Jerry_111
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- May 19, 2003
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Chapter 1: Discovery
Location: Outskirts of City 14
Time: 7 AM
Clyde had sat at the radio for nearly an hour now. No, the word “radio” was not the proper term to describe this rather peculiar contraption. It certainly was not a regular human-made radio, and according to the brainy scientists back at Black Mesa East, it didn’t operate like any other Combine radio they’ve seen. The alien-looking purple hand-held device was captured during a Resistance raid on a Combine armory. After all the usual weapon supplies were looted, Resistance fighter Clyde noticed the odd-looking machine and reported it to his officers. He was given the honor of being the man who manned it.
“Good god,” Clyde muttered. “I should never have shouted out about it in the first place. Should’ve let Clemens have the ‘honor’ instead.” His job: to detect the presence of any incoming Combine. It was a very uninteresting occupation: while all the other boys – actually doing something – went off to fight the Combine, here was Clyde, sitting on the roof of home base – doing what? – listening to a radio. Clyde frowned, and his stomach began to grumble again. This thing probably isn’t even on, he thought. It had stayed silent ever since his shift started, twelve hours ago. Then suddenly: blip. Blip. Blip. A little surprised, Clyde sat straight and looked at the radio’s purple display. Two flashing red lights on the screen.
Clyde didn’t know how the machine functioned on the inside, but if the instructions Dr. Kleiner told him were correct, he knew how to use and read the thing. With a few turns and twists of several knobs, Clyde would know the coordinates and location of the blip. Twist, turn, twist. Clyde smiled. At least he knew his officers would be pleased at detecting an enemy presence. Probably some combine scout, he thought to himself. His buddies would take care of that quite easily. But as Clyde studied the screen, something was clearly very off.
Mystified, Clyde tweaked the knobs again, refiguring the position of the Combine blip. Same result. His eyes widened. Standing up, Clyde hurriedly went down the roof hatch to inquire someone – who would be more qualified with Combine technology – to verify his find. The signal didn’t originate anywhere near the Resistance base – it was coming from geosynchronous Earth orbit.
Location: Outskirts of City 14
Time: 7 AM
Clyde had sat at the radio for nearly an hour now. No, the word “radio” was not the proper term to describe this rather peculiar contraption. It certainly was not a regular human-made radio, and according to the brainy scientists back at Black Mesa East, it didn’t operate like any other Combine radio they’ve seen. The alien-looking purple hand-held device was captured during a Resistance raid on a Combine armory. After all the usual weapon supplies were looted, Resistance fighter Clyde noticed the odd-looking machine and reported it to his officers. He was given the honor of being the man who manned it.
“Good god,” Clyde muttered. “I should never have shouted out about it in the first place. Should’ve let Clemens have the ‘honor’ instead.” His job: to detect the presence of any incoming Combine. It was a very uninteresting occupation: while all the other boys – actually doing something – went off to fight the Combine, here was Clyde, sitting on the roof of home base – doing what? – listening to a radio. Clyde frowned, and his stomach began to grumble again. This thing probably isn’t even on, he thought. It had stayed silent ever since his shift started, twelve hours ago. Then suddenly: blip. Blip. Blip. A little surprised, Clyde sat straight and looked at the radio’s purple display. Two flashing red lights on the screen.
Clyde didn’t know how the machine functioned on the inside, but if the instructions Dr. Kleiner told him were correct, he knew how to use and read the thing. With a few turns and twists of several knobs, Clyde would know the coordinates and location of the blip. Twist, turn, twist. Clyde smiled. At least he knew his officers would be pleased at detecting an enemy presence. Probably some combine scout, he thought to himself. His buddies would take care of that quite easily. But as Clyde studied the screen, something was clearly very off.
Mystified, Clyde tweaked the knobs again, refiguring the position of the Combine blip. Same result. His eyes widened. Standing up, Clyde hurriedly went down the roof hatch to inquire someone – who would be more qualified with Combine technology – to verify his find. The signal didn’t originate anywhere near the Resistance base – it was coming from geosynchronous Earth orbit.
