Part 4: Special Industries

I said goodbye to the soldiers and went through the door. I was curious what this "secure area" contained that required Black Mesa to ignore emergency exit regulations.



A Biodome Complex? Hopefully Black Mesa followed proper containment and exposure regulations this time. Some biological forms can introduce serious health risks at high levels of exposure, and the safety equipment I wore lacked any respiration equipment. Hopefully Black Mesa kept only non-hazardous biological forms in there.



Up at the top of the stairs, I saw another one of those things I shot earlier. I dealt with it without problem with my new gun. They were crawling all over some scientist who, by the looks of things, couldn't administer proper first aid in time. His injuries seemed pretty serious, but there was nothing I could do for him now, other than hope that my report gets to the local code enforcement board in time to prevent more workplace injuries.

I continued past the scientist and came upon a set of windows.



These must be the biodomes that the sign mentioned earlier. I took a quick air sample reading and saw no violations of regulation 1910 subparts J and Z. Everything seemed to be in order at first, until I got further down the hallway.



Aha! I knew I'd find something if I looked around. Walking-working surfaces must be kept in an orderly fashion per regulation 1910.22 part (a)(1). Now I'd passed both a large floor opening and a walking surface hazard without seeing any marked indication. Where were all of Black Mesa's temporary hazard signs? They at least had to have some of them here, right?

I carefully tread past the broken glass and through a door at the end.



On the other side was a room containing several small cells. One of them contained two more of the things I'd been shooting at, but the other one contained some biological form I'd never seen before.



I wanted to get a closer look, but that scientist laying against the wall got me worried. How sturdy was this glass? Could whatever was in there escape? Too bad there were no compliant safety regulations for the captivity of biological forms. I made a note in my report about possible live hazards on the premises.



After leaving through another door, I came out on some sort of elevated walkway. My curiosity got the better of me and I looked down, carefully avoiding the glass. After the previous two rooms, I didn't trust the stability of Black Mesa's glazing.



The complaints and dossier my supervisor handed me clearly stated that this was a materials research facility. They said nothing about live specimens kept in captivity. What was really going on here at Black Mesa? Did someone's experiments go wrong and get loose? Did some simple unauthorized research spread to more gross violations of the law? All I knew was someone had to get to the bottom of this, either me, the New Mexico Code Enforcement board, or the US military. The health and safety of numerous people depended on it.



As I passed the walkway and entered the next room, I noticed something striking.
Black Mesa had caution signs after all! But was it used correctly? After seeing the previous violations, I lacked any faith in this facility's proper use of hazard markings. I cautiously walked past the sign and through the door on the other side to check.



Yes, Black Mesa had followed regulation 1910.145 part (c)(1) correctly after all! This inaccessible route contained proper temporary signage. I carefully backed away from the hole and went back through the door.

A bit further down the hallway, I entered what looked to be a monitoring station.



Several of the other creatures I saw back in the cells were loose in the room and hostile! Luckily, my gun had enough ammunition to defend myself with.



Once the room was safe, I looked around. Off to the side was a large window. I leaned up against it and looked through.



This secret operation was even bigger than I thought. But before I could even think of the implications, the glass suddenly broke!



With nothing left to support me, I tumbled forward, directly into the environment.
There were so many specimens in here, and they were all running up to me! I fired a few shots, but they just kept coming.



Quickly looking around, I spotted a door. Just when I needed it, Black Mesa provided me an emergency exit. I ran through, but the creatures came up right behind me.



I quickly passed into a lab with what clearly was a broken piece of equipment. But regulations be damned, there was a serious containment issue here. I would have a few choice words to say to the code enforcement board about glass stability issues later.



I darted around a corner in the back, but the creatures still pursued.



I fired a few shot back at them again, but they still just kept coming. I was so busy defending myself from them that I didn't look where I was going. As I entered the next room, I turned my head just in time.



What the HELL is THAT?!?

Whatever was in this room turned around and lumbered towards me. I was surrounded.
The creatures following me came into the room. I fired a few shots towards them and towards whatever was in here, but they did nothing. The creatures just got closer and closer until I had nowhere to go.