Heavy Metal Thunder (52 page)

“Out of ammunition!”

Without pause he says, “Here you go, dipshit,” and
tosses you a tiny
Lady’s Derringer (Handgun, bulk 2)
that has
4
Handgun bullets
in its clip.

You force your finger into the tiny guard around the
trigger and prepare to shoot the second guard.

You must now compute a number that will determine
the accuracy of your second shot. This number is your
Dexterity
. If you
are trained in
Weapon Proficiency: Handgun
, add 3 to this number. For
every
3 Handgun bullets
you fire, add 1. If you have
Sixth
Sense
,
add 1 to this number.

If the number is 7 or less, turn to section
488
.

If the number is between 8 and 13, turn to section
111
.

If the number is 14 or more, turn to section
422
.

“Hey sugar,” you say as nice as you can. “You okay?
You don’t need to be scared, okay?”

“Scared? Scared?!” she yells, glaring at you as she
struggles against the laborer.

“I need you to stay calm while I work this situation
out, okay sugar
dumplin
’?”

“Who the fuck are you talking to like that?” she
screams. “I’m not some fucking kid!”

“Now see, that whole panicky thing you’re doing,
it’s very cute, but sweetie, I need you to be calm right now...”

“You can’t talk to her like that!” shouts the
laborer. “This is my
wife,
I’ll kill you if you don’t
respect her! And then I’ll kill her! And then I’ll kill myself!”

“Nobody has to die...” mutters the priest, stalking
about as he licks his blade up and down. “Nobody has to die...”

(Note that you don’t necessarily need any bullets if
you just want to draw your gun as a bluff.)

If you wish to charge the laborer and tackle him,
turn to section
419
.

If you have a gun, you can draw it on the laborer by
turning to section
308
.

If you have a gun, you can draw it on the priest by
turning to section
149
.

If you want to try to convince the laborer to let
the girl go, turn to section
447
.

If you want to talk to the priest, turn to section
281
.

Against the doctor’s protests, you leave to examine
the ship. The halls are cold, steel-grey and dimly lit. War and pro-human
propaganda is tacked on the walls.

You have been left with your Legion blacks and
sweater. You know that your equipment has been stowed in the supply room, where
they are fixing your jetpack and space suit. You can also get more gear there,
but for now you decide it would be a good idea to walk around. Perhaps looking
at the ship will jog your memory.

If you want to go to the engine room, turn to section
272
.

If you want to go to the lounge, turn to section
545
.

If you want to go to the deck, turn to section
219
.

If you want to forget all that and go straight to the
supply room and make sure no one steals your precious gear, turn to section
410
.

You fire and the laborer’s head whips back. The girl
screams,
then
tears herself away from him as he crumbles
into a heap on the floor, body twitching, blood pouring freely from his mouth
and the back of his ruined head.

“Smooth operator,” you mutter under your breath:
Gain
1 XP.
But the girl glares at you, her face contorted by several
emotions at once while she’s glad she is now safe, she’s extremely pissed that
you fired a gun so near her head.

She’ll get over it
,
you think.
Cause
she knows I’ll shoot her if
she doesn’t
.

Be sure to erase one bullet from your inventory,
then
turn to section
450
.

On your way to the dock command station, you pass by
the main computer station where you originally watched the video feeds of the
Invader ship fighting your own. You glance inside. You see empty food wrappers
that weren’t there before, probably left by the manager. You wonder if he will
come back, and even consider waiting for him so you can beat the crap out of
him. But you don’t have time to wait the deconstructors could destroy the
backup generator at any moment, ruining any chance of getting fuel from the
lines.
However...

If you have a
Motion-Sensitive
Bomb
,
you could set it and leave it for the manager in case he comes back by turning
to section
304
.

If you do not have such an item, continue on to the
dock command station by turning to section
32
.

Legs fully bound by the tentacles, you whack and jab
at the monster’s steel-hard head. Annoyed, it cranes sideways - then lurches
forward and clamps its jaw down on your off-hand. You scream in terror, in
agony. Your entire arm goes numb.

You lose
3 Blood.
If you survive, then by
some stroke of luck your arm has lodged in between several teeth and is pinned
against them rather than ground up among them. You jam your weapon into the
monster’s mouth,
then
force it down like a lever. The
mouth opens just wide enough for you to free your hand. You blast your jets and
slam your weapon among teeth and tongue such that the monster jerks its head
back in pain. Though your weapon flies free from your hand and disappears down
the monster’s gullet, the tentacles relax for a moment and you rocket away.

You gain
1 XP
for surviving. Be sure to
erase
your hand-to-hand weapon
from your inventory.
Regeneration:
If you
die, you may return to section
179
to try again.

As you fly away from the head, you see scattered
around the bulk of the massive beast even more heads, more seas of tentacles.
They are alarmed at your fight against their brother, but cannot reach you. You
laugh wickedly, hungry to hurt this pet of the Invader. Wise to the monster’s
tricks, you look for weak points that you can investigate.

If you want to look at the hole you see in the
distance, turn to section
384
.

If you want to follow one of the blue channels that
runs
throughout the beast’s skin, turn to section
373
.

Red blood-light churns on and off slowly in the
darkened chamber. The chamber is huge, with heavy steel shelves and boxes cast
all around. Large chains and hooks and cranes hang from the dark rafters,
shaking slightly from the vibration of distant machines. A closed door waits at
the far end of the chamber; deep in your guts, you know it is the entrance to
the shield generator. Far to your right, a narrow doorway sits at the top of a
mesh-iron stairway.

“Someone’s in here,” hisses Sybel.
“Can feel it.”

“Switch to infrared,” says Uther, shutting his visor
as he throws several steel canisters. “They may or may not have the same
capabilities. If they outnumber us, it’ll give us an edge.” You lower your
visor as black smoke chokes the room. You had no idea your helm was capable of
infrared, but without thinking your teeth click in such a way that your helm
switches to infrared vision.

“There they are!” shouts Sybel. “Take cover!”

You roll and duck behind a large steel container
just as gunfire blasts from the far side of the room, sending a spray of sparks
hissing at your feet. You poke your head up and see three horned figures
hunkered behind boxes similar to your own; one not far from you, with two
further back.

You glance back to Uther, who is looking back into
the hallway from which you came. “HOLY MOTHER OF CRAP!” he calls out, which
must be some code phrase on this team, because Sybel immediately rolls up
beside him. “They’re sending an entire crew after us! Hell... a crew of crews!”
He aims and fires into the hallway while Sybel unsheathes his two large
handguns and fires beside him.

“Looks like it’s up to us,” Marcus growls beside
you. Just then more guards emerge from the narrow doorway at the top of the
stairs. Before your mind fully registers that they are there, Marcus whirls and
blasts
them with his massive automatic rifle. His
accuracy and speed are amazing; you see one guard stumble with a tight group of
bullets in his chest just before Marcus puts an equally tight group into
another guard’s nose and jaw, shattering teeth and spraying blood and mucus
everywhere. Marcus is undoubtedly the marksman of the group.

The first three guards up
ahead
fire at you still more, and you and Marcus hunker down. Marcus reloads as more
guards crowd the stairs, which are already crowded with the dead. “Cromulus!” shouts
Marcus. “I’ll keep the stairwell clear if you can hit those three dug in beside
the shield door.
Deal?”

“Deal!” you say.

You peek over the rim of the steel box. The three
guards, confident of their position, fire round after round at you, thinking
that they can slow you down long enough for the reinforcements to hammer you
into oblivion. You will have to rise up over the edge fast enough to kill them
- one at a time - so that your team can move on.

You must now compute a number that will determine
the accuracy of your first shot. This number is your
Dexterity
. If you
are trained in
Weapon Proficiency: Ranged
, and it is with the weapon you
are using, add 3 to this number. If you are using a
Rifle
, add 2. If you
are using a
Shotgun
, add 1. For every
3 Handgun bullets
you fire,
add 1. For every
2 Rifle bullets
you fire, add 1. For every
Shotgun
shell
you fire, add 1. Furthermore, if you have the
Sixth
Sense
,
add 1 to this number.

If the number is 8 or less, turn to section
332
.

If the number is between 9 and 15, turn to section
543
.

If the number is 16 or more, turn to section
33
.

If you are completely out of bullets, or you do have
them but would rather save them for a possibly more dangerous situation, turn
to section
344
.

During your entire trip you have kept a careful eye
on your course, making small adjustments that your helm computer cannot seem to
help you with. This shortens your trip considerably, plus the thought that it
requires helps keep you sane: You gain
1 XP
for the use of your skill.

Turn to section
124
.

The priest immediately hops over the dead body and
dives into the medical supplies. You glance over at the blood-spattered girl,
who is shaking in a corner of the room,
then
you
inspect the gear you can take with you.

(2) First Aid Kits
(Each Kit has
3
bulk
, each kit heals
3
Blood.
)

Clopadropin
(bulk 1)
(Each dose of this prescription painkiller heals
1
Blood
when taken. There is enough for
2 doses.
)

Flexadrone
(bulk 1)
(Whenever you temporarily lose Strength points due
to injury, this drug will heal
1 Strength
point. There is enough for
1
dose.
)

Slippery D’s Hip Urban Snacks (Food,
bulk 1)
(The bag has a picture of a man who looks very cool
and in control, and an equally cool-looking young lady hangs on his arm. Their
posture implies that they will soon perform the reproductive act with one another
and, if you buy and eat their snack, they may let you watch.)

While you adjust your gear, you look over at the
priest. He is tying off his arm and is filling a syringe with an amazing
assortment of drugs. He winks at you.

You gain
3 XP
for surviving this ridiculous,
dangerous situation.

“Well,” you say, finishing up, “looks like it’s time
for me to hop on a space ship and get the hell out of here.”

“Yeah,” says the priest.
“Same
here!”
With that, he plunges the needle into his arm. Within moments his
eyes roll into the back of his head. If you want, you may take the priest’s
Bowie
Knife (Blade, bulk 1)
, since he won’t need it where he’s going.

As you turn to leave the room, you regard the girl.
She is looking back at you, her grey eyes cold and hard.

If you want to invite her to come with you (since,
by your own personal law, her life now belongs to you), turn to section
105
.