Half-Life/Plot summary

08:47 May 15th, 200* - Gordon Freeman is riding the train inbound from Level 3 Dormitories to Sector C Test Labs and Control Facilities. The tram’s announcement system states the Hazard Course Decathlon is planned for 19:00 in the Level 3 facility. Gordon passes the G-man, watching from another tram, and the train soon arrives at Sector C Test Labs and Control Facilities. A guard opens the door and comments that Gordon is late.

Chapter 1: “Anomalous Materials”
The guard at the front desk greets freeman, and informs him that he cannot find his messages, as a system crash about twenty minutes ago lost the files. Problems occurred in the Test Chamber too, and the guard tells Gordon to head there once he gets his suit. Gordon heads past the Anomalous Materials Labs Research area, where the G-man is having an argument with a member of the science team, and goes to the Personnel Facilities to find his suit.

He goes to the locker room and puts on the HEV Mark 4 Protective System for use in hazardous environment conditions. It has high-impact reactive armour, atmospheric contaminant sensors, vital sign monitoring, automatic medical systems, a defensive weapon selection system, munitions level monitoring and a communications interface.

Gordon then goes to the Anomalous Materials Labs Development area. Past the Ionisation Chambers he reaches the Control Room, where three scientists greet him. They inform him that they have just sent the sample down to the test chamber, and that they’ve boosted the Anti-Mass Spectrometer to 105% in order to get extra resolution, as The Administrator has insisted that the analysis of the sample be conclusive. They then send Gordon down to the test chamber. As he walks past the Plasma Cells, some equipment explodes. Eli Vance and another scientist complain that the equipment is being pushed too hard. Gordon continues down to the Test Lab Access elevator and Test Lab C-33/a.

Two scientists are waiting inside. They warn Gordon that the experiment will deviate from standard procedure. Sample GG-3883 is the most pure seen yet, and likely the most unstable. He is told that standard insertion procedure is very unlikely to cause a resonance cascade scenario. They let him into the chamber. A scientist using the announcement system tells Gordon to climb to some controls beside to start the rotors. Once the rotors are activated, the Scientists bring the device to 80% and hold it there until the carrier arrives. They power up the Stage 1 Emitters, with predictable phase arrays, and then activate the Stage 2 Emitters. Gordon is urged to work as quickly as possible. They then bring the overhead capacitors to 105%, and the scientist notes a small discrepancy. He ignores it, as it is within acceptable limits, and sustains the sequence. The scientist is then informed that the specimen is ready, and it is sent up through the delivery system. A scientist cuts in and demands to know what Gordon is doing, but the other says it’s nothing to worry about, so Gordon pushes the carrier into the Analysis Port.

A resonance cascade occurs, and arcs of electricity shoot out of the device, causing large explosions. A scientist attempts shutdown, but the machine will not shut down. An arc of electricity strikes the Control Room, and Gordon loses consciousness.

Gordon awakes on Xen, where he briefly sees some bullsquid and a hovering ameba creature. He blacks out again, and awakes in another part of Xen surrounded vortigaunts, who do not harm him. He loses consciousness.

Chapter 2: “Unforeseen Consequences”
Gordon wakes, back in the test chamber, and starts to head back up to the entrance. To Sector C. Nearly everything is destroyed, and the majority of the science team is dead. Eli Vance opens the way for him, and asks him to find help on the surface, since the cascade knocked out the phones.

Heading through the debris and avoiding headcrabs and their zombies, Gordon finds the tram entrance destroyed. He then heads through the Anomalous Materials Labs Research area, and enters the Sector B Coolant Reserve Facility. While Gordon fights the houndeyes there, the G-man watches from a balcony above.

Gordon makes his way to a lift, which takes him to the Lower Canal. Gordon makes his way across the canal and ends up at an elevator, which takes him up.

Chapter 3: “Office Complex”
The elevator brings Gordon to the basement of the Administration Sector: Sector D. After deactivating the power in the Executive lounge in order to pass some dangerous wires, Gordon heads past Dr. Newell’s Scheduled Chaos Theory R&D lab and some storage areas, and up to the first floor of the Administration Offices. After making his way past several vortigaunts, Gordon meets a scientist who reports of a secure access transmission he just heard: Soldiers have arrived at the base, and are making their way down to rescue everyone. Gordon continues on to the second floor, where there is a cafeteria. He makes his way through the vents above the cafeteria meat locker and meets a security guard, who urges him to head to the surface and find help from the marines even though the elevators are out of order.

Gordon goes up the stairs to the third floor of administration offices, where he finds an exit, an elevator and Dr. Van Buren’s Diplomatic Relations office. The exit is locked, and the G-man pauses to adjust his tie on the other side. With nowhere else to go, Gordon climbs up the elevator shaft, and up to the next floor.

Chapter 4: “We’ve Got Hostiles”
The elevator brings Gordon to a High Security Storage Facility. The nearby door to Silo D is shut, and a zombie kills the guard in the security booth that opens it. A frantic scientist cries that it is their only way out, and that ‘they’ are coming for them. Gordon follows him to green Storage Area 1, where marines have set up turrets and tripmines.

Even more traps are hidden throughout red Storage Areas 1 & 2. As Gordon evades the mines in red 2, the G-man watches from the catwalk above. Gordon encounters a marine in red 3, who opens fire on an unarmed scientist. Taking an elevator up to orange Storage Areas 1, 2 & 3, Gordon finds even more soldiers that are busy killing the science team. Past them, in orange 3, he finds a Surface Access Elevator.

The surface above the storage facility isn’t much better. It is swarming with marines, and tactical airstrikes rock the buildings. With nowhere else to go, Gordon jumps into a small bunker just as an airstrike hits. He finds himself in the Central Ventilation Access Shaft. Through the vents, Gordon enters the security booth beside Silo D. A scientist hiding there tells him that the Lambda team at the opposite end of the base might be able to end the catastrophe. The usual rail system is out, but the scientist knows of a decommissioned rail system beyond the Silo Complex. He recommends that Gordon find a way past the Rocket Test Lab, where a system of old tunnels should lead to the rail system.

Gordon hits the Silo Access switch, and heads into the Silo D complex.

Chapter 5: “Blast Pit”
Gordon takes a lift down to an area filled with radioactive waste. After crawling through some broken pipes, he reaches an elevator that brings him up to the Silo D complex.

Inside Silo D, a dying scientist tells Gordon fire the test rocket, because he must kill a huge creature ahead that is growing rapidly. Gordon makes his way to Silo D-01 of the Propulsion Lab, where the Engine Testing takes place, and finds a gigantic tentacled monster. He cannot incinerate it though, since the rocket requires a direct feed of fuel, power and oxygen.

Sneaking past the sound-sensitive tentacles, Gordon heads to the Silo D-02 Prop/Lab Power Facility and the Silo D-03 Prop/Lab Wind Tunnel.

In the Power Facility, Gordon escapes a faulty elevator and finds a scientist who informs him that Smithers went to start the generator earlier, and never returned. Climbing up to the generator, Gordon finds Smithers atop the generator, using it as a hiding place. Gordon activates the Generator and restores all power, and then returns to Silo D-01.

In Silo D-03, the Fuel Room door is locked. Gordon climbs through a sewer until he reaches the Wind Tunnel. Going through the vents above the Wind Tunnel, he reaches the Fuel Room and activates the fuel and oxygen pumps, and then returns to Silo D-01.

With the rocket ready, Gordon hits the Test Fire switch, and incinerates the tentacle plant. He crawls down the large tunnel where it had taken root, and finds himself back down in the radioactive waste area below the Propulsion Labs. While crawling through more pipes, one collapses. Gordon lands in a room adjacent to the decommissioned rail system.

Chapter 6: “Power Up”
A gargantua is in the middle of the track turntable, firing its flame-throwers at some marines. The G-man watches from a Track Control booth nearby. Running out of the room and past some vortigaunts, Gordon reaches the booth, where an injured security guard tells him that the train in the turntable room will take him straight to the surface once the Power Generator is on. Gordon heads to the power generator, encountering a large group of marines who were using the area as a staging point. Gordon repairs Unit 1, activates the Power Generator, and runs past the garg’s location to turn on the Main Power. While he is lining up the train in the Track Control booth, the guard tells him to go on ahead without him. Gordon activates the train and plows it through the barrier that was blocking the tunnel out.

Chapter 7: “On A Rail”
Gordon greets a security guard who was sent to wait for him. The guard relays a message from another scientist: Gordon must take the rail system until he reaches a satellite delivery rocket that the Lambda team needs in orbit in order to clean up the mess. The military aborted the launch, so Gordon must go up to the Control Room and launch it himself.

Gordon continues down the track labeled ‘2’ in search of the rocket. Heading upwards, Gordon takes the train past the bottom of the rocket, and many aliens. Encountering marines at a train lift, Gordon fights past them while they are engaged in a large battle against a force of vortigaunts and an area where the marines have set up a variety of fortifications to stop him. Eventually, after passing the rocket again, he ends up at another train lift, which takes him further along the rails.

He soon arrives at the Sector E Mat. Trans. B, and leaves his train, climbing down to Mat. Trans. A. The rocket is a short ways away, and Gordon soon makes his way to the Control Room. A holographic display tells him the status of the Satellite Portal Array: Off-line. Gordon launches the Satellite Delivery Rocket, and continues onwards into Sector E, where he finds another train, and continues on his way. He fights through a large-scale battle between vortigaunts and marines in the rail system, until he reaches the rocket command center. After launching the rocket, he finds the path further up is open. Gordon heads further into Sector E on a new train.

Chapter 8: “Apprehension”
The rails ahead are broken, and the train tunnel is blocked, forcing the new train to derail. Gordon is forced to fall into a large derelict area that has been flooded and is filled with alien leeches. After moving through the flooded hallways, Gordon encounters another makeshift tank containing a Xenotherus Icthycanthus, A.K.A. the ichthyosaur. The scientist in the room above says that he was told that the ichthyosaur was found in the challenger deep, but he is convinced that the icthy has only arrived on Earth a week ago.

Past the first icthy, there are another two of them in a separate tank. Gordon passes them, and reaches a Generator Room, where the G-man briefly watches him fight some bullsquid. Past it, he finds a scientist who has locked himself in an airlock in order to hide from a group of vortigaunts. He tells Gordon that both the science team and the military have been using the Black Mesa Security System to monitor his progress, as the HEV suit is full of tracking devices. In order to reach the Lambda complex, the scientist recommends traveling through the older industrial areas where the security system is patchy. The airlock connects to an extremely cold freezer room that drains the power from Gordon’s suit. Climbing down through a hatch, he leaves the freezer and soon runs into a security guard who has a message for Gordon. Before the message can be delivered though, black ops assassins shoot the guard in the back. The assassins are guarding a surface access point. Gordon fights past them, and opens the door to the surface. As he walks in, he is ambushed and knocked unconscious by two grunts. Deciding to kill Gordon instead of taking him in for questioning, the marines drag him to a trash compactor. Later, Gordon wakes up weaponless and escapes the compactor before he is crushed. Finding a crowbar, he breaks into the drainage pipe leading out of the device.

Chapter 9: “Residue Processing”
The pipe leads to the surface, but sheer cliffs and the wall of a large building border the area. Gordon climbs into the large water tank alongside the building, and follows the pipe that takes him inside.

The building is a hazardous waste processing facility, and Gordon is in an Observation/Maintenance Area, filled with tanks of biohazardous liquid and chunks of organic matter. With the doors locked, Gordon has no choice but to go through the processing system. Taking the pipes through the tanks, he ends up in a system of conveyor belts. Dodging all the crushing and mixing machinery, Gordon eventually finds a ladder that leads up and out of the facility.

Chapter 10: “Questionable Ethics”
Gordon climbs out of the drain, and into a kennel for houndeyes. Moving on, he finds an alien grunt trapped in a tubular pod, and some caged headcrabs being used to test a powerful beam. Past these cages, Gordon meets a security guard, who tells him that the exit ahead is sealed, and the only way out is to find a scientist with retinal scanner access. Gordon also meets some marines who have stationed themselves throughout the building. Gordon passes the locked exit in the lobby. The floor is emblazoned with the motto: Superbus Via Inscientae. Heading back to the labs, he finds more caged headcrabs, and a nest of snarks. Past more marines, there are more captured grunts, captured headcrabs and a locked surgery room. Moving on to the laser test labs on the next floor, Gordon activates the four Aux. Lasers, and uses them to power the main laser, which blasts through the wall. Gordon makes his way to the bottom of the large chamber he has opened, and finds that he is in the surgery room. Three scientists are there, and they all have scanner access, but the surgical unit that Peters switched on is blocking the exit. Gordon deactivates the device and leads a scientist to the retinal scanner. The scientist lets Gordon out, but warns him that the surface is completely under military control, and that the remaining members of the science team are all stationed in the Lambda Complex. The scientist leaves to give the Lambda team advance notice of Gordon’s arrival, and Gordon heads out the revolving door.

Chapter 11: “Surface Tension”
Past the marines guarding the building, Gordon arrives at a dam. Avoiding a gun turret and an apache helicopter, Gordon jumps into the water and swims past an Ichthyosaur to reach the Turbine Control booth. Shutting down the turbines, Gordon heads through the pipes to the other side of the dam, where he finds some pipes at the end of the valley.

The pipes lead to a reservoir, and an area of rocky desert. Gordon makes his way past more marines, an apache and a tentacle embedded in the sand. Opening the Storm Drain Hatch, Gordon makes his way through a minefield until he reaches the storm drain. He climbs in.

The Storm Drainpipe juts out of the side of a huge cliff. Gordon scales the cliff, fighting past the military forces there, and climbs up to another pipe. The pipe leads up to a drainage basin underneath a small system of roads. The area is heavily fortified with marine forces, including a tank. Past them, Gordon continues down the only open road until he reaches an Ordinance Storage Facility. Past snipers and an alien ship being chased by a fighter jet, Gordon climbs to the top of the building, and jumps down a hole blasted in the roof. There is a scientist in the room where he lands. The scientist was also on his way to the Lambda Complex, but could not pass the tripmine-laden facility. There are two nuclear missiles in the center of the facility, and detonating any one mine would cause a chain-reaction and set everything off. Avoiding the mines, Gordon reaches an elevator that leads him down to the basement of the facility.

In the basement, Gordon finds a hivehand weapon that the alien grunts use, and a security guard being chased by marines. A small road leads out of the garage and to more bombed-out buildings. The alien ship drops off more grunts, and is chased away by the jet. Climbing through the buildings, Gordon soon reaches the helicopter refueling pads and Loading Bay of Hangar 16. Through more destroyed vehicle bays and other ruined buildings, and the widespread conflict between the grunts, vortigaunts and marines, Gordon finds a guard who opens the way to a car park. Running past the garg in the car park, Gordon ends up in the outdoor Black Mesa Waste Processing Area 3. Jumping to the top of a water tower there, Gordon finds a dead marine beside a radio and a tactical map. The officer on the other end of the radio tells Cooper to mark his last bomb targets and get below ground. The marines are pulling out, and are about to commence wide-scale airstrikes. Gordon uses the tactical map to trick the military jets into blowing the exit open. As more bombs begin to fall, Gordon heads back underground, finding himself in the Lambda Complex’s entrance.

Chapter 12: “Forget About Freeman”
Dodging the falling rubble, Gordon ends up in CenCom Bay 3. Another radio left by the marines announces that they are cutting their losses and pulling out. Past the broken Black Mesa Central Complex access elevator, Gordon fights past grunts, vortigaunts and alien tripmines filled with snarks. All the doors into the Lambda Complex are sealed, so Gordon climbs into an access port, and heads further underground.

Climbing out through the West water tunnels, Gordon finds some last marines who were left behind guarding an entrance to the Black Mesa Central Complex. After taking the elevator down, Gordon passes a leaking nuclear power station, and encounters some grunts and marines fighting each other in a Mechanized Infantry Repair Bay. Using the a tank there to blast through the doors, Gordon fights past several waves of grunts and vortigaunts, as well as a stationary turret they have set up.

Chapter 13: “Lambda Core”
Gordon enters the Lambda Reactor Complex, and takes an elevator down to the Hazardous Materials Handling Bays. Gordon fights past the black ops in Hazardous Materials Bay A, and takes the elevator down to Hazardous Materials Bay B. Once he has killed all of the alien grunts in Bay B, a scientist opens the door.

This is the last entrance to the Lambda Complex. The rest have been sealed off. The scientist was sent down to open the way when the Lambda team realised that Gordon was actually going to make it. The other scientists are waiting at the tip of the Lambda Reactor. The reactor is shut down, but Gordon can activate it on the way up. He’ll have to flood the core anyway, if he wants to make it up to the teleportation labs. The scientist opens the way, and Gordon past the Test Firing Lab, where a Weapons Research scientist has developed the Gluon Gun, and takes the elevator down to the Lambda Reactor Main Coolant System. In a Maintenance Station, a scientist tells Gordon that he’ll need to activate the pumps in Coolant Systems 01 and 02 in order to flood the reactor, and then a Maintenance Access pipe in the Aux. Tank Reactor Access room will take him the core. In Coolant System 01, Gordon fights past the grunts guarding Coolant tank 01, and heads up to Pump Station 01. He activates the pump, and fills the tank. He does the same in the barnacle-infested Coolant System 02.

With everything active, Gordon heads to the Aux. Tank, through the Maintenance Access pipe and into the Lambda Reactor Core. In the core, Gordon turns on the flow from Coolant Systems 01 and 02, and swims up into the room above. Leaving the Core, he ends up on Lambda Reactor Core Level D. Past Supply closet D-301, Gordon climbs up a broken elevator to the first floor of Lambda Reactor Core Level B. Past Supply closet B-101, Gordon can see the G-man stepping into a teleportation portal while the nearby headcrabs ignore him. Going past the labs and sealed areas of Level B, Gordon reaches Level B of the Core.

A teleportation portal is open in front of him, and he uses it to teleport into the core itself. Three numbered ports lead into the portals inside the centre of the core. Port 01 would take him to the high-radiation area where the G-man was: room B-103. Port 03 would bring him to a supply room beneath room B-104. Gordon goes into Port 02, which takes him to the floor 2 of the Level B section of Core.

Again, there are three ports. Port 05 would lead to three scientists hiding in a room filled with supplies on the floor above Supply room B-101. Port 06 would briefly take Gordon to another high-radiation area on Level B. Gordon enters Port 04, and appears on floor 3 of the Level B section of Core.

Once more, there are three ports. Port 09 is malfunctioning, and jumping in would mean certain death. Port 08 leads to an observation booth on the first floor of Level D, where there is a quick stop for supplies and some vortigaunts. Gordon chooses Port 07. It takes him to Lambda Reactor Core Level C.

Opening doors 01 and 02 on the Level C core, Gordon jumps in, and appears at a door that leads out of the Core on the third floor of Level B. He climbs up a ladder to Lambda Reactor Core Level A.

He finds a security guard and a scientist waiting for him in a Supply Depot for the first survey team sent to Xen. They collected many specimens from the ‘border world’ and brought them back to Earth, until the survey team itself began to be collected. The Lambda team theorises that there is an immense portal in Xen, created through the intense concentration of a single power being. Gordon is sent to kill it, hopefully closing the huge portal before the invasion spreads. The scientist’s colleague is waiting at the Main Portal Controls, and will open the gates. Before Gordon goes, the scientist gives him a Long-Jump module, created specifically for navigating Xen, as Gordon has hopefully received Long-Jump training. Gordon takes the module, and heads to the Main Portal at Level A of the core.

The scientist at the Main Portal Controls greets Gordon, and he is soon ready to open the portal. He warns that the process is tricky, and that he must not be interrupted or he will have to start all over again. He will tell Gordon when it is safe to jump into the beam.

Alien controllers begin to warp in once the sequence has started, but the sequence is almost complete, and the scientist tells Gordon to get into position. Gordon is told to hurry, and he jumps into the portal.

Chapter 14: “Xen”
Gordon appears on a strange organic asteroid floating in the middle of a nebula in Xen. Nihilanth can be heard speaking to him: “Not another.” Gordon jumps past a deceased survey team member, houndeyes and the vortigaunts that warp in, down to the rocks rotating around the three huge spires and into the centre of the larger rock. Past the houndeyes and the beam-firing objects hanging from the ceiling, Gordon finds a cave that contains an alien teleportation device. Placing yellow crystals into three pedestals, Gordon powers up the machine and steps inside.

Chapter 15: “Gonarch’s Lair”
Gordon appears in front of a large shelled creature called gonarch that constantly spews baby headcrabs. Avoiding its toxic spray and sharp legs, Gordon manages to drive the gonarch back into another area. Fighting it there, he is once again able to chase it away, down into a cave in the rock. Following it down, Gordon kills the gonarch, and it explodes, leaving a large hole in the floor, where a pool of teleport energy lies. Gordon jumps in.

Chapter 16: “Interloper”
Gordon now appears on another large asteroid. A Nihilanth asks “Done, what have you done?”. Controllers are hovering above and alien ships continually warp in, drop off vortigaunts or fire beams at the ground, and leave by the portal device floating in the air. Again, rocks orbit around large spires jutting from the rock. Large mouth-like holes in the ground are ready to swallow Freeman and spit him far too high into the air. A cave in the hill nearby leads down to a mouth-like cave that shoots corrosive gas at those trapped inside it’s jaws, and the base of a spire that retracts into the ground and back up again, acting as a makeshift elevator. Using the features in the terrain, Gordon jumps onto the back of a passing ship, and rides to the portal in the air. He jumps in.

Gordon arrives in broken portal inside a cave. Nihilanth’s voice is heard again: “Lie, you all lie, you all die.” This asteroid is in a new area of Xen. It is cloudy, and there are two suns. Grunts stand at the top of two caves, ready to call in a ship and drop off reinforcements when they spot Gordon. Vortigaunts work around two devices that continually push cylinders into the ground, ignoring Gordon if the alarm has not sounded. Past them and a tentacle creature, in a large cave, a gargantua smashes through the rocks. Gordon gets past the garg, and jumps over a pit into the next area. A ship flies past as Gordon gets by three more tentacles. Beyond some additional grunts, there is another portal device. He steps in.

Gordon finds himself in an out-of order area of an alien facility. “Alone, aren’t you alone? Aren’t you alone?” asks Nihilanth. Out of that area, a large group of vortigaunts is working on machinery that pushes barrel-like pods containing grunts around on conveyors. The packaged grunts are pushed through fields of energy, and drooped into vats of strange liquid. Again, the vortigaunts do not attack Gordon unless they are threatened. Climbing through the machinery, Gordon reaches the conveyors, and jumps into the next room, avoiding a vat. More packaged grunts are stored here, and some are being pushed through more fields on conveyors, and shot with a green beam. Gordon passes the controllers and more vortigaunts, who are now alert and violent. He finds a vent-like passage, and crawls through it, into a large chamber.

The chamber is one large hollow tube. Several spinning elevators take him up, past more vortigaunts, controllers and packaged grunts. At the top of the chamber, a wheel spins in the air. In the middle, there is a portal. Gordon takes an elevator up, and jumps in.

Gordon appears in an area with no sky. Several scattered asteroids lead to a large, ornate portal. Nihilanth says: “Last, I am the last.” As Gordon steps up to the portal, voices of scientists back at Black Mesa can be heard in the noise, repeating things said in the past, back when the resonance cascade had first occurred. Gordon steps into the bright red portal.

Chapter 17: “Nihilanth”
Gordon appears on a pedestal in front of Nihilanth, a giant alien that has the appearance of a controller, as it has a third arm grafted to its chest. Like a controller, its head is disproportionately large, and can unfold to reveal the energy inside. Nihilanth fires a barrage of powerful balls of electricity and several portals at Gordon.

When the portals hit, Gordon first finds himself falling from a portal at the top of a tall cylindrical room with small platforms and controllers warping in. Nihilanth can be again heard asking: “Alone, aren’t you alone? Aren’t you alone?” Gordon climbs back up, and warps back to Nihilanth’s chamber.

Second, Gordon is taken away to a chamber filled with controllers. Chunks of matter are continuously produced from stalactites nearby, and they float up to a portal attached to the ceiling. “The truth, you can never know the truth.” Nihilanth says. Gordon grabs one of the chunks, and floats up to the portal, and back into Nihilanth’s chamber.

The third time, Nihilanth is heard to say, “Disease, you are a disease,” as Gordon is dropped into a room filled with vortigaunts and pools of liquid. The pools all lead down to an underground lake patrolled by an ichthyosaur. The portal that dropped Gordon is attached to the ceiling. He jumps up, into it, and back to Nihilanth’s chamber.

The fourth time, Gordon is returned to the ichthyosaur chamber, only there is a gargantua patrolling the room. “Die, now you will die,” Nihilanth calls. Fighting past the garg, Gordon warps out as before. After this, Nihilanth gives up on teleportation.

Gordon’s attacks are useless, as three huge crystals in the room supply Nihilanth with glowing orbs of power that form a halo around its head and fuel its strength. After blowing up the crystals, Gordon fires constantly at the creature, and watches the orbs around its head become used up one by one, until none are left. Nihilanth is now only able to fire a single ball of power periodically, and the petals around its brain hang open. Jumping up, and taking one last shot directly into the mass of energy around its brain, Gordon watches Nihilanth convulse and shake, while portals fly from his skull. Gordon is struck by the energy, and blacks out.

Gordon wakes up on Xen, with the G-man standing over him. The sky is strange, with giant microbe-like structures filling the distant atmosphere. The G-man has removed Gordon’s weapons, but has allowed him to keep his suit. Gordon is then taken to a former battlefield. Dead marines, derelict tanks and a crashed jet are caught in the desert sand. The sky above is that of Xen though, with the giant microbe structures visible in the distance. The G-man says that the border world, Xen, is ‘in our control, for the time being,’ thanks to Gordon. Gordon is taken to another part of Xen, with more microbe structures. Peaceful alien birds fly past the large rocky bridges. The G-man says that he has recommended Gordon’s services to his employers, and they have authorised him to offer Gordon a job, as they agree that Gordon has limitless potential. Gordon is finally taken to a Black Mesa tram, floating in space. The G-man opens a portal, saying that Gordon should step into it if he accepts the offer. If he does not, he will be sent to fight a battle he cannot win. Gordon steps into the portal, and his vision goes black. The G-man says that he will see him up ahead.

Half-Life ends.