact that it made up half of the room's lightning system.
In the middle of everything, another cylinder, metallic blue, running from ceiling to floor, with more catwalks running through its perimeter and connected to the outer ones via short bridges. And over it, in large characters, the number 11.
Why was he here? He didn't know. Probably his `evil part' - how stupid that name sounded! - trying to save him.
There are few things as horrible as finding nothing more to go on about. No more goals to accomplish... He had to contact the rest of the complex and warn them of what was happening - but those soldiers were obviously a military cleanup team.
Which meant they were doomed. All of them, including himself.
And that not counting the monsters. Or all of his mental problems. Nor the sector C survivors. Not even...
He stopped as he realized he was sobbing. He was feeling so empty... More than he had felt when he killed one of the monsters - or even one of the soldiers, he only now realized. His sobs echoed in the vast room, and they didn't stop as he saw a man dressed in white approach him.
Death... Yes, that was all he could aspire to now.
"You're... You're not one of them, are you? No, you're definitely not."
Trying to control his sobbings, he looked through the haze of his tears, trying to avoid reading the bad joke the suit will be surely trying to tell him, to recognize a scientist in his lab coat. A normal man. Who was offering his help, in the form of a hand held out. He accepted, letting himself be helped - although unnecessarily - to standing.
"You're in the science team, right?"
"As I imagined. You've got that look in your eyes. Anyway, there is no need to worry or to panic. It will only make things worse. Come with me, we could use help."
Not knowing what the man was talking about, he followed. After all, what else had he got to lose?
*...and I'm sorry, sir. We lost them both.*
*We'll discuss your incompetence later. You are to abort the mission and return to Lambda. We got more... pressing matters.*
D wasn't as angry as he expected - instead, he was worried. Whatever had turned up was big.
*Roger, sir!* the connection was broken. "You heard the man, people. Pack up."
They had failed again. This time, there were to be no survivors...
"...And that's all. It's... strange... don't you think?"
The two were looking at Gordon puzzled. What he had told them was indeed strange - but far from unbelievable.
Ericson, the one who had found Gordon, spoke first: "I've been in here for enough time not to be surprised. There are literally thousands of experiments being made in this complex each day. It's probably something unethical to do, actually... But this is not the first confirmation I have of unethical experiments here; so I'd say that whatever this... `evil part' of yours is, it might be the result of one such experiment. My suggestion is not to worry about it for the time being."
"An experiment, you say... But why me? And who would...?"
"As I said, don't worry about it for now. From what you've told me, when it works it keeps you protected and it helps you. In fact, that could even prove useful for the plan."
Baldwin answered "It's a bit of a longshot, really. But it's the only one we got. I know that somewhere through the sewers below blast pit eleven, there is one of the seven main power generators of the complex. And, rumor has that there is a train track there that leads straight out of the complex! With a little luck we could even hitchhike our way out of the desert to safety!"
"But... Are we abandoning everyone?"
Ericson spoke again "We either do that, Gordon, or die as they will. There's very little choice."
Gordon took a long breath. It was not a good thing to do, but they were right. There was no other choice.
"I suppose there is a problem with this plan, isn't it?"
"Well... Remember the resonance cascade you talked about? Everything points to it being the cause for the releasing of some specimen into the radioactive sewers below the pit. And whatever mutations that caused, the result remains the same."
Ericson approached the now lowered protective shield's controls.
"Remember: stay very quiet now."
The screen slid silently open, and Gordon gaped as the source of the thumpings came into view.
The figure had been moving around in the ventilation shaft for a dozen minutes when it finally emerged at one of the lowest levels of the enormous cylindrical room that was Blast Pit eleven.
"...But I still think you're not bad... If you only decided to smile for once!"
"Yeah. Like it matters. Anyway, are you sure this is the right direction?"
"I am. Now, the path is a bit twisted but we'll reach it without any problems..."
"I'd like to know what this thumping sound is, though."
"Malfunctioning things... With the quakes and everything something must have busted. Probably nothing to worry about."
The figure climbed down, but midway through the ladder a distorted laughter attracted its attention.
Pulling out an MP5 and setting it rapidly to full auto, several bullets streamed towards the slave, sending him lying on the catwalk.
"There's more!"
Something vaguely resembling the bark of a dog betrayed another houndeye, exactly in the middle of the bridge.
"Careful! Those containers on the wall..."
But the warning came too late, as the corpse of the beast fell down so did part of the inner catwalk of the bridge, while the room echoed terribly from the explosion.
Suddenly, a low but loud inhuman growl echoing, then the sound of glass breaking, and finally a human cry followed shortly after by a shotgun firing.
"We're not alone here, it seems."
After reloading, the figure took a dash forwards and the HEV's jetpack helped cover the ten meters or so that the explosion had taken out, then landed loudly on what was left of the other side of the catwalk. The thumpings increased their pace.
"We'd better hurry out of here. Now, that door should lead straight to the inner room..."
Inside the small room were two doors, one closed and one open, and a lever. The figure turned the lever, and the doors switched.
Inside, there were more inhuman growlings, and the thumpings were much more clearer than before. Something was definitely hitting metal.
"Now, just around the corner there should be..."
Whatever it was, it wasn't expected.
Well, he had found something worth doing with his life after all - fighting for it.
He didn't feel ironic at all; in fact, he must thank the `evil part' that he hasn't puked or freaked out yet - because the thing that had killed doctor Baldwin was way beyond disgusting.
Three, enormous green tentacles each ending with a long, black, sharp claw; on each of them, there was a small cylinder moving rhythmically up and down. Two were thumping randomly with their claws on the inner metal catwalks, the third had just retired from his attack position under Gordon's fire: he had literally run through the protective glass and doctor Baldwin without stopping, leaving a hole on the rear wall of the control room.
Both he and Ericson had run out of the control room, shutting its door up to quiet up the thumpings, and were now thinking of a plan.
"Weapons are useless against that thing, Gordon. There is only one way we can get rid of it: test firing the rocket engine!"
"I guess there's a `but' coming up, right?"
"Unfortunately there is. This particular blast pit was scheduled for maintenance today. That is what I've been called to oversee when the... incident happened."
"And let me guess: that means most of the systems have been shut down, right?"
"Right. But that's not all, unfortunately. There's... Oh my God!"
A distorted laughter, mixed to a strange bark, answered as an alien, one floor below, charged up only to be stopped cold as Gordon pumped a few shells into its red eye.
Still, there was yapping and barking - again very distorted, but definitely sounding like yapping.
"I don't know what they are, but they are not dogs."
Gordon looked around again. Here, on the inside part of the pit, were only two circular floors, and he was scanning the room from the top one. Usually, the floors were separated by metal gratings, but with all the action going on it's unsurprising that some of them had fallen or broken.
"Well, first dogs are not allowed into the complex. Paranoia or something, I don't exactly know. Second, I've seen them."
More barks, then the source came into view. It looked cute, for something light green colored, short, with several blue stripes on its back, a hundred eyes and resembling a turned around fingertip with legs. It growled, but it was impossible to say if it was a hostile or friendly growl, and as it did its eyes blinked on and off like little lamps, and the beast began charging.
"eeeAARGH!" both men were gripping their ears, as a deafening, raising ultrasonic sound overcame even the thumpings. Ericson was running away, but Gordon was frozen, as if the `evil part' had taken over, and decided to do nothing at all.
Then, relief came, but it was short lived; what seemed like an explosion shot him a meter in the air, then crashing down.
*BEEP* *BEEP* *BEEP* "Warning: extreme ultrasonic shock received." *BOOP* *BOOP* "Gyroscope malfunction detected. Attempting recalibration..." *BOOP* "Armor integrity: ninety-five percent."
The sound returned, but just an instant after Gordon had found his shotgun converted to full auto, and the trigger squeezed. He again was completely frozen, but with his finger on the trigger the sensation lasted not more than a second as the hundred of eyes on the creature were splattered in hunks of green goo on the floor.
"See?", Ericson spoke, "I don't know exactly what they are, but they emit an ultrasonic beam that tend to destabilize, when not breaking, molecule bindings. Killed two of us. Would be so much interesting to put one of these under a microscope..."
"But there is no time. So, where exactly are the controls?"
Ericson chuckled nervously. "...beyond a door on the lowest floor of the pit. And it's the only access."
"Somehow I expected it. My luck, I guess. So, ..."
"...Wait! I haven't told you everything about that monster. We have found out it is completely blind - though extremely sensitive to noise. In fact, if everything was silent, I think it would be harmless."
"Clinking metal boots on clinky metal catwalks are not silent. The only option looks..."
"...Activating your suit's stealth mode."
Stealth mode? He never heard of the feature.
"You don't know? They don't give training like they used to. It's simple to enable, let me show you..."
"Great. A big tri-tentacled monster. One more of those freaks and I swear I'll throw up!"
"Hmmm... Wait a second, I remember those things: good hearing, but blind. Enter stealth mode."
*BEEEEEP* "HEV stealth mode engaged - suppressing sound."
In an instant, the forcefield on the figure's face modified its phase to stop outgoing and most incoming noises instead of projectiles, and the armor covered up with a soft, brownish gel that provided soundless movement at the cost of agility. Instantly adjusting to the new conditions, the figure stepped forward into the door.
Two of the enormous monster's tentacles were thumping on the catwalks three levels above, while the third was just one level below. The figure remained on the catwalk, soundless and as motionless as possible, to study its movements. The monster continued for a minute, then all the tentacles raised to one floor above the figure, and began humming, lowly, and sadly.
"What the hell is that thing doing?"
"I don't know... I presume it's humming to itself... Don't bother, let's just get out of here. Let me think... Let's move a couple of floors up, and then..."
"There's the man with the orange HEV one floor above. He's aiming at us with a CAWS."
The figure looked up. Yes, there was a man just one floor above, with an HEV in sound suppression mode, pointing a shotgun in the figure's direction.
The whole view zoomed in to a close up of the man's face.
The figure raised hands and waved them to the man.
"What the hell?" thought Gordon, as the figure in a blue HEV waved to him. The monster continued humming as he carefully moved under a tentacle, the gel absorbing every sound, and climbed down the ladder, trying not to lose sight of the figure. As he approached, the figure moved at a deliberate pace out of the door.
He followed, then closed the door behind him. Turning around, he recognized instantly the woman, and tried to speak.
"Forgot? Select `temp disable' from the stealth menu."
"Thanks... Miss Andrews? You have survived too! I was about to think everybody here was dead!"
"Gordon... It's good to see you too! What brings you here?"
"It's a... long story. You don't want to know the details, believe me. Anyway, I know of an escape route! It should be somewhere below this beast, and I was trying to get rid of it."
"Interesting. I was, uh, in all truth I don't know exactly, and... OK, mine's a long story, too, and you don't want to know the details either. See you later."
"Great way to impress men, Gina. As usual."
The woman turned to go away, but was stopped by Gordon.
"Wait! I think we should team up. We'd both stand much higher chances of living. And, anyway, what do you think you'll be doing if not trying for this escape route?"
"He's right, Gina. And, anyway, that's exactly the place where we should go."
"But he'd be just a slowdown!", she thought.
"He was able to sneak up on us. Very few people can do that."
"...That's right. He's probably very, very, very lucky and we need luck." she reflected. Finally, she spoke: "Well... OK, then. but, erm, call me Gina, OK?"
Gina remembered when three months ago she had given HEV training to Gordon. He was a good scientist, and the most polite she had ever seen - contrary to that Bennet guy who always drooled on her - always referring to her with respect, something which almost no one did. Yet, although he was a quick learner on almost everything, he lacked any kind of skills in the weapons department. He was so bad, she actually had to do a few... alterations to the course to let him qualify. After all, who would have thought he would actually have to embrace a weapon?
"Alpha one reporting sir! We..."
"You have failed again, I know. But as I said, I'll discuss that later. We have more pressing matters to discuss. Everybody here?"
The Alpha leader looked about the small room. Twenty people, including the survivors from his squad, were a little cramped in there, but they'd been through far worse than that. Yet, he thought this time things might get too much out of hand.
"Good." A map of the complex appeared. It was way zoomed out, because it was the only way to represent this enormity in the couple of square meters that made up the monitor, but it soon zoomed towards a place almost a kilometer south of their position.
"I'll make it quick: we have government special operations on site."
The room flooded with low murmur, only to be quietened by Alpha leader
"And that's not the bad thing. The bad thing is that they've called in reinforcements. Lots of them. Intelligence is still investigating on what they are trying to do exactly, but the sure thing is that within a couple of hours at best this place will be crawling with Apaches, F-16s and enemy specialists like a goddamned ants nest. We can't take them on alone, and reinforcements have been denied by high command."
D made a pause, to let his people acknowledge the situation, while the monitor tracked the approximate path so far of the government task force.
"OK people, this was the good news. The bad news is, big N reacted faster than we had anticipated. And for that, we've had a change of plans. G will explain..."
After reactivating fully the stealth mode, the two people in HEV made their way towards the bottom floor.
Descending to there was easy, but the sight of one of these sonic dogs made things more difficult. The beast came in exactly from the opposite side from where they were, and since it was the only doorway on that floor, it must have been their destination also.
As the greenish monster buzzed, its hundred eyes flashed a bit, and the tentacles stopped their humming. One sonic blast, and they would be right on their position.
Gina looked at Gordon, puzzled, as he outran her and moved as fast as the stealth mode allowed to intercept the beast.
The small dog-like monster growled as it was kicked in the eyes, but it immediately began charging up. Gordon, this time oblivious of the sound, picked it up and threw it towards the bottom hole, common source of all the three tentacles.
Gordon gestured Gina to hurry, as the dog-like creature shot its sonic shockwave close to the monster.
The tentacles were already frenzying, and the entire room was filled with deafening thumpings, which stopped while the tentacles moved down to the bottom floor, crushing the small doglike beast, then missing Gina by millimeters as she hurried out of the door, shutting it behind her.
*BEEEP* "Deactivating HEV Stealth mode."
Both suits returned to normal.
"Luckily this suppresses most high frequencies, too."
"Erm, it's part of the long story... I think. Anyway, Ericson up there gave me a list of things to do in order to reactivate the blast pit."
"Ericson? Hmm... Tell me a bit more of this plan."
"OK: down in the sewers, below this creature, is a train track that should lead straight out of the complex. It's probably the only escape route we have. But first, we've got to get rid of that thing, and the only way is to test fire the rocket engine in the pit. Unfortunately, the pit was powered down for maintenance and it's currently offline."
"Escape route? Is it true?" she thought
"No, as far as I know. The train track should lead us towards the One Person, though."
"And we got to turn everything back on, right?" she said.
"Right. Monsters apart, this should be easy. Step one: reactivate ventilation; step two: open fuel channels. I've got a map here" Gordon pulled out a small but detailed enough sketch of the pit "that shows where we need to go."
"Long time no see, little brother... Is it not what you humans say?"
"You... Go away. Go away now!"
"You are scared, my brother. All our brethren are scared. They do not know... They do not know they are already dead! Rotting and disgusting worm infested corpses still moving. As you are. As the pathetic humans you now call friends are."
"You are insane. You've always been! What you have done, what you are doing, are the most amoral things a living being could ever do!"
"Pathetic. Twenty years with the humans, and you have already taken their ways. I came here to ask you to join me. But it is obvious you would not accept. Goodbye."
But as it came, the vision was gone.
Gina moved the four differential switches to the ON position, and Gordon completed by starting each of the four engines. Slowly, heavily, the large ventilation unit began moving, pushing thousands of cubic meters of air inside the large ventilation tunnels, feeding the pit with air.
"OK, this was easy. Now..." Gordon stopped talking all of sudden, then pulled out his pistol and emptied half of the clip in a dark spot of the small control room. There was a muffled cry, then a zombie scientists fell out of the darkness, its yellow head thumping to the floor in a pool of yellow goo.
Gina looked at Gordon, amazed.
"How the... You were a liar, weren't you?"
"A liar? Oh, you mean, back at training? I wasn't. Look, it's always part of this long story, but if you want the short of it, I woke up this morning and I could do it. OK?"
Gordon was embarrassed. He didn't want to confess such a stupid thing to her, so he stalled.
"Look, let's just get out of here, then I'll tell you everything."
"He's got more than a few things to hide, Gina. But I got a hunch he's not being dishonest with you."
"OK, then. OK. After everything is finished. Now, where to?"
Gordon approached the ladder on the opposite side of the one they had climbed down to get here. "Just up her-" Gordon stopped, as the low cry of one of those yellow things jumped down on him from above. He immediately jumped back, pistol in hand, but Gina was quicker to fire, hitting and breaking first one of the small legs, sending the small creature rolling over, and then the center of its mouth, killing it.
"Thanks... By the way, do you have any idea what these things are?"
"I'm being completely honest with you, Gordon, we... I don't know. Although with all the experiments being done in this complex, who knows... Some kind of bioweapon, maybe, just like the one in the pit."
"Bioweapons... Probable. Yes, very probable."
Gordon definitely sounded like someone who knew more than he said, but Gina decided not to investigate for the time being, as they both climbed the ladder to the other control room.
The room was very dark, and Gordon immediately began sweeping it with his breastlight, followed shortly by Gina. The room was small, and there seemed to be nothing in front, below, nor above them. Gordon then spotted a console and, following the instructions given by Ericson, flipped to ON all the switches he could find, then tried to pull the lever down but it did not move.
"Wait... What switches did that scientist say to move?"
"Well, all the ones you can find that have an ON position."
"Hmph. Very accurate for a scientist. Anyway, you missed this one."
With a click, the lever was free to move, and it dropped immediately to maximum.
Gordon tried to move it, but it was indeed completely free to move - he pulled it up, but it bounced down to maximum when he released it.
"Well, he said to set it to about half... But I suppose maximum won't do anything bad, don't you think?"
"No real choice anyway. Let's go back."
"Ma'am? Our intelligence section has intercepted a transmission from the White House - you`d better see the transcript."
The voice on the intercom paused as the elderly woman read the transcript on her monitor.
"And they're not all here. Reinforcements are being sent from at least five-six bases all over the USA. There's half an army en route to Black Mesa. Your orders?"
The woman lowered her head, thinking. But she could not come up with a solution.
"...Continue current plans. I'll notify you of any variation."
With that she returned to her thinking. Things were really going to liven up now.
"...So, you said you more or less woke up and found out you were able to use weapons and sense enemies like a soldier..."
They had just got out of the fuel control room when Gina began asking again about Gordon again. He took a long breath, then unwillingly began explaining to the best of his ability.
"Look, it's... A stupid thing, really. But we were examining Etherthel down at Sector C, then somehow there was a resonance cascade and then this disaster followed."
"Etherwhat? Resonance... No, don't even try explaining those things to me. Go on."
"Then, I don't remember exactly... But when I came back to my senses, I started to... I can't describe the sensation exactly, but sometimes I just feel my body is not under my control, but is being controlled someone else... Just like a while before."
"And this... other person has excellent aim and a first rate military sense?"
"Yes. I know it sounds like I'm a total nut or a very poor liar, but..."
"Gina! It's impossible, I know that it's absolutely impossible... But trust him."
"...You're right. It sounds that way, but I have another person in my head telling me I should trust you... And know what? I'm going to."
"...Was that some kind of joke?"
She smiled, then began moving up the ladder going towards the center of the pit. The easy part had already been done, now they had to climb up for three floors without the tentacled creature noticing - she had already glanced around, and there was no way to jetpack up, as the second floor's catwalk was at the other side of the pit, and the closest one was more than thirty meters above. So, it was the hard way in.
And if more of those green ultrasonic dogs turned up...
*BEEEEEP* "HEV Stealth mode engaged - suppressing sound."
Once again, both HEVs covered with the brown sound suppressing gel. They stood at the sides of the door, just in case the monster decided to sneak up on them - improbable, as it was clear even under the heavy suppression that the monster was not on this floor - then Gordon moved the lever. Quietly, or at least with a sound much lower than the monster's thumpings, the door slid open and the two moved in, Gordon leading.
He looked up, and showed three fingers to Gina: the monster was three floors above. Their destination floor.
They moved, much slower than they could have due to the gel, while the monster's thumping slowed down, then stopped completely as they were beginning to climb the first ladder. As before, the monster began humming, as if to keep itself company. After all, sound was the only external source of influence the monster could sense.
The duo made way, carefully, to the second ladder and began climbing, when the hummings stopped, and the three tentacles began moving towards them. Each swept a little more of a quarter of circle on the entire floor - but they were too late, as they were both one floor above. That, though, could only mean two things: the creature could either hear even what minuscule sounds they were making, or they weren't being careful enough.
The monster resumed thumping, and the two crossed the catwalk to the opposite side and climbed the ladder.
As soon as Gordon was up, Gina followed - but to her surprise, the ladder gave way. She released the grip and dropped over to a side, but it was too late to prevent the ladder from falling down and hitting the catwalk hard. The sound echoed loudly even through the heavy dampening, and the thumpings stopped as the monster rose up a floor to the source of the noise.
A few shotgun blasts attracted the attention of the monster.
From one floor above, Gordon was running as quickly as the stealth mode could allow taking potshots at the monster. He was almost halfway through the platform when one tentacle readied for the strike.
"Jetpack! Jetpack!" The voice echoed in her head, as she quickly made a sluggish run, then jumped and activated the jetpack at the last moment, only now realizing she was in a collision course with the tentacle that was currently threatening Gordon.
Gordon watched the action with an unnatural slowness, as another shotgun shell was fired by himself directed exactly at the small pumping cylinder. The tentacle cried, but in its shakings it didn't realize that it had moved just so that its cylinder was now being burned by Gina's jetpack burst.
The world returned to its normal speed, as Gina landed on the top floor, the tentacle retreating down in the pit, and he found himself dashing as fast as possible towards the ladder. The other two tentacles were definitely going to seek revenge.
Gordon climbed the ladder hastily, and eagerly took Gina's hand.
He was lifted up with extreme ease; the suits had detected what they were trying to do, and adjusted accordingly. More wonderment - if either of them had the time or the mood for being amazed.
Thankfully, the top floor was the only one with a door close to the ladder; they rushed inside, sealing the door behind them a moment before one of the remaining tentacles tried to knock it down, thumping and crying against it. Luckily for the duo, to no avail since the door held.
*BEEEEEP* "HEV Stealth mode disengaged. Warning: Stealth mode supplies low. Please find the nearest recharge station."
Recharge station. Yes, that would be necessary... He was also shieldless.
"Hey, Gina, know where the nearest recharge station is?"
"Running low on something already?"
"Shieldless, and without many... supplies for stealth mode."
"It's the rest of the long story. And that part has no short version. Later. Again, do you know where a recharge station is?"
"Sir! Reinforcements ETA is now thirty minutes! I have a full roster here."
"Yes sir! We have six Apaches, ten F-16s, one F-22 prototype, and five Chinooks with three five-man commando squads each, prepped and ready for battle!"
The short man, still in a forest mimetic suit, saluted and resumed his duties at the radio.
They sure want this place to come down with a bang to move that kind of force, thought the general, as he watched what was left of his team after just a few hours of fighting. They were part of the best the US army had to offer, yet they were newbies when compared to what they were battling against.
The top brass was actually very lucky that none of these guys freaked out the instant they took sight of these monsters. And he was still trying to figure out why he himself didn't. Yes, he had seen death face to face too many times, and his scars and the pack of medals - not counting his current assignment - were proofs. But death, he remembered, had always had a human face.
And for some reason, that scared him even more than the monsters themselves.
Gordon and Gina had fully recharged their suits, and had now made their way towards the blast pit control chamber, where Ericson was hiding out, waiting.
But as they approached the door, they immediately knew something wasn't right, since it was open. Burst open.
Uncaring that the monster might still be able to get inside from the burst protective glass, Gordon rushed inside, only to find blood splattered everywhere, and Ericson's devastated corpse on the floor.
The monster, which had resumed thumping two floors below, immediately reacted to Gordon's cry by moving up its three heads to check out.
Gordon was crying. And he welcomed it. Finally, he felt something about someone else...
The monster had now detected the source of the noise, and was preparing to burst in; but Gina, already at work on the console, finally spotted the protective shield closing button and pressed it. The huge tentacle bounced on the ultra hard protection screen, creating a loud echo and throwing itself and its two twins into another frenzy.
"There's nothing else you can do for him, Gordon. Let's move on."
Gordon was still crying when Gina put her hand on his shoulder. Then, the sadness went away, the tears stopped, and he returned cold and emotionless. As before.
Gordon glanced on the console, then pressed the `test fire' button. He may not feel good for getting a revenge, albeit not on the killer, but he'll get it anyway.
"Ma'am? We have detected a test firing in Sector E pit eleven."
"That pit was offline, ma'am, because it was non-functional. It was scheduled for maintenance today."
"Oh. And this is another problem, I guess."
The monitors on the console switched on, and showed with surprising detail the disgusting show. The flame from the rocket engine reached all the way to the floor, hiding the three tentacles from view. But what was happening could be heard: a loud yet grave, spine-chilling scream echoed in the room; still, neither of the duo showed any kind of pity or of remorse.
The flame subsided, with no more sight of the monster, and Gordon engaged the coolant system which brought the pit's temperature back to an almost bearable 45 degrees within a minute.
Gina got out, at a normal pace, without saying a word.
After all, reflected Gordon, was it right to kill a creature that, for all they knew, was just defending itself?
A creature they know absolutely nothing about?
So many questions, yet one more time... And no answers. `Just go ahead' he told himself, and that he did.
Then an alarm klaxon began, and the central room turned into a blinking red from the warning lights.
A short jungle, then an horribly synthesized human voice saying "Warning: fuel leak detected in sector E pit eleven. "
Already a few pipes had burst from the pressure, and were spilling fuel.
The two ran out then hastened down to the bottom floor, and glanced at the bottom of the pit. There was a large manhole, probably to dump the remains of some unknown experiment, which the creature had broken through. There was no sign of it, though; it must have fallen down below.
The alarm raged on, as did the voice.
"Warning: please deactivate all fuel lines to sector E pit eleven. Fuel leak detected. Sector E personnel, please deactivate all rocket engine ignition systems immediately."
They climbed down the ladder to find themselves in a small, downwards cave with a dim source of light towards the end. They hastened down it, then Gina sat down and began sliding. It didn't look safe, but Gordon followed as it was undoubtedly the best thing to do, because the warnings were reaching a critical stage:
"Warning: multiple fires detected in sector E blast pit eleven. Sector security compromised. Please evacuate sector E immediately. All security forces, seal down pit eleven. Structural breakdown imminent..."