Air Blast (2 page)
Authors: Steve Skidmore
“But he’s an alien,” you point out.
“There are good aliens and bad aliens. He’s one of the good ones.”
QTee smiles and nods at the gun. “And this beauty is a new toy I’m working on. It cancels out the effects of gravity.” He stares at you. “And you are the one who is volunteering for this mission in which you are almost certain to die. Are you up to it?”
To find out more about the mission,
go to 23
.
If you decide you don’t want any part of this adventure,
go to 49
.
You fire a volley of energy bolts and missiles at the window shutters.
A gaping hole appears and the effects of the bomb are cancelled. However, the control room is destroyed and the palace begins to drop down through the sky.
You open the DART’s power unit and slip Hurrikano’s crystal inside. Let’s hope QTee was right, you think as you leap through the hole. You start to drop. Around you hundreds of winged creatures are pouring from out of the doomed palace.
Fly, you think. Incredibly the suit responds to your thoughts. The crystal does work! You fly away from the palace towards the lower cloud levels. You land and order the DART suit to teleport you back to Earth.
“Navigate the route to the palace,” you order.
“Head to the upper cloud belt,” replies the DART’s NAV system.
You look up and see more clouds. They also have buildings on them. Many creatures are flying between the cloud belts, but they all have wings. You wonder how you are going to get to the upper clouds.
As you stare skywards, a huge creature circles above you. It is a cross between a huge bird of prey and a dark cloud. It squawks at you, spitting a lightning bolt from its beak. The bolt just misses you.
“DANGER! Cyclone hawk!” cries the DART suit’s computer as the hawk dives at you with its deadly steel talons outstretched.
If you want to kill the hawk,
go to 35
.
If you want to try and capture it,
go to 44
.
If you want to teleport back to Earth,
go to 41
.
As you walk by the objects, you hear a humming noise, which turns into a deafening roar.
“DANGER! DANGER!” warns the DART suit.
Before you can react there is a huge rush of wind. The objects transform into enormous tunnels of spinning black clouds reaching up into the sky.
Their mouths open from within the depths of the black cloud, to reveal sets of rotating blades! Like a hurricane, the wind sucks you towards the gaping mouth of one of the creatures.
“STORM REAPERS!”
You can hardly hear yourself think as you are pulled towards the maelstrom and the rotating blades.
If you want to teleport back to Earth,
go to 41
.
If you want to try to blow up the creatures with a bomb,
go to 38
.
If you want to use your eGun,
go to 29
.
As the helicopter spins wildly through the
air, you reach over and shake the pilot. It is
hopeless; the man is unconscious.
“Take over the controls,” yells Agent Lee.
You push the pilot out of the way, and wrestle with the joystick. Just as you think you have things under control, another gust of wind blasts the helicopter.
You fire a stream of eGun energy bolts into the body of the gas giant.
To your amazement, the creature absorbs the energy and fires them back at you!
You just avoid being killed by your own shots!
The creature points its finger and unleashes a volley of flaming gas bombs, which explode around you.
To continue the fight,
go to 27
.
To teleport back to Earth,
go to 41
.
If you wish to take advice from the DART computer,
go to 46
.
You put the eGun to the creature’s head. “You will take me to the upper cloud belt or die,” you say. The DART suit translates. The creature squawks and nods its head.
Carefully, you release some of the bonds that are holding the hawk captive. You climb onto its back and clamp the suit to the hawk’s body. “Let’s fly!”
The creature takes off and within seconds you arrive at the upper cloud belt. You order the hawk to land out of view of Hurrikano’s forces. The creature obeys.
As you climb down, the creature tears at the net with its talons. The steel ropes give way and it takes to the air.
If you want to kill the cyclone hawk,
go to 33
.
If you want to let it escape,
go to 25
.
“Tell me more about the bombs,” you say.
“The TD bomb is a total destruction bomb,” replies QTee. “It is like a mini atom bomb. It can destroy all solid objects within a diameter of a hundred metres. The molecular bomb changes the molecular structure of an enemy. For instance, an enemy could be melted or turned into a gas.”
If you want to choose the TD bomb,
go to 28
.
To choose the molecular bomb,
go to 39
.
“Stealth and speed mode,” you tell the suit. Your enemies do not see you as you hurry across the bridge. You deal quickly with a winged guard standing at the entrance of the palace, using your eGun to silence him.
As you enter the palace, the door slams shut behind you. There is a noise of engines and the floor judders. The flying palace is on the move!
“Search for Hurrikano,” you order.
Within seconds, the computer has a fix on your target. You begin to follow the route on your NAV system, but as you turn a corner, you meet a patrol of flying robot drones.
A drone speaks. “Intruder! Surrender!”
If you wish to surrender,
go to 9
.
If you want to attack the drones,
go to 36
.
“Scan objects,” you order.
Seconds later the computer replies. “DANGER! Objects are storm reapers. Weapons are useless against them.”
At that moment there is a humming noise, which turns into a deafening roar. The objects transform into enormous tunnels of spinning black clouds, reaching into the sky.
Their mouths open from within the depths of the black cloud to reveal sets of rotating blades! Like a hurricane, the wind sucks you towards the gaping mouth of one of the creatures. You can hardly hear yourself think as you are pulled towards the maelstrom and the rotating blades.
To teleport back to Earth,
go to 41
.
To try to blow up the creatures with a bomb,
go to 38
.
If you want to use your eGun,
go to 29
.
To try and trick the creatures,
go to 8
.
“What are you doing, you crazy fool!” you cry and reach over to the controls.
“No!” shouts the pilot. The agents scream at you to stop, but you ignore them. You wrestle with the pilot for the controls. In the struggle, you manage to grab the joystick, but the helicopter lurches down towards the forest.
The pilot realises that you are doomed and scrabbles at the emergency door release, leaving you to fly the helicopter.
Your attacks with energy bolts and lasers are useless against Hurrikano’s Staff of Power. You have only one more weapon left to try.
“Arm vacuum bomb.” You aim at the control room floor. “Fire.”
The bomb launches, hits the ground and explodes.
Hurrikano laughs. “A poor shot!”
“I don’t think so.” The walls suddenly shudder. There is a roaring noise as the air is sucked from the room.
“You sealed the room and this is a vacuum bomb. Take away the air and there is nothing for you to control,” you explain. You point your eGun at him.
Hurrikano holds out his staff, but it is powerless. A laser blast hits him in the chest and he falls to the ground. The staff clatters onto the floor. You pick it up, snap it in half and remove the power crystal.
Hurrikano looks up at you. “You think that I am the only one to threaten your miserable little planet. There are more on their way. My master, Tyranno, will destroy the Earth.” They are Hurrikano’s last words.
At that moment there is a terrible grinding noise. The room is collapsing in on itself as the bomb continues its work.
If you want to teleport back to Earth,
go to 32
.
If you wish to try to blast your way out of the room,
go to 11
.
Before the drones can ask any more questions, you blast them with your eGun. Bolts of pure energy zap into their metal shells and they explode.
However, your attack attracts the attention of other creatures. You are outnumbered as dozens of armed drones and winged beings surround you.
If you want to surrender,
go to 9
.
If you wish to fight,
go to 48
.
If you wish to teleport back to Earth,
go to 41
.
“Of course I am,” you reply. “Tell me more.”
“Follow us.” The agents and QTee take you through corridors, deep into the mountain side. Finally you arrive at a set of doors marked OPS ROOM. The doors open and you walk in.
You sit at a desk and Agent Roberts begins to explain. “Earth has been attacked many times before by different alien races. Earth Defence is here to defend it against such attacks.
“We believe that these strange weather patterns are the latest attack. Our INTEL people have been monitoring intergalactic communications, and this is what we’ve come up with.”
He slides a tablet to you across the desk. You begin to read.
