Things seemed to be going fine all around White Mesa. While there was a lot more malfunctioning equipment and security systems than usual, this was more of an annoyance than an actual problem.
Unfortunately for Gordon Freecolt, this caused him to be twenty minutes late by the time he got to the transit hub for the facility. While waiting for the train had not taken long, it still added that much more time to the already appallingly late stallion.
When it did arrive, Gordon boarded it quickly, hoping to get to his workplace sooner rather than later. One other pony boarded the train. A pegasus pony with a blue coat and black mane, wearing the same white lab coat and red striped tie that was required of all research members.
The door to the train closed, then the train started its journey into the tunnel ahead.
“Good morning, and welcome to the White Mesa Transit System,” a female voice sounded, slightly distorted by the speakers.
This announcement came as the train passed a small outcropping in the tunnel the train traveled through, where a single scientist lazily waved to the stallion watching as he waited for a train. Gordon waved back.
The train also passed a small outcropping, where a security guard stood, banging at the door to get into the security room behind it.
‘Yet another security malfunction,’ Gordon thought.
“This automated train is provided for the security and convenience of the White Mesa Research Facility personnel,” it continued.
The train passed a small security station and armory where two griffon and a earth pony were stationed, wearing blue shirts and black armored vests. None of them bothered to have their helmets on at the moment. One griffon looked up from his computer screen to catch a glimpse of Gordon and the pegasus. Confirming their identity, the guard went back to his work.
“The time is… eight, forty-seven A.M.”
Gordon frowned, reminded of his tardiness.
“Current topside temperature is… eight, degrees with an estimated high of.. twenty one. The White Mesa compound is maintained at a pleasant sixty eight degrees all times.”
The train came out of the tunnel and into a large open room, where two outcroppings connected the transit system to the offices to the left. A small open area allowed some other office workers to take in the view of the cafeteria below, where beings of all races ate. Ponies, griffons, camels, and zebras ate their breakfast is the open space.
Gordon turned to the pegasus. “So what sector are you headed for?”
“Hm?” The pegasus hummed as he looked up at the orange stallion. Gordon was about to ask again before the blue stallion figured his question.
“Oh, I am heading for Sector—”
“This train is inbound from… level 3 dormitories, to… Sector B Weapons Development And Testing,” the train announced, interrupting the pony.
The blue stallion frowned in annoyance. “Yeah, there.”
“If your intended destination is a high security area beyond Sector C, you will need to return to the central transit hub in area 9 and board a high security train,” announced the train, as if to taunt him. A silence reigned until the pegasus spoke up.
“So, where are you going?”
“Sector C,” Gordon replied.
“Studying the crystals from the human world?” he asked. Gordon nodded in response.
The train then came to a large metal door, blocking the tunnel. The train stopped, as a griffon at a security checkpoint to the left looked at Gordon and the pegasus before walking over to a control panel and allowing the train access. Three arms with panels at the end removed themselves from the center of the door, showing a small opening in the blast door. The door then divided into four different parts, as each one slid to fully open the tunnel to the train. A small cable extended from inside the tunnel, connect the two lines, allowing the train to continue.The door behind it closing after it crossed through.
“If you have not submitted your identity to the changeling screening system, you must report to White Mesa personnel for processing before you will be permitted into the high security branch of the transit system,” the train announced.
The train soon came out of the tunnel, into a very large room. A heavyweight transit system ran below, carrying things far too heavy for any race to carry from sector to sector. A small outcropping from the left contained a black pony with a green mane. Gordon knew this pony as Black Jack, a co-worker in Sector C.
A beep sounds as the train stopped at the platform. “Now arriving at… Sector B Weapons Development And Testing,” the train announced as the door opened.
The blue pegasus walked out as Gordon stayed in his seat. The pegasus and Black Jack shared a look as they passed by. Black Jack smiled as he saw Gordon and took a seat in the train, while the pegasus continued on towards the security checkpoint at the edge of the room.
After a few minutes, the train door shut and continued on its journey.
Just a minute after departing the entrance to Sector B, the train had passed the weapon assembly rooms, where teams of unicorns, pegasi, griffons help assemble large, rocket-propelled missiles, each carrying a bomb. While Gordon was not aware of how powerful the bombs were, rumors from those who worked in Sector B suggest that they will be powerful enough to level a city block.. But that was not Gordon’s field.
Gordon was a theoretical physicist who had earned his PHD at Canterlot University. Being enrolled at one of Equestria’s most prestigious universities, and with Equestria being the largest contributor out of all the nations to White Mesa, all but guaranteed that Gordon would end up working at the facility.
The train would go through another blast door before it exited Sector B. It would soon come to a dead end, where to the left there was a view at the rest area, which gave its own view to the arctic weather outside. The train then descended.
“Due to the high toxicity of material routinely handled in the White Mesa compound, no smoking, eating, or drinking are permitted within the White Mesa transit system,” the train reminded.
The train stopped its descent and turned around to attach to the ground cable lightly covered in snow. It was snowing outside, giving the feeling to those that watched it like the holidays were upon them, even if Hearth's Warming was last month. The train was sealed to keep the occupants warm as it continued on, unbothered by the cold.
The train continue through a small maintenance tunnel, where two earth pony members of the maintenance crew were getting onto a service elevator.
The train would exit from the tunnel and have a good view of a large chariot parked on the small runway that was nestled in the canyon. What caught Gordon’s attention, though, was the ponies exiting it.
“Is that Princess Twilight?” Black Jack asked from beside him.
“A reminder to all White Mesa personal, Princess Twilight Sparkle, along with five heroes of the Principality of Equestria are visiting the White Mesa Research Facility. Please be on your best behaviour,” confirmed the train.
He could see the princess and her friends looking around in amazement at what little of the facility they could see from there. In the five decades White Mesa had been running, it had changed the world. And White Mesa was still much farther ahead than the rest of the world, ensuring the entire place seemed like it was possible only in science fiction.
Gordon looked over and noticed Black Jack had a look on his face. One that seemed to be a mix of anger, surprise, and excitement. Before Gordon could question it, the look disappeared and Black Jack went back to his seat.
“Please keep your limbs inside the train at all times. Do not attempt to open the doors until the train has come to a complete halt at the station platform. In the event of an emergency, passengers are to remain seated and await further instruction. If it is necessary to exit the train, disabled personnel should be evacuated first. Please, stay away from electrified rails and proceed to an emergency station until assistance arrives,” the train advised as it entered another tunnel.
The train came to another blast door, the security station was occupied by a unicorn this time. Like the blast doors before it, the center was taken apart by three arms, and split into four as it allowed access. Soon enough, the train was on the other side as the door shut behind it.
As the train continued on, lights on four sides of the tunnel turned on, illuminating the way forward. This happened for a series of lights down the entire tunnel, until every corner of the passage was well lit.
The train continued on until it came to yet another blast door. This one did not have arms holding the center plate, or a security checkpoint. It, instead, opened instantly for the train, clearing the way into a room where two massive lasers were running. One was already exposed when they entered, the other’s shielding was being removed by a massive robotic arm as a zebra wrote some things down on his clipboard.
The train continued through another blast door that closed behind them, sealing the room in case of a massive explosion that the lasers could cause.
“Do you have a friend or relative who would make a valuable addition to the White Mesa Team? Immediate openings are available in the areas of: materials handling, and low clearance security. Please contact White Mesa personnel for further information,” said the train as it went through yet another blast door
The train continued on as Gordon saw a large robot walking down below towards an opening door while two research team camels were walking towards a different one at the other end of the room. The train stopped for another blast door to open as Gordon watched the robot, reminded about how much had been done in just five decades. While these robots were similar to the magical constructs of the past, these were far more efficient and did not take an amazing spell caster to make.
“If you have an associate with a background in the areas of: theoretical physics, biotechnology, or other high-tech disciplines, please contact our civilian recruiting division. The White Mesa Facility is an equal opportunity employer,” the train reminded. Not that Gordon needed reminding. Almost everyone he knew worked at White Mesa.
After passing another blast door, the train reached a dead end and started descending.
“A reminder: that the White MesaHazard Course decathlon will commence this evening at 1900 hours in the Level 3 facility. The semi-finals for high security personnel will be announced in a separate secure access transmission. Remember: more lives than yours may depend on your fitness,” the train announced.
When the train stopped, it started backwards, towards a robot and green glow that Gordon could see in the distance. The train slowed down to a crawl as it passed the robot, and sped up again when it got passed. The green glow was soon found out to be a biohazard leak from a storage tower.
“A reminder to all White Mesa personnel: regular radiation and biohazard screenings are a requirement of continued employment in the White Mesa Research Facility. Missing a scheduled urinalysis or radiation checkup is grounds for immediate termination. If you feel you have been exposed to radioactive or other hazardous materials in the course of your duties, contact your radiation safety officer immediately. Work safe, work smart. Your future depends on it,” the train grimly reminded.
Two research ponies panicked at a control panel, the pool of toxic liquid almost spilling into their platform, showing Gordon exactly why he should be careful.
“Sucks to be them,” Black Jack joked.
Gordon frowned, a bit confused. Black Jack was not one to make grim jokes like that.
A beep sounded, bringing him out of his thoughts. “Now arriving at Sector C Test Labs And Control Facilities. Please stand back from the automated door, and wait for thesecurity officer to verify your identity. Before exiting the train, be sure to check your area for personal belongings. Thank you, and have a very safe and productive day,” the train said.
Gordon looked out and saw the entrance to Sector C, and the earth pony guard Gordon knew as Azure Hoof walking to the edge of a platform to get them. By the time the train had stopped, the guard was already there and ready to open the door. Gordon and Black Jack got up from their seats. Gordon waited at the door. He wanted to get down to the test chamber quick before his tardiness pissed off his co-workers even more.
“Morning, Mr. Freecolt, Mr. Jack,” the officer greeted as he put in a code to open the door.
“Looks like you're running late,” he noted as the door opened.
Gordon and Black walked out of the train as the door closed behind them and the train departed. The small walk towards the sector airlock spent in silence until Azure spoke up.
“You know, Barney has been rather scarce lately,” Azure mentioned. “Tch, guess his bar tab must’ve finally caught up with him,” he joked.
Gordon smiled. ‘Yeah, that does sound like his friend.’
They reached the airlock and Azure punched in another code to open the entrance to the airlock. Gordon and Black walked in, door closing behind them. A griffon behind bulletproof glass looked at Gordon then frowned.
“Ah, c’mon, you cut the ponytail,” he said. Referring to Gordon’s decision to cut his mane short. “Sell out,” he added.
Gordon ignored this as he and Black stood at the next door, waiting for the guard to finish putting his code in. After he was done, Gordon heard the clicks from various locks from the door, and he prepared to enter Sector C.
The door opened and Gordon walked into the lobby to the Sector as the door closed behind him. Black Jack walked past the front desk, occupied by a minotaur security officer and a unicorn research member, to the hall that connected to the rest of Sector C. Gordon walked up to the front desk as the minotaur looked up at him.
The minotaur, like most members of his race, was large compared to everyone around him, and the desk he sat at almost seemed like a toy to the hulking creature. Despite this, the minotaur security guard was just as well mannered as any other being, a fact he proved when he spoke to Gordon.
“Hey, Mr.Freecolt, I had a bunch of messages for you, but we had a system crash… I don't know, twenty minutes ago and I’m still trying to find my files,” the minotaur informed.
“Just one of those days, I guess,” he commented.
“They were also having some problems down the test chamber too, but I think that's all straightened out. They told me to make sure you headed down there as soon as you got into your hazard suit,” he added as he put his attention towards his computer screen.
Gordon nodded as he proceeded away from the desk and towards the hall Jack had walked down moments before. As he neared the end of it, Blue Shift, another member of the research team, walked around the corner and saw Gordon approaching.
“Good morning, Doctor Freecolt.” The blue stallion greeted.
Gordon nodded in responce and continued on, rounding the corner that led to a small office complex in front of him and the labs to his right. Two scientists were having a conversation nearby as Gordon walked towards a door to his left into the server room.
“Oh! Would you look at that?” a voice sounded.
Gordon turned and saw Hendrick, a griffon security guard, looking at him with a smile, while Maaz, a scientist from Saddle Arabia, looked at him with annoyance. They were joined by Violet, a zebra, who walked over from the servers.
“Freecolt actually did show up for work this morning,” Hendrick continued, looking over at Maaz.
“Looks like someone here owes me lunch,” he said as Maaz looked ever more annoyed at his lost bet.
“Good morning, Gordon,” he grumbled.
Violet found the whole thing hilarious and burst out into laughter as she walked back to the servers, displeasing Maaz.
“Shut up!” he shouted, doing nothing as Violet’s laughter died down into chuckles. Maaz simply walked away to work on one of the many panels in the room.
“Yep, yep, yep, there's a bacon pizza in my near future,” Hendrick stated, his smile the widest Gordon had ever seen on his beak.
“Yes… Hope you choke on it,” Maaz mumbled.
If Hendrick heard Maaz, he gave no indication as he continued on.
“Gonna get me one of them jumbo sized Rutta Grape Sodas. Hu, hu, hu,” he continued, clearly excited for his upcoming lunch break.
“Hu, hu, hu,” Maaz quietly mocked.
“I’m working up a mean hunger just thinking about it,” Hendrick continued, followed by his stomach growling.
“Finally, you're thinking of something,” Maaz insulted.
“Mmm-mm. Whatta Rutta,” Hendrick finished.
“Who creates these stupid drinks anyway?” Maaz wondered.
“Gordon, come see me at lunch break, I’ll get you something,” Hendrick offered, smile on his beak, while Maaz mumbled some more.
“Sure,” Gordon responded.
Maaz sighed as Hendrick opened his beak to say something more before a beep came over the announcement system.
“Doctor Freecolt, report to testing chamber, immediately,” it commanded.
“See you at lunch, doc,” Hendrick said as Gordon moved towards the door. The stallion nodding in response.
Gordon walked fast down the halls towards the locker room, where the suits were kept. Upon entering, a earth pony sitting at one of the benches fiddled with his tie.
“Why do we all have to wear these ridiculous ties?” he muttered.
Gordon walked over towards the sinks, near the restroom stalls. A green glow surrounded his horn as a piece of paper towel was ripped off the roll and the sink was turned on. After wetting the paper towel, he wiped it over his hooves, getting all of the small things that would be uncomfortable in the suit off.
“Uhh, hello? Hello? Could someone get me some toilet paper?” A voice sounded from one of the stalls.
Gordon rolled his eyes and levitated a roll of toilet paper into the stall the voice came from.
“Oh thank the gods! I am in dire need of some toilet paper,” the voice thanked.
Gordon walked over to the other side of the room, where a console stood, controlling the various items that handle storing the suit. He pressed a button, causing the glass doors to Gordon’s suit storage to open, letting pressurized air out with a hiss.
Gordon walked over to the suit, levitating all of its individual pieces to him, putting them on one by one, starting with back, and ending with the helmet. After everything was assembled, Gordon used his magic to press a small, almost invisible button on the flank of his suit. This caused his visor to light up.
Immediately, a large amount of information that only programmers would know scrolled to the left of his vision. While in the center, the suit told Gordon to standby for main systems startup.
“Welcome, to the HEV Mark 4 Protective System. For use in hazardous environmental conditions,” a computerized female voice welcomed.
“Automatic Medical Systems engaged,” the suit announced, as a display of the suit, Gordon's weight and height, and his full name came up on his right.
“High Impact Reactive Armor, activated,” the suit continued, while a list of various suit functions came up on his left, slowly changing from offline to online.
“Atmospheric Contaminant Sensors, activated.” The suit, which had been loose so far, tightened around Gordon as it auto adjusted to Gordon’s size.
“Vital Sign Monitoring, activated.” A small number came up in the bottom left corner of Gordon’s screen. A sort of ‘health bar’ so one can determine how in need of medical attention they are.
“Automatic Medical Systems, engaged.” Next to it, was a number that told the user how much energy the suit had for its reactive armor systems.
“Defensive Weapon Selection System, activated.” A list of numbers appeared at the top left of his screen, where weapons would be categorized according to size.
“Munition Level Monitoring, activated.” Another small number appeared in the bottom left part of his visor, where the suit would display how many bullets he had stored in his suit.
“Communications Interface, online.” Simply a more advanced version of the radio used across the world. Gordon had no idea why it was necessary though.
“Have a very safe day,” finished the suit, as most of the information disappeared. Leaving only the health and power meter for Gordon to see.
Gordon walked up to the two power stations in the locker room, plugging his suit in before it started drawing energy from the station. The number slowly climbed from zero as the suit was charged with energy.
“Power level is, one hundred percent,” the suit informed as Gordon finished the charge and made his way out of the locker room. Gordon kept his helmet off to ensure security members would recognize him.
“Ahh, I remember my days in the Hazardous Environment Suit,” a research member commented as he left.
Gordon walked down the long halls filled with glass windows towards the different labs of Sector C, when he came up to a glass door with a pegasus security guard named Griffon.
“Go right on though, sir,” he said upon seeing Gordon, turning around to place a Identity Card into a scanner mounted on the wall. Upon withdrawing it, the door opened and Griffon turned back around to Gordon.
“Looks like you're in the barrel today,” he added as Gordon walked into the glass airlock. The door immediately closed behind him as another in front opened. Taking a hallway to his left, Gordon passed another lab and a zebra named Mizzu.
“Greetings, Gordon Freecolt,” he said with a small bow. The standard greeting from Mizzu’s tribe.
Gordon nodded in response and continued to an elevator, which was large enough to carry the cargo that sometimes went down to the test chamber. Upon entering the elevator and pressing the “Down” button, The door to the elevator closed and it started its journey down.
The ride was short, and upon reaching the bottom, the door opened and Gordon started towards the testing chamber control room, where his colleagues would no doubt be waiting for him.
“Did you catch that last fluctuation?” a unicorn asked a earth pony working at a computer as Gordon passed.
“It’s nothing to worry about,” the earth pony dismissed.
Gordon continued through a hall, tubes containing lasers running its length, where another guard and some scientists were working. The room passed that was the room controlling the power converters for the test chamber. Some greetings were exchanged as Gordon finally made it to the control room. The door opened and Gordon entered.
The room was occupied by Isaac Kleiner, who was watching a screen at the back of the room, Black Jack, who was working on one of the control panels of the room, Pencil Pusher, who was seated at the control panel close to Gordon, and Equinox, who was holding a clipboard between his batwings next to Pencil Pusher.
Kleiner was Gordon's old professor from Canterlot University. The yellow-coated, brown-maned, glasses-wearing, earth pony stallion was a fairly standard Germane pony, aside from his pursuit of physics rather than industry. Pusher was a red-coated, orange-maned earth pony from Manehattan. And Equinox was a purple-coated, blue-maned nocturn (commonly known as bat pony) from the underground city of Nocturia.
“Ah, Gordon, there you are,” said Kleiner.
“Nice of you to finally join us, doctor,” said Pencil, a frown on his face.
“We just sent the sample down to the test chamber,” informed Kleiner.
“We boosted the Anti Mass Spectrometer to a hundred and five percent,” Equinox said, not looking up from his clipboard.
“Bit of a gamble, but we needed the extra resolution,” he admitted.
“The administrator is very concerned that we get a conclusive analysis of today’s sample. I gather he wants to impress the princess,” said Kleiner.
“They’re waiting for you, Gordon, in the test chamber,” informed Pencil, the frown growing deeper as he said it.
“Right!” said Kleiner, Pencil’s annoyance unable to put a damper on his day. “C’mon then, I’ll walk you down,” Kleiner continued, starting towards the door down to the test chamber.
Kleiner inserted a keycard attached to his lab coat into a slot next to the door, causing the scanner to start with a small hum, then confirm Kleiner’s identity with a beep and the door opening.
The two walked into the room, where three glass tubes contained reactions that gave off an impressive light show, along with various other important equipment for the device housed within the test chamber. However, none of this mattered to the two, as they were more focused on the brown-coated, black-maned stallion that stood at the end of the room.
“Greetings, Eli!” Kleiner shouted to him.
Eli looked up at Kleiner. “Morning, Izzy,” he responded.
“I trust this morning finds you well,” Kleiner stated, stopping in front of Eli with Gordon.
“Gordon, good morning,” Eli greeted with Gordon nodding in response. Eli then turned to Kleiner and his face turned grim.
“I’m glad you're here. These last minute changes, they’re a little strange to just—” Eli started, sounding worried, until an explosion caused a locker behind him fly open, with a few computer parts landing nearby.
“Woah! It's about to go critical!” shouted Eli as they ran over to the malfunctioning computer. Gordon could see a somepony turning their attention to the situation from the office above. Gordon watched with concern as Eli used all kinds of controls with his levitation, his horn glowing green as he tried to keep the computer from burning itself into slag.
“What in Tartarus is going on with our equipment?” asked Kleiner.
“It was never meant to do this in the first place,” Eli said as he sighed.
“It’s nothing we can't handle, Eli,” reassured Kleiner as he put a hoof on Eli’s shoulder, causing Eli to sigh again.
“Keep going, Gordon. We’ll be but a moment,” Kleiner told the armor-wearing stallion.
Gordon frowned and called the elevator, the door opening upon its arrival. After pressing the button on the inside, the elevator spun towards the bottom door as it descended. When Gordon arrived, the glass door opened and Gordon disembarked, his concern about the whole thing growing.
“By Nightmare’s ghost! The radiation levels are off the charts!” a scientist exclaimed as Gordon passed.
‘Don't worry, Gordon, everything will be fine. The AMS was not meant to go to one oh five percent anyways. Of course things would be breaking,’ Gordon tried to reassure himself. Though he could not shake a feeling of unease.
Gordon came up to a desk in the corner of the hall, with a white-coated security guard sitting at the desk. After briefly looking up at Gordon, the guard moved his hooves across his keyboard to type something."
“There you are! Everypony’s been looking for you, buddy,” he said as the doors into the test chamber airlocked slid up to let him through.
As Gordon walked in, the doors slid shut behind him. The two scientists inside looked up at him.
“Ah, here he is,” said the unicorn to his left. The pegasus to his right came over to stand next to the unicorn.
“I’m afraid we’ll be deviating a bit from standard analysis procedure today, Gordon,” said the pegasus, seeming nervous.
“Yes, yes, but with good reason. This is a rare opportunity for us. This is the purest sample we’ve seen yet,” said the unicorn.
“And potentially, the most unstable. This was retrieved in a firefight,” the pegasus mentioned.
“Now, as long as we follow standard insertion procedure, everything will be fine,” the unicorn assured.
“I don't know how you can say that, but I will admit, that the possibility of a resonance cascade scenario is extremely unlikely. I just don't think—” the pegasus was saying, until being cut off by the unicorn.
“Gordon doesn't need to hear all this. He’s a highly trained professional,” he said as he looked at Gordon.
“We’ve assured the administrator that nothing will go wrong.”
“...Yyyyyyes, you're right, Gordon, we have complete confidence in you.” Agreed the pegasus, some of his nervousness leaving his face.
“Well, go head. Let's let him in now,” declared the unicorn. As they both went to the sides of the door and pulled out their ID cards, Gordon put his helmet back on. After scanning the ID cards, the large blast door opened and let Gordon into the massive test chamber. Gordon walked in, the blast door closing behind him.
In front of him was a massive device, with three arms that had an assortment of expensive technology and magic enchantments on it. Above it was an even larger object hanging from the ceiling. To his left was a cage, where the sample would be delivered, and to his right was a catwalk that hung high above. Gordon started towards the ladder that led up to that catwalk when he heard the speakers turn on.
“Testing? Testing?” He heard Kleiner say, then clearing his throat.
“Alright, Gordon, your suit should keep you comfortable in all this. The specimen will be delivered in a few moments,” said Equinox as Gordon climbed the ladder, eventually reaching the top.
“Would you be so good to start the rotors, that way we can bring the Anti Mass Spectrometer to eighty percent, and hold it there, until the sample arrives,” informed the nocturn. Gordon had made his way over to the monitoring panel on the catwalk, where a green button, normally surrounded by glass was blinking. Pressing it, the whole catwalk shook slightly as the AMS started up and three arms came down from the device, holding would looked like metal barrels in their arms as they started spinning. The three arms at the bottom moved from their position to a very relaxed one outside the central point.
“Very good, we’ll take it from here,” said Equinox. As he said that, a small point lowered from the middle of the AMS, while a hum filled the room.
The barrels and point began to emit a small light as Kleiner started speaking again. “Power to state one emitters in three, two, one.” As he finished, a beam connected the point and the barrels, while the large beam shot straight down into the central point at the bottom of the AMS, bathing the entire chamber in an orange glow.
The geiger counter in Gordon’s suit started to tick, and the symbol for radiation glowed in Gordon’s visor, letting him know that it was not safe to unseal the suit at the time.
“I’m seeing predictable phase arrays,” Kleiner informed.
Gordon kept an eye on the monitoring panel, as the power meter slowly going up as his friends in the control room continued to ramp up the power of the AMS. The hum grew more intense.
“Phase two emitters activating… Now,” said Kleiner. Three new beams of orange light connected the barrels to the central point as they spun on the metal arms. The metal arms then let go of the objects and retracted up into the AMS, leaving the barrels spinning in the air. This had left Gordon in awe when he first worked with the AMS.
“Gordon, we cannot predict how long the system can operate at the level we're taking it,” warned Equinox. “Nor how long the reading will take. Please, work as quickly as you can.”
Gordon climbed down the ladder after hearing this, but that meant that he was not around to see a message pop up on the panel, warning of instability.
“Overhead capacitors to one oh five percent,” said Kleiner, as the hum grew the more intense. Gordon's geiger counter rhythmic beeping suddenly changed into a constant squeal.
‘Radiation level raising, recommend evacuate area,’ Gordon’s suit warned.
“Uuuh, it's probably not a problem, probably. But I’m seeing a small discrepancy in…” Kleiner alarmed, but backed down with his next statement. “...Well no, it's well within acceptable bounds again. Sustaining sequence.” His hesitation caused Gordon to frown.
“We’ve just been informed that the sample is ready, Gordon. It should be coming up to you at any moment. Look to the delivery system, for your specimen,” announced Equinox. As he said that, red lights started to flash on top of the cage and Gordon got next to it, waiting for the sample.
When the cart carrying the sample rose from the ground and stopped, the lights turned blue and the cage lowered, allowing Gordon to get behind it and start pushing it with his front hooves. As Gordon pushed the cart closer to the scanning field, he started to feel better. Nothing had gone too wrong, this was just a bad day. As the cart got closer, the large robotic arms lowered into the central point, ready to start scanning.
Gordon made one final push into the field, then was immediately blinded by green light as he felt a sudden force throw him towards the wall. Blinded, all he could hear was the sounds of chaos around him.
“Gordon! Get away from— Shutting down!”
Explosions blasting from above, alarms blaring, red drowned out by the green.
‘radiation levels ex— Somepony get him— Attempting shut down!”
Gordon regained his eyesight to see the power draining rapidly from his suit. The AMS scanning field causing explosions all across the chamber, the field being green instead of its normal orange, and alarms blaring.
“It's not, it's not shutting down!”
“Look out!”
Gordon looked up at the control room in time to see a massive beam of green smash into the window and cause a massive explosion inside.
“Holy shit!” screamed Gordon, fearing for his friends safety.
Gordon had more to worry about though, as he was trapped in a room with a machine blasting apart . Green orbs of light would briefly appear then disappear with a creature in their place. Cats, dogs, even the humans themselves. And those were just the creatures the Gordon could identify!
A beam of green light suddenly slammed into him. It did not hurt him though. All Gordon saw was a flash of light.
“What’s the meaning of this?!”
Gordon looked around to see a dozen humans sitting at a table, a table he was now standing on. There were humans in white on one end, some in black on the other, with others still in blue standing around the room.
“Who are you? How did you get in here?” one of the humans in black asked.
Most of the blue and black humans suddenly pulled what Gordon knew were guns and pointed them at him. Before they could fire, another green flash blinded Gordon for just a moment.
Suddenly, Gordon was back at the test chamber, with the AMS still going critical. He only had a second to observe though, as another green flash blinded him.
He was in the middle of a road and saw a large truck driving straight at him! Gordon tried to get out of the way as the driver honked its horn, but just before it hit him, another green flash blinded him.
“—The fuck?!”
Gordon was on a table, where two startled humans sat. Before Gordon could do anything, he was blinded by yet another green flash.
He was back on the table again, with the blue and black humans scanning the room, with the white ones and one black one were speaking.
“—Absolutely certain it was…” the white one was saying before they all noticed Gordon, “...a pony.”
This time, the humans did not hesitate to shoot Gordon, while the others ducked for cover. The suits powered, reactive armor did not last long. As Gordon suddenly felt explosions of pain in his chest and a leg. He was spared more shots as another flash of green filled his vision.
Unable to see and with pain leaving him immobile, Gordon blacked out.
