Our Mutual Fiend

[a_mere_child]

Two hours and some-odd minutes of sleep may not sound like a lot, but by Alyx's standards it's a long, indolent rest. When you grow up a fugitive, never sure whether a Xenian beast or a Combine soldier could show up at your doorstep, you get your rest where you can and wake up ready to fight. Or to run

Comments

[acts_of_gord]

"Not much you could do about it," Gordon murmurs, eyeing the screens himself. He's trying to figure out where Mossman is, based on what he can see of the background, but it's not the kind of scene that lends itself to visual analysis.

[smelltheashes]

The Hunter jumps into camera view, and then there's nothing but flickering static.

Dr. Kleiner frowns. "Wait a moment... there's something else here..." He taps a few controls, and the static gives way to another image: the hull of a huge ship, barely visible through driving snow. The camera zooms in and pans across it until the name painted on the bow comes into view.

Kleiner gasps in astonishment and delight. "It's... the Borealis! Incredible!"

Eli blanches. "Good God."

[acts_of_gord]

Aperture's logo, Gordon recognizes. The ship name, not so much. He glances sidelong at Alyx and Eli, hoping for some kind of hint as to what he's supposed to be reacting to.

[a_mere_child]

"What??" Alyx sounds almost as shocked as Kleiner. "The Borealis? It's real?"

"Oh, yes, quite real, despite its almost legendary stature," Dr. Kleiner replies. "Our... peers at Aperture Science were at work on a project of some promise, but in their rush to beat Black Mesa for funding, they must have compromised ordinary standards of risk." There's a conspiratorial gleam in the physicist's eye, as though he's imparting a particularly salacious bit of gossip. "We heard their research vessel simply disappeared. Vanished, with all hands, and even part of the dry-dock! Few believed the Borealis would ever be seen again."