Part 5: Means of Egress

When I woke up, I found myself in some sort of booth. I had no clue where I was, and both of my guns were gone. Luckily, I still had my Black Mesa safety equipment, and it seemed to be working.

I slowly walked out of the booth and looked around. The walls and floor seemed to be made out of a material I'd never seen before. Hopefully it followed Compliant Health and Safety regulations and adhered to proper ASTM standards. It seemed sturdy enough, but after what I'd been through, I couldn't be sure.



In another booth next to me was another scientist. I walked up to him to ask him what was going on.

Where are we?

Well, the dimensional breach is certainly transmitting-

I don't care about your science! I need to get to the New Mexico code enforcement board. I have a very important report to deliver!

I'm afraid we're not in Black Mesa any more. If you manage to find a teleporter, you can make your way back there, but it's very dangerous. Although, with your HEV suit, you should be able to get out of here. Oh, and if you do make it out alive, please think about us and send some help.

Oh, I will.

I now needed to get my report filed more than ever. Someone here was kidnapping scientists and taking them outside the facility!

On the floor of the room we were in, between our booths, I found a gun lying on the floor with a note next to it.





I had no idea what that meant, but I had a report to file, and now, nothing was going to stand in my way. I picked up the gun and crawled through the small hole in the wall.



On the other side was one of those workers I'd seen much earlier. I took care of him and made my way into the next room, where more guys were waiting for me.



I killed every last thing in there. They weren't going to attack me again this time. I'd been assaulted and transported against my will too many times to care about them now.



After making sure the room was clear of hazards, I looked around for a way out. The room had several elevators, but I didn't trust them to follow the proper guidelines for fall prevention. Plus, I couldn't see any equipment to check against regulation 1910 subpart S. Luckily, I found a hallway on the first floor that seemed to lead somewhere.



This must be one of the teleporters the scientist mentioned. I'd never heard of working teleporter technology, but now was not the time to worry about that. I walked up to it and it started glowing and making a strange humming sound.

The next thing I knew, I was on a platform, out in the middle of some strange blue room. First thing I noticed was a complete lack of fall prevention systems as per regulation 1910.23 part (c)(1). Anyone could easily fall off the side of one of these platforms.



From here, it looked like the only way to go was from platform to platform. How was a handicapped person supposed to navigate here? This part of the facility seemed clearly inaccessible. I made a note in my report about it.

I looked over at the next platform. I could probably reach it with a running jump, although it seemed like a long distance. Nonetheless, I went to the other edge of the platform I was on, took a running start and jumped.



What was going on here? Was I even on earth any more? I began to think to myself that I didn't know where I was at all and that perhaps I was outside the jurisdiction of the Compliant Safety and Health regulations.

As I slowly landed on the next platform, I made my decision.



Clearly other employees of Black Mesa worked here, and thus the regulations regarding wall openings (as well as the other Compliant Safety regulations) still applied in this location. Although, I was glad to see that Black Mesa distributed safety equipment to other employees.

As I made my way to the edge of the platform, I heard a noise above me.



Yet another violation of regulation 1910 subpart D. Whatever happened to those caution signs I saw back in the biodomes?

As the scientist fell, the object he was carrying fell next to him. I jumped over to get a closer look.



I'd seen some of the things Black Mesa did because of their experiments. Every time I'd seen their scientists try to do any sort of research, it ended with a serious safety violation, and here was yet another example. I decided to pick up whatever he was carrying for evidence once I got to code enforcement. I would make sure this facility was shut down in the interest of employee safety.



A few platforms later, I came across those creatures who chased me here earlier. Since the gun I had didn't work, I tried the object I got from the scientist, against my better judgment.



It ended up working surprisingly well. This device only needed to be handled by someone who knew how to use it properly… or at least in a safe manner. I made a note in my report about improper employee training for hazardous devices.



Above me was an orange orb, similar to the green one the scientist fell out of and the one I just shot out of the object. Even though I didn't want to go through it after seeing what happened to the other scientist, I saw no other way to get out. Plus, I had a report to file.



I jumped over a few more platforms and stood on the last platform staring at the orange orb. I didn't want to go through. I couldn't do this. I had no idea where I was, or even what would happen to me. There was no marking to designate where I would end up even if this was a teleporter, and no standards-compliant exit signs to mark any other way. I could end up like the scientist I just saw, or even worse.

But then I remembered all of those other employees. The scientists I met who wanted me to send help, the other employees trapped beneath the crumbling building structures, my employers who asked me to make the report, they all needed me.

What else could I do? I jumped into the orb.