#darnold.mp3

[w2bm]

are you going on a rescue mission by yourself? we cant really help for we donot truly exist. maybe you should ask one of benreys friends for help if not gordon?

No, no, if I go back, it won't be alone. I'd have to take Gordon, and I'm sure Tommy would like to come with. Coomer hates the place enough to join for the chance to break something. I'm sure some others would go. It's called community radio for a reason, because it's a community.

Even if all of you letter-writers can't do anything but watch, real or not... You're real enough to me, and that's all I need to feel like this is the right thing to do.

[w2bm]

Okay, log number one. We’ve been here for maybe two weeks, though it’s hard to tell. Black Mesa doesn’t seem to operate with the same calendar as the rest of the world, and the city council likes to cancel days when they feel it’s going to be a bad one.

Also my watch stopped when we arrived.

The radio host, Benrey, knows a lot about this town, and seems to have a connection with just about everyone. I think it’d be great to get some information from him, but Gordon doesn’t think so.

But Gordon’s not here. I know we’re partners on this project, but he’s really set on not interacting with anyone in the town, and I think we shouldn’t be afraid to get involved. It’s not like anything bad will happen because we talked to people. So I’ve talked to Benrey, and I’m going to record everything I can about this place.

The first thing, is that sometimes I get weird letters.

[w2bm]

Where did you two get your degrees?

Wow, lots of questions! Gordon and I’ve known each other since we were kids. He’s one of my best friends. We went to a community college, nothing fancy. It had a good STEM program, which was what we both wanted. 

I’m a biochemist! I study how chemicals react to living things! Which is why much of my work is analyzing in the lab. Lately, though, I’ve had to be more of a biologist and a chemist separately. Gordon’s a physicist, and he’s having a hell of a time explaining a lot of the phenomena around Black Mesa.

[w2bm]

Ah, Gordon’s coming in. I’m going to shut off the camera now. This was a very interesting day! I’m glad I recorded it! I’ll definitely have to do this again, though, I think I’ll screen some of the letters before I read them...

[w2bm]

Please please tell me you're going to store some of those samples at 2-8°C. If that's a biological sample for microbial testing, storage at ambient conditions for too long could drastically affect the data! Apologies if you're looking at it on a macro level for dissection and ambient conditions are fine, I just really would hate to see your effort draw inconclusive results!

No need to fear! The beakers are the ones that didn’t fit in the fridge, and we’ve decided to let them sit as they are. We’ve secured and stored similar samples, and these ones were simply sitting in water. They’ve all turned strange colors though, which is very interesting. As far as I can tell, the liquid is still water. There’s no foreign substance, and when I take the samples out, the water returns to clear. I’ve yet to figure out why they change.

[w2bm]

gordon the coward 😔😔😔 how sad

Hahah, yeah, they sure do have a sense of humor! I wouldn’t call Gordon a coward, not to his face at least. Cautious? Yes. Stubborn? Absolutely. But he’s not scared!

[w2bm]

How do you feel about the radio host? He seems really sweet on air, always answering our questions and letting us know about town events.

And then there’s letters like this one. They could be addressed to anyone. I’m curious to know what would happen if I responded.  Responding to letters here is weird. You can just answer them out loud, and they seem to get the message.

I don’t think anyone would blame me if I did, not here at least. So I’m going to try.

Benrey’s nice. He’s friendly, and willing to talk. I also think he has a crush on Gordon, because he’s very nervous when he calls and asks about him.

Or Gordon yelled at him, and Benrey’s trying to avoid him. He can be pretty standoffish.

[w2bm]

You know, all things considered this is really interesting! I didn't think we'd ever get any scientists! Hopefully you'll feel as eased as a liquid skeleton! :)

Are you talking about a hydrostatic skeleton? If not, Liquid Skeleton would be a pretty cool band name. Oh, yes, I’m getting comfortable here! The lab’s really nice.