Heavy Metal Thunder (5 page)

The only possible problem with the supplies is the
amount of food on board. There seems to be quite a bit, but it is still not
enough to make you feel comfortable. Make a note that there are
30 Foods
on the ship. During your journey you will have to keep track of all the Food
eaten by you and your companions.

Suddenly, exhaustion overwhelms you. Drained by your
struggle, you find a thick blanket and curl up in a corner of the room. The
corner is warm and the blanket is soft and comforting. So different from
everything else you remember. You fade into black.

Turn to section
338
.

With bile in your heart you realize there’s no
turning back. You manipulate the grappling rope’s harness on your belt and
lower yourself near the spinning drills that cluster about the mouth of one of
the behemoths. You hear the ricochet of bullets dangerously near you as the
guard fires on the other. With one hand ready to raise yourself on the rope,
you heft your weapon with the other. The terrible maw of the deconstructor
looms before you, death spinning all around.

You must now compute an abstract number that
signifies the strength of your attack. This number is the total of your
Strength
and
Dexterity
and
Ground Combat (or 1 G Combat)
. If you are
skilled in
Weapon Proficiency: Hand-to-Hand
, and it is with the type of
weapon you are using, add 2 to your total.

If the result is 8 or more, turn to section
468
.

If the result is between 7 and 5, turn to section
27
.

If the result is 4 or less, turn to section
51
.

Cold and darkness are your allies. For days the
twinkling stars laugh at you, for you are trapped inside your will to survive.
Come
and join us
, they say.
Transcend your bestial flesh. Shine forever with
us
...

The torture goes on and on, unbearable. You realize
that time itself is the definition of torture. Death is escape. “Death is
escape!” you shout, half-asleep. When no one tells you that you are wrong, your
hand lingers on the latch to your helm, ready to pull it off and end the
boredom.

You slip into insanity. Then you realize that only
the insane have what it takes to cling to something as painful as life. You
smile a death’s-head grin. “If there is no God,” you cackle, “then God is
Nothingness! Send your worst, cold demons of the void! It’ll take more than
torture and less than nothingness to end me!”

You survive for a few more days, but it takes its
toll on you. You temporarily lose 1 from your
Will
stat. However, if
your Will has already dropped to zero, then you lose
2 Blood
instead.

The slow, grinding battle for survival in the void
continues.

If you have a
Framed Photo
of a group of laborers,
turn to section
303
.

If you do not have this distracting item, turn to
section
92
.

“No you didn’t,” says the Commander. “I see them
right there.”

Even more confused, you say, “
Whuh
...
where?”

“Down there,” he says nonchalantly - then slams his
fist into your gut.

It feels as if a grenade has gone off inside of your
suit and you double over and fall to your knees. As you hack and slobber on the
ground, the Commander says, “See them down on the floor there?”

The psychotics laugh at you.

Once you catch your breath, you scream out, “All I
want to do is kill aliens, sir!”

“You don’t want to chase paperwork?” says the
Commander, looking down at you. “Are they not a comfort to your kind? Boxing up
reality until reality goes away, and then the last thing you are allowed to
file... is your own death certificate?”

“No, sir,” you say, shaking your head as a coughing
fit grips you. “God damn, no, sir.”

One of the men in the rear says, “Man is a map
between dog and the superman. Much in this one is still dog-like.”

“Let’s bring the dog along anyway,” says the
Commander. “Maybe we can teach him a few tricks.”

“I don’t... need any paperwork?” you say, rising on
shaky knees.

“Not if you can prove you’re human,” says the
Commander. “And, who knows? We might make something admirable of you yet.”

“SIR!” you shout. “YES SIR!”

Turn to section
58
.

Commander Uther takes the lead, handgun in one hand
and charged mace in the other, while you and Sybel carry Marcus. “Captain!”
shouts Uther.

Over the com-link, Numitor says, “Commander Uther -
the shield?”

“Set to blow!”

“Good job!” You catch a note of relief in the man’s
voice; it betrays the fact that he has many lives in his hands right now, and
he doesn’t want to sacrifice any of them. You do not envy him his position.

“Give us three minutes, sir, three minutes.”

“Okay. You’ve earned it, Commander.”

A terrific explosion shakes the entire ship. The
floor creaks under your feet, and the dim lights in the near-black hallway
shudder off for a moment. Marcus groans, “There go your shields, assholes...
suck on it.”

While Marcus seems to pass in and out of
consciousness muttering, “Suck, suck it...” Uther shouts into his radio, “
Heimdall
! We’re out of here!”

“Hell!” cries a dim voice. “Damn! Fine! Okay!”

“You alright?
Heimdall
, try to get back to where we came in. Can
you get back there?”

“Hellfire, sir, I dunno, we’ll try, we’re under
major fire here.”

You become lost in the labyrinthine halls. When
Uther falters at several intersections, Sybel shouts out directions. A minute
passes,
then
another then even Sybel hesitates before
giving directions.

Marcus hangs like dead weight, making it impossible
to breathe, much less move another foot. It becomes obvious that you are all
lost in the black ship which is about to be blown to pieces by the
Penelope’s
Vengeance
.

You hear gunfire and screaming at the next
intersection. “That’s
Heimdall
,” says Uther, rushing
ahead. “Those bastards are right on his tail!”

“We’ll all go down to Hell together!” growls Sybel,
unsheathing his wicked charged blade, a maniacal fatalistic doom-glow in his
grey eyes.

“No!” shouts Uther. Into his com-link he shouts, “
Heimdall
, set your beacon and throw it! Then fly like hell
- we’re at your right at the next intersection!” Uther mutters darkly, “We’re
getting out of here yet.”

Beacon?
you
think.
Just what is he planning?

In a hail of gunfire from the far hall, you see
several human infantrymen fly around the corner at suicidal speed. The world
seems to slow down as some terrible feeling stomps in your guts.

“Captain Numitor!” Uther shouts, his voice drawn out
in your mind. “We’ve set a beacon, a signal for you! I need you to blast the
tightest, thinnest laser shot you can right at that beacon!”

Hell
, you think.
This
is the end
.

If you killed John Christian, turn to section
177
.

If you let him live, turn to
section
104
.

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
413
.

You look through the rest of the equipment, finding
nothing of worth, while the canisters are filled with the precious fuel.
Suddenly you hear an
arhythmic
hum - then you float
free from the ground as the fuel pumps click off. The hum of the air
conditioning units falls silent. The deconstructors must have destroyed the
back-up generator.

You kick off toward the canisters to remove them
from the pumps.

If you are trained in
Stealth
, or have a
Sixth
Sense
, turn to section
307
.

If you do not have either of these Skills, turn to
section
48
.

You time your footfalls to the rhythm of the door.
You reach the door and it opens right in front of you. You spin around and through
the doorway, but the door catches your shoulder heavily and sends you crashing
to the floor. You survive, but you learn that survival hurts: Lose
1 Blood
and gain
1 XP
.

You run to the end of the hall and turn a corner. A door
lies there. You enter it and leave behind the mist of destruction: Gain
1 XP
.

Turn to section
223
.

You slowly bounce from wall, ceiling, floor, and
make your way down the hall. The light from your helmet jerks around in the
darkness and picks up motes of dust. You are nearly out of air. You labor to
suck in air, but the vacuum itself rests in your chest. You know that you have
to get deeper into the station where you can breathe or you will die and become
a part of the dead station.

There is a doorway at the end of the hallway. You
push it. The door encounters something soft but unyielding on the other side
and swings shut again.

If you want to shove the door open, turn to section
287
.

If you would rather turn around and try the other
side of the hallway, turn to section
305
.

“Are you telling me that you guys actually like
working for this idiot?” you say, literally turning your nose up at the fierce
Captain. “Come on, you’re mercenaries, hired guns, you have to live by your
wits. If you wanted to have someone shout orders at you all day long and treat
you like crap, you should’ve been lawmen.”

“Step off,” says the Captain. “My boys work for me
cause
they know the pay is good and the benefits are
beneficial.”

The Captain’s revolver twitches angrily in his hand.
Still, you note that the two guards have not exactly been quick to blast you.

If your
Charisma
is 4 or more, turn to
section
3
.

If your
Charisma
is 3 or less, turn to
section
267
.

No need to panic
,
you think.
There’s always some kind of safety switch on these things
.

You feel around on the control panel. One section
seems slightly different. You fool around with it until it pops off, then you
grab a tiny lever and flip it. The door grinds open unnaturally. Air rushes
into the room and throws you against the far wall. You are grateful that the
other door holds tight, or else you could have been thrown even farther. You
reenter the hallway, which is still brightly lit and has gravity. You throw off
your helm and breathe.

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
grown and 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
.

The Captain jerks and splatters red as your gun
barks, then crashes to the ground in a moaning, dying heap:
Gain 1 XP.
You may take his
Old School Revolver (Handgun, bulk 2)
and
3 Handgun
bullets (bulk 1)
if you wish.