Heavy Metal Thunder (28 page)

The guard slams his thick pipe into your arms and
shoulder before you can get close to him. Huffing and panting, you stare one
another down as you spin about the hall, grappling for supremacy. You try to
maintain your hold, block his pipe, and get your knife to his throat, all at
once.

You must now compute a number to see if you are being
beaten to death, or just close to it. Add your
Zero G Combat
to your
Strength
.
If you are trained in
Weapon Proficiency: Blade
, add 3 to the number.

During your pounding you lose
9 Blood
- but
you can subtract the number calculated above from this amount. If your Blood
has dropped to zero or less, then the guard has pounded your body into a gooey
mess sloshing around inside your suit. If you have survived his onslaught, then
continue on.

You finally give up all defensive actions and, as
the guard gives you a solid pounding on your helm, you jam the knife into his
gut. He jerks and yelps and you swing back,
then
pull
the two of you together as you mash the knife into his eyeball. The guard
twitches violently as you slide it in to the hilt, slicing into his brain. You
rest, waiting for your skull to stop ringing, the dead man peacefully
intertwined with you.

You gain
2 XP
for killing the guard. Turn to
section
562
.

Your body arcs backward, you howl like a mad wolf as
an unendurable bolt of pain shoots through you: Lose
2 Blood.
Unable to
control the monster inside, you leap towards the old laborer. He fumbles out of
the way,
then
falls over. Just as you are about to
tear his body open with your bare hands, the others fall on you, push you down,
and hold you as you flail madly.

Minutes pass as the kill-surge weakens until finally
you collapse, exhausted. You realize that the men have been talking; only now
can you understand their words.

“Black Lance Legion, he called it,” says the
manager.
“Looks like they made some kind of psychotic freak
out of this young man!”

“Did they teach him to lash out at harmless old
men?” says the doctor.

“Looks like he’s chill now,” says the guard. “Good
thing we didn’t have to waste him.”

They let go of you, backing away uneasily. You pull
yourself up tiredly.

“You sorry?” says the guard.

“Not really,” you say, glaring at the laborer.

Turn to section
19
.

You continue down the hall toward the far side of
the station. Screams of terror echo in the distance. You come to an electronic
map on the wall; bullet-holes riddle the area, and several bloody bodies lie at
your feet. As you study the map a terrific explosion rocks the station. You
ignore the distraction, intent on your own survival. According to the map,
docking bays are blinking out and going black all around the station.
Fortunately you find one of several docking bays relatively far from the
destruction. You pick one,
then
make your way down a
corridor leading toward it.

During your walk through the halls of madness, you
see a door marked

STELLAR
CORP LAW ENFORCEMENT ARMORY

AUTHORIZED
PERSONNEL ONLY!

The lock has been smashed open, and you can hear activity
inside.

If you want to enter the armory, turn to section
377
.

If you want to bypass the area and hurry on to the
docking bay, turn to section
10
.

The deconstructors tear up the hallway, rising to
engulf you both. The guard shoots downward at one machine, cursing wildly as
his bullets ricochet off the spinning drills. You aim your own weapon and fire
downward at the other behemoth.

You must now compute an abstract number that
signifies the accuracy of your gunfire. If you are skilled in
Weapon
Proficiency: Ranged
, and it is with the type of gun you are using, add 3 to
your total. For every
2 Rifle bullets
that you choose to fire, add 1 to
your total. For every
4 Handgun bullets
you choose to fire, add 1 to
your total. Add your
Dexterity
to the total. You may only fire one type
of gun at the deconstructor, for the violence of the vacuum and the jerking of
your grappling rope prevent you from switching out weapons.

If the result is 10 or more, turn to section
277
.

If the result is 9 or less, turn to section
197
.

Misshapen steel coils jut out from the ruined wall.
You grab onto them, hug the wall,
then
swing your right
leg around. The jetpack hangs from your back like a granite devil, pulling you
down. You pull yourself outward,
then
crane your head
to take a peek at the far side. You are in luck, for there is a long section of
broken hallway on the other side.

Unfortunately, one of the steel coils that you are
holding comes loose from the ruined wall. Dust scatters and clouds your vision.
You hang onto the wall desperately.

If you have a Dexterity score of 3 or more, turn to
section
233
.

If your Dexterity is 2 or less, turn to section
323
.

“Hey doc,” you say, producing the syringe. “What is
this stuff?”

The doctor glances at it,
then
shakes his head disapprovingly. “That’s a drug called
KillJoy
.
The laborers and guards here inject that crap into dogs during their loutish
dog-fighting matches. I’ve even heard of men using it on themselves before a
fight. It turns rational men into savages...”

“Cool!” you say.

Note that the
KillJoy
Syringe (bulk 1)
, when used, will add 2 to any hand-to-hand variable for
the duration of 1 fight. There is only enough for
1 dose.
It cannot be
used in conjunction with guns.

If you have a
Mystery
Device
, turn to
section
549
.

If you do not have this item, turn to section
328
.

“Well I got news for you, bud,” you say, drawing
your piece dramatically and aiming it at the lawman. “I’m the LAW in this
station.
You?
You’re a scum-bag, dirt-bag!”

“Now that’s not true!” shouts the lawman, pointing
his gun at you.

The smiling revolutionary does not seem to notice
you, but his scared friend aims his gun at you again, then back to the lawman,
muttering to himself in terror. The lawman stares down the barrel of his gun,
then screams, “
It’s not true!
”

“Isn’t it?” you say. “Look inside yourself. There,
you will find the
skuzz
-bag within.”

“Kill you,” mutters the smiling revolutionary, his
shotgun still on the cop. “
Kill
you.”

Now the lawman seems to understand that he is truly
outnumbered. After a few tense moments, he says, “Fine, you win. I’m going. I’m
going.” He sidesteps slowly toward the door. You keep your gun trained on him,
but move away from the door so that he can leave and file a formal complaint
against the revolution.

The scared revolutionary sighs audibly - then the
smiling one laughs harshly, shouts, “Going, yes!
Going to
die!
”
With that, he fires his shotgun. The lawman, only a few feet
from you, flies backward in a spray of bodily goo. You jump at the sound of the
blast,
then
the killer turns to you and shouts, “All
of us - going to
die!
”

You dive to the floor as he fires again, destroying
a chair near you.

If you have at least one bullet in your gun, you can
return fire by turning to section
568
.

If you don’t have any bullets, you can scramble for
the dead lawman’s gun by turning to section
57
.

If you want to throw a chair at the killer for
distraction, then run and attack him, turn to section
94
.

There is no cover near the door, but if you want to
haul ass out of the all-you-can-eat buffet, turn to section
273
.

You swoop down onto your massive net and scoop it up.
You gun the jetpack full-blast and fly out of the dock and away from the ghost
station. You glance back. All manner of deconstructors have surrounded the
thing, bringing about its final doom.
But they could not end you
. You
speed away from the colony, then bring up your star charts and plot a course
for the next station. It will take weeks, perhaps months, to get there, flying
long-range in short-range gear. If you survive the journey it will set some
sort of record. Even if you don’t make it, but your body is discovered by
beings thousands of years in the future, the size of your balls will at least
set a record. You settle in for the long haul.

You gain
3 XP
for surviving the gauntlet of
the ghost station.

Turn to section
206
.

You stuff your face with all the delights the
cafeteria has to offer: Heal
5 Blood.
You can gather as much
Food
(bulk 1)
as you can carry with you. Furthermore, you gain
3 XP
for
surviving this ridiculous, deadly situation.

During your meal, you realize that there are several
dead bodies chilling in the area. For some reason it does not really affect
your appetite.

You can continue down the hall toward the ship
docking bay by turning to section
254
.

The radio squawks and you hear the voice of the
manager. “Well?” he
says,
his voice high and shrill.
“What happened?!”

The radio is of low quality. Imitating the guard,
you say, “The deconstructors are dead.”

“And did you kill the fool?!”

Smiling, you use your natural voice to say, “Yes,
the fool is dead. And I’m coming for
you
next.”

There is silence on the other end as the manager
realizes he is living his worst nightmare. Then he says, “None of that matters.
When you boys destroyed those machines, it must have sent a signal to the
others. They’re swarming on the station and tearing through points all over the
hull. Neither of us has much longer.”

“Sounds pretty bad,” you say. “But I’ll wager I’ve
got a little more time than you.”

“Such tough talk!” squeaks the manager, then turns
off his radio.

So the whole station is coming apart. You will have
to hurry if you’re going to gather supplies in time to get out of here alive.
And you’ll have to watch out for that manager...

Turn to section
115
.

Tensions rise in the cramped quarters of the
Narrenschiff
as it glides through the nothingness of
space. Everyone grows hungry again as stomachs demand to be fed. There is
little joy in the affair.

You must subtract
1 Food
for every person on
the
Narrenschiff
, including yourself. You may
use your own supply of Food in your inventory, if you have any. If you do not
have enough to cover everyone, you must use up all possible Foods and then lose
1 Blood
due to the harsh effects of slow starvation.

If you run out of Food during this meal, or have run
out of Food long ago, turn to section
318
.

If you have had enough Food for everyone so far,
turn to section
289
.

“Eat it!” you scream as you throw the grenade. An
incredible blast rocks the room. You hear nothing, only feel an incredible
force tossing you about, jarring your head clear to the bone. When you come to,
the room is in great disarray and the inside of your helm is splattered with
blood. The robot is in pieces. Miraculously, you only lose
1 Blood.
Though shaken, you are thankful that the grenade was not any more powerful than
it was.

You gain
1 XP
for overcoming the robot. Be
sure to erase the
Implosion
Grenade
from your inventory,
then
turn to section
214
.

You turn the handcart on and guide it through the
hallway. It hums gently as it glides before you.

Suddenly the lights flicker, then the hall is cast into
darkness. You float free from the ground. The hum of distant machinery is
silenced. The deconstructors must have destroyed the back-up generator. You
curse and turn your helm light back on. You abandon the handcart, for it is now
worthless. However, you can gather the food just as easily in zero-G, and so
you kick off a wall and continue down the hall toward the lounge.