(no subject)

[acts_of_gord]

People who know Gordon well know that he has two children, a wife, most of the population of Earth depending on him, and frequent sleep-shattering nightmares. He might not talk about most of that, but he has them all. It's part of being Gordon Freeman.

People who don't know him well... eh, well, they'll know that he's the tall guy with the green eyes and the thick glasses, if only because people who know him but not very well generally know that he carries a crowbar stuck through his belt at all times. Also guns. There's generally one or more about his person in some way, shape or form. Today it's not one of the standard sorts of firearm, it's a big glowing-barreled thing with three pinchy arms on one end and the kind of stock that suggests it's best wielded by someone with wrists of solid iron. He's taking it apart and going over some of the pieces at one of the tables in the Bar, because the Bar is a good place to go when the nightmares get to be enough of a problem that even holding Alyx or soothing the kids doesn't help. And, well, work is better than drinking, but if he needs to, he can do either at Milliways.

People who don't know him at all? They're probably just going to get Looked At, if they talk to him. He's not always the best when it comes to being verbal. Still, they're welcome to try. Who knows, he might change his mind about the talking thing.

Comments

[cbucsrule]

Just like Ellen said, the guy has a crowbar in his belt. When he gets closer, he also notices the green eyes: it's gotta be him.

"Hey, you Gordon?" He doesn't really wait for a yes or no; it's not his intention to keep anyone in suspense about why he's asking. "Ellen Park told me to look you up, if you are."

[acts_of_gord]

Gordon glances up at that, blinking; then he nods, and pushes a chair across the table from him out with one foot. No need to keep the man standing up, right?

"Haven't seen her around in a while. What's going on?"

[cbucsrule]

"Nothing. I mean, everything's fine." He takes the chair, turns it around, and straddles it before sticking his hand out in greeting. "My name's Sam, Sam Anders. Ellen's a friend of mine. We were talking about rebuilding worlds from scratch and she said you were the person to talk to. You or your wife, you both have some expertise in that area."

His shrug's easy, but the whole concept really isn't and he has no frakking idea what he expects to hear or to accomplish, but if he doesn't use the time he's got, he's a fool. And his parents didn't raise him to be any kind of fool. "If you've got the time. If not, no problem."

[acts_of_gord]

"Ah." Gordon nods, and sets his parts and tools aside. He can work on the gravity gun later without losing anything. "Yes, we're doing that now. Slow process. Can I ask if you had an alien invasion too?"

If only because it helps to know what kind of situation you're dealing with before thinking about things that could stand to be done.

[cbucsrule]

Man, that oughtta be funny. It almost is -- he shakes his head and laughs a little, because honestly, what the frak else can he do?

"Robots. They nuked all twelve planets in our colonial alliance at the same time." Frak, but he hates the whole godsdamn concept. "They're rebuilding. We humans who are left, we're fighting back. I've gotta be honest, we're holed up pretty high in the hills, above the cities and towns that got nuked. There are under a hundred of us, and who knows how many thousands or... yeah, or hundreds of thousands of them. Our odds suck and I know it, and so does every single one of my people. But it's no good calculating the odds unless you're prepared to play them, right?"

That's what he'd like to think, anyway. He's never been crazy about gambling, but calculated risks? That's a whole different matter.

[acts_of_gord]

Gordon winces, but nods. "We had an alien empire take notice of Earth," he murmurs. "Mostly through our own stupidity. It involved dimensional science research- long story. In the end we wound up having to fight an empire that spanned universes until we got the opportunity to slap up defenses capable of blocking their ability to get reinforcements. Until we can get to their source dimension, we're taking the opportunity to rebuild what we can. The Combine didn't leave a whole lot around in human hands."

[cbucsrule]

He's guessing their situations are different, but no less dire. "Ours was mostly through our own stupidity too. The robots -- Cylons, they're called -- are man-made. Someone made them a little too smart for our own good."

There's a long history that goes along with them and like most people from the colonies, he knows the basics. Everyone had to study the Cylon War at school. Everyone knows enough details to know about that, and about the 40-year peace. Now, though, only about a hundred planet-bound people know about this next war. Them and the Colonial fleet, however many people that is. He wouldn't put it past people on other planets to have survived just like him and his C-Bucs, but he's sure as frak not counting on it.

"Things... backfired."

[acts_of_gord]

Backfired. Robots. Nukes.

Gordon's seen Terminator; he can paint the details in from there.

"Where are the machines getting their resources from?" he asks. "Planetside, or space?"

It makes a difference in terms of initial strategies.

[cbucsrule]

Man, he's really gotta appreciate a guy who gets right down to business. No excuses, no explanations, just goes around gathering details and forming strategies. No wonder Ellen said he oughtta talk to Gordon.

"I'm guessing both. They attacked from space, so there have to be plenty of resources for them up there, but from what I've seen in the couple weeks since it happened, they're also making pretty frakking good use of what's left on the planets. It's not like they're strangers to our technology or anything."

Yeah. His fingers steeple together and his brown knits in concentration. "They have their own ships. I think they're part organic and part metal. I've seen a couple at crash sites, but haven't had much time to study them. I'm... I'm not a scientist or anything. I'm a ball player who knows a little bit of science." He holds his thumb and forefinger about an inch apart to indicate just how much he doesn't know. "We were up in the hills for high-altitude training and got lucky. Or maybe we got really unlucky. Sometimes it's hard to tell."

There have been days where he's wished things went differently, but they didn't. "We've been raiding military stores and stockpiling everything we've been able to get our hands on. Better off if we have it, we figure, than if they get even more weapons. For all we know, that first rain of nukes was only a first."

[with_his_tail_high]

Something furry brushes against Gordon's leg.

[acts_of_gord]

Given how many houndeyes there are at the Greenbrier, Gordon makes a point of looking down when he gets bumped or brushed.

Not a houndeye this time, though.

[with_his_tail_high]

Nope. Just a black cat with green eyes looking up at him.

[acts_of_gord]

"Oh," says Gordon, "hi there."

He seems to remember meeting a cat like this once before.

"Do I know you?"

[with_his_tail_high]

"We've met," says the cat. "I would not presume that you know me."

[acts_of_gord]

"You're probably right," says Gordon. "Cats are tricky things."

So are people, when you're Gordon. But still.

"Something I can help you with?"

[with_his_tail_high]

"That depends."

[acts_of_gord]

Stupid question on Gordon's part, huh.

Well, he'll... push himself back from the table a bit, and indicate his lap is available if the cat needs to jump up or anything to continue the conversation. That usually seems like a good way to go with animals.

[closesecond]

Some short distance away, a bald, goateed man is watching Gordon work with a conspicuous amount of interest. Unfamiliar weaponry is always an interesting subject to a mind like Kane's.

[acts_of_gord]

Eventually Gordon sets his tools aside and glances up. The stranger gets a nod; this isn't one of Gordon's more verbal days, although he can be provoked into talking eventually.

[closesecond]

Kane leans back in his chair. He'd been hoping for a reaction. Sometimes there's only so much you can learn by watching.

"I'm sorry, am I bothering you?"

[acts_of_gord]

"No, it's fine," says Gordon. "I'm not getting much of anywhere anyway. This was a maintenance session, not a system overhaul. I leave those up to the people who invented the thing."

[closesecond]

"I see," he says. "Who did invent it? And more to the point, what is it?"

[acts_of_gord]

"My father-in-law," says Gordon, "and his colleagues and daughter. It's a zero-point energy field manipulator. Telekinesis and point-to-point short range energy discharge in a can."

[closesecond]

Kane raises an eyebrow. "Really? Remarkably portable for something with that much capability."

[acts_of_gord]

"The original design was meant for moving large debris and clearing minefields," Gordon says. "I'm not sure what its maximum weight capacity is. Doesn't work well on organic materials, for some reason. Not without some major capacitance upgrades."

Or whatever the hell the Combine dark matter reactor had done to it.