Heavy Metal Thunder Read Free Page A

leads to the ruined dock. You think about
stacking them neatly, then remember the limited time and dump the things into
the hall. You make several trips, filling the hallway with the precious tanks.
    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 kick away from the worthless cart
and continue gathering oxygen tanks, kicking off from walls and pushing the
things in front of you.
    If you have Sixth Sense , turn to section 438 .
    If you do not have this Skill, turn to section 340 .
     

18
    You blast wildly, sending bullets ricocheting about
the hall. The terrible eyes - they refuse to stand still! They emerge into the light, you see a whirl of segmented tentacles, insect-like
faces without mercy, pincers grinding like mad. You back away, waving your gun
and slapping about with your free hand. It seems the monsters are on either
side of you in an instant. You have no choice but to fight them to the death.
    Be sure to erase the number of bullets that you
spent in the “battle”.
    If you have a hand-to-hand weapon, draw it and turn
to section 188 .
    If not, face them with your bare hands by turning to
section 69 .
     

19
    The four men lounge about while you rest. The guard
and the laborer argue over the matter of a candy bar. The manager and the
doctor whisper about something; the doctor shakes his head, laughs, then walks away from the sullen manager. You can hear the
grinding of the larger deconstructors in the station. You grow tired of the
inactivity and haul yourself up.
    “We need a ship to get out of here,” you say.
    “Well, we know that, but there aren’t any,” says the
manager, annoyed. “I’ve already checked at the central comp station.”
    “Is there some way we can rig up a ship?” you say.
    The manager makes a sound with his lips, shakes his
head.
    “Take me to the comp station,” you say. “I want to
see for myself.”
    “It’s right in here,” the manager says wearily.
    As he leads you to the room, he studies your suit.
“That... thing,” he says, motioning to your heavy jetpack. “You can... fly
around in that?”
    “Mm hm. Short range.”
    “And that suit... it’s space-worthy?”
    “Mm. Short range,” you say, staring at him for a
moment.
    “Interesting...”
    You enter the darkened room that holds the main
computer terminal for the station. You sit at the terminal and navigate through
the menus. The manager kicks around a few minutes behind you, then says, “What are you doing?”
    “I mean to get out of here,” you say. “I need to get
back to my command.”
    “Why?”
    “ Cause I’m not going to
resign myself to death. And if I can find a ship then you can come with me, if
you want, or die with a bunch of people you don’t even like.”
    The manager grunts, then leaves. You feel relieved, and concentrate on the foreign computer system. You
find information regarding the STELLAR Corporation. It seems that this was an
asteroid mining colony made of several stations that harvested ice and metals
before shipping them off to other stations. Their earth operations have been
shut down for years due to the Invasion. You are now in the Asteroid Belt
between Mars and the giant gas planets.
    If you have the Computers skill, turn to
section 487 .
    If you do not have this skill, but have the Guide
to STELLAR CORP Infotech manual, you can use it
to figure out the system by turning to section 156 .
    If not, turn to section 552 .
     

20
    Two fanatics fly ahead of you, their lances
extended, while the rest of you fly in a tight formation behind. The others
extend their smaller weapons outward and to the side, so you do the same. You
have some dim notion that you have been told how to do this many times, but you
are positive that this is the first time you have actually done so.
    You never