Heavy Metal Thunder Read online

419

  You see a look of shock in the laborer’s eyes as you run toward him.

  Add together your Strength and Dexterity stats.

  If the number is 8 or more, turn to section 509.

  If the number is 7 or less, turn to section 407.

  420

  You leave the dead monster behind and, fattened-up with supplies, you continue your journey. Your successful dance with death, as well as knowing that you are past the halfway-point to the next space station, gives you newfound determination that holds your sanity together for several days. You know that you have the trajectories of your ship and the Invader ship stored with you, and you are confident that you will be able to find a proper ship at the next Stellar Corporation station.

  You alone can warn your comrades about the danger that is stalking them. You, and no one else.

  As days turn into weeks, you burn through fuel, water, oxygen. You reason that you will have just enough to get you to the Stellar station. However, your food runs low while you are still far from safety. You ration as best you can. It would be a shame if only a corpse with a lot of good intentions arrived at your destination.

  If you have any Pork Chop Flowers, turn to section 311.

  If you do not have this item, turn to section 163.

  421

  You draw your gun as quickly as you can but it is impossible to get a lead on the fast-approaching Invader. You manage to fire off one round before you have to scamper away as the horned Invader arcs by your position, his gladius swinging out, boots nearly scraping the ground and sending up a spray of icy dust.

  You curse the inadequacy of the gun in the depths of space, then draw a hand-to-hand weapon and face your foe.

  Be sure to erase 1 bullet from your inventory.

  Turn to section 159.

  422

  You swing out over the side. Smoke rolls about in front of you, casting deep shadows throughout the hellish red chamber. Two horned heads rise into view. You fire at one, who jerks and slides along the ground, dead, then you quickly drop sideways just as the other blasts your cover with an entire round, sending sparks flying over you. More bullets smack into the ground near your head and you scramble behind the steel box.

  You take in great gulping panic breaths as you struggle to rise to your knees. You feel nauseous, cold all over and swimming in the sweat of your own soup. And top of all that, you have to be sure to erase the amount of ammunition that you used.

  You glance over at Marcus. A pile of alien dead are scattered about the narrow doorway, the stairwell, and beneath the stairs themselves. The walls run thick with blood as Marcus reloads once more. Behind you, you see Commander Uther throw the last of his alien guns away. Sybel hands him one of his handguns and a clip of ammunition. When Sybel swings out of the doorway to fire at the oncoming stream of reinforcements, he takes single, controlled shots.

  Your head rings and the constant battering of gunfire is maddening. You can feel your sanity drifting away, drowning in a tide of brutality. There is not much time left, and everyone is running low on ammunition. You must hold together and kill the last guard quickly.

  You must now compute a number that will determine the accuracy of your third shot. This number is your Dexterity added to your Will. If you are trained in Weapon Proficiency: Ranged, and it is with the weapon you are using, add 3 to this number. If you are using a Rifle, add 2. If you are using a Shotgun, add 1. For every 3 Handgun bullets you fire, add 1. For every 2 Rifle bullets you fire, add 1. For every Shotgun shell you fire, add 1. Furthermore, if you have the Sixth Sense, add 2 to this number.

  If you are out of ammunition, or have so little that you do not think you can make an accurate shot, turn to section 73.

  If the number is 8 or less, turn to section 185.

  If the number is between 9 and 14, turn to section 208.

  If the number is 15 or more, turn to section 484.

  423

  You wake in agony, your body weighed down by an intense amount of gravity. A thick fog grips your mind. You try to move, are nearly overcome by nausea, then strong hands grip you on all sides.

  “Easy, buddy!” a man says.

  “Hold on, hold on, we gotcha, man!” says another.

  You open your eyes and see the grey steel walls of a large chamber. Men in Black Lance Legion Infantry suits are leading you down some stairs away from the Narrenschiff. It is nearly impossible to breathe. You see that their helms are off, then realize your own is off, and reach back lamely to put it back on so that you will not suffocate.

  “Just relax, man,” says an Infantryman with a thick beard who is holding you up on one side. “We gotcha.” Your legs wobble painfully as they drag you down the stairs.

  You see other soldiers in the docking bay. They have no space suits, only the rough black uniforms of ship personnel. Many of them wear the patchy grey sweaters that are standard issue among the Legion. All of them look concerned and stare at you openly. “Is this,” you mumble, straining at the words. “Is this real?”

  An infantryman with a wrinkled face and blond beard who is helping to hold you up laughs roughly, then says, “Soldier, I dunno where you come from, but you’re home now.”

  A team of medics and ship personnel quickly lay a stretcher out at the base of the stairs and you feel hands yanking at the flaps of your suit. Your brain releases a flood of joyful chemicals as you realize that against all odds you have finally made it back to the Penelope’s Vengeance, the massive Black Lance Legion ship that is your home, your training ground, your sanctuary against the void.

  Turn to section 320.

  424

  You lean against the far door so that you will not be knocked back, then blast the door twice.

  Nothing happens. The bullets went in, but they didn’t come out the other side. The door must be reinforced. Subtract 2 Handgun bullets from your inventory.

  If you want to shoot the control panel, and have at least 2 Handgun bullets, turn to section 170.

  If you want to put your gun away and go man-to-man against the door and control panel, turn to section 349.

  425

  You enter the cafeteria. “I got my crave on for some nugs!” you announce - but the group of people on the verge of killing one another don’t seem to care. You take the scene in quickly: On one side of the room, a tough-looking young lawman aims an automatic handgun at two revolutionaries, both in laborers’ coveralls and red bandannas. One revolutionary stands tall and holds a shotgun pointed at the lawman; a strange smile stretches across his face. The other revolutionary stands a little behind the first, literally shaking in his shoes, and holds an automatic at the lawman. The moment you enter, the second revolutionary swings his gun at you, screams, then points it back at the lawman. On the floor, near the revolutionaries, lies a man in a chef’s uniform, face-down. Either he was cooking up a giant vat of ketchup and spilled it all over himself, or he has been gunned down.

  There are many chairs and tables, some overturned, in the room. But more importantly, you can clearly see that the buffet area is packed with the tastiest morsels in the solar system, piping hot and full of nutrition - and it’s all on the far side of the three gunmen.

  “Put it down!” shouts the lawman, his voice hard and steady.

  The smiling revolutionary hisses, then says, “I’m not eating poisoned food, you parasite!”

  “You’re insane,” growls the lawman. “You hear that, dirt-bag? You’re a scum-bag!”

  “C’mon, man!” says the scared revolutionary, throwing his eyes at you and the lawman. “This is crazy, let’s just get outta here!”

  “I’m taking you both in for murder,” says the lawman. “Or I’m dropping both your asses, here and now. The choice is yours, skuzzbags.”

  “I choose death for us all,” says the smiling revolutionary, “rather than a lifetime of eating poisoned garbage.”

  The situation looks bad. Time to make it worse.

  (Note that you don’t necessari
ly need any bullets if you just want to draw your gun as a bluff.)

  If you have Sixth Sense, turn to section 576 for some insight into the situation.

  If you are skilled in First Aid, turn to section 157 to make an educated guess about what’s going on.

  If you have a gun, you can draw it on the lawman by turning to section 258.

  If you have a gun, you can draw it on the revolutionaries by turning to section 242.

  If you want to try to talk the revolutionaries out of whatever they’re doing, turn to section 572.

  If you want to tell the lawman to beat it, turn to section 319.

  426

  “Just listen to what I have to say,” you say, relaxing your posture.

  The robot stands idle. “I’m listening,” says the manager on the other end.

  “First off -” you say, and then run toward the robot as fast as you can. You maneuver between its massive lifters just as its body lumbers into action. You bend low, pop open a small protective plate and pull the manual override lever. The robot instantly drops into an idle stance, then says, “THIS LABOR ROBOT UNIT SET TO COMPLY TO NEW USER’S VERBAL COMMANDS. STANDING BY.”

  “What’s going on?!” shrieks the manager’s voice on the other end.

  “I just initiated a manual override program,” you say. “When these things malfunction, you think some guy sitting on his ass at some computer panel is going to be able to shut down a robot and handle repairs?”

  “Uh...”

  “You just better hope I don’t find you and initiate an override program - by blowing your brains out the back of your head!” That shuts the manager up. “Alright, robot,” you say. “Pick up all those food stuffs there and set them down outside the docks, near the dock command station. And gather all the water supplies out of that side room and set them down in the same area. Got it?”

  “YES, SIR,” says the robot. It rolls forward and you move out of its way as it bends to organize and lift several of the food boxes. Next, the fuel lines. You jog down the hall while the robot continues its work.

  You gain 1 XP for use of your Skill and a further 1 XP for overcoming the robot.

  Turn to section 475.

  427

  You rush to the front of the ship just as the massive steel doors roll up slowly. The ship lurches forward slightly, straining at its moorings, as the void pulls on it. Through the fore window you watch a horrible, fascinating sight: Many dozens of people fly past on all sides, screaming silently, as they are sucked into the freezing void. The ship shakes as others prep their engines.

  As soon as the bay doors are high enough, one squat ship streaks out. It gains some distance. Then, in a flash of red light, it is blasted apart.

  “Holy crap!” screams one of the guards.

  “It’s the Invader ship,” you say. “It’s cruising by.”

  “It’s a trap!” shouts the other.

  Other ships pull out from the dock. “No choice but to move ahead,” you say, “and hope it shoots down anything but the Narrenschiff.”

  If you are trained in Pilot Ship: Small, turn to section 237.

  If Octegenarius the Elder the Pilot is with you, turn to section 140.

  If you do not have this skill, or do not wish to use it, and this person is not with you, turn to section 580.

  428

  Time slows in your mind. You fire your gun into the mouth of the beast, there is a flash of light reflected off dozens of rows of teeth, then the beast lurches backward a moment after the back of its head explodes. The tentacles gripping you relax and you jet away from them.

  As the rush of panic chemicals fade from your body, you watch as, down below, the head of the beast hangs still, mouth agape, blood freezing in long icicles around its shattered skull. The tentacles grow still, then curl in upon themselves, limp.

  You gain 2 XP for killing and surviving. Be sure to erase any ammunition that you used.

  However, you see that scattered around the bulk of the massive beast are more heads, more seas of tentacles. They are alarmed at the death of their brother, but cannot reach you. You laugh wickedly, hungry to finish off the entire thing. Wise to the monster’s tricks, you look for weak points that you can investigate.

  If you want to look at the hole you see in the distance, turn to section 384.

  If you want to follow one of the blue channels that runs throughout the beast’s skin, turn to section 373.

  429

  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 consider the beating of your heart, the strength in your veins. Blood is life. In the game that is your life, Blood is an abstract score that represents vitality and health. (If you have ever played any sort of RPG, then Blood can be thought of as “hit points”.)

  When you are wounded, your Blood score will drop. When you rest or take healing medicines, your Blood score will rise. You begin this game of survival with a Blood score of 10. This is your maximum Blood; your Blood cannot rise above this amount. For example, if your Blood has dropped to 6, and you heal 7 Blood, then your Blood increases to 10. However, as you rise in levels, your maximum Blood score will increase.

  If your Blood ever reaches zero, then you have died, and the game of survival is lost. If this happens, put the book down, walk away, think about your life and the weaknesses that betrayed you, and try the game again when you’re ready.

  Moreover, as you interact with the world and gain a greater understanding of it, you will grow as a person. That is, 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, Blood, and Skills.

  You start out this game of survival at Level 1. Due to the loss of your memory, you have 0 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.

  You come to a doorway at the end of the hall. You brace yourself, then open it. What you see looks like the doom of the world.

  Turn to section 442.

  430

  You run towards the far coil. You hear more vents come to life far behind you. The pink mist seems to growl, then rolls forward faster.

  You pick up speed. The coil hisses. And damned if it isn’t moving faster than the other one.

  If you have a Dexterity score of at least 3, turn to section 490.

  If you have a Strength score of at least 2, turn to section 270.

  If neither of these Stats are that high, turn to section 567.

  431

  You gather up the steel fuel canisters, then attach a line from your jetpack to one of the things and refuel yourself. You push the fuel canisters through the air and slowly kick them against a wall near a door that leads to the ruined dock. Then you return to the command station and gather up as many of the giant oxygen tanks as you can.

  Next, you float down the darkened hallway toward the lounge, wary of the stalking manager all the while. Long minutes pass before you reach the lounge. The boxes drift near the floor; you tear open one and, to your delight, find tons of rations, snacks, even complete meals.

  You check a side room and find it full of jugs of water. You make a mental note to find some way to keep the stuff from freezing so that you can drink it in space. You spend perhaps half an hour or more stacking the items in the hallway, then carefully push the entire mass before you. The trip down the long hallway is a small nightmare of organizing and reorganizing, but you are thankful that the entire length of the hall is a straight stretch with no narrow or closed doorways.

  You stop near the entrance to the docks and spend ano
ther half hour reorganizing your goods in a space nearby. Near exhaustion, your heart races with the hope of escaping this ghost station.

  Then, you hear a radio sputter in the darkness.

  Turn to section 180.

  432

  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. Your shot catches him in the side, spinning him about. He stumbles, tries to fire at you, then decides to crash into the ground instead.

  You gain 2 XP for successfully ambushing the Invaders. 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.

  433

  The doctor leads you to a small medical station. You brush past him as you stalk ahead, eyeing the medicine cabinets. While he gently protests you dump out the following useful supplies so that you can rummage through them.

  First Aid Kit (bulk 3) (Heals 3 Blood, enough for 1 use.)

  Rest-A-Spell (bulk 1) (A powerful sleeping aid that can induce several days of restful unconsciousness. Enough for 1 dose.)

  Furthermore, if you are trained in First Aid then you are able to identify the following drugs that you may also take with you:

  Clopadropin (bulk 1) (This prescription painkiller heals 1 Blood when taken, and there is enough for 2 doses.)