Location from Half-Life 2 by Valve
Aperture Science's missing research vessel — vanished with its entire dry dock during a teleportation experiment, now frozen in the Arctic and containing technology that could change everything.
The Borealis is the MacGuffin of Episode Two's conclusion and the intended focus of Episode Three. Aperture Science — Black Mesa's bitter corporate rival — was conducting its own teleportation research, and the Borealis vanished during an experiment that apparently teleported the ship and its dry dock across the continent. The resistance is divided on what to do with it. Eli Vance insists it must be destroyed — he knows something about what's aboard and considers it too dangerous to use. Kleiner and others argue it could be the weapon that finally defeats the Combine. Judith Mossman transmitted coordinates from the Arctic before going silent. The Borealis represents the road not taken — what if Black Mesa's competitor had succeeded first? Aperture's approach to science was reckless even by Black Mesa's standards, and whatever the Borealis contains reflects that recklessness.
An icebreaker-class research vessel, frozen into Arctic ice. Its hull bears the Aperture Science logo — a stylized aperture diaphragm. The ship vanished from its dry dock in Michigan decades ago, taking a section of the dock with it, and materialized in the Arctic. It has been there ever since, ice-locked and waiting. Whatever is aboard has not been confirmed, but it involves Aperture Science's parallel teleportation research — a different approach than Black Mesa's.
Also known as: The Borealis, Borealis, Aperture Ship