Heavy Metal Thunder Page 6

  You glance at his body quickly. He does indeed seem to be unarmed. Even if he was going to try some trick, he wouldn’t have an easy time getting back without your help.

  If you want to lay your helm up against his and hear whatever dumb shit he has to say, turn to section 391.

  If you’ve seen enough and want to kill him, turn to section 436.

  64

  You underestimated the amount of time it would take you to search the room while holding your breath. You flop about awkwardly and often bump into the floating bodies. Eventually your body, lacking its most vital resource, is overcome by a painful sense of fatigue: Lose 1 Blood.

  Turn to section 86.

  65

  You run through the twisting hall. At times the ruined mass at the center of the crater is visible, other times it is blocked by cracked, buckling walls. The barking of the dogs bounces around the hallway. You nearly trip over something thick and rubbery. You turn and see a human body, badly mangled and torn. He has an open bag in one hand out of which many syringes have spilled onto the wet floor. You find one syringe still in the bag, sealed, and full of green liquid. You may take the Mystery Syringe (bulk 1) if you like. You also find a long, heavy Steel Pipe (Spear, bulk 3) lying under the man’s legs. You may take this weapon, too.

  You continue on. Finally you come to an open room with curved metal hand- and foot-holds along one wall. This ladder leads up to an open room which has been completely demolished. However, near this room is a giant concrete support beam which has toppled sideways; its top rests in a section of the station far above. While you can see no exit in this room or the one above, there may be one near the top of the support beam.

  As you begin to climb the ladder, the dogs get the idea. Several of them jump onto the base of the wide beam. They seem to know that they can intersect with you in the next room or the one above that; what’s more, the beam is tilted in such a way that, as long as they pick their steps carefully, they could make it up the beam faster than you can.

  Turn to section 417.

  66

  Bullets crash all around. Your comrades scream in your ears. The howling of the defenders in their guttural, alien tongue is maddening. You return fire as best you can but it is nearly impossible to aim without getting your head blasted off. You must use 3 bullets, of any caliber, while holding your position. If you do not have that many bullets, then you must use all that you do have.

  You notice that Sybel hasn’t done jack shit during the fight - he’s been studying the radiation suits in the closet.

  “Commander Uther!” Sybel shouts. “Uther! Sir, listen to me!”

  “What?!” says Uther, ducking as a great chunk of the doorway explodes, peppering you all.

  “There’s rad-suits in here! That means the heat signature we’re following is coming from the engine room, not the shield generator!”

  You realize that the man is right. The shield generating technology used by the Invaders and the human Black Lance Legion does not rely on nuclear energy - but the engines that drive the ships do. In case of a meltdown or any other accident, such equipment has to be kept on hand to deal with the problem.

  The Commander looks back and forth, then says, “Damn, you’re right. Even if we did manage to blast through these guys, the most we could accomplish is stall their ship in space. They’d still be able to blast our ship if our shield got knocked out! Fall back! Everyone -fall back!”

  Marcus pulls several grenades from his belt. “Get ready to run like hell,” he growls.

  Turn to section 112.

  67

  You dive at the thing, fist arcing forward. The deconstructor hops forward, catching your fist in its mouth. It crunches down, hard, and you yelp wildly. You jerk your body backwards, then fall onto your back, dragging the thing down with you. A tentacle slaps into your neck as you brace a foot on its face, push off, and pull your bloody hand free. You crawl away, lower lip trembling, and notice that the thing’s eyes have been screwed up by your foot. It hops about awkwardly. You jump up, kick the thing over, then stomp it senseless with your boot. Soon the thing’s shell cracks and its innards spill out.

  You lose 4 Blood in the fight. If your Blood score has dropped to zero or less, then your vision grows dim, and the last thing you see is an important artery hanging out of your arm, spilling its warmth, and you die beside your foe.

  If you have survived, turn to section 298.

  68

  Blade in hand, you kick off silently from the face of the cliff and float gently toward the sniper’s back. As soon as you fall on him he jerks sideways, but you quickly jam the blade into his padded suit, then into his soft flesh, over and over, as he flails wildly. He knocks you into a mound of ash and you watch plumes of oxygen and red ice pour forth as he kicks about, sending up a cloud of dust. Soon, he twitches weakly, then floats limp and calm.

  You gain 2 XP for killing the Invader.

  You rise into a crouch, then feel eyes on your back. The other Invader is staring at you, black face unreadable, horns gleaming in the light of distant stars. His jet arcs to life and he flies toward you at incredible speed.

  If you want to fire at him with a gun, turn to section 39.

  If you want to draw a hand-to-hand weapon and face him (or even take him on unarmed), turn to section 413.

  69

  You leap forward, right knee bent, and bring your boot crashing down onto one of the monsters.

  You must now compute an abstract number that will determine the outcome of the battle. This number is your Ground Combat (or 1 G Combat) added to your Strength stat.

  If this number is 3 or less, turn to section 386.

  If this number is 4 or more, turn to section 443.

  70

  Try as you might, the lock holds against your unmerciful blows. A watery haze dims your vision and you convince yourself that it’s just sweat from your exertion. Miraculously, part of your memory returns: You remember not being a football superstar back in school.

  If you have a Dexterity score of 2 or more, turn to section 86.

  If not, turn to section 64.

  71

  As you pull the trigger, thunder shatters the room, deafens you, and a bullet slams into the side of your ribs. You cannot breathe, feel your legs go loose, and you fall against the wall and slide down painfully.

  You force your eyes open. You see the lawman flat on the ground, his chest peppered with holes, his eyes still. The smiling revolutionary stumbles backward slowly, his face now pale and slack. He clutches a spreading red spot on his chest, leans against the wall for a moment, then falls forward, limp and heavy.

  In front of you, the scared revolutionary clutches his smoking gun, eyes wide with terror and manic-fury as he glares at you. Red splatters the ground at his feet. Then a steady, thick shower. Clutching at his torso, he takes a step backward, then slips and crashes to the ground. He lets out one long moan, then dies with your lead burning in his guts.

  You feel of your aching side. A bullet is lodged between your ribs: Lose 4 Blood. Furthermore, your suit has been punctured. If you have any Sticky Fix, you must use one dose now to fix your suit; if you do not have any of this item, make a note that your suit has been damaged. Be sure to erase any ammunition that you used.

  If you have died in a hail of gunfire, you may Regenerate by turning back to section 312, or, if you want to go back further, turn back to section 179.

  If you survive, then you stumble painfully to your feet. You search the bodies of the dead and find the following gear, which you may take with you.

  Krieger-Colt Pump-Action Shotgun (Shotgun, bulk 3)

  3 Shotgun Shells (bulk 1)

  Enforcer Automatic (Handgun, bulk 2)

  Cold Cock Auto (Handgun, bulk 2) (The serial number has been scratched off.)

  7 Handgun Bullets (bulk 1)

  Stellar Corp Law Enforcement Uniform (bulk 2) (Damaged and bloody.)

  Steel Baton (Mace, bulk 2)

  W
hen you are ready to hit the all-you-can-eat buffet (and scoop up some XP), turn to section 260.

  72

  “Little boy,” says the Captain, “hadn’t you better find a ship more accommodating to pansies? A ship with some nice men on it who’ll let you service them in exchange for not killing you?”

  In the background, the guards chuckle idiotically. The wheels of your mind spin as you try to come up with a witty, scathing remark. You finally settle with saying, “If you don’t leave... I’m going to kill you.”

  Add your Charisma and your Will stats.

  If the total is 6 or more, turn to section 3.

  If the total is 5 or less, turn to section 267.

  73

  You unsheathe a hand-to-hand weapon and crouch low. The last guard lays another burst of fire all along your cover. As soon as he stops, you blast your jets to life and fly through the chamber. Your heart spins wildly and you feel the entire chamber spinning in your vision, but you have surprised the guard, who is in the middle of reloading his rifle. You slam into him from above as he tries to bash your skull in with the rifle butt.

  You must now compute a number that will determine the outcome of your fight. This number is your Strength stat added to your Ground Combat (or 1 G Combat) stat. If you have the Jetpack Skill, add 2 to this number. If you are trained in Weapon Proficiency: Hand-to-Hand, and it is with the weapon you are using, add 3 to this number. If you are fighting bare-handed, subtract 4.

  As you crash into the alien guard, you lose 13 Blood, though you may subtract the number you calculated from this amount. You may also subtract your Defense rating, if you happen to be wearing any Armor.

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

  If you survive, then you manage to bash the last guard into a pulpy mess. You skid along the ground, then kick off a wall and return to your position beside Marcus.

  Turn to section 520.

  74

  You aim your gun at the advancing robot. “Manager, sir?” you say.

  “What?!”

  “YOU’RE FIRED!” With that, you blast the dome off the robot and roll to the side as it ambles forward, crashing into the wall. It swings about, blind and useless, and you move aside as it rolls down a side hall, scraping against the wall.

  You gain 1 XP for overcoming the robot. Be sure to erase the ammunition that you used, then continue on to the dock command station by turning to section 214.

  75

  Your awareness seems to fragment as the sense of impending doom grows and feeds back into you, replacing the blood in your heart with pure darkness. Slowly you reach behind yourself, grasp your black helm, and pull it down over your head.

  You do not like being alone. Or at least, you thought you did not until you feel the presence of another. You try to cut off the sense of an invading presence by closing the helm’s dark visor over your face with a loud clunk. Now the hum of the ship is silent. All is silent. You stand rigid, dumb and immobile.

  The unthinkable happens. One window of the ship shatters, blows outward, you see boxes and gear fly free, you are tossed but grasp some metal hinge. A large box slams into the opening, sealing the vacuum off, but before you come to a rest on the ground you see the metal just in front of your face explode inward as something from the outside pierces it, then the vacuum sucks against the ship again. Chaos before you, behind you, objects crashing against one another.

  As you haul yourself towards an exit, two more holes are blasted into the side of the ship and you know that a sniper is attacking from a hideout on one of the asteroids. As the vacuum churns within the Narrenschiff you clamber into a small depressurization chamber, lock the door behind you, then kick open the exit door. Darkness lies before you and you blast your jets on full throttle. All is silent but the kick of the jet behind you is a roar of freedom in your blood, a freedom from lying fallow, the freedom to use your killing arts, for you know that now you enter into the dance of death that is your destiny.

  A sniper in the service of the Invaders waits for you on one of the asteroids. Now, finally, you will face the true enemy. And one of you will die.

  You gain 1 XP for the use of your skill. Turn to section 247.

  76

  You reenter the dimly lit antechamber and push the button that will depressurize it. As the air is sucked out, you take in a lungful of air and lock your helm back in its place. While waiting for the far door to open, you take a moment to steel your resolve.

  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 are ready.

  The gravity shuts off and the far door opens.

  Turn to section 103.

  77

  As you pace back and forth, the entire station shudders, then the lights wink out. Cast into darkness, hundreds of voices cry out in pure terror. Your skin freezes and your blood runs backwards, the effect is so horrifying. Hell, you think, as the screams close in and the darkness eats all. It’s like being in Hell!

  Red emergency lights kick on. Given freedom of movement once again, a gang of thugs runs at some ship farther down the dock, guns blazing. The battle-cries of its defenders turn to gurgling death rattles in blood-choked throats.

  Just then you see a woman standing before your ship in a form-fitting dress. She is beautiful in an elegant sort of way, with thick, sharp lips and eyes that gleam in the blood-light. Her figure presses against the dress in a way long-forgotten, and possibly never known, to you. She comes toward you and the guards do not immediately blast her, and so it is up to you to deal with her.

  “Please,” she says, “let me come with you.”

  “Ah,” you say. “Well...”

  “I don’t want to die.”

  Her soft smell makes love to your nostrils. You realize, in the back of your mind, that most likely her beauty has kept her from learning any real skills that would help in a gun fight or a knife fight or even a fist fight. But another part of your brain tells you that she probably has some abilities that could be put to use in the cold of space.

  If you want to allow her on board, turn to section 355.

  If you want to reject her, turn to section 364.

  78

  You see the remains of several wasted space stations. Twisted steel litters the void. The ruined hulks of large burrowing machines leak fuel that shines like black blood. You feel like a ghost watching over the remains of a dead world.

  One station, marked by massive holes charred black at the edges, seems to have sustained less damage than the others. You work the controls of your jetpack and fly towards the ruined station. The blasted colony is not entirely dead, for a host of robotic drones move about, intent on their work. At the nearest station, you see a cluster of the drones drilling cooperatively until a section of wall rips free. The robots seem malevolent in nature.

  Looks like the deconstruction is still going on, you think.

  The least-damaged station looms before you. You see a host of shattered windows and walls punched open all along its rounded surface, like a great black rotten apple. The words STELLAR MINING COLONY A1C are painted in large letters. Your jetpack bucks and shudders. You steer towards one of the holes, then ease off the gas.


  Breathing becomes an aching hell. The hissing in your helmet is like a serpentine assassin coiled about your neck and chest, crushing the life out of you.

  You throw your eyes on the drones crawling on the station’s hull. They scurry about methodically, mechanized scavengers feeding off the corpse of a dead organism. Two of the machines are large, with bulky jets at their rear, a host of legs at their center, and many spinning drills at their heads. You count six smaller machines, with arms like jointed tentacles and quick eyes that peer about sneakily. One of the larger machines bores a great hole in the side of the station and crawls inside. The others follow. One of the smaller robots freezes, turns, and looks at you. You curse its red eyes, then make a few corrections to your flight path. The charred hole, dark inside, looms before you. The jetpack sputters lamely, then stops altogether. You enter the darkness.

  Turn to section 55.

  79

  “How so?”

  “They tell you when you to wake up, when to sleep. How to think, how to fight, who to fight. When you eat, if you eat. But it’s... difficult to remember the particulars.”

  “Sounds terrible,” says Reika, withdrawing.

  “I remember bits and pieces of recorded speeches, stuff we listened to. Someone, an older man, said something about the reality of the universe. That it was a warzone, a killing field, that every species is set against one another and that only the species that could organize and fight as a whole had any chance of survival.”