Heavy Metal Thunder (27 page)

Otherwise, you can struggle with him by turning to
section
195
.

You aim your gun at the so-called revolutionaries.
“In this modern, fast-paced world of scum-bags and dirt-bags, we tend to forget
who the real enemy is,” you say darkly. “It’s the
slime-buckets
like
these guys.”

“Aw,
na
-a-a-aw,” moans the
scared revolutionary.

“He’s right!” shouts the lawman. “Listen to the man.
Now lay down your weapons and turn yourselves in.”

“Yes! Listen to him!” you shout.

“No - listen to
him!
” shouts the lawman.

The tension in the room thickens, heightens,
becomes
unbearable. The scared revolutionary aims at you,
gun shaking, tears streaming down his face.

“But this can only end in blood,” says the smiling
revolutionary. “
Kill!
”

The scared revolutionary screams.

If you wish to shout, “
Wa
-a-
ait
!” turn to section
502
.

If you have at least one bullet, you can shoot at
the revolutionaries by turning to section
172
.

If you want to dive behind the partial cover of a
nearby table, turn to section
489
.

The gun jerks in your hands and a moment later a
stream of oxygen and red ice pours from the body of the sniper, who twitches
once, then floats limp and calm.

You gain
2 XP
for killing the Invader. Be
sure to erase the amount of ammunition you used from your inventory.

You rise into a crouch,
then
feel eyes on your back. The other Invader is staring at you, black face
unreadable,
horns
gleaming in the light of distant
stars. His jet arcs to life and he flies toward you at incredible speed.

If you want to fire at him with a gun, turn to
section
39
.

If you want to draw a hand-to-hand weapon and face
him (or even take him on unarmed), turn to section
413
.

“Get lost,” you say. “We’re trying to fly a
spaceship here, not “navigate” it, or whatever you call that shit.”

The man throws you a contemptuous smile,
then
gives you the finger as he limps away.

“I swear,” you mutter.
“Some
people.”

Turn to section
405
.

“Guns!” you shout. “
Reika
,
let’s go in here and gear up.”

She looks at the door for a moment,
then
says, “It’s been busted open.”

“Right.
Saves us the trouble.”

“Well there might be someone in there...”

“So? I’ll deal with that. Same way I dealt with your
boyfriend, same way I’ve dealt with every other asshole I’ve met so far.”

“But... but what if...”

“Listen, I need guns,
weapons
, if we’re gonna
make it through this thing alive.
Right?”

“I just
wanna
get out of
here before we lose the chance to,” she says, sullen. “If you go in, I’m
staying out here.”

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

If you want to give in and continue on to the ship
docking bay, turn to section
539
.

Try as you might, you can’t seem to get any leverage
to use against the doctor, who pushes against you with demonic intensity. With
great dread you see the thick syringe pierce through your suit, then prick your
skin, then grate against one of your ribs. He manages to push the plunger a
fraction of a centimeter and you feel Hell opening up in your body. You howl in
pain and jerk wildly and the syringe breaks off.

You convulse out of control, unable to breathe, and
the doctor is jerked sideways and crashes into a table. The room starts to spin
and you grab the sides of your head as you fall from the table. The doctor
rummages through the vials that have been knocked to the floor, cursing wildly.
You see him priming a fresh syringe, hands shaking, as he knocks more bottles
around. You crawl across the floor, desperate to live, desperate to kill.

You rise onto your
knees,
the floor swings upward and smacks you in the head. You
rise
again, the room shakes out of control, and you lunge forward and grasp the
doctor’s neck from behind. You fall over again, dragging him down with you but
you hold tight to his neck. He kicks and flails about as you crush the life
from him.

He lies still and you lie with him, waiting for the
terrible sickness to let up: You have lost
2
Blood
from the
poison. Moreover, you temporarily lose
1 Dexterity
and
1 Strength
point. However, you gain
1 XP
for killing the mad
doctor.

Turn to section
269
.

You leave the
Narrenschiff
,
your life line, far behind as you streak towards Scylla at full speed. You see
the flash of a gunshot and note its position. You have no doubt that the sniper
is firing at the ship, running it through with holes, possibly destroying its
computer systems, fuel tanks, supplies, and all hope of ever returning to your
Black Lance Legion ship. You do not care; only the death of the sniper matters.
You wonder if the sniper has a spotter, if there is a two-man team. No matter:
None
can stop you.

The asteroid grows in your vision and you brake
hard,
then
settle down in an area hidden in shade. The
cold, hard surface of brittle stone has no gravity that you can feel.

If you are trained in
Stealth
, turn to
section
165
.

If you do not have this skill, turn to section
136
.

You shine your helmet light around the
room,
you see the floating bodies, the cake, the frozen gobs
of round blood. You can take the
9mm Automatic (Handgun, bulk 2)
, if you
like. There are
5 Handgun bullets (bulk 1)
in the clip, and you may take
these as well. Be sure to record these weapons in your item inventory, along
with the individual and total bulk of items.

You are getting hungry for air.

If you would like to make a quick search of the dead
workers’ pockets, turn to section
158
.

There are some unopened birthday presents floating
under a nailed-down table. You can rip through these by turning to section
14
.

If you want to get out of this room now, turn to
section
360
.

The world spins in your field of vision. As the
tentacle swings you about wildly, you fire. Either you miss or your fire has no
effect. The grip tightens about your leg, crushing it, and you lose
2 Blood.
(Be sure to erase the amount of ammunition that you used.)

Suddenly you come to a rest - then, dozens of small
tentacles wrap around you. The long tentacle has dragged you down to a nest of
smaller tentacles. They slither about you, crushing you, rolling you around.
You can barely breathe, much less scream. The things are very powerful and you
know that they could crush the life from you. Instead, it seems that they are
moving you somewhere.

If you want to roll up into a ball to minimize the
damage the tentacles can do to you, turn to section
96
.

If you have at least one bullet and you want to
shoot at the tentacles with the gun you just used (which is the only weapon you
can currently get to), turn to section
501
.

You slowly remove their helms. Though disfigured by the
effects of the vacuum, you can still make out the features. The faces have
enough human traits to disturb you, but are alien enough to disgust you as
well. Their faces are longer than a human’s, with long noses that end thickly.
Their eyes are
slitted
, slightly upturned at the far
ends.
Bovine
comes to mind. The mouths are decidedly human, save for
slightly elongated eye-teeth that can only be called fangs. The sniper has
finer features than the other; his coloration is a pale red, his hair and beard
darker red. The fighter is squatter, thicker, and his skin is bluish, though it
is difficult to tell if this was his original color or is due to the effects of
the vacuum. His hair and beard are jet black.

The longer you look at the strange faces, the more
human they look. But one thing about them is truly alien - both have long,
curved horns that jut out from their skulls. Their helms are designed to
accommodate the horns: Two interlocking pieces that lock together, one in front
and one in back. The horns are the color of bone. As you feel them, you decide
that they truly are horns of bone – they are natural extensions of the skull.

You cannot make out any features on their eyes, for
they have been completely ruptured by the vacuum.

Their bodies are humanoid, though their legs seem
slightly long. You rip off their boots and note that they have only two large
toes tipped with thick, yellow-brown nails. Their heels seem highly arched.

“Satyrs,” you mutter under your breath. “The demons
we are fighting... are satyrs.”

As you search their bodies, you find that the
fighter wears a set of armor under his space suit. You may take his
Hard
Vest (Bulk 2, Defense 2)
if you wish.

(If this is the first set of armor you have found,
then 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.)

You pry the field-generating short sword from the
fighter’s hand. The weapon hums in your hand. Electromagnetic field-generating
weapons are the special advanced-technology weapons used by infantrymen to hack
through the invisible shields of large vessels. Charged weapons are much better
than inert weapons. You may take the
Charged Gladius (Blade, bulk 2)
if
you wish.

You may also take the
Alien Sniper Rifle (bulk 3)
if you wish, though it does not seem to use your own caliber of ammunition. You
have the feeling that you can trade it for something else when you reach your
home ship.

A search of the sniper’s hideout reveals a stockpile
of oxygen tanks, frozen food, tanks of water, a shelter much like a collapsible
Wilderness Void Tent, and even some liquid hydrogen fuel. You gather the stuff
up behind you, but you are determined not to make another
shipless
journey unless you must; you set off in search of the ruins of the
Narrenschiff
, praying that she can be salvaged.

Turn to section
351
.

You only manage to get in one healthy swing before a
tentacle quickly wraps around the weapon and tears it from your grasp. As the
things drag you and toss you about, you see one particularly thick tentacle
shatter the weapon in its grasp. Another tentacle slams you in the chest,
spraining ribs and driving the air from you.

You lose
3 Blood. Erase the weapon from your
inventory.
If you die, you may
Regenerate
by turning back to section
179.
If you survive, read on.

The tentacles suddenly release your upper body and
lift you up by your legs. A silent mound lies before you. It quivers, uncoils,
and rises. You jerk back in alarm. The thing is a thick stalk about ten feet
long, its base attached to the ground, and its end is topped by a large head,
featureless save for a gaping mouth lined with fangs made of the same hard
stuff as its body. The thing snaps its heavy jaw open and shut.
Several tentacles at its base rise and sway in anticipation.

The hungry head of the beast opens its fanged mouth
to accept you as sacrifice.

If you have a gun and at least one bullet, and want
to blast the head, turn to section
454
.

If you have another hand-to-hand weapon and want to
go toe-to-toe with the head of the beast, turn to section
155
.

If you have a
High-Power Implosion Grenade
,
you can use it by turning to section
584
.

If you want to try to wiggle free from the tentacles
and fly away from the monster, turn to section
467
.