Henry slowly drew in the smell of the coffee before taking a zip
and putting the cup back on the table.
It looks like a solar eclipse from here, he thought to himself.
A white circle with the black moon in the middle.
Of course Henry had never seen a solar eclipse himself, but,
and he was quite proud about it, he had seen the sun as many as three times,
which was more than most.
It was an old joke; no sunshine today either, haha.
When the huge asteroid hit the earth 28 years ago,
enormous amounts of dust were thrown up into the atmosphere and a grey
sheet were formed which darkened the sky and shut out all sunlight.
It had gotten better over the years, now you could actually see the sun sometimes,
altough a "sun sighting" was very rare. The asteroid, or "The Big One" as it
was commonly known had been about 11 kilometers in diameter and it had hit
the earth in northern South America in a country known then as Colombia.
Within three weeks the sky had turned totally black, obsructing every ray of sunlight.
The long night had begun.
The Big One took quite a few lives the day it hit.
But as many as the asteroid had killed, it paled in comparison with the chaos
that followed on the "Darkening".
It has been estimated that the Earth's population was decimated with as much as 30%
within five years of the Darkening. This had nothing do do with shortage of food as
this problem had been solved before the "hit" by building giant farms with artificial sun-light.
It had to do with the all overshadowing fear that people felt as a result of the Darkening.
Most nations just couldn't hold togheter under the worldwide panic that followed, they
crumbled under the black sky and was just quitely dissolved. Others trusted their military
to hold the country toghter, which in almost every case brought along a civil war,
in the degree a war could be fought in total darkness.
The first five years were the worst, many people fell victim for bands of robbers or some small army
that plunderd and killed everything in their way.
But the most deaths were caused by different diceases, which could now ravage free all over the planet.
Henry brought the cup back to his mouth and took the last zip of coffee. Ready.
He got up from the table and went into his working room, as he liked to call it. On the top shelf was
a rather flat wooden case, about 14 inches by 10 inches and maybe 3 inches thick.
Henry took the box down and put it on the bench, his hands shaking slightly as he opened it.
- We have some business to attend to, old friend", he said, watching the object in the box.
As he lifted the black gun from it's resting place, the engraved golden dragon shimered in a way that
almost made it seem alive...
Don't really know how to connect this to the Half-Life universe... but maybe someone else can?
and putting the cup back on the table.
It looks like a solar eclipse from here, he thought to himself.
A white circle with the black moon in the middle.
Of course Henry had never seen a solar eclipse himself, but,
and he was quite proud about it, he had seen the sun as many as three times,
which was more than most.
It was an old joke; no sunshine today either, haha.
When the huge asteroid hit the earth 28 years ago,
enormous amounts of dust were thrown up into the atmosphere and a grey
sheet were formed which darkened the sky and shut out all sunlight.
It had gotten better over the years, now you could actually see the sun sometimes,
altough a "sun sighting" was very rare. The asteroid, or "The Big One" as it
was commonly known had been about 11 kilometers in diameter and it had hit
the earth in northern South America in a country known then as Colombia.
Within three weeks the sky had turned totally black, obsructing every ray of sunlight.
The long night had begun.
The Big One took quite a few lives the day it hit.
But as many as the asteroid had killed, it paled in comparison with the chaos
that followed on the "Darkening".
It has been estimated that the Earth's population was decimated with as much as 30%
within five years of the Darkening. This had nothing do do with shortage of food as
this problem had been solved before the "hit" by building giant farms with artificial sun-light.
It had to do with the all overshadowing fear that people felt as a result of the Darkening.
Most nations just couldn't hold togheter under the worldwide panic that followed, they
crumbled under the black sky and was just quitely dissolved. Others trusted their military
to hold the country toghter, which in almost every case brought along a civil war,
in the degree a war could be fought in total darkness.
The first five years were the worst, many people fell victim for bands of robbers or some small army
that plunderd and killed everything in their way.
But the most deaths were caused by different diceases, which could now ravage free all over the planet.
Henry brought the cup back to his mouth and took the last zip of coffee. Ready.
He got up from the table and went into his working room, as he liked to call it. On the top shelf was
a rather flat wooden case, about 14 inches by 10 inches and maybe 3 inches thick.
Henry took the box down and put it on the bench, his hands shaking slightly as he opened it.
- We have some business to attend to, old friend", he said, watching the object in the box.
As he lifted the black gun from it's resting place, the engraved golden dragon shimered in a way that
almost made it seem alive...
Don't really know how to connect this to the Half-Life universe... but maybe someone else can?
