
This is particularly true in that it is the government that has been stealing the world’s power for decades. The story of Black Mesa Research Facility is a reminder of how evil the US government can be.

It is the very government that has been trying to steal the entire world’s power for decades. So, how is it that the government of the United States managed to build and manage a research facility that is now in disrepair? It’s because the government is, in fact, an evil government. However, the fracture in the spacetime continuum remains, allowing the Combine to invade and occupy Earth.Black Mesa Research Facility is the name of a site that was used by the government to study the effects of the Phoenix Sandstorm of July of 2011. The military situation is shown through the eyes of Adrian Shephard in Opposing Force, where US Marines are ordered to kill the entire population of Black Mesa as well as the alien attackers, but are overwhelmed and forced to withdraw, allowing for black operations units to detonate a nuclear warhead in the facility, ultimately destroying it. In Decay, another group of scientists attempt to close the tear through their own equipment, before calling in the US military to assist with the situation. Blue Shift shows the events from the viewpoint of a security guard, Barney Calhoun, who joins a group of scientists who use the teleportation technology to evacuate survivors from the base. Eventually, the player fights through the facility and teleports to Xen to try to seal the tear from the other end, where a Xen creature is keeping it open. This serves to foreshadow many of the challenges the player will face, as well as the labyrinth-like structure of the game. In Half-Life, protagonist Gordon Freeman is introduced to the facility in a notable sequence involving very little interactivity. The resulting crisis is seen from several points of view in Half-Life and its expansions. As a result, Xen creatures are teleported into the facility and prey on its human inhabitants.

At the beginning of Half-Life, one such crystal, revealed in Episode Two to have been provided by the G-Man, is put through an anti-mass spectrometer and causes a resonance cascade, tearing the spacetime continuum.

Creatures and crystals from Xen are consequently brought back to the facility for testing.

Prior to the beginning of Half-Life, scientists experimenting on teleportation discover Xen, a border dimension somehow intricately involved in the teleportation process. Over the course of the series, Black Mesa is revealed to be conducting top-secret research into various fields, such as teleportation and experimental weapons research. The facility is depicted as a vast complex of underground research laboratories as well as surface constructions such as offices, chemical waste disposal plants, and personnel dormitories, all powered by a hydroelectric dam and connected by a tram system. The base is a decommissioned ICBM launch silo in the New Mexico desert that has been turned into a scientific research complex. The Black Mesa Research Facility is the primary setting for Half-Life and its three expansions, Opposing Force, Blue Shift and Decay. The Black Mesa test chamber in Half-Life, where the resonance cascade is caused
