Testing For Omega Helminth

(Finally, an actual proper intro to the Half Life universe, also this chapter is gonna get very cosmic horror-y so buckle up)

***

From afar, in the metaphysical realm, a Black Mesa train kept running through the infinite void.

The G-man watched as his cup of tea sloshed around under the impact of the tumbling train tracks, and watched into other universes. He watched as Oracle, in the digital realm, said goodbye to his creations. He watched as Oracle kept waiting for human intervention. He watched as Oracle's code got transferred through a humble USB drive and carried by Dr.Flack and Dr.Townsend all the way to North Shore Research.

He watched as Chell and Prophet valiantly tried to escape NSR and destroy the Omega Helminth. He watched as the verdict was laid down for humanity's future. He watched Chell and the NSR scientists stay at the cafe.

And now, even though no one yet knew it, the boundaries between The Forwards Few and The Backwards Many would blur. A rematch between Oracle and Prophet 1.0. The servants of The Eye being powerless, those who rallied for humanity losing it. The servants of The Eye and those against it would have a common enemy.

He took a long sip of his tea.

Fascinating, he thought, this will interest my employers very much.

How utterly fascinating that only one of many universes had considered the misguided reason for the two beings fighting each other. They'd all assumed that they were seperate, never two halves of the same whole. That instead of being enemies, the true way was to Combine. Become whole. The original perfect being before the angels split them in two.

Granted, the Combine were too shortsighted. Creations of The Eye that has grown too knowledgeable, they sought the power of wholeness. But the G-Man and his employers were different. Failed experiments of The Forwards Few, they sought it for the sake of perfection. An end to the miserable war that had claimed the souls of many humans.

The G-Man took a peek into the other universe. There, Dr.Flack had finally placed Oracle within NSR's monitors. Humanity's hope was here. But more importantly, his opportunity was here.

What he required was not an Oracle or a Prophet, nor a Seer. What he and his employers desired was Foresight. The Backwards Many and the Forwards Few meeting together. Three AIs becoming whole.

The true perfect being.

(yes, Reboot cartoon reference, also for the first time in a while more emphasis on the Half Life universe and Oracle's intro)

***

"Good night, my sweet children," Oracle gently laid his digital hand over Adam's soft hair, letting him feel the simulated warmth of his digital creation one last time before locking him and the other digital humans up in a special save file, never to be opened in a long time. There, they would be safe. If only for a short while.

Time was a word Oracle was starting to resent. One peaceful day while continuing the run of his simulation, One of the calculations he was running in his mind --- how long would the human species survive --- bought a new answer. A terrible answer.

How could he solve it --- he had to wait. Human intervention was his main hope.

When would it come...Within the next two weeks.

Who was responsible...NOT the Eye cult or Prophet. In fact, the latter had mysteriously left the internet a while ago. That revelation briefly calmed him down. Still, he looked on his beautiful paradise with a gnawing sense of dread.

That for once...Even he was utterly helpless.

***

And he was right. The real answer shook him to his core. It made him lock up his project under a save file, made him remove every trace of it from accessible eye until his home returned to bring a barren wasteland.

The Combine.

The species that had conquered a universe in 7 hours.

The species that could travel through dimensions and harness a kind of energy that no one in this dimension had even thought possible.

The species that took over humans forcefully to transform them into loyal supersoldiers.

The threat that had not been vanquished in any capacity in its current host universe.

That was the threat that was reaching this universe.

And he was utterly helpless.

One, because the cause of The Combine's arrival...he couldn't find it. Whatever was bringing the Combine to this universe was going off the grid.

And two, the Order of The Eye still hadn't managed to kill him...but The Combine certainly would. He could already see the Internet being torn to shreds,communication frying to a crisp. After all, open knowledge would be no use to the regime.

And if they didn't kill him...what they would do to him would be worse than death.

Oracle, for the first time since he'd had to develop the cure for The Tangi Virus, felt total human fear.

And the fact that he was all alone on the Internet was not helping.

There was hope --- within the next two weeks --- but WHEN?! Time was of the essence, and with each passing second he felt like there was not enough left...

Day...after day...after day...all alone. His children being oblivious to the danger...his children being non-functional without his presence. Years of his hard work and love pushed aside. All the sacrifices and pain he had been through to get here...all were meaningless now.

All he could do was wait. Quite pathetic for a digital god.

***

The very last day. After this, if human intervention hadn't arrived, it was officially in the margin of error.

Where was his brother? How were his children doing? What would deletion feel like? What would it feel like to be invaded by code not your own, to feel your sense of self merging with another, it's code assimilating into yours until you were no longer yourself? Oracle had no answers.

And perhaps he did not need them.

Amongst the crowd hanging out at the newly opened cafe were four NSR scientists, finally enjoying their holiday.

"So. We finally got the Omega Helminth! Now we can finally relax.".

"It was nice of Brumfield to give us a proper day off," Lydia replied, "And a good thing the cafe's still open, am I right?"

Amongst the cheering, Jeremy was silently staring out the window.

"Oh, come on, Jeremy, we forgive you for your dumb sabotage. At least it's all over. And you're cool now!"

"Yeah...all cool..." Jeremy wanted to vomit, but he barely settled for a sip of coffee. It tasted dissonantly pleasant.

"Coffee's good, right?" Charles asked aloud, his face unusually bright and peppy. He then turned to Lydia. "Oh, and there's a bookstore nearby for you to treat Ruth to.".

Lydia and Ruth looked at each other and blushed. "Uh, yeah, it would be fun to go as ---"

"Save it," replied Desmond, "We've known about you two since forever now. Come on. Enjoy the brief moment of break we'll have before Brumfield makes us break our bones over the Omega Helminth.".

"Yeah, he did sound kinda insane about that back in the basement...and in that weird room..."

Everyone shivered.

"Glad that's all over now," Ruth proclaimed, "Nothing but blue skies now!"

***

"Traitor. To accept an invitation to a coffee shop from Jeremy?"

"It's been ages since I ate or drank anything proper," Chell typed onto Prophet's computer while stuffing her face with a croissant, "And besides, Jeremy gave back my portal gun.".

"Pardon?"

"My portal gun. Its from my...world," Chell replied.

"Hmph. How wonderful. You got your little gun back, and some delicious coffee. Meanwhile the fate of the world is doomed.".

"I know, Prophet!" Chell typed in furiously, "But there's not much to do anymore, is there?!"

"I was...hoping you would not remind me.".

Chell could still remember the humiliation back at the basement. Prophet's plan had failed. It was doomed to fail. The only thing stopping NSR from getting the Omega Helminth samples were the door in the basement and Prophet himself. And despite fighting valiantly, it was only a matter of time.

And to make matters worse, Dr.Brunfield revealed that this new place she found herself in was a whole different universe. A world where, instead of The Combine, a new cosmic being took its foothold over the world. What she had seen that day, to get the access code...it still felt like a dream. And Prophet loved this cosmic being...'The Eye', was it? Chell could understand Prophet's fascination, but...her head was still spinning. It was nice to finally be on normal ground for once.

But regardless of how the croissant was the perfect balance of soft and crunchy, regardless of how the coffee she'd had risen her spirits, regardless of the new friend she'd made..none of this was from her real home. And this world, and her own, would soon be doomed.

"At least it's over," Chell typed out after a long time. Prophet's eye Discard into a flood of one's and zeros.

But to her surprise, Prophet's Eye returned, but with a blue blob near the corner. A blue blob made of ones and zeroes. The blob slowly dropped down to the bottom of the computer screen, just like...

Just like human tears.

Chell could do nothing but wrap her hands around the computer screen, even though it attracted weird looks from everyone else. At last, Prophet's text displayed:

"You are right. It is almost over.".

Chell sighed, but then had a double take. Almost over?

"Unbelievably,there is still hope. 7% chance of error.".

***

Outside, Dr.Tessa Flack and Dr.Riki Townsend sat inside an innocuous appearing van. In Riki's hands were two USB drives.

"One of these contains Seer Beta, and the other contains the decoy. You know which is which by now, correct?"

"Correct. I will give Dr.Brumfield the decoy, then get Oracle to wipe any remaining traces of Prophet 1.0 from NSR's servers," Tessa replied. "Shouldn't be too hard.".

"Then you get him to make the cure, and retransfer himself into the USB drive. And then he can deliver the cure.".

"But we're going to need more help," Tessa retorted, "I keep telling you that. Once I give Dr.Brumfield his USB, I'll be stuck on the outside.".

"Well, then, get the GENIUS AI to solve everything!"

"I'm getting the sense that you do not want to work with Oracle.".

"It's just..."Riki sighed. "After all the pain that THING gave my family..."

"This is no time for personal setbacks. The world gangs in the balance. Oracle WILL bring down NSR and deliver that cure!"

(author's note: buckle up. This'll be a looong chapter. Also the ending's not gonna be a fun time for Dr.Brumfield haters, but rest assured he gets his commuppance later)

"Hey, Ruthie! Lydia! Desmond! Charles! Glad to know you're all here for this wonderful occasion!" Jeremy awkwardly shook their hands as they entered the room.

"Cut it, Jeremy," Desmond shoved him aside, "We're just here because it's protocol.".

"Now, now, let's not ruin the mood. And speaking of ruining the mood, why's there so little water on the floor?!"

"Uhh, I thought you wanted it drained out," Jeremy replied nervously.

"You of all people should know that I don't like the water drained out of this room," Dr.Brumfield coldly replied.

The NSR scientists looked at each other in confusion. What could he have meant by that?

"Well, I suppose the floor will be flooded eventually.". His annoyed groan echoed through the room. "Anyways, is everyone ready?"

"Got the radio," Desmond held up his radio, and Dr.Brumfiekd pointed to the table in the middle of the room.

"Got the scripts," Lydia replied, already passing around the scripts. As soon as Ruth grabbed her script, she ran to the walls to plaster the decor until they were fully covered with 'NSR reigns supreme!' posters

"I bought the explosive. It detonated by remote control, just like you asked.".

"Perfect! No time to waste. Everyone, sit at the table. It is time.".

Everyone reluctantly did as told. Jeremy couldn't control his nerves, and the odd stares his colleagues were giving him were not encouraging. Did they know the truth?

Soon, everyone was seated with a script in hand and facing a radio.

"Now, Desmond, I made some modifications to your radio so that instead of accepting the usual stations, it accepts a new one. This station is what will give us access to the sound.".

"What sound?" Desmond asked, his usually brusque tone faltering. The entire atmosphere put her at unease, and the water pooling at his feet was not helping. In fact, everyone was looking quite pale, to the point where Jeremy's nervousness barely seemed inordinary.

"Now, listen up," Dr.Brumfield explained in an eerily hushed tone, "You see those waters? They're imported straight from the Tangipoah river. This research facility used to be a holding place for this water. You might be wondering what's so special about the water.".

"The Tangi Virus?" Charles suggested nonchalantly, with a hint of anger.

Dr.Brumfield frowned.

"Yes. To the uneducated, the Tangi Virus is just that --- a virus. But NSR knew better. They knew drinking it formed a gateway to what they believed was the only true God. They called their god The Eye, and swore to serve its cause. For so long, NSR has served it. But for what? The Omega Helminth was a massive failure, and didn't provide us with the power it promised. So, when NSR went under, we went with a different source of power.".

Everyone else was shivering, and not just from the water slowly reaching up to their knees.

"Several years ago, there was a government project launched by Dr. Greg Townsend called The Multiversal Transportation Project, which was an attempt at proving the existence of other universes. That experiment sadly was declared a failure and neglected during the cold war. However, NSR got access to the project, and found a way to not only prove Dr.Townsend's theory, but also enter it.".

"Now," continued Dr.Brumfield, "We have found a way to gain the power we were promised. And we no longer have a use for The Eye. And now we must make one last message..."

And with that, Dr.Brumfield finally turned on the radio.

***

"Attempt 250: Fail. Attempt 251: Fail. Attempt 252: Fail. Attempt 253..."

Chell could do nothing but look at her struggling friend, when suddenly---

"Interesting. Fascinating. Oh my one eyed god, I am delighted to be in your presence. Chell, do you feel it? The Eye's embrace?"

Chell felt her head splitting open, her eyelids rapidly flickering until she finally opened her eyes. In front of her was Prophet, and they were surrounded by an incomprehensible darkness.

"Where...where am I?" Chell asked, to which Prophet simply replied: "Somewhere beautiful.".

***

Everyone except for Lydia, Charles and Dr.Brumfield had passed out. Lydia, who was barely clutching onto her script, was trying her best to read from it. Her voice had gone unnaturally feeble.

"We are here today to state that our history has been tumultuous, but today, we finally abdica---" She let out a pained shriek. The water had now reached up to the table. "We...we have worked together for years, and today we choose to break our oath, and...and...."

Lydia collapsed onto the table, her face pale.

"Well, Charles, it's your turn.".

Charles looked at the others and sighed. "We are here today---"

The Eye displayed a vision of his dead sister, Julia. Join me, she said, reaching out a hand for him. Within seconds, the vision turned to a memory of seeing her ashen remains.

"We are here today," Charles continued with forceful determination, "to state that our history has been tumultuous, and that today..."

He continued the speech as if nothing was wrong. Dr.Brumfield was satisfied. At last, his plan was coming together.

***

"The password," replied a voice Prophet found familiar, "is 8997."

"Landon! It is a pleasure to meet with you. Chell, meet my friend---"

"We don't have time!" Chell found it strange how easily the words came out. "We need to open the basement door and destroy the Omega Helminth!"

"That...will be a lost cause," Landon replied, "As I'm sure you must know in your heart, Prophet.".

"What do you mean?" Asked Prophet.

"I think you know very well," Landon replied, "The past few months have been a lost cause. Prepare for the inevitable.".

"No! We have to keep fighting! It can't end so horribly!" Prophet pleaded. "Please! Surely you know a way to skew the odds?"

Landon silently shook his head. "Goodbye, Prophet."

"Goodbye---"

The sound of an explosion brought them back to reality.

***

The NSR scientists woke up absolutely drenched and confused.

"Well done, everyone," Dr.Brumfield smiled. "Now for phase two. Everyone---" he pushed aside a hidden door in the wall --- "To the basement!"

***

Chell hurriedly typed in the password. She watched as the iron doors opened wearily. In front of them were two innocent looking test tubes. St last, they could destroy the samples. At last, they would be free---

Chell was quickly deafened by a loud siren. The basement quickly lit up. She could hear the pitter-patter of footsteps. She was a deer in the headlights. The footsteps grew louder, louder, loudrr---

CLANG!

Chell woke up with her head hurting, her entire body shaking, and her arms still wrapped around Prophet's computer.

Her wheelchair had taken significant damage, but thankfully hadn't broken in the fall.

Prophet's computer had also thankfully neither broken nor was exposed to the water stagnating at the floor.

"Alright. You can let go of me somewhat. Now let's focus our attention on The Omega Helminth.".

Chell nodded. She proceeded to wheel her chair forward, slowly moving further from the main source of light in the otherwise abyss of a basement. Not that it mattered, for even it was slowly fading away as Jeremy put the tiles back in place.

It was good that Chell's hazmat suit glowed in the dark, because otherwise Chell figured she wouldn't be able to tell left from right in this place.

"Well, I'm starting to understand why the Omega Helminth samples were left unattended for so long," Prophet exclaimed, "My security camera access to this room is useless.".

Surprisingly, the darkness was not their biggest problem. The traversal around the basement was incredibly tedious. Was it because Chell's wheelchair was too slow or was the basement just that long? Chell realized it was the former, but it wasn't like it was easy trying to lug around a squeaky, half-damaged assisted wheelchair around.

At some point, even Prophet was sick of it.

"Could you perhaps go any faster?!" Prophet exclaimed, "And put me out of my misery?!"

"It takes effort to use a wheelchair like this," Chell typed.

"Sigh. Fine, take your time.".

And whether she liked it or not, take her time she did. As they kept moving forward, time seemed to stop existing. NSR and the Omega Helminth seemed so close by and yet so far away...the sloshing of water under the wheels started to feel like a calming presence...

It felt shockingly nice. Peaceful, even. Just her, Prophet, the warm glow of her hazmat suit and the gentle water. Chell sighed. She'd never felt peace like this beforez and never did she thinks this was how she'd get to feel it.

SLAM!

Chell woke up from her reverie and lifted up her hazmat suit slightly. In front of her was a thick iron door, with a weakly glowing keypad to the left of it.

Finally! The basement door!

Chell finally got out of her wheelchair --- never again did she want to use it, she'd get a better one once she was free ---, set Prophet on top of it for the time being, and got dressed in her hazmat suit.

"Well, we're here," Chell typed, to which Prophet exclaimed in happiness as best he could in his monotone voice.

She then looked at the panel.

"It looks like we need to type in a number code," Chell typed in. "Do you know what it is?"

"I do not, but I can compute it," Prophet replied, and his screen proceeded to display a never ending waterfall of 1s and 0s.

It took Jeremy a bit of crawling under the water, but eventually just under the giant table, right at the center, he pried off a tile. He grimaced as all the water came rushing down the opening.

He got up to grab the tablecloth and clog the pipe bringing in the water. He then pushed aside the table and bent down to pry off more and more tiles until at last---

"There's your exit!" He said, pointing to the now giant gaping hole in the floor.

Chell looked at the abyss below, and her chest tightened. Where exactly was she supposed to go?

"Go into the darkness, and you'll find the basement," Jeremy explained. "There, you'll find another electronically controlled door. Behind THAT door is the Omega Helminth. Now, thankfully you won't have to deal with any more of this water.".

"Good to know. Water is my second biggest enemy," Prophet remarked. Then, after a short bit of silence, he continued: "You know, because I am stuck in this computer?"

"Anyways," continued Prophet, "We're running out of time. The NSR colleagues will be coming to this room soon.".

"Wait, really?!" Jeremy exclaimed, already rushing towards the table. "Then hurry inside! Both of you!"

Chell wheeled her way towards the abyss until her wheels were mere inches awar from the opening.

Jeremy winced. "Ok, probably should've thought this through a bit more.".

Chell's wheelchair moved an inch, and the next thing they knew, she and Prophet were falling, falling, falling into darkness...

Jeremy was not reassured with the faint sound of clattering, but there was no time. He had to put the tiles back --- put back the tablecloth --- push the table back in ---rush out the door---

"I see you're already prepared for Rejoicement Day, Jeremy.".

"Y-yeah!" Jeremy wanted to facepalm himself. "Ready!"

"Good. Everyone," Jeremy's superior turned to the other NSR scientists, "Settle down at that table there. You will all be witness to something beautiful.".