Black Mesa East

Eli Vance's main lab.

Alyx introduces the player to the Gravity Gun.

One of, if not the, main base of operations The Resistance uses to conduct experiments for the development of new weapons against Combine oppression. Run by Eli Vance with the help of his daughter, Alyx Vance and that of Dr. Judith Mossman, much of the resistance network is coordinated from here.

The player's first glimpse of Black Mesa East is during 'A Red Letter Day' as Gordon Freeman is teleported between random locations during the malfunction. It is because of this malfunction that the player must travel down the City 17 Canals to reach his final destination. Well-hidden in the disguise of an abandoned power station at the foot of a hydroelectric dam, its location stuggles to remain hidden from the Combine network and its ever watchful eyes. The lab is also home to many Vortigaunts, who are there to help aid in the experiments and perform other tasks.

The facility is also a through point to a old mining town called Ravenholm. However, since the Combine consistantly shelled it with Headcrab Canisters its inhabitants had been devoured and turned into different types of Zombies.

Black Mesa East is fully encountered in Chapter 5 with own dedicated section. Gordon is reunited with Alyx Vance as well meeting new faces, Eli Vance (who he did see before back in Dr. Isaac Kleiner's teleportation chamber), Dr. Judith Mossman, and Dog, Alyx's robotic bodyguard. Gordon also first gets his hands on the Zero Point Energy Field Manipulator or Gravity Gun when taken to the scapyard by Alyx, and then gets to test it by playing catch with Dog.

During Gordon Freeman's stay in Black Mesa East, the Combine discover its location and begin shelling it, causing everyone within to evacuate. Ground forces then move in to clean up any remaining packets of resistance. Alyx and Gordon become separated amidst the chaos, which forces him to take the only remaining route out: through Ravenholm.

Trivia

• When the player takes the elevator down to Eli Vance's main lab with Dr. Judith Mossman, the player progresses down four levels, passing a recreation room, where a Vortigaunt and a citizen are playing chess; a kitchen, where two Vortigaunts are preparing a meal; and a metallic corridor where a citizen watches as two Vortigaunts discharge electrical vaults at the wall to train for combat.
• The main lab offers some very interesting diversions and extra information, including peculiar green blob in a jar, a Vortigaunt sitting in front of a group computer screens typing in various commands, a black and white photo of Eli Vance with his late wife, Azian Vance and Alyx Vance when she was a small child, a some well-titled books on a bookshelf next some random electrical devices, a corkboard containing various newspaper clippings of the Seven Hour War and Earth's surrender, The Portal Storms and Dr. Breen's declaration as administrator of City 17, and a Resonance Cascade emulation which Eli eventually engages, which can be rotated using two switches, known as the 'Rotato'.
• Before the player's introduction to Dog, a sign can be seen before entering the area saying 'BEWARE OF DOG'.
• After the shellings start on Black Mesa East by the Combine, if the player waits in the scrapyard for Hunter Chopper to appear, the player will witness it firing rockets. This is only time the player sees this being done.