Free Heavy Metal Thunder by Kyle B. Stiff

blast your jets on full throttle. All is
silent but the kick of the jet behind you is a roar of freedom in your blood, a
freedom from lying fallow, the freedom to use your killing arts, for you know that
now you enter into the dance of death that is your destiny.
    A sniper in the service of the Invaders waits for
you on one of the asteroids. Now, finally, you will face the true enemy. And
one of you will die.
    You gain 1 XP for the use of your skill. Turn
to section 247 .
     

76
    You reenter the dimly lit antechamber and push the
button that will depressurize it. As the air is sucked out, you take in a
lungful of air and lock your helm back in its place. While waiting for the far
door to open, you take a moment to steel your resolve.
    You consider the beating of your heart, the strength
in your veins. Blood is life. In the game that is your life, Blood is an
abstract score that represents vitality and health. (If you have ever played
any sort of RPG, then Blood can be thought of as “hit points”.)
    When you are wounded, your Blood score will drop. When you rest or take healing medicines, your Blood score will rise. You begin this game of survival
with a Blood score of 10. This is your maximum Blood; your Blood cannot
rise above this amount. For example, if your Blood has dropped to 6, and you
heal 7 Blood, then your Blood increases to 10. However, as you rise in levels,
your maximum Blood score will increase.
    If your Blood ever reaches zero, then you have died,
and the game of survival is lost. If this happens, put the book down, walk
away, think about your life and the weaknesses that betrayed you, and try the
game again when you are ready.
    The gravity shuts off and the far door opens.
    Turn to section 103 .
     

77
    As you pace back and forth, the entire station
shudders, then the lights wink out. Cast into darkness, hundreds of voices cry
out in pure terror. Your skin freezes and your blood runs backwards, the effect
is so horrifying. Hell , you think, as the screams close in and the
darkness eats all. It’s like being in Hell!
    Red emergency lights kick on. Given freedom of
movement once again, a gang of thugs runs at some ship farther down the dock,
guns blazing. The battle-cries of its defenders turn to gurgling death rattles
in blood-choked throats.
    Just then you see a woman standing before your ship
in a form-fitting dress. She is beautiful in an elegant sort of way, with
thick, sharp lips and eyes that gleam in the blood-light. Her figure presses
against the dress in a way long-forgotten, and possibly never known, to you.
She comes toward you and the guards do not immediately blast her, and so it is
up to you to deal with her.
    “Please,” she says, “let me come with you.”
    “Ah,” you say. “Well...”
    “I don’t want to die.”
    Her soft smell makes love to your nostrils. You
realize, in the back of your mind, that most likely her beauty has kept her
from learning any real skills that would help in a gun fight or a knife fight
or even a fist fight. But another part of your brain tells you that she
probably has some abilities that could be put to use in the cold of space.
    If you want to allow her on board, turn to section 355 .
    If you want to reject her, turn to section 364 .
     

78
    You see the remains of several wasted space
stations. Twisted steel litters the void. The ruined hulks of large burrowing
machines leak fuel that shines like black blood. You feel like a ghost watching
over the remains of a dead world.
    One station, marked by massive holes charred black
at the edges, seems to have sustained less damage than the others. You work the
controls of your jetpack and fly towards the ruined station. The blasted colony
is not entirely dead, for a host of robotic drones move about, intent on their
work. At the nearest station, you see a cluster of the drones drilling
cooperatively until a section of wall rips free. The robots seem malevolent in
nature.
    Looks like the deconstruction is