Heavy Metal Thunder by Kyle B. Stiff Read Free Book Online Page A

Fix item) then your SD will rise, though never higher than its maximum
amount. When your SD drops to zero or lower then your
suit has been destroyed, and if you are in space when this happens then you
will die.
    However, if your suit has sustained any SD damage at
all, then that means your suit is punctured or torn in some way. If you are in
the vacuum of space when this happens, and if the text prompts you to do so,
then you will lose 1 Blood per SD damage . (That means that if your suit
has sustained 2 SD damage while in space, and you cannot repair the damage,
then the sucking cold of the void will drain you for 2 Blood at regular
intervals!) This does not include the original section in which you lose SD, so
if you apply Sticky Fix to your suit in the same section in which it was
damaged, you will not lose any additional Blood.
    Note that every dose of Sticky Fix “heals” your suit
1 SD point. If you have made any notes during your journey about your suit
being damaged, then you can now cross those notes out and simply subtract 1
point of SD from your maximum amount of 3 SD. The text will no longer tell you
to “make a note that your suit is damaged” - it will, instead, tell you how
much to lower your SD if your space suit incurs damage. (If you are familiar
with role playing games, then think of SD as the “hit points” of your
protective armor. But since you are more often than not in an environment
hostile to living things, then your armor must be perfectly sound in order to
afford you complete protection.)
     Finally, you spot a ship that might be
perfect. You can make your way toward it by turning to section 329 .
     

54
    You grip the tear in your suit with both hands, but
it is simply too long and jagged to keep out the vacuum. Within seconds you
feel ice forming on your leg, burning against your nerves. You can no longer
breathe. Soon, you feel nothing save the need to sleep. You decide to take a
nap. Just for a minute. You’ve earned it.
    You have died in the cold, hungry vastness of space,
one more victim of the great Invaders.
    THE END.
    Regeneration: You may return to section 179 and try again, if you
wish.
     

55
    You fall through inky black. Soon it becomes
impossible to tell that you are moving at all. You throw your hands in front of
your head, then you collide with some hard surface.
You instinctively click your teeth and your helmet light turns on.
    You are in a wide, curving, steel-grey hallway. Its
smoothness is punctuated by the ragged hole through which you entered. Loose
objects float free in a cloud of dust. You feel the rumble of the scavenging
machines far away.
    You shine your light down both ends of the hallway.
Both directions seem alike in their sinister austerity.
    If you wish to float down the hall towards your
right, then turn to section 42 .
    If you would rather try for the left, turn to
section 566 .
     

56
    “Okay,” you say. “Get on.”
    The man nods once, then limps his way past you. He leaves a few droplets of blood in his wake.
    “Got a name, homie ?” you
say.
    Without stopping he turns his head back to you and
says, “Arturo.”
    Make a note that Arturo the Navigator Poet has joined you.
    Turn to section 405 .
     

57
    As you dash along the ground on your hands and
knees, tables before and behind you explode in wild sprays of shotgun fire,
then shards of the wall behind you blast apart and spray into your face and
eyes. The dead man’s gun lies so close, so deadly close.
    You must now compute a number that determines
whether or not you are hurt during your mad dash. This number is your Dexterity .
If you are trained in Stealth , add 2 to this number. If you have Sixth Sense , add 1.
    As you scramble to reach the gun, you lose 7
Blood , but you may reduce this amount by the number you computed.
    If you die, then one blast from the revolutionary’s
shotgun narrowly misses the wall - because about a pound of buckshot lands
squarely inside your head. The last thing