Heavy Metal Thunder (62 page)

“But, but,” the man stammers, his face melting
pathetically. “But I’m a
mechanic,
I can fix the ship
if...”

“Dude!” you say. “Does the ship look broken to you?
No?”

“Well it could be, in the future, if...”

“Your mechanic-skills are going to be put to the
test when I smash your face if you don’t beat it!”

The man wanders off, crying out in that sorry voice
of his. Behind you, the guards laugh moronically.

Turn to section
77
.

You have a few gut feelings about the people locked
in this dance of death. As for the lawman, you feel that he knows the station
is being destroyed and he knows he’s going to die. As such, he’s coping the
only way he knows how - by doing his job, no matter how absurd it seems to
“arrest” someone a few minutes before everyone dies. He has had some sort of
psychotic break with reality in order to protect his ego against all-out panic.

As for the smiling revolutionary, his stance seems
so rigid, his smile so unwavering, that you feel as if he is completely crazy.
Knowing of the station’s imminent destruction, he has decided to follow through
with some plan to lash out at “the system” even if it kills him. His life no longer
matters to him.

The second revolutionary, the scared one, is
terrified and will probably do anything to get out of this situation. For him,
life is worth clinging to no matter what, if only for a few extra minutes.

You gain
1 XP
for using your skill. Now
return to section
425
to make your decision about
what to do. (Of course, you cannot return to this section to collect another
sweet XP.)

You act as if nothing is out of the ordinary and
walk toward the open gun cabinet. You can feel the eyes of many men burning
into the back of your head, but the overall tone of their joking does not
change; they make continual, violent references to corporate heads and what
they plan to do to them. Finally, after what feels like a thousand steps, you
reach your goal. It seems the cabinet has been picked over already, but you
find the following gear that you may take with you.

(There is a
Bulk of Bullets Table
in the
Rules
Index
in the back of the book, if you need it.)

Enforcer Automatic (Handgun, bulk 2)

12 Handgun Bullets (bulk 1)

Enforcer Longshot Special (Rifle, bulk
3)

4 Rifle Bullets (bulk 1)

3 Shotgun Shells (1 bulk)

Stellar Corp Law Enforcement Uniform
(bulk 1)

Steel Baton (Mace, bulk 2)

Collapsible Combat Knife (Blade, bulk 1)

First Aid Kit (Bulk 3, heals 3 Blood, 1
dose)

You also find a
Light Bulletproof Vest (Bulk 2,
Defense 1)
, the first set of armor you have encountered so far. Armor works
like so: When you lose
Blood
, you will be told if you may subtract your
Defense
rating from the amount of your Blood loss. If the text makes no mention of
subtracting your Defense rating from Blood loss (for instance, if you lose
Blood due to starvation, or due to a blow to a part of your body not covered by
armor), then, of course, you may not subtract your Defense rating from the
Blood loss.

Once you are ready, you give some thought to the
revolutionaries across the room.
I wonder what, exactly, their revolution is
all about?
you
think.
Fair
treatment of the workers?
Increased wages? Paid holidays?

“You know what I’m gonna do to that manager Thompson
when I get hold of him?” one drunk revolutionary screams. “I’m gonna point my
gun at him... and blow his head off!” Many of the others laugh raucously as they
load their guns.

Guess that answers my question
,
you think. You turn about slowly,
then
leave the room.
Miraculously, none of the revolutionaries harasses you.

If
Reika
is with
you, turn to section
539
.

If not, turn to section
10
.

You clench your gloved hands into tight fists. You
kneel. Just when you hear the dogs above you, you rise and lash out at the
nearest dog. You catch it in the legs, hard, and when it bites down on your
gloved hand you pull back, wrench it around, and toss the growling beast into
the darkness below. The other dog leaps onto you, biting and twisting its head
around. You fall against the wall, struggling madly with the primal beast. The
merciless teeth tear
3 Blood
from you, but you may subtract your
Strength
score from this amount of damage (and, of course, if you get a negative amount
you do not get to add this to your Blood score). Eventually you pull the thing
loose from you, then give it a hard kick with your booted foot and send it off
the ledge.

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
.

“I’ve never been in one of these ships before,” she
says. “I feel like I’m going crazy sometimes.”

“Most people feel like they’re going crazy all the
time. Don’t worry, ma’am, it’ll pass.”

“Yeah?”

“Sure. As soon as we make it to my Black Lance Legion
ship, you’ll feel right at home.” Immediately you tense up, for your guts tell
you that someone like her most likely would not survive long living under the
tyranny that created you.

“What’s wrong?” she says, needling her eyebrows
together. She looks concerned. She turns to you and, for some reason, arches
her back so that her soft breasts brush up against your arm.

If this is too weird and you want out, make an
excuse by turning to section
533
.

If your
Charisma
is 4 or more, and you think
you’ve got what it takes to handle the situation, turn to section
466
.

If your
Charisma
is 3 or less, but you want
to push your luck anyway, turn to section
16
.

You feel great apprehension as Buford and Cletus
take the pilot and co-pilot’s chairs. You stand behind them and hover nervously
over the various controls, then say, “You boys know how to fly this thing?”

“Shoot,” says Buford. “Better believe it.”

“Shi-
i
-it,” says Cletus,
leering at his companion.

“The hell I don’t!” Buford snaps at him.

“Hell...” says Cletus, laughing.

Many ships blast free from the port, engines blazing
hot. Buford flips the switch to release the electronic moorings,
then
blasts off as dozens of other ships do the same.

You peer ahead. You see the black of the void,
stars, the flare of ships, and you know that the black Invader ship is out
there somewhere, stalking. Your suit feels like a sauna in the cramped space of
the ship. Suddenly you see a flash of red, then a ship near you whirls wildly,
spraying gas, then another flash of hellfire and another ship explodes in a
puff and spray of metal. Then another, and another, and as the ships around you
spread wildly Buford increases speed and directs
Narrenschiff
in a series of wild, erratic loops.

Cletus brings up a series of video feeds on the
nearby monitors. You glance at them and see the dying station behind you. It is
blasted nearly all around, run through with holes, and covered in clouds of
debris. One monitor shows the black hull of the Invader ship floating by
serenely, ominously, the few remaining lights of the station casting a halo
around it. And on nearly every monitor you see ship after ship blasted,
scattered into pieces by laser fire.

“Not gonna make it!” Cletus screams suddenly.
“Aw,
lorda
’ mercy!”

“
Lookit
!” says Buford.
“This here accelerator, it goes all the way up to eleven!”

“They don’t go up pas’ ten!”

“Not
gen’rally
,
naw
, but this one -” Buford hits the switch and the ship
flies ahead at dizzying speed. Suddenly two more ships are blasted terribly
close to the
Narrenschiff
. One mercenary yanks
the controls, you see only a blur - then the
Narrenschiff
hits something and you fly through the air. A mass of limbs tumbles into you
and you crash into the far wall, banging your back and head painfully and
spraying blood from your nose up into your eyes.

You lose
4 Blood
from the impact, though you
may subtract your
Defense
rating from this amount if you happen to be
wearing any armor. If you die, you may
Regenerate
by turning to section
312
, or, if you wish to start
further back, you can turn to section
179
.

If you survive, then Cletus disentangles himself
from you and screams at Buford, who immediately rises to the challenge and
defends his manhood with a lot of shrill bellowing. You leap up to grab the
ship controls,
then
realize that, somehow, the two
idiots have indeed brought you out of the Invader ship’s range and into the
black folds of the cold of space. Only two or three other ships managed to make
it through the gauntlet, though you doubt they have any place to run to.

Comparing your own navigational data with the ship’s
various mapping
systems,
you set a course that will
draw you parallel with the course of your Black Lance Legion ship. You will be
able to make much better time in this ship designed for long-distance travel.
But you realize, also, that the Invader ship will most likely fly on a similar
course.

Turn to section
34
.

As the tentacle mercilessly drags you closer to its
writhing brethren down below, you unsheathe a gun, desperate to blast your way
to freedom.

You must now compute a number that will determine the
outcome of the battle. This number is your
Zero 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
Rifle bullet
you fire, add 1
to this number, or for every
2 Handgun
bullets
you fire, add 1 to
this number. Note that you must fire at least 1 bullet.

If your number is 12 or more, turn to section
150
.

If your number is 11 or less, turn to section
249
.

You rise into a crouch and aim at the fighter as he
hops and flies about the sharp hills of the asteroid. You note, with dismay,
that the shot will not be easy.

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
Shotgun
, add 1 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 the number is 16 or more, turn to section
174
.

If the number is 15 or less, turn to section
85
.

With a bellowing cry you swing your gloved fist into
the old laborer’s face. It connects and you see his head swing around wildly, eyes
wide with shock. He falls to the floor and, before you can stop yourself, you
jump on top of him, landing blows that bounce his head about as he tries,
feebly, to raise his arms. The other three men pull you from him, shouting at
you to stop, and their voices come as from the bottom of a deep well, dim and
far away. You swing about, screaming wildly, and they push you to the floor,
forcing the whole of their weight on top of you.

The demonic urge subsides. You hear the old laborer
moaning on the floor nearby. Eventually you can hear the men again, can
understand their words. Someone is asking what you are doing, asking if you are
insane.

“Human species...” you growl, exhausted. “Greatest
in the universe... no one can stand against... death to the Invader...”

“Black Lance Legion, he calls it,” says the manager.
“Whatever they are, they’ve programmed this young man into some kind of
monster.”

“I hope they fight as hard against the Invader as
they do against the elderly,” says the doctor.