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Borealis
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This article is within the scope of the Portal OverWiki Project, an attempt to improve articles related to Portal and Portal 2. |
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| Please see the project page for more details about the current article status. |
This article is about the Aperture Science ship. For the location cut from Half-Life 2, see Borealis (cut location). |
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Warning! This article contains spoilers. |
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It might spoil your gaming experience when first playing the related game(s). Read at your own risk! |
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| Borealis | |
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| General information | |
| Location |
Stranded in the ice in an undefined Arctic location |
| Usage | |
| Era(s) | |
| Affiliation | |
| Game information | |
| Map(s) |
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| Designer(s) |
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The Borealis is an Aperture Science research vessel introduced in Half-Life 2: Episode Two. According to Isaac Kleiner, Aperture was working on a promising project, but in their rush to beat Black Mesa for funding, they neglected ordinary safety rules and the ship simply disappeared with parts of her drydock, which earned her an almost legendary stature. It is assumed that the Borealis contained an immensely powerful and dangerous secret, yet to be revealed.
Contents |
[edit] Appearances
[edit] Half-Life 2: Episode One
Many years after the Combine invasion of Earth, Judith Mossman, Resistance operative, finds the Borealis in an Arctic location. She is attacked by Combine forces soon after, and is only able to send an incomplete transmission of her discovery to White Forest. This is intercepted by the Combine, and in turn stolen back by Gordon Freeman and Alyx Vance from the Citadel Core during their flight from City 17.
[edit] Half-Life 2: Episode Two
After safely reaching White Forest, Alyx and Gordon deliver the data to the Resistance, which reveals that Mossman was cunning enough to encrypt Borealis photographs, coordinates, blueprints and hailing frequencies within her message. Once Eli Vance and Isaac Kleiner have decoded these and realize the full significance of the transmission, a rift opens between the two Resistance leaders. Kleiner believes the technology the Borealis contains could be used by the Resistance against the Combine; Eli, haunted by memories of the Black Mesa Incident and not wanting a second Seven Hour War, believes that the Borealis has to be destroyed at all costs.
It is not clear whether the Combine know of the Borealis, and consequently if they themselves have some interest in the ship's contents. Given the attack upon Mossman's forces, the interception of her message and the death of Eli Vance, it seems very likely.
While the nature of the secret hidden within the Borealis is unknown, one of the blueprints indicates the presence of at least a Material Emancipation Grill and an Unstationary Scaffold within the ship.
Mossman's message goes as follows:
I'm fairly sure I've pinned down the location of the Project. It's hard to say how much of it might have survived intact, or whether there's anything remaining that could compromise our work... if it were discovered by the Combine. We'll need to take a close look at it, of course, but I should be able to give a better opinion within a few hours. If the site is where we think it is, then it should be no more than... I'm going to cut this short. We may have been spotted.
[edit] Portal 2
In Portal 2, the Borealis' drydock can be found in the 1970s section of Test Shaft 09, near the offices where Chell finds GLaDOS in the bird's nest. The drydock is obviously empty, save for several life preservers bearing the ship's name scattered on the floor.
[edit] Half-Life 2: Episode Three
The Borealis is expected to be focal point of Episode Three. Concept art released in 2008 shows the Borealis covered in Combine technology and flanked by four Advisors, suggesting the Combine will reach it before Gordon. However, as this was very early concept art, plot details are likely to have since changed dramatically.
[edit] Behind the scenes
- The icebreaker Borealis was originally to appear in Half-Life 2, as the Hyperborea, then the Borealis. In Marc Laidlaw's first pass at the game's script, Freeman was to start the game by boarding the ship, bound for City 17.[2] Later in the game's development, she was to appear between two other cut chapters, the Air Exchange and Kraken Base,[3][4] before being eventually cut with the whole part set between the Depot and the City 17 street battles.
- The ship appears to be based on existing research icebreakers, the USCGC Polar Sea, the USCGC Polar Star (both sister ships) or the USCGC Healy (which is bigger and more recent than the former), all United States Coast Guard vessels, homeported in Seattle, Washington. One of them (it is unknown which one exactly) was visited by Valve when docked in Seattle; several members of the ship crew being Half-Life fans, they were glad to grant them access to their ship to do their research.[5]
- The name "Borealis" is likely associated with the term "aurora borealis", the northern polar lights only visible in the Northern Hemisphere. "Borealis" comes from "Boreas", a wind god in the Greek mythology. "Hyperborea", the early name for the ship, was the name of the land of the Hyperboreans, a mythical people who lived far to the north of Thrace. "Hyperborea" means "beyond the Boreas", thus beyond the land of the wind god Boreas. "Aurora Borealis" is also the name of a European research icebreaker being constructed.[6]
- The images hidden in Mossman's message are located in the Episode Two texture files, in the folders "effects" and "Props".
- One of these images shows two of the unknown scientists of Kleiner's Black Mesa main team photography, a bearded man and the only woman, posing in front of the Borealis. This could emphasize the rivalry between Aperture Science and Black Mesa, since these two scientists might be connected to both companies.
- Other images include three blueprints of the Borealis. The original images are not blueprints for any of the United States Coast Guard research icebreakers mentioned above but those of a naval warship, the USS Newport News, a United States Navy heavy cruiser launched after World War II. They also feature tables, taken from other blueprints. The images also feature a QSL card, originally for the USCGC Polar Star.
- The Borealis seen on the screen at White Forest can be found within the map "
ep2_outland_11b" and accessed with the "noclip" console code.
- One Portal 2 Achievement/Trophy named "Ship Overboard", with the description "Discover the missing experiment", requires Chell to find the Borealis' drydock.
[edit] Trivia
- The Borealis’ teleportation mishap shares many similarities to the urban legend of the Philadelphia Experiment in which the warship USS Eldridge was rumored to have been rendered invisible by experimental technology. In some versions of the story, the ship had accidentally teleported from its dry dock to a U.S. naval base over 200 miles away. In the most radical versions of the story, the ship achieved accidental time travel.
- While the Borealis was apparently located in an area of the Enrichment Center built in the 1970s, the ship's blueprints feature GLaDOS' name where the corporation's owner would sign, as well as the modern Aperture Laboratories logo. This issue has yet to be addressed or retconned.
[edit] Gallery
[edit] Game files
[edit] Blueprints
Other blueprint. The word GLaDOS can be seen, as well as the location of Aperture Science's labs and administration, Cleveland, Ohio, and an Aperture Laboratories stamp.
USS Newport News blueprint. The left portion is one of the sources of the previous image, reversed, while the right portion is the source of next image.
Other blueprint, with again an Aperture Laboratories stamp, and turrets clearly visible.
Other blueprint indicating the presence of a Material Emancipation Grill and an Unstationary Scaffold within the ship.
USS Newport News blueprint, one of the sources of the previous image.
[edit] Miscellaneous
QSL card.
The original QSL card, for the USCGC Polar Star. Of note is that its name was crossed out each time it appears in the Borealis image.
Two Black Mesa scientists from Kleiner's Lab photograph posing in front of the Borealis.
The Borealis stranded in the ice.
Another view, which seems to have been taken with a spotting scope.
[edit] Other
The USCGC Healy.
Another view of the Healy.
The USCGC Polar Sea and her sister ship USCGC Polar Star near McMurdo Station, Antarctica.
Promotional screenshot of the original Borealis seen at E3 2003.
The Episode Two model.
Aperture Laboratories logo as seen on a container in the Episode Two model.
Episode Three concept art. The Borealis is on the right.
Isaac Kleiner, Eli Vance and Alyx Vance talking about the Borealis at White Forest.
Life preserver model featured in Portal 2.
[edit] List of appearances
- Half-Life 2: Raising the Bar (First appearance) (Non-canonical appearance)
- Half-Life 2: Episode Two (Video only)
- Portal 2 (Drydock only)
[edit] References
| Vehicles, vessels and transportation | |
|---|---|
| Aperture Science transportation | Borealis |
| Black Mesa transportation | Black Mesa SUV · Black Mesa Transit System · Black Mesa truck |
| Black Ops vehicles | AH-64 Apache · M35 cargo truck |
| HECU vehicles | AH-64 Apache · F-16 Fighting Falcon · M1A1 Abrams · M2A3 Bradley · M35 cargo truck · V-22 Osprey |
| Combine vehicles | Advisor Platform · Armored Personnel Carrier · Hunter-Chopper · Razor Train |
| Resistance vehicles | Airboat · Mil Mi-8 · Muscle Car · Scout Car |
| Trainstations | City 17 Trainstation · Depot · Technical Trainstation |
| Other | Rail transport · Road transport |
| Black Ops (cut) | V-22 Osprey |
| Combine (cut) | AirEx Truck · C-130 · Combine SWAT Truck · M2A3 Bradley · Merkava · School Bus · V-22 Osprey |
| HECU (cut) | F-117 Nighthawk |
| Resistance (cut) | Borealis · C-130 · Jalopy · Jet Ski · Submarine · V-22 Osprey |
| Other (cut) | Digger |
