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Alyx,

Your father told me that him and I should tell you our story. You’ve heard bits and pieces of what happened, heck, you were there, but I think it’s time for you to know the entire magnitude of our experience inside the Black Mesa facility. I won’t be able to transmit the whole thing at once. It’s so much data that if I tried, the combine would track my location in an instant. So consider this a “part 1”.

I was in the lab when it happened. When we single handedly changed the course of human history for the foreseeable future.

It was all because of that crystal.

I don’t know where Breen found it, but that crystal was an omen of our end. Maybe Ross shouldn’t have allowed that “small discrepancy” to sneak through while we were running the Anti-Mass Spectrometer at such a high level. Maybe Eli and I should have raised warning when the emergency shutdown subsystem suddenly combust. Maybe Gordon shouldn’t have showed up 30 minutes late! Whatever the case, Eli and I were still in that room when the Resonance Cascade happened. We tore a hole through space so large that it was almost an invitation for the Xenians to come invade us.

The next thing I knew, I was on the floor. I wasn’t sure how long I had been out, but I knew what we had done. We had created a total Resonance Cascade Scenario. RIght next to me, was your father, Eli Vance. He was still unconscious, it looks like he had been struck by rubble, his leg was stuck under bits of rock and metal, and a concerning amount of blood was seeping out. I knew I had to get to the wound, and if I found the Zero Point Energy Field Manipulator we kept around our lab somewhere that I could get to the wound to inspect it, but before I could start looking, A survivor from inside the Spectrometer: Gordon Freeman. Somehow that hazard suit had protected him through the mess that we created. I spoke to him, told him to seek help on the surface. Before I sent him on his way, we caught a glimpse what awaited gordon ahead. Inside one of our energy inspection capsules, a creature manifested, teleported in from another dimension. In time, we would come to know it as a Headcrab. It was about the size of a small dog. Four legged, but without any identifiable face or sensory organs. It only had human like skin, and on its belly, a large mouth, and teeth. in which it would latch on to a human victim’s head, and insert a sort of biological electrode cluster, Overriding the victim’s motor control. They seem to have a single-track mind. It’s only purpose seemingly to couple with a head, and then attack others with it’s new body. Luckily, this one had no way to access us. I sent Gordon on his way, and continued searching for the Manipulator. I finally found it, on the bottom floor of our lab. I returned to Eli, removed the rubble, and inspected his leg. It was far gone. The cells up to the knee were cut off from blood too long, and had already begun the process of major apoptosis, it was like a loose tooth. I could pull it off with only a small amount of force.

So I did. Luckily, we keep a host of medical equipment in our lab (we were working with incredibly dangerous materials, of course!) I locked the door to our lab, and picked Eli up and placed him on a medical examination table. Eli began to regain consciousness again, and we began to talk as I inspected the damage from the rubble.

“Izzy… What happened?”

“A Resonance Cascade. Breen’s sample-”

“Don’t blame the Administrator. He knew as much as we did. That’s why he sent the sample down here in the first place!”

“I’m not sure we should be so quick to trust him”

I agreed with him for the time being as I began to treat his wounds. My first goal was to stop Eli’s leg from bleeding. His leg was still bleeding at a concerning rate. I decided that the only way to stop the bleeding was to cauterize the wound. I wheeled a cautery machine over and told Eli was about to do. He nodded, obviously bracing himself from what was about to transpire. I turned the machine on, and counted to 3.

Eli didn’t scream, surprisingly. I quickly finished up, and bandaged the wound as tight as I could. The bleeding had stopped. I took a second to celebrate before checking Eli’s vitals again. No broken bones, incredibly, but his blood level was dangerously low.

““Eli, do you know your blood type?”

““I…” He brought his hand up to his head

““It’s… The universal receiver… AB.”

I nodded. We were lucky. I took a blood bag from a cabinet and installed an IV into Eli’s arm. After checking that his wound hadn’t reopened, i cut the bag open and allowed the blood to enter Eli’s body. While waiting for the transfusion to finish, I searched around. I found some first aid kits and a bottle filled with a morphine derivative. I took both of these before checking on Eli again. It was higher than it was, but it was going to at least take an hour. I decided to turn my attention to the creature that had manifested itself in our captivity. I didn’t simply kill it, I studied it, trying to learn as much as I could about the creature. I realized that by knocking out the headcrab, I could remove the creature’s ability to control it’s host. I decided to keep this headcrab as a specimen for study. I decided to call her “Lamarr” or “Hedy”. You know her, don’t you? I let her run free. She didn’t try to attack Eli or I. She just hid in a corner.

That procedure took an hour. By the time I was done, Eli’s blood pressure was high enough that I decided we should try to get to the surface. I told him that we need to leave.

“You’re right Izzy. But I have a feeling I’m not going to be walking on this leg.”

“You’re right. Let me see if I can find you something to walk on.”

Footsteps came from the door, growing louder.

I looked around. There were no crutches, nor any type of prosthetic. All I found was a piece of debris aluminum, a circular clamp, and aluminum tools.

There was knocking on the door.

I fitted the clamp to Eli’s leg. Then, using the cauterizing station I bent the aluminum into a bendable arc that Eli could use to walk on. I fuzed the tools to the debris, and the tools to the clamp.

The knocking turned into banging.

I told Eli to try to stand on it. Twas the right height but Eli was still dazed. He fell over.

The banging turned into scratching.

I looked at eli. I looked through the north door. An odd creature was attempting to break down the door. Seeing me only motivated it’s bloodlust. I tried to check the other door. There was a collapse, no way we could get out that way.

Gunshots, and then the door opened.

Alyx,

I apologize to cut it off like this, but this data stream is pushing it as is, and I’m getting a call from Barney. Perhaps we could talk soon?