Heavy Metal Thunder (58 page)

Simeon draws himself up, leans his head back
knowingly, and says, “See, the problem was that the tube release chain was
catching on the shaft repulsion-”

“Stop right there. Listen, I don’t care about the
particulars. Just keep up the good work, okay?”

“Alright...” he mutters, a little put off.

You walk away. But before you leave him, you turn
back, then say, “Oh, and if you waste my time again -
I’ll kill you
.”

Turn to section
262
.

If you have any
SD
damage, and have no
Sticky
Fix
to repair your suit, then the void bleeds you for that much
Blood.

You fly nearer the man who tried to kill you. The
battle disappears far behind. You tune your radio for his ears alone and say,
“John. John Christian.” There is only static on his end of the line. Along with
his jetpack, his radio must have been damaged as well.

As you draw nearer, John Christian sees you. He
waves his hands to you, and tries in vain to orient himself such that you are
on the same plane. Then his helm must identify who you are, for he suddenly
becomes still.

“That’s right, buddy,” you say. “It’s your old
friend Mister Wiggles.” The other fighters are far away. You know that whatever
happens here will never be known by anyone except you and Mister Christian.

He appears unarmed. If you want to kill the man who
tried to kill you, turn to section
436
.

If you want to look at him face to face before you
do anything, turn to section
63
.

“Listen, babe,” you say. “I can’t do this.”

Drawing away from you, her mask of beauty falters for
a moment and she truly seems a feral animal when she says, “What? Why?”

“I, uh, I walk a lonely path in life. It’s this
journey, see, it keeps me pretty busy. Plus, I don’t want you getting hurt.”

“What the hell are you talking about?” Her breasts
heave up and down as she takes in violent breaths, and her lips curl cruelly.
“What’s the problem?”

“Just chill, alright?
Maybe some other time.
I’m just not looking for a
long-term commitment right now. In the Legion, they teach us not to associate
with anything that we can’t shoot to death or leave in ten seconds flat. At
least, I think they do, I got this memory thing, see...”

“Are you serious? Are you some kind of
psychopath?
”

The question throws you off balance, and while you
think of a response Zelda stomps away. You’re not sure why, but for some reason
you say over your shoulder, “You’ll be back, honey. You’ll be back.”

Minutes later you hear Zelda and Buford giggling in
some far corner of the ship. Then Cletus’s inane giggling joins in.
What in
the world could those three possibly have in common?
you
wonder, confused and disgusted by the whole thing.

Turn to section
571
.

You catch the deconstructor in a glancing blow. A
tentacle from the other slams into your
ribs,
pushes
you into a wall. Now the first whips you about the shins, causing you to shriek
and hop about in terror. Old childhood rage bubbles in your
blood,
and your vision dims as you swing your weapon about, knocking tentacles away.
You trip over one of the beasts, crash into the other,
then
flail about in a merciless tantrum. When you run out of air, you realize that
you have beaten the two deconstructors into pieces. “Shows them, for p-picking
on me...” you say, snuffling tears loudly.

You lose
3 Blood
in the fight. If your Blood
has dropped to zero or less, then you pass out, dead, another victim of the
ghost station.

If you have survived, turn to section
298
.

You float down the hall toward the lounge, peering
quickly down side halls as you go. The hall continues straight, and so you turn
off your helm light as you advance. Suddenly you see a flicker of light along a
side hall. You cling to the ceiling and slide to a stop. You peer around a
corner.
A cone of light swings around the hall, then you see
the manager floating by. He is carrying a long rifle and peers from side to
side. You quietly pull back around the corner and wait for him to pass. Once
you are sure he has gone by, you continue on.

You gain
1 XP
for using your Skill. Turn to
section
516
.

“Uh, I don’t think that’s gonna work for me,” you
say.

“What?” she says, as if she has never heard such a
refusal before.

“See, I’m kind of a loner type.
Dark
and brooding.
I know a lot of guys probably act aloof and tough as an
image designed to intrigue people like you. Well, for me it’s
legit
.”

She slinks toward you, somehow managing to push her
boobs and ass out even farther than before. “Don’t you want to... you know...
”

“Want to what? Be alone with my thoughts while I
look at the stars? Yeah, don’t mind if I do.”

Zelda turns about quickly and stomps away. Minutes
later you hear Zelda and Buford giggling in some far corner of the ship. Then
Cletus’s inane giggling joins in.
What in the world could those three
possibly have in common?
you
wonder, confused and
disgusted by the whole thing.

You gain
1 XP
for disentangling yourself from
a hot and sticky situation. Turn to section
571
.

As the laborers finish up the loading, you turn to
the ship. Stenciled on its side is the name
Narrenschiff
.

Narrenschiff
?
you
think, remembering some ancient language.
Ship of Fools?

The nature of the black omen is not lost on you. “
Doors’ll
be opening soon,” you say to the guards. “Get
ready to rock.”

An old geezer waddles up to the ship. His fat belly
presses up against his cheap-looking clothes, and his beard is stained yellow
either from a lifetime of smoking or vomiting. “See here!” he says. “I haven’t
gotten a seat on a ship yet.”

“And maybe you never will, old man,” you say.

“Well you’ll need a pilot, won’t you?”

“Will I?”

“If you don’t,”
barks
the
old man, “someone else will.”

If you want to let the old man on board, turn to
section
205
.

If you want to banish his ass to an early
retirement, turn to section
144
.

You stand your ground as the monsters emerge into
the light. Segmented tentacles whirl about, insect-like faces glare without
mercy,
steel
pincers grind against one another. 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
.

You and
Reika
race down the
hallway. The lights flicker ominously. The entire station shudders and you
nearly lose your balance.

“REMAIN CALM,” says the voice on the intercom.
“THERE HAS BEEN A SLIGHT POWER SURGE IN DOCKING BAYS FOUR THROUGH NINE.
EMERGENCY PERSONNEL HAVE CLOSED OFF THE AREAS. RUMORS THAT THESE DOCKING BAYS
HAVE BEEN DESTROYED ARE COMPLETELY UNFOUN... OH GOD!”

Death-static fills the audio
speakers, then disorienting popping sounds.
A new voice, shrill and manic, shouts, “Tools of the Stellar Slave Corporation,
hear this! The People’s Underground Revolutionary Forces have commandeered this
communications center! Your liberation is at hand! I repeat
,
your liberation is at hand!”

“Idiots!” says
Reika
.
“Here’s your perfect world, numbskulls!”

So
, you think,
I
wonder if she believes that people should be shot for minor infractions of the
law... she might be the ruthless girl for me!

“Listen,” you say, “when we get to the docking bay,
just stay behind me, okay? Things might get a little crazy.”

“
Get
crazy?” she says. “Fine, okay. I’m ready
for crazy.”

You come to a hallway filled with running people.
They are a mix of frightened laborers, lawmen, mercenaries, merchants, and
corporate heads. You see the wide open doors of the docking bay just ahead, and
the scene before you makes all the chaos beforehand pale in comparison.

Turn to section
53
.

You fight your way upwards with renewed intensity.
One of the two lead dogs gets ahead of the other and howls at you maniacally. You
cannot seem to get ahead of them. You hear them coming closer and closer,
then
you feel a terrible pain as teeth sink into your right
leg: Lose
1 Blood.
You squeal and roll over onto your back. The dog
shakes your leg in its mouth. You bring up your heavy left boot and bring it
crashing into his face once, twice... eight times. The light goes out of the
dead dog’s eyes before he ever yields an inch. The other dog prepares to leap.
You kick the lead dog into its path; it swerves to the edge to avoid it,
then
kicks wildly with its hind legs as it hangs off the
edge of the beam. You roll down a few feet and slap the thing with your gloved
hand. It falls over the brink.

Now the rest of the pack is gaining on you. Gripping
your leg, you continue on towards the top of the ruined beam.

Turn to section
510
.

You enter a well-lit carpeted corridor colored in
soft tones. You make your way toward the center of the station, sweating under
the weight of the jetpack. Something screeches nearby; you whirl about; a
hidden speaker overhead plays gentle
muzak
. The
lights brown-out around you. You continue on.

You come to a hall where you hear clanking, thuds, a
mechanical, arrhythmic lurch. Your body tenses, remembering something primal.
Several hallways around you blacken entirely.

You feel a malevolent presence around you. Your
hands are clenched into fists. Something bad is going to happen... but you are
not without a violence all your own.

You suddenly remember your combat training.

Turn to section
372
.

You take up position beside the others and plant
your grapple beside the northern entrance to the backup generator. You ready yourself,
facing down the hall. The rumbling grows. You notice sweat trickling down the
guard’s face as he fingers his rifle. The laborer swallows, over and over,
gulping his fear. Soon the entire hallway shakes around you, the rumbling grows
deafening, overwhelming - then the wall at the far end of the hall buckles,
tears apart like dry paper, and two giant machines, heads full of rotating
drills and saws, grind their way toward you. They tear up the sides of the
hall, bowing them outwards, the lights flicker around you and air rushes out of
the hall with such force that the three of you are lifted off your feet. You
are spinning, utterly disoriented, not sure if “down” is somewhere at your side
or if it is at your feet and the deconstructors are rising to eat you whole.

You and the guard slam into one another and, by some
stroke of luck, stop your spin. The guard aims his rifle and blasts at the head
of one monster. The other is below you, rising. Suddenly the laborer is ripped
free of his mooring, not having secured his line well. He flies downward,
crashes into a drill-headed machine, and simply disappears as the hall is
splattered with red. You will have to move quickly.

If you have a
High-Power Implosion Grenade
,
you can use it by turning to section
193
.

Otherwise, you will have to fire with a gun by
turning to section
255
.

If you have no gun, you can lower yourself nearer
one of the machines and attack it with a hand-held weapon by turning to section
35
.

If you don’t even have a hand-held weapon, you will
have to flee by turning to section
366
.

You rise over the box, blood singing in your ears
drowning out all else. A horned head hovers into view. You fire - and the guard
falls back as one of his horns shatters and blood spurts from a new opening in
his head.