User:Rezalon/Sandbox2

"Time, Doctor Freeman? Is it really that time again?"

― The G-Man

The timeline of the Half-Life and Portal universe spans mostly from the 20th century to Earth's far future. This timespan sees the rise and fall of rival scientific research corporations Aperture Science and Black Mesa, the Combine's invasion and occupation of Earth in the aftermath of the Black Mesa Incident, and the uprising of humanity against them.

On issuing precise dates on an official timeline, Marc Laidlaw, then-employee of Valve, stated the company doubted they ever would because of the possibility of contradicting themselves in the future.

The following timeline has been constructed by gathering every established date and the events that have occurred around them. Several retcons have been made since the release of the first Half-Life game released in 1998, so older material may contradict more recent developments. Additionally, the events of Half-Life: Alyx indicate the storyline does not always occur linearly as events in both the series' past and future can be further manipulated.

19th Century

1870s

Between 1872 and 1882

• The Times publishes its first issue.

• 

  The Times logo, 200-.

1890s

1891

• Year engraved on several metal railings found in City 17.
• Year engraved on several metal railings found in St. Olga. (Non-canonical appearance)

• 

20th Century

1930s

Between 1936 and 1937

• One version of Cave Johnson is born. He is 51 during the events of the Perpetual Testing Initiative, set in 1988. (Non-canonical appearance)

1940s

Circa 1943

• Cave Johnson founds Aperture Fixtures, primarily manufacturing shower curtains for the US military. Early product line provides a very low-tech portal between the inside and outside of consumers' showers.

• 

  Aperture Fixtures logo.

1943

• Cave Johnson receives the Shower Curtain Salesman award within Aperture Fixtures.

• 

1944

January 6

• Cave Johnson appears in The UP Pioneer Press headlines for buying a salt mine in Upper Michigan.

• 

Between 1944 and 1954

• Richard Keller is born. He is 55 during the events of Half-Life: Decay, set in 200-.

• 

  Keller, aged 55.

1947

• Aperture Science Innovators is established.
• Aperture Science receives the award for Best New Science Company from the Science and Business Institute of America.

• 
• 

Between 1947 and 1957

• Wallace Breen is born. He is 52 during the events of Half-Life, set in 200-, and the immediately following Seven Hour War.

• 

  Portrait of Breen from The Terminal, aged 52.

1949

• Aperture Science is rated #2 among the Top 100 Applied Science Companies by Mechanical Engineering World Journal.

• 

1950s

• It is during this decade the Black Mesa Research Facility is built on top of several decommissioned ICBM launch and testing silo complexes.

• 

  Photo of Black Mesa, New Mexico.

• 

  Portrait of Cave Johnson during this decade.

1952

• Aperture Science constructs Test Shaft 09's Entrance Way, Lobby and Testing Lounge.
• Aperture is the runner up of the US Department of Defense's Contractor of the Year award.
• Aperture constructs Pump Station Alpha for the testing of Repulsion Gel no earlier than this year.
• Around now, Aperture has inadvertently created an "army of Mantis Men" by injecting test subjects with praying mantis DNA.

• 
• 
• 

  Exterior of Pump Station Alpha.

• 

  Mantis Man bobblehead, 1970s. (Non-canonical appearance)

1953

• Aperture Science's secondary R&D efforts focus on primitive portal technology and Repulsion Gel. The fledgling portal technology is bulky and haphazard; poor surface conductors for portal placement lead to frequent mishaps and test subject mangling and death. The portal device is known as the Aperture Science Portable Quantum Tunneling Device.
• Aperture constructs Test Shaft 09's Enrichment Sphere 01's Test Chamber 01, and begins construction on Chamber 02.

• 

  Poster depicting a test subject armed with an ASPQTD.

• 

  Repulsion Gel in situ.

• 
• 

1954

• Aperture Science is the runner up of the US Department of Defense's Contractor of the Year award again.

• 

1955

• Aperture Science receives the National Potato Board's "Spirit of Idaho" award for the promotion of Potato Science.

• 

1956

• The Eisenhower administration awards Aperture Science a contract to provide shower curtains to all branches of the US military except the Navy.
• Leading astronauts, war heroes, and Olympians are invited to Aperture to help with the testing of ground-breaking inventions.
• By now, Pump Station Alpha is in active use.
• Aperture finishes construction on Test Shaft 09's Enrichment Sphere 01's Test Chamber 02.

• 
• 

1957

• Aperture Science constructs Test Shaft 09's Enrichment Sphere 02's Test Chamber 02.

• 

From 1957 to 1973

• Aperture Science produces mostly shower curtains.

1958

• By now, Aperture Science's Repulsion Gel, being marketed as "Repulsion Pudding", is pulled from shelves "for various reasons". No longer being sold as a dietetic pudding substitute, Aperture revamps and continues experimentation on it as a testing element.
• Aperture begins forming control groups for experimentation with cranial microchip implantation.
• Aperture constructs Test Shaft 09's Enrichment Sphere 03's Test Chambers 27 and 28.
• Around now, Aperture has begun testing on time travel.

• 
• 
• 
• 

1960s

1961

June 15

• Aperture Science's Test Shaft 09 "Zulu Bunsen" is condemned, abandoned and sealed off.

• 
• 
• 

  Test Shaft 09 abandonment hatch.

1968

• Aperture Science becomes "a vital participant" in the US Senate hearings on missing astronauts.

Between 1968 and 1978

• Colette Green is born. She is 31 during the events of Half-Life: Decay, set in 200-.

• 

  Green, aged 31.

1970s

• It is during this decade Grady and an otherwise unnamed Aperture Science employee later working under the pseudonym "Charlie" accidentally invent "toilet turrets", (Non-canonical appearance) which would later be further developed by Aperture into the Aperture Science Sentry Turret.

• 

  Aperture logo during this decade.

• 

  Portrait of Cave Johnson during this decade.

• 

  Ditto, with assistant Caroline.

• 

  Grady presenting a Mk. I toilet turret to "Charlie". (Non-canonical appearance)

1971

• Aperture Science re-opens Test Shaft 09 and constructs Pump Station Beta for the testing of Propulsion Gel and a new entrance way.
• Aperture constructs a drydock for experimenting on a research icebreaker in a competing bid (against Black Mesa) over a Defense Logistics Agency contract for an effective FSII solution.
• Around now, Aperture has gone bankrupt.

• 
• 
• 

1972

• Aperture Science constructs Test Shaft 09's Enrichment Sphere 04's Test Chambers 01 and 02.

• 
• 

Between 1972 and 1982

• Gordon Freeman is born. He is 27 during the events of Half-Life, set in 200-.

• 

  Freeman, aged 27.

1973

• Earliest known use of a bulletin board system by Aperture Science.

1974

• Cave Johnson secretly develops a dangerous mercury-injected rubber sheeting, from which he plans to manufacture seven deadly shower curtains to be given as gifts to each member of the House Naval Appropriations committee.

Between 1974 and 1984

• Gina Cross is born. She is 25 during the events of Half-Life: Decay, set in 200-.

• 

  Cross, aged 25.

1976

• Aperture Science constructs Test Shaft 09's Enrichment Sphere 05's Test Chamber 05.

• 

October 17

• Cave Johnson realizes that testing on prominent members of society can be problematic, especially if they go missing. In response to this realization, he profiles what he deems as "low risk" test subjects. His profile is released internally in a confidential memo to select Aperture Science employees.

• 

Between 1977 and 1987

• Adrian Shephard is born. He is 22 during the events of Half-Life: Opposing Force, set in 200-.

• 

  Shephard, aged 22.

1978

• Due to financial difficulties and possible legal problems arising from testing prominent citizens, Aperture Science begins using homeless people as test subjects.
• Aperture's object of testing and experimentation at this time is Propulsion Gel, no longer being considered as a "Propulsion Pudding" dietetic aid successor to Repulsion Pudding. Complementing this, Aperture begins experimenting with human deconstruction, enhancement, and reconstruction procedures.
• Aperture constructs the elevator to the surface from the Propulsion Gel testing section of Test Shaft 09.

• 

  Egregious depiction of a homeless Aperture test subject.

• 

  Propulsion Gel in situ.

• 

1979

• Interested in the superior portal conductor properties of moon rocks, Cave Johnson acquires $70 million worth of the lunar material. In experimenting with this, he grinds it up and mixes it into a new gel he calls Conversion Gel. Unfortunately, Johnson soon discovers that ground up moon rocks are highly poisonous and he begins to become deathly ill.

• 

  A moon rock.

1980s

• 

  Aperture (dba Aperture Laboratories) logo used from this decade onward.

• 

  Portrait of Cave Johnson during this decade.

1980

• Both of Cave Johnson’s kidneys fail. Brain damaged, dying, and incapable of being convinced that time is not now flowing backwards, Johnson lays out a three-tier R&D program. The results, he says, will “guarantee the continued success of Aperture Science far into the fast-approaching distant past.”:

1. The Heimlich Counter-Maneuver – A reliable technique for interrupting the life-saving Heimlich Maneuver.

2. The Take-A-Wish Foundation – A charitable organization that will purchase wishes from the parents of terminally ill children and redistribute them to wish-deprived but otherwise healthy adults.

3. Improved portal technology that he cryptically refers to as “Some kind of rip in the fabric of space…that would…well, it’d be like, I don’t know, something that would help with the shower curtains I guess. I haven’t worked this idea out as much as the wish-taking one.”

1981

• Diligent Aperture Science engineers complete the Heimlich Counter-Maneuver and Take-A-Wish Foundation initiatives. The company announces products related to the research in a lavish, televised ceremony. These products immediately become wildly unpopular. After a very public string of choking and despondent sick child disasters, senior company officials are summoned before a Senate investigative committee. During these proceedings, an engineer mentions that significant progress has been made on "Tier 3", the “man-sized ad hoc quantum tunnel through physical space with possible applications as a shower curtain.” The committee is quickly and permanently recessed, and Aperture is granted an open-ended contract to secretly continue research on portal technology and the "Heimlich Counter-Maneuver" project.
• Aperture constructs a new Test Subject Waiting Area.
• Around now, Aperture is using its own employees as test subjects, replacing any lost with robot workers.

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

1982

• Increasingly ill, Cave Johnson pushes forward with the new Conversion Gel. By painting surfaces with a paint made from the gel, safe and stable portals can be placed and traversed with no harm coming to the rest subject.
• Due to his illness, Johnson also becomes interested in artificial intelligence and brain mapping. His hopes are that a successful brain map would allow a person's intelligence and consciousness to be implanted into a computer. In particular, he sees this as a possible way to overcome his poisoning and defeat death. Johnson states that if he dies before work is complete, his assistant Caroline is to succeed him as CEO of Aperture Science and have her consciousness put into a computer, even against her will.
• Earliest known use of the Enrichment Center Test Subject Application Process being applied to Aperture's test subjects. It is operated by version 1.07 of Aperture's in-house "GLaDOS" disk operating system.
• Aperture's GLaDOS is upgraded to versions 1.07a and 1.09.
• Aperture constructs Test Shaft 09's Pump Station Gamma and Enrichment Sphere 06's test chamber.

• 

  Conversion Gel in situ.

• 
• 
• 

October 27

• An image of a cake celebrating this date is among several images in GLaDOS' databanks.

• 

1983

• Aperture Science publishes a "Girls of Aperture Science" calendar.

• 

November 19

• An image of a cake celebrating this date is among several images in GLaDOS' databanks.

• 

From 1983 to 1985

• Work progresses on Aperture Science's “Portal” project. Several high ranking Fatah personnel choke to death on lamb chunks despite the intervention of their bodyguards.

1984

August 11

• An image of a cake celebrating this date is among several images in GLaDOS' databanks.

• 

1985

• Earliest known use of the Aperture Image Format.

1986

• Word reaches Aperture Science management that competing and rival defense contractor Black Mesa is working on similar portal technology. In response to this news, Aperture begins further developing their GLaDOS to be used as an artificially intelligent research assistant (or "genetic lifeform") and disk operating system.
• Test Shaft 09's Enrichment Sphere 06's test chamber is fitted with a new wall.

• 

  Black Mesa logo in GLaDOS' databanks.

• 

1987

• Latest known use of the Aperture Image Format.

1988

• A number of versions of Aperture Laboratories across the multiverse near bankruptcy and each establish their own Extra-Earth Outsourcing and Perpetual Testing Initiative. (Non-canonical appearance)

• 

1989

• Aperture Science, dba The Lab, begins testing on pocket universes. (Non-canonical appearance)

• 

1990s

1994

• The Orchid Eater by Marc Laidlaw is published.

• 

  A copy of The Orchid Eater in Gordon Freeman's locker, 200-.

1996

• After a decade spent bringing the Disk Operating System parts of GLaDOS to a state of basic functionality, Aperture Science begins work on the Genetic Lifeform component. To implement the Genetic Lifeform component, the essence of Caroline is infused into the existing OS to provide the basis for GLaDOS' thought process.
• Around now, while GLaDOS is being developed, it is somebody's job to sit by a red phone in GLaDOS' chamber, and, if it ever looked like the AI was becoming sentient and godlike, that person would pick up the phone and call somebody to come help.
• The 37th Mandela by Marc Laidlaw is published.

• 

  Red phone in GLaDOS' chamber.

• 

  A copy of The 37th Mandela in Gordon Freeman's locker, 200-.

Between 1996 and 2006

• Alyx Vance is born. She is 19 during the events of Half-Life: Alyx, set between 2015 and 2024.

• 

  Photo of an infant Alyx, with her parents Azian and Eli.

Late 1990s

• While visiting the University of Innsbruck, Gordon Freeman observes a series of seminal teleportation experiments conducted by the Institute for Experimental Physics. Practical applications for teleportation become his obsession.

1997

• Latest known use of a bulletin board system by Aperture Laboratories. By now, GLaDOS is version 3.11.

• 

1998

• Aperture Science, dba Aperture Laboratories, releases several testing elements, including: the Aerial Faith Plate, the consumer version of the Aperture Turret, Excursion Funnel, Pneumatic Diversity Vent, Propulsion Gel, Quantum Tunneling Device, Repulsion Gel, and Thermal Discouragement Beam.

• 
• 

  Various designer colors available for the consumer version of the Aperture Turret.

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

1999

• Gordon Freeman receives his doctorate from M.I.T. with a thesis paper entitled Observation of Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen Entanglement on Superquantum Structures by Induction through Nonlinear Transuranic Crystal of Extremely Long Wavelength (ELW) Pulse from Mode-Locked Source Array.
• A woman named Sarah takes a photo of her cat Beatrice.

• 

  Freeman's doctorate in his locker at Black Mesa, 200-.

• 
• 

November 1

• The US War Department issues its Soldier's Field Manual handbook.

2000

• The Eiki LC-XT1 LCD Projector is produced.

• 

  Projector used at Aperture Science.

January 13

• The US War Department issues an updated copy of its Basic Field Manual soldier's handbook.

21st century

2000s

200-

March 3

• Adrian Shephard writes in his diary: "Another typically hellish day at base camp... I'll be glad when this is over and I can get assigned a mission. There has been this really weird civie spotted at the base. Rumor is he's from some government branch looking to recruit; others say he's with some secret research group. I would jump at the chance to join. It would be cool just for the change and the adventure."

• 
• 

  Santego Military Base.

March 7

• Adrian Shephard writes in his diary: "I finally saw the government guy today. I am not sure he is a g-man, but he was wearing a really uptight suit and carrying a briefcase. He looked more like a lawyer or insurance agent to me. I did notice him checking me out. Several times throughout the day I spotted him just watching me during training. I wonder what he's up to..."

• 
• 

  The "g-man" observing Shephard.

March 9

• Adrian Shephard writes in his diary: "For weeks our drills have been the same crap day after day. Today we assemble for the morning run and our drill instructor tells us we have one week to become experts at indoor strategic combat. We will be spending every day this week at the combat simulation facility. As far as I know this a specialized training not taught in boot camp. What I want to know is if this is to test our ability to adapt or if we are being readied for a specific mission? Time will tell..."

• 
• 

  Senior Drill Instructor Dwight T. Barnes.

March 12

• Adrian Shephard writes in his diary: "The rumors have been flying since our indoor combat training began. Most of my peers are convinced that we are being primed for a mission. No one can agree on what the mission is. I have heard the name Black Mesa Facility thrown around a lot, but I have no information about the place. The rumors are that some top-secret research is going on there. Doesn't sound too exciting to me..."

• 
• 

  A few of Shephard's peers of the Hazardous Environment Combat Unit.

March 15

• Adrian Shephard writes in his diary: "The rumor has been confirmed. We are being trained for a mission at the Black Mesa Facility. All I know is that the place is being used by scientists who are doing some kind of new research. I can't imagine what we would be needed for. We were told today to be ready in case it happens tomorrow. I don't know what "it" is, but the whole thing is a little strange. I kind of hope it doesn't happen; the mission doesn't seem to have much excitement potential. I'd rather hold out for something with more likelihood of combat."

• 

"Days" before May 16

• Around now, Aperture Science's research icebreaker the Borealis and part of its drydock disappear during testing and development. The events surrounding the Borealis become highly classified.
• The untested GLaDOS AI is activated for the first time as one of the planned activities on Aperture's first annual Bring Your Daughter To Work Day. In many ways, the initial test goes well: Immediately, within one picosecond of being switched on, GLaDOS becomes self-aware. The "going well" phase lasts for two more picoseconds, at which point GLaDOS takes control of the facility and locks it down, trapping everyone inside. She then deploys a deadly neurotoxin which kills the majority of the scientists within the facility. A few survivors manage to install a Morality Core into GLaDOS which prohibits her from using the neurotoxin again. With the Morality Core in place, GLaDOS turns her attention back to the facility and begins testing. Her goal: beat the hated Black Mesa in the race to develop a functioning portal technology.

• 

  The Borealis after its disappearance.

• 

  BYDTWD exhibition.

• 

  Depiction of GLaDOS' awakening.

• 

  Morality Core attached to GLaDOS.

May 5

• While concluding his affairs at the University of Innsbruck, Gordon Freeman receives a letter from the Black Mesa Office of the Administrator's L.M. confirming his acceptance for a position at the Research Facility.

• 
• 

May 9

• Barney Calhoun receives a letter from L.M. regarding his reassignment to the Black Mesa Security Force's Blue Shift effective May 15.

• 
• 
• 

  Calhoun.

May 11

• Colette Green receives a letter from L.M. informing her of Black Mesa senior staff's decision that sample GG-3883 will replace EP-0021.

• 
• 

  GG-3883.

Before May 12

• Barney Calhoun is processed for a salary increase and retinal scan, and his two-day training course is scheduled.

May 12

08:00

• First day of Barney Calhoun's two-day Security Guard training under security officer Miller's holographic assistant counterpart.

• 
• 

  Miller's hologram.

May 13

• Second day of Barney Calhoun's two-day training course.

10:30

• Walter Bennet is being trained by Gina Cross for an Anti-Mass Spectrometer Overload Simulation.

• 
• 

  Bennet.

• 

  Anti-Mass Spectrometer.

May 14

19:00

• Colette Green was to be trained by Isaac Kleiner on Anomalous Materials Handling, but this is rescheduled to June. This never occurs because of the Black Mesa Incident.

• 
• 

  Picture of Kleiner from Popular Scientist.

May 15

• The latest date Gordon Freeman would take on his position at Black Mesa.

09:00

• Barney Calhoun reports to the Sector C, Area 3 Medium Security Facilities' section manager where he is provided his assignment. Calhoun is assigned to a 09:00 - 22:00 Blue Shift until August 15. Various other security officers are assigned to Red, Orange, Yellow, Green and Indigo Shifts throughout various areas and times in the facility, respectively. During this period, Violet Shift is on standby.

• 

20:00

• Gina Cross is being trained by Richard Keller on an HEV Mk. 5 Prototype.

• 
• 

  HEV Mk. 5 suit.

May 16

"Big day today, Freeman."

― Black Mesa Science Team

07:30

• Gordon Freeman is being trained by Gina Cross's holographic counterpart on the Hazardous Environment Suit in the Black Mesa Training Facility. Prior to the training run, the scientists monitoring Freeman mention that the sensors in their equipment are not working, and that "things are in a state of commotion".

• 
• 

  Cross's hologram.

• 

  HEV Mk. 4 Suit.

8:30 AM

• When the experiment on sample GG-3883 in the anti-mass spectrometer was to be performed. This is delayed by at least half an hour due to Gordon Freeman running late to work.

"About" 8:40 AM

• System crashes and security malfunctions occur throughout Sector C.

8:42 AM

• Barney Calhoun begins his tram ride from the Area 8 Topside Dormitories to start his second day of Blue Shift at the Sector C Area 3 Medium Security Facilities.

• 

  Calhoun boarding the tram.

8:46 AM

• Barney Calhoun passes Gordon Freeman waiting on a Level 3 Dormitories tram platform.

8:47 AM

• After his HEV Suit Training, Gordon Freeman begins his tram ride from the Level 3 Dormitories, running late to work. He passes Barney Calhoun banging on a door to the Sector C Area 3 Medium Security Facilities.
• Topside temperature is 93° Fahrenheit.

• 

  Calhoun banging on the door.

• 

  Freeman passing Calhoun.

Around 9:00 AM

• Barney Calhoun gears up for his shift and receives orders to travel to Sector G to see what he can do about restoring power to its main access lift for two stuck scientists.
• Gordon Freeman arrives at the Anomalous Materials Laboratory. By now, he is 30 minutes late. Barney Calhoun witnesses this through a security feed.
• On his way to gearing up in his HEV suit, Freeman destroys Arne Magnusson's microwave casserole in the lab's cafeteria.
• Gina Cross prepares sample GG-3883 for the experiment. Calhoun witnesses this through a security feed.

• 
• 

  Magnusson's casserole post-destruction.

• 

The Resonance Cascade

• Beneath the anti-mass spectrometer's chamber, Colette Green brings it online and powers it up to 80%. In the chamber itself, Gordon Freeman concurrently starts its rotors.
• The Anomalous Materials team monitoring the experiment's progress power the stage one emitters. Seeing predictable phase arrays, the team activate stage two emitters and, despite the team's objections to Administrator Dr. Wallace Breen, increase power to 105%. Initially concerned by a small discrepancy in their monitoring equipment, it returns within acceptable bounds and the team sustains sequence, informing Freeman the specimen is ready for standard insertion.
• Freeman pushes the sample into the anti-mass spectrometer, causing a resonance cascade. The team fails to shut down the equipment, and several of its members are injured or killed as the machinery around them explodes. Alien creatures begin teleporting in and out of the chamber from Xen, as does Freeman himself, until he passes out for several hours. Beneath the chamber, doctors Cross and Green too fall unconscious.
• Meanwhile, Barney Calhoun witnesses the effects of the resonance cascade after restoring power to Sector G's main access lift for two stuck scientists, with varieties of Xen lifeforms teleporting into the facility and major equipment malfunctions causing several deaths. The main access lift fails and falls to the bottom of its shaft, killing the two scientists and knocking Calhoun out.

• 

  Stage One emitters.

• 

  Stage Two emitters.

• 

  The Resonance Cascade teleporting Vortigaunts to Earth.

• 

  Freeman teleported to Xen.

• 

  The Resonance Cascade from Cross's perspective.

• 

  Ditto, from Calhoun's perspective.

Remainder of the morning

• Gina Cross and Colette Green regain consciousness. Arming themselves, they fight against alien creatures through the corridors beneath the anti-mass spectrometer to reach doctors Rosenberg and Richard Keller in the control room. While Keller decides to remain to assess the damages received by the equipment, the other three elect to find their way to the surface to call for military assistance.
• The Experimental Propulsion Laboratory was to perform a test fire in at 10:30 AM, but this never occurs because of the Resonance Cascade.
• The Cryogenic Safety Crew was to report status at 11:00 AM, but this presumably never occurs because of the Resonance Cascade.

• 

  Beneath the anti-mass spectrometer after the Resonance Cascade.

• 

  A scene witnessed by Cross and Green on their way to the control room.

• 

  The four doctors form a plan.

Afternoon

• Gina Cross and Colette Green escort Dr. Rosenberg through the ruined Black Mesa Training Facility in order to reach the surface.
• Meanwhile, Gordon Freeman regains consciousness in the anti-mass spectrometer test chamber. With the phone lines cut out, Eli Vance tasks Freeman with getting himself to the surface and seeking help for the science team stranded in the facility.

• 

  The ruined Hazard Course.

• 

  Ditto.

• 

  Ground Zero of the Incident.

• 

  Eli Vance (right) post-Cascade.

• Freeman, Barney Calhoun, Colette Green and Gina Cross fight their way through the facility.
• The HECU arrive at Black Mesa. Adrian Shephard and his squad are attacked by Alien Crafts and their Osprey crashes, leaving Shephard severely injured and unconscious for the rest of the day.

Evening

• The Black Mesa Hazard Course decathlon was to commence at 1900 hours in the Level 3 Facility, but this never occurs because of the Resonance Cascade.
• Overnight, Freeman successfully launches the rocket.

May 17

• Early in the morning, Gina Cross and Colette Green are able to perform a resonance reversal. Their fates, along with Richard Keller's, are unknown.
• Barney Calhoun successfully escapes Black Mesa with Rosenberg, Simmons, and Walter Bennet.
• As Gordon Freeman fights his way across the surface towards the Lambda Complex, Adrian Shephard regains consciousness and discovers he's been left behind. Race X creatures appear sometime later.
• Freeman defeats the Nihilanth, and frees the Vortigaunts. The G-Man hires him and places him in stasis for nearly 20 years.
• Shephard defeats a Gene Worm as it emerges from an inter-dimensional rift. His persistence draws the attention of the G-Man and his employers who decide to place him in stasis so that he will not disrupt their plans. Black Mesa is destroyed by an atomic bomb.
• As the Black Mesa Research Facility is destroyed, GLaDOS race against Black Mesa is stopped.

2004

June 11

• The Meaning of Lost and Mismatched Socks by Dr. Perditus Pedale, M.D., Ph.D., is published.

2006

• An image of a cake celebrating 4 July 2006 is among several of cake-related images in GLaDOS's databanks.

Combine invasion of Earth

Newsclips of this period seen in Black Mesa East.

• Portal Storms rage on Earth while Xen creatures continue to be teleported. The governments and United Nations provide protection centers located in major cities worldwide.
• The Aperture Science Enrichment Center remains in lockdown, with employees still trapped inside. The number of Aperture Science employees diminishes, until there are only a few left.
• The Combine launches an assault on Earth. In the Seven Hour War, Earth military forces resist despite being clearly outmatched by the Combine's resources and technology. Wallace Breen, the administrator of the Black Mesa Research Facility, informs the United Nations that he has established communication with the Combine and receives authority to negotiate. He cedes the entire planet to the Combine and becomes Earth's Administrator, responsible for controlling the population under Combine rule.

Between 200- and 202-

• Earth's ecosystems are contaminated by alien fauna, flora and radiation. The Combine activates a field that suppresses human reproduction and introduces a chemical into the water supply that causes forgetfulness.
• Surviving Black Mesa scientists, including Isaac Kleiner, Eli Vance and Arne Magnusson, continue to research inter-dimensional technology with the hope of freeing Earth.
• Alyx Vance grows up under Combine rule, living in and around the new Earth capital, City 17. She takes an active part in the Resistance.
• Isaac Kleiner and Eli Vance each build a teleport in their respective labs not needing a Xen relay with the aid of Alyx Vance and Judith Mossman, among others. The teleport was tested on a cat, whose fate is never revealed. They then continue working on it until Freeman's arrival.

2010s

2010

• A short amount of time after the Combine invasion of Earth, somewhere around the year 2010, in the Aperture Science computer-aided Enrichment Center, Chell is awoken by GLaDOS who forces her perform seemingly routine tests. However Chell soon learns that the Aperture employees are long dead or escaped, and that GLaDOS is seemingly the only being left in the decaying facility. After much promise of cake at the test's conclusion, Chell is met with an incinerator, which she narrowly escapes, and works her way through the maintenance areas, despite GLaDOS's protests. Eventually, Chell finds GLaDOS's control room, and manages to escape death by neurotoxin by detaching GLaDOS's Personality Cores, and partially destroying her as a result. Chell is forced to the surface by GLaDOS's explosion, only to be dragged away from freedom and back into the facility by the Party Escort Bot. Unknown to Chell however, GLaDOS is still alive.
• Doug Rattmann, being the one of the last Aperture employees alive, witnesses GLaDOS' destruction. After the Party Escort Bot drags Chell back into the facility, Rattmann feels guilty for Chell's situation and reenters the facility to help her.
• Despite all that's occurred to both the outside world and the Aperture Science Enrichment Centre, the company receives a purchase order on the 25th of January for a blue sentry turret from a T. Reidford. The order will not begin preparation for roughly 50,000 years.

Between 2015 and 2024

• Five years before the return of Gordon Freeman and the destruction of the Citadel, Alyx Vance sets out to rescue her captured father, Eli Vance in the Quarantine Zone, a journey which leads them both to discover a powerful "superweapon", which they surmise to be Freeman himself, being held by the Combine in the zone inside of a suspended prison called the Vault. After rescuing her father, she manages to break into the Vault to free its captive, revealed to be the G-Man. The G-Man makes an offer to Alyx, showing her a vision of the future where her father is killed by an Advisor. The G-Man allows Alyx to intervene, saving Eli and killing the Advisor, but it comes at the cost of her freedom as she's then "hired" by the G-Man and put into stasis against her will.

2020s

One year before 202-

• This is the last time Alyx Vance drives Highway 17.

Between 2020 and 2029

• Nearly 20 years after the Black Mesa Incident, Gordon Freeman is awakened by the G-Man after a long period of stasis. He explores City 17, encounters the Resistance and some of his former Black Mesa colleagues. Soon after he joins their cause in the war against the Combine and triggers the uprising of City 17 and his surroundings, becoming the primary target of the Combine. After destroying the Citadel's dark fusion reactor and defeating Wallace Breen, Gordon is put into stasis by the G-Man a second time.
• Soon after he is freed from stasis by a group of Vortigaunts. Gordon and Alyx Vance flee City 17 and proceed to the Resistance base White Forest, located in the Outlands.
• The Resistance reverses the Combine Superportal, inflicting a consequent blow to the Combine plans, but Resistance leader Eli Vance is killed by an Advisor at White Forest.
• The G-Man allows Alyx from five years ago to travel forward in time to this point in order to kill the Advisor before it kills Eli. Alyx of the present is then taken by the G-Man.

Undetermined Time

• GLaDOS's partial destruction is followed by a period of inactivity within the Enrichment Center, during which time maintenance systems and Personality Cores maintain its functions. The facility remains in disarray, having become overgrown and dilapidated. Pre-recorded 'Emergency Test Protocols' can oversee test chambers in times of cataclysmic system failure, "remain[ing] functional in apocalyptic, low power environments of as few as 1.1 volts". Chell spends this time in stasis for over 50 millennia.. At the beginning of her stasis, Chell is under supervision by a remaining Aperture employee, Doug Rattmann.

Far Future

Circa 52,000s

• After over 50,000 years in stasis, Chell is awoken by the personality core Wheatley. Wheatley insists he can secure an escape route out of the Aperture Laboratories, which instead results in the inadvertent reactivation of GLaDOS. As the story progresses, Chell finds herself traversing old condemned Enrichment Spheres originating from earlier than June 15, 1961, at which time Aperture Laboratories was under the direction of Cave Johnson.

See also

• Canon
• Retcons