Heavy Metal Thunder (31 page)

You hunker up and shake violently, as if monsters
were at war inside you. You can barely make out the voices of the others; they
sound
faraway
. You cannot breathe, cannot scream. Your
fists clench, over and over, threatening to break the bones of your fingers.
The need to kill is turning inward on its source - on you.

If your
Will
is 2 or more, turn to section
481
.

Otherwise, turn to section
253
.

You fire your gun into the mouth of the beast.
Sparks fly as bullets ricochet off dozens of rows of teeth. The beast lurches
backward. You see ice-cold blood shooting from behind the head, sparkling
beautifully, then the mouth clamps shut and the head rockets forward. The head
slams into you, jarring you nearly senseless, but the gripping tentacles relax
suddenly and you float free.

You lose
3 Blood
from the desperate attack.
Be sure to erase any ammunition that you used.

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. However,
you see that scattered around the bulk of the massive beast are more heads, more
seas of tentacles. They are alarmed, but cannot reach you.

You gain
2 XP
for killing a segment of the
Invader’s pet. But you are not satisfied: You want the whole thing to lie cold
and lifeless. 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
.

You crouch and run through the hall. 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
a circus come out from the depths of Hell.

Turn to section
110
.

You blast toward the enemy as he raises his long
rifle.

You must now compute a number that will determine
the outcome of your battle. This number is your
Strength
added to your
Zero
G Combat
stat. If you have the
Jetpack
Skill
, add 3 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 using a
Mace
,
add 1. If you are using a
Spear
, add 1. If you have
no hand-to-hand
weapon
, subtract 3.

The long rifle fires in a flash of light. You lose
13
Blood
, but 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 lose at least 1 Blood then you also lose
1 SD.

(If you have died, then you may
Regenerate
by
turning to section
312
, or, if you want to go
further back, section
179
.
)

If you survive, then you crash into the Invader,
sending you both into the rocky wall in a plume of dust. You are blinded for a
moment,
then
see oxygen and red ice spew from your
enemy’s demolished suit. As the dust and frozen blood clears, you rest in a bed
of ash beside your fallen enemy.

You gain
2 XP
for killing the Invader sniper.

Turn to section
362
.

You secure your foot against a wall and shove the
door open. A limp body spins away from the door. You flash your light around
the room. There are bodies everywhere, blood floating in islands, and shell
casings of spent bullets. Everyone has the same green worker’s uniform. You
brace yourself as you enter the room, unsure that the slayer has gone. A cake
floats by. Though chunks of it have been cut out, you can just make out frosted
words that read, “Happy Birthday Kingsley!” The cake has a great number of
candles and a frosted representation of a gravestone.

You examine the bodies, the wounds. Whoever killed
them was precise. While the victims’ bodies are whole, their heads are tattered
ruins, all smeared in blood with lank hair drenched and wet.
Far
too precise for a room full of people.
And all the empty casings that
hit your light are of human make, small caliber...

Then you notice an automatic handgun resting in a
corner where two walls intersect with the ceiling, hiding like a mischievous
child, and you know that it is of the same caliber as the shells. You realize
with terrible certainty that all of these people took turns with the gun, each
prying it from the dead hand of the one who used it before. They each turned
the gun on themselves in order to escape... what?

Some forgotten information tickles the back of your
mind. You wonder just who left the deconstruction machines here, what kind of
thing was so terrible that these people would choose to kill themselves rather
than face it.

You vow that, whatever it is, you will not give in
to it so easily.

You turn to a large window to regard the mechanical scavengers.
You notice your own reflection.

Turn to section
309
.

You run into the water supply room and dive behind a
large cooling unit near the door. You hear the robot roll in after you. It stops...
then moves deeper into the room. You leave your hiding spot and run back out
the door, slapping the doorway so that it will hear and give chase.

You jog down the hallway to the dock command station
until you reach a side hall. You lean against the wall, catching your breathe
and fiddling with the bomb. You see the robot enter the hall and speed down it.
You turn into the side hall, set the bomb near the intersection, and haul ass
to the far end. You stand and wait.

You hear the robot grinding down the hall,
then
see it for a moment as it turns down the hall. Then
there is a terrific explosion, a cloud of dust - and when it clears, shrapnel
litters the floor.

You gain
1 XP
for successful use of your
Skill, plus another
1 XP
for overcoming the robot. Be sure to
erase
the bomb
from your inventory,
then
turn to section
214
.

The next day.
The
Narrenschiff
approaches the asteroids
Scylla and Charybdis. You stand at the fore window and watch. You can just
dimly make out the glint of
starshine
on one grey,
pockmarked, rocky face far in the distance; the rest of the thing is covered in
shadow, and its sister of stone and ice lies hidden somewhere farther out.

You cannot seem to shake a sense of terrible
foreboding.

If you have
Sixth
Sense
, and
Zelda
the Lady
is with you, turn to section
192
.

If you have
Sixth
Sense
, and anyone
else is with you, turn to section
220
.

If you have
Sixth
Sense
and are alone,
turn to section
75
.

If you do not have this skill, but
Octegenarius
the Elder the Pilot
is with you,
turn to section
441
.

If you do not have this skill, but have at least one
companion with you, turn to section
199
.

If you do not have this skill and you are alone,
turn to section
511
.

You fire. The girl’s head snaps backward, spattering
the laborer’s neck and shoulder with blood. His eyes widen, staring down at the
ruins of her head.

Shocked, you cannot decide what to do. Then the
laborer looks at you, says, “Looks like you get to join us.” With that he
raises his gun and fires. You try to move but the bullet slams into your side,
drilling into your ribs and lodging there. You lose
7 Blood
, but you may
subtract your
Dexterity
score from this amount. 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, then you may
Regenerate
by turning to section
312
, or, if you want to go
back further, you may turn to section
179
.

If you survive, then you fall to your knees and
glare at the laborer. Holding the dead girl close, he looks straight ahead,
then
says, “We didn’t want no part in your world, anyway.”
He puts the gun to his own head.

“Stop!” you shout. “Don’t do it!
You’re wasting
bullets!
” But it’s too late - the man fires, blowing his brains out like a
rainbow that comes in only one color. His body falls in a twitching heap beside
the woman he loved. You may take his
Bloody Chrome-Plated 9mm (Handgun, bulk
2)
and
3 Handgun bullets (bulk 1)
if you wish.

Turn to section
529
.

You whip the heavy pipe at the dogs legs, shouting, “Here,
boy! Fetch!” You trip up one dog, which falls and slides down the beam, then
catch the other one in the face and send it falling down into the darkness. You
quickly haul yourself onto the beam. You have dropped the lead dogs, but more
are on their way. They seem to have no fear.

Turn to section
510
.

You draw your gun swiftly,
then
stare down the barrel at the shrieking fool. You blast him in his torso. His
hollering
rises
an octave as he dances about, organs
shattered. He falls, twitching in a pool of his own blood.

Be sure to erase the amount of bullets you have
used.

Turn to section
530
.

“Hey, pal,” you say, nodding to the scared
revolutionary. He whirls toward you, gun aimed at your chest. “If you ask me, I
think both of these guys are insane, and they’re trying to drag you into their
crazy, fatalistic world.”

“No shit,” he says, laughing uncontrollably,
sweat
pouring down his brow.

“Well why don’t you just get out of here while these
two idiots have their guns on each other? Just leave. The whole station’s about
to go; there’s no need to spend your last minutes doing what other people want
you to do. You let me worry about these two. They can’t hurt you.”