Heavy Metal Thunder Read online

  169

  One Invader crashes into the ground, dead from Sybel’s gunshot. Two more of them, desperate for cover, roll directly into your line of sight. Marcus blasts one with a spray of bullets that tosses blood onto the far wall. While the other Invader whirls in confusion, you blast the side of his head, shattering his mask and spraying blood onto one of his bone-white horns.

  The last alien guard, realizing that he is outnumbered, runs through your line of sight in a desperate bid to survive. As Marcus and Sybel nail him from two directions, he fires wildly. You crash into a wall to avoid his gunfire. As he falls dead, you turn and see that a line of bullets has torn into the wall directly above your head.

  You gain 2 XP for killing an alien guard. Be sure to erase the amount of ammunition that you used.

  Sybel runs down the hall and you rush to rejoin him. Turn to section 416.

  170

  You lean against the far door so that you will not be knocked back, then blast the control panel twice. The gun kicking in your hands feels familiar. Sparks fly from the control panel. You don’t have a scientific explanation for what happens - and maybe there isn’t one - but the door grinds open awkwardly. Air rushes into the room and pushes you against the far side, and you are grateful that the other door holds. You reenter the hallway, which is still brightly lit. Its gravity pulls you down. You throw off your helm and breathe. Subtract 2 Handgun bullets from your inventory.

  You wonder why the door suddenly stopped working. Is the station slowly losing power on its own? Or is there someone - or something shutting down its systems?

  Because you have survived this experience, you have gained a greater understanding of the world. As you fight your way through this situation you will earn Experience Points, which are abstract representations of your actual experience. When you gain enough Experience Points (or XP), you will gain additional character Levels and receive additional Stat Points, Skills, and Blood.

  You start out this game of survival at Level 1. For surviving the situation just now, you gain 1 XP. Be sure to record this. When you have at least 15 XP and make it out of the ghost station alive, then you will gain one character level and the rewards that come with it.

  When you are ready to continue down the hallway, turn to section 148.

  171

  Down on your belly against cold stone, you aim down the barrel of your gun at the sniper.

  If you using a Rifle, and are trained in Weapon Proficiency: Rifle, turn to section 504.

  Otherwise, you must compute a number that will determine the outcome of your shot. This number is your Dexterity. If you are using a Rifle, add 2 to this number. If you are using a Handgun, for every 3 bullets you fire add 1 to this number. If you are using a Shotgun, for every 2 shells you fire add 1 to this number. If you are using a Rifle, for every bullet you fire add 1 to this number. If you are trained in Weapon Proficiency: Ranged, and it is with the weapon you are using, add 3 to this number.

  If your number is 12 or more, turn to section 243.

  If your number is 11 or less, turn to section 465.

  172

  Then, all at once - everyone fires. The entire room erupts in thunder and blood.

  You must now compute a number that determines the outcome of the gunfight. This number is your 1 G Combat added to your Dexterity stat. If you are skilled in Weapon Proficiency: Ranged with the gun you are using, add 3 to this number. For every bullet you fire, of any caliber, add 1 to this number, but you may only fire a maximum of 3 bullets due to the quickness of the battle. Note that you must fire at least 1 bullet.

  If the number is 6 or less, turn to section 238.

  If the number is between 7 and 13, turn to section 71.

  If the number is 14 or more, turn to section 13.

  173

  “Think of what you’re doing, man!” you say through gritted teeth. “Are you really capable of this?!”

  “The void is lawlessness!” says the doctor, bearing down on you. “In the name of survival... I must kill! I... want... your... suit!”

  “You have a choice! A choice to be a human... even if it means dying as one!”

  “No... choice! An illusion! Environment and genes... nowhere for free will to fit between the two!”

  The doctor leans forward, pushing you against a wall. Your hands shake with the effort. A necklace with a cross on it swings from his neck.

  “And what about your God!” you say. “What would He think?!”

  “God would let a child starve to death... would let me die in this void... and so He is no being by which to set your moral compass...”

  On a strange whim, you say, “And what if I am your God?”

  He hesitates for a moment - and you swing sideways, jerking the syringe around. The doctor stumbles forward and you slam his face with an elbow. He drops to his knees and you reach down with your free hand and grasp his throat. A terrible rage goads you on and you crush the man’s throat. He drops the syringe and you push off from the wall, slide down to the floor and on top of him, taking his throat in both hands and squeeze, without mercy, until his eyes roll back into his head and his body spasms its last.

  You gain 1 XP for your quick wit and 1 XP for slaying the mad doctor. You may take the poisonous Mortenol Syringe (bulk 1) if you want.

  Turn to section 269.

  174

  You fire. The gun silently kicks in your hands. You think at first that you have missed, frustration welling up in you. Then you note a plume of air jetting out from the fighter. He swings about in a wild series of loops, then crashes full-speed into the asteroid, sending up a plume of dust. He twirls about like a tornado. Then, as the ash and ice drift away, you see the dead Invader floating limp.

  You gain 2 XP. Be sure to erase the amount of ammunition that you used.

  Just then, a cloud of dust tears up before you. You swing sideways and see the sniper take cover behind a high stone wall.

  If you want to fly upwards and quickly swing around into his position, turn to section 276.

  If you want to creep towards his position low to the ground, turn to section 21.

  175

  The shrieking man swings his rifle into the side of your face, jarring your skull and knocking you into a wall. You lean against it, then nearly topple over as he bashes you in the side and kidneys with his rifle butt. You feel a rib crack, breathing becomes a nightmare. You bring an arm up to ward him away and catch him in the jaw with a lucky blow from your elbow. He staggers back and you whirl about, slam your knee into his gut, then grab his neck in a head-lock. You squeeze as hard as you can while he punches you in the gut. His blows become slower and weaker, then stop altogether as he goes limp. His eyes remain open and you realize that you crushed his windpipe in your fury.

  You lose 4 Blood in the terrible battle. If your Blood score has dropped to zero or less, then you realize that much of the battle was a hallucination - the man actually had you in a fatal headlock and you were simply identifying with your killer in the few moments you had before death.

  If you survived, turn to section 530.

  176

  The undeniable fact that you are looking at a living creature floating in the vacuum of space reeks of the unnatural. This thing is here because of the Invaders. The need to smash it is overpowering. If you can get something from it to aid you in your desperate journey, that would be nice, but really - killing a pet of the Invaders would be sweeter than blood.

  If you wish to land on the surface of the creature, turn to section 181.

  If you wish to avoid touching the surface, you can fly around the thing and get a bird’s eye view by turning to section 356.

  177

  As the other infantrymen fly around the corner, you hear shouting in your com-link, then Sybel pulls Marcus away from you and runs back the way you came. You cannot seem to move your feet. A dozen masked, horned Invaders turn into the hallway, eyes gleaming in the dull red light.

  Maybe I deserve to die,
you think.

  There is a terrific rush and it seems the whole world in front of you turns into a whirlwind. There is a flash of intense light, then complete darkness. Suddenly you are whipped off your feet, flying through cold nothingness. You see the flashes of helm lights darting past you, around you, then your own helm light clicks on and you see twisted metal, layers of steel bent and shattered in an instant. Then you are jerked sideways in a rush of air, like a dead soul whipped free from the bounds of its earthly body.

  An eternity squeezed into a moment passes, then you are thrown into open space. The mangled bodies of dead aliens spin all around you, freezing, twitching feebly. You see the lights of jetpacks as your comrades fly away from the blasted hull. All at once your senses return, and you hear Commander Uther shouting, “Fly! Get out of there!”

  I’m alive! you think. Alive! You blast your jetpack to life and follow your comrades through space, away from the Invader ship.

  If your space suit has been destroyed during the attack on the Invader ship, turn to section 393.

  If it is whole or only a little damaged, turn to section 585.

  178

  You stalk down the hallway. Your jetpack is an incredible hindrance now, and you consider casting it aside. But the thought is squashed immediately, as if some ingrained programming has enslaved you to the device. When you stop to rest, you can almost hear the grinding of the malicious deconstructors.

  You come to a doorway at the end of the hall. You brace yourself, then open it. What you see looks like a circus from the depths of Hell.

  Turn to section 110.

  179

  You float through black nothingness for days, then weeks. The rush you felt in surviving the ghost station melts down into a sort of slow-burning insanity. There is nothing to do but stare ahead at a field of unmoving stars. You break the monotony by unfolding your Wilderness Void Tent for the purposes of eating, drinking, switching out oxygen, and refueling. But, aware that you have a long, long way to go, you develop a game with one simple rule: To go as long as you can without refueling in any way. It is the worst game you have ever played, and winning one soul-numbing round only earns you the right to play another equally tortuous round.

  Several days into your journey you find that your helm computer has a number of songs stored in its memory. You are overjoyed, as if a thousand Christmases have just exploded in your face. You listen to the music, not caring what it sounds like, smiling so hard your gums ache. Then, in horror, you realize that the music... is terrible. Overly emotional singers moan about hard times, broken hearts and futility to the accompaniment of instrumentalists who seem to be sliding into drug-induced comas.

  Why did she leave me for a more-hung dude?

  In a world so grey it’s both pale and grey

  Getting off the couch is punishment enough

  Help, I just got ripped off for five dollars...

  “What is this shit?!” you scream maniacally, a little intimidated by your own vehemence. You see that the music was downloaded from a network called Black Lance Legion Funnertainment by one Mr. Wiggles. You decide that you have been tricked into wearing someone else’s infantry helm (of course you wouldn’t have such a ridiculous name!), then you find a photo identity file in the helm’s computer. Next to a picture of your face is the name Mr. Wiggles. The face looks slightly softer than the reflection you saw in the ghost station, but it is undeniably you. In disgust, you erase every sad-sap song from your computer helm.

  Better to die of boredom than languish in misery, you decide. In fact, better to die than be that person at all.

  Weeks pass and the boredom becomes intolerable.

  If you have any books or magazines, including, “Guide to Marcella Mercerism”, “Economic Independence Through Relaxing Visualization”, “Mike, Leon, Don, Ralph: Getting In Touch With Your Personality Type and Your Mutant Spirit Animal”, “Guide to STELLAR CORP Infotech”, or “Men’s Health “Nut” Magazine”, then turn to section 480.

  If you have none of these entertaining and brightly-colored books or magazines, turn to section 527.

  180

  You freeze, click your teeth in such a way to turn off your helm light, and listen intently. Soon you hear rasping breath, harsh panting forced through a thin face mask. You can just faintly make out the voice of the manager over the radio, sounding equal parts panicky and intent. A hand-held light flashes in a far corridor.

  If you are trained in Stealth, and would like to use this Skill, turn to section 167.

  If you do not have this Skill, or would not like to use it, turn to section 215.

  181

  The thing grows and grows in your vision, dull grey with glistening blue channels. Just before you touch down on its rounded surface, quick-moving tentacles swirl all around, straining to touch you. How the things can see you, can be aware of your presence, is beyond you. How something can be alive in the vacuum... you reach down and touch the skin of the thing. It feels both hard and rubbery, with no warmth at all.

  You shine your helm light around the massive organism. There are many fields of tentacles. Farther off, you see a dark hole. On the opposite side of you, you see some sort of grey mound. There are also shimmering blue channels running throughout the surface.

  If you wish to investigate some of the waving tentacles, turn to section 402.

  If you want to check out the hole, turn to section 526.

  If the mound seems more your thing, turn to section 300.

  If you want to follow some of the blue channels, turn to section 373.

  182

  The guard flies at you face-first. You aim your gun, saying, “Batter up!” The guard realizes his mistake and flails his limbs about as he floats nearer. You blast him in his head and his body jerks and convulses. He knocks into you, blood pouring from his head. You try to knock him away, grossed out by the incident.

  Be sure to erase the amount of ammunition that you used. You gain 2 XP for killing the guard.

  Turn to section 562.

  183

  “You goddamn pansy,” you say, gritting your teeth as the doctor bears his weight into you. You pull his wrists into the air as hard as you can; the doctor lurches forward, off balance. “I think you need some o’ your own medicine,” you say as you bend his wrists around. He squeals and you jam the syringe into his chest. You raise a foot and jam it into the plunger. Some of the stuff shoots into him before he shakes wildly and breaks the syringe off. With renewed energy he breaks free from you, stumbles across the room and slams into a table, knocking vials and jars over as he crashes into the ground.

  “Now it ain’t nothin’ to cry about,” you say, getting up. You stand over him. He jerks about on the ground, flailing his arms and frothing at the mouth. He arches his back, then throws up onto his own face. The last words he hears are your low-brow comments on the matter.

  You gain 1 XP for use of your Strength and 1 XP for slaying the mad doctor.

  Turn to section 269.

  184

  You fire and watch in fascination as one Invader’s neck tears open in a spray of wild goo. As he drops the others fire at you. You swing back around the corner as two of the Invaders take cover in the other hall where your comrades are waiting. You hear Marcus holler a crazed battlecry, which is drowned out by the thunder of gunfire. You lean back around the corner in time to see two alien bodies torn asunder by your comrades. Blood and bullets slam into the far wall and you aim your gun at the last alien as he turns and flees. Just as a bullet crashes into his side, he fires at you and the bullet whizzes past your knee, raking off some precious meat with it.

  You lose 2 Blood and 1 SD.

  If you die, then you may Regenerate by turning back to section 161.

  If you survive, then you gain 2 XP for wasting an alien Invader. Be sure to erase the amount of ammunition that you used.

  The others come stomping down the hall and you rush to rejoin them.

  Turn to section 416.

>   185

  You pull yourself over the steel box. Death hisses in your ears. Then the horned monster peers over the edge, gun extended. As you pull the trigger, you see the flash of his own gun. Just as your bullet slams into his mouthpiece, shattering teeth and tongue and blowing out the back of his head in a spray that paints the far wall, you feel a terrible fire along the side of your neck as the dead alien’s bullet tears through your neckpiece and slides along flesh before burning through the back of your suit.

  You lose 8 Blood, though you may subtract your Defense rating and your Will stat from this amount. Be sure to erase the amount of ammunition that you used.

  If you die, then you feel your suit filling with hot blood. “Hey Marcus,” you say, though your voice seems dim in your ears. “Man, I totally wasted those alien... guards...” As you fall down more corpse than man, Marcus seems unimpressed. You may Regenerate by turning back to section 161.

  If you survive, then you feel about your neck, heart racing as you curse the dead monster. You are lucky: The bullet has only torn out a chunk of meat, but no vital tubing has been laid open.

  Turn to section 520.

  186

  You drag the dead men into a small storage room.

  You may add 6 Foods to the Narrenschiff’s supplies.

  You try not to think of where it came from.

  Turn to section 289.

  187

  You enter a dimly-lit bar with an exit at the far side. Bullet holes riddle the walls and every single bottle of booze has been reduced to shards of wet, colored glass, as though a Puritan did bring justice here. You see a backlit poster with an image of a strange spaceship floating in a field of angry-looking red stars. It has the look of propaganda. There is text on the poster that reads