You leave the medics bay and its mess of an inhabitant behind you. Do you go through the door opposite if you haven’t already (turn to 2) or do you turn to the right and continue down the corridor (93)?
28
They both laugh out loud at your suggestion.
“I’ll bring some Mongolian curry along,” says Bartu, “and you can let me know what you think…if you can catch it!”
You keep on talking to them for some time. Now, do you go to the storage unit if you haven’t already (turn to 33) or board the Altimer (turn to 201)?
29
You leave the bustling market area behind and find some relief as the crowd thins out slightly. The tubes you saw from above service a complex, multi-level network of shuttles that travel at breakneck speeds around the city. You intend on using it to make your way down to ground level again.
While you are waiting at the station for the next shuttle, make a BODY check at difficulty 17. If you are successful, turn to 269. If you fail, turn to 163.
30
“Oh, I’d love to tell you all about it!” she says. “I’m currently doing a study on the culture of the Rotannels, and their attitudes to everything are just so different from ours – I have a full setup in my laboratory you know, just recreating what one of their villages must look like. Of course, we’ve never seen one in the flesh.”
Do you ask to see inside her laboratory (turn to 141) or do you ask instead about how aliens operate within New Gaia (turn to 103)?
31
The room is visibly split into two, so you turn to your left, into the armour section. You pull yourself around a shelving unit and are immediately faced with a disgusting purple mass floating at head height in front of you. Startled, it spits something from one of its two mouths filled with spiny teeth, and you feel a burning sensation as this acid lands on your shoulder. Lose 2 SPIRIT points. You must fight the creature, and due to the angle you have approached it from, James will not be able to help you.
Purple mass
BODY 4
SPIRIT 7
If you lose against this gross horror, turn to 131. If you kill it, turn to 90.
32
It doesn’t take you much time as you flick through the book to come across a ship in its pages that looks very similar to the one you’re in. You immediately turn to the enclosed map and find where you are in relation to the bridge.
According to the book if you turn right out of this room, the corridor will turn a corner to the right before hitting a T-junction. Turning left at the T-junction, there is a secret passage in the left-hand wall. Tapping three times on the central panel should lead it to open up, allowing you access to an emergency escape ship.
When you leave this room, if you find this location and would like to try this, take 104 away from the section number and turn to this new section.
“Come on now,” says James, and you agree that you need to keep on moving. Turn to 229.
33
The storage unit is only a short walk away from the main building. You take your time, appreciating the chance to stretch your legs, knowing that you will be cramped in your seat for quite some time during lift-off.
Access to the stores are through a single desk behind a secure wire mesh and an air lock, so you will have to ask the man you only know as Kit Guy to help you. What sort of thing would you like to ask him for? Will you ask him for something that might help you in challenging combat situations (turn to 156), circumstances requiring you to be particularly stealthy (turn to 94) or difficult social situations (turn to 220)?
34
The first few boxes you rifle through are filled with paperwork, which unhelpfully starts to float around you all in an uncontrolled way. The pressure exerted by Pauline isn’t helped by the fact that you don’t understand most of it, and what you do manage to understand seems completely irrelevant. You are about to give up when Catalina’s elbow knocks into a box that makes a metallic sound, and you decide to at least look at one more.
This one is full of broken bits of machinery. None of them seem useful, although you do find a keycard that looks like it’s been dropped in there by mistake. The employee number imprinted in the corner is 1KF288, and you can take this with you if you like.
You decide enough is enough, so leave the cupboard and turn right to continue following the corridor to the corner (turn to 62).
35
You manoeuvre your body into the maintenance hatch and enter a tight conduit, which turns a corner to the left. It’s tighter than you’d like and the sound of the others behind you makes you very aware that you have no exit, but you don’t feel like there’s any other option. You push your hands against the sides to gently float along in the narrow space, becoming increasingly mindful that there are no ways to see out of the pipe you’re in, although you certainly feel like you are making progress through the ship. Turn to 265.
36
You do your best to come up with a convincing argument, and know the conversation will only go in one direction as he holds up a hand to stop you and says, “You’re not really cut out for this, are you?”
Disappointed that you are losing your position as a world-saving astronaut before you’ve even begun, you make your way out of the building with your tail between your legs and start the hardest journey you’ve ever made: back home.
37
As captain, you will be the one to lead this meeting so arrive in the room first. As Catalina, James and Pauline all file in, looking more human than they did on the Altimer and all looking slightly anxious about what’s happening, you have a chance to decide how you would like to approach this time together.
If you suspect outside interference, you may like to open up a conversation about what happened and encourage the team to back one another up in a common story (turn to 162). You only other option would be to accuse one of your teammates; if you would like to do this, turn to 285.
38
Catalina turns to you, saying, “You think I’m a traitor? Only to your kind!”
She leans towards you, knowing you are unable to move, and slowly begins the process of removing your internal organs while you watch on helplessly.
39
You immediately break into a sprint and carefully manoeuvre through the crowd to get yourself to the other end of the bridge. You catch a glimpse of the thoroughfare behind you and spot your hooded pursuer making their way smoothly through the crowd; you’re going to have to do something more creative than run to shake them off!
The other end of the bridge leads you through a narrower walkway, which emerges onto a large open space that reminds you of Mediterranean plazas. No walkways or shuttle tubes block out the sky here, and you are surrounded by bars, shops and even a church, which looks out of place surrounded by the intense landscape of skyscrapers.
Do you dive into the church in the hope that they will offer you sanctuary (turn to 236)? Alternatively, you could try to hide among the crowd by running into the nearest bar (turn to 296), merging with a crowd surrounding a nearby juggler (turn to 218) or another one surrounding what looks like a dog fight (turn to 244)?
40
Having gone through your training you know that you trust your own ability to land safely over the autopilot, which would only send you headfirst into the sea.
The screen is replaced with a countdown timer with a title informing you that it is counting towards a predicted crash landing. Along each side of the screen emerge a series of levers, and a pair of pedals extend to under each of your feet. All of them are covered in coloured buttons you don’t recognise, and you glance across at your normal seat and its simplified setup; Bartu as navigational officer clearly needed more at his fingertips than you were expected to.
You apply the brake and pull up the nose of the ship. Or, at least, you try to. The pedal you expected to be assigned to the brake limply falls away under your foot with no discernible effect, and the lever intended to pull the nose up simply snaps off in you
r hand. The timer is closing in on one minute now, so you scrabble over in the direction of your own seat, at which point the ship hits the earth’s atmosphere and you are hurled into the air, landing with a heavy crunch on your elbow. Lose 2 BODY points.
You pull yourself into your chair, the whole ship shaking violently, and you grab hold of the controls. Your experience here is exactly the same as what happened in Bartu’s chair. It’s as if someone has tampered with the controls.
“Computer,” you begin to say, albeit weakly as the pressure forces you back into your chair, “activate autopilot.”
There is no response, and you hear the edges of a slow laugh emerge from behind you. You try to turn your head but can’t turn far enough as your body is forced into the back of the chair by the strongest gravitational forces you’ve ever experienced. The mysterious, mocking laughter is the last thing you hear before you black out due to the pressure. It is a small mercy that you are not conscious when the ship hits the ground.
41
You point at the three numbers confidently, saying, “Six, seven and one.”
“That’s right!” yells the professor. “Nice work, and a relief you can cope with something so simple.” He proceeds to move around the rest of the class, not missing out a single person. Eventually, when it looks as if he’s going to go around the room a second time, he pauses for a moment and says, “Well, let’s call it a day there, then. You!” he shouts directly at you, “Come here, I’m going to show you something.”
He has opened his bag and is engrossed in fiddling around with some items, so you think you may be able to sneak out without him noticing. If you would like to join the crowd and leave the room without talking to him, turn to 215. If you go and talk to him, turn to 299.
42
It is difficult not to do a double take as you pass through the door. The space you have entered is the size of a concert hall and full of trees and plants, with winding paths leading from where you are out through the greenery. If you didn’t know better you could be forgiven for thinking you’d been transported to an urban park, apart from the emergency lighting giving a strange yellow-green glow and the alarm echoing around the large space. You turn to the others with you, and their open mouths and slightly confused expressions make it clear they’re having the same reaction as you are.
As you float slowly forwards, following the central path between the trees, you catch a glimpse of movement. You all slow your progress and stare intently at the bush ahead, and slowly move forwards. Without warning, a hideous, amorphous creature shoots out from the shrubbery and leaps at you, flailing formless tentacles covered with suckers.
As the creature attacks you, it does not do any damage. Rather, each combat turn it attaches a sucker to you, reducing your BODY by 1 for the purposes of this combat. So in the first round you will roll using your full BODY score, then reduce it by 1 and then by another 1 on the creature’s turn, continually throughout the combat. If it reduces your BODY to 0 at any point, you are paralysed and it will slowly digest you by sucking your skin and then your muscles off your bones before slowly dispossessing you of your internal organs. You are going to want to kill this monstrosity as quickly as possible.
Sucking monstrosity
BODY 4
SPIRIT 18
If you win, you can take a rest on one of the benches here if you like (turn to 222), or else you can search the rest of the gardens to see if there is anything of interest (turn to 237). If you would like to leave the gardens, there is a door opposite the one you entered by; leave through this by turning to 135.
43
“A team has been performing some tests on the Altimer,” explains the police officer, “and has made a bit of an upsetting discovery. The timeline is still being put together, but what we know is that the Altimer was sabotaged at some point after leaving earth and then at a later point boarded by several aliens with the assistance of someone on board, who also disabled the autopilot and enforced a permanent state of cryogenesis, until the ship’s failsafe woke you upon discovery of the impending crash landing. Every member of your team, including you of course, is a suspect. And due to the security concerns of violent aliens landing on the planet, the trial will begin immediately.”
The vehicle arrives outside a huge building surrounded an all four sides and overhead by a secure transparent wall. Once inside, there will be no getting out without permission, so you have one final chance to escape. Do you go quietly in with the police (turn to 214) or will you try to escape (turn to 279)?
44
The guard leaves, returning a few seconds later accompanied by a thin lady wearing a white lab coat and large glasses. He leads her round to the third table, and she lowers herself serenely.
“Dr Velkova?” the judge asks, and the doctor nods. “Away you go,” she adds, graciously, leaning back in her chair. The doctor takes a breath, then gives a nervous laugh before carefully looking around the room and starting to speak.
“I’m going to assume you already know the basics of cryogenesis, and instead am going to focus on what happened on the Altimer. My role here is to interpret the results of a number of different data feeds and turn it into a coherent narrative for what happened on board. I won’t bore you with the details of the data, so will stick to the events that took place since you launched.
“The cryogenesis chamber was accessed for the first time the morning after launch in 2162. All six pods were activated and sealed within a five-minute window. In February of 2163, shortly after passing through the asteroid belt, one pod opened, and eight hours later it was re-activated and sealed.”
The judge interrupts. “And what happened during that eight-hour window?”
“The course of the ship was changed to a long, elliptical orbit of the sun spanning approximately 200 years.”
“Go ahead, doctor.”
“The same pod that had opened in 2163 opened again in 2296, this time for ten days.” The judge remains silent this time. “During this period, most rooms on the ship are accessed, the airlock is fully activated five times and the autopilot is switched off.”
“What was the airlock used for?”
“The only things on the Altimer that weren’t there when it left earth were the creatures, so it’s my assumption that they boarded at that point, primarily I would imagine to establish the incubation room we found.” The judge nods. “The pod is then re-activated and sealed, and it remains that way until four days ago. For the purposes of the Altimer crew, who I’m sure are still getting used to the timeline, the year is 2342.
“Four days ago, two of the pods opened six hours apart from one another, each of which was followed by some rooms being accessed. Then, three days ago, the other four pods opened within a five-minute window.”
“Thank you, doctor,” the judge says. “Any questions?”
Her glance shifts to the two on either side of her, but she does not raise her eyes so you don’t think she’s inviting questions from you. At last you have some idea of what happened. It looks like one of your three companions changed the Altimer’s course and allowed the creatures onboard, then Mel and Bartu for some reason were released, each one wandering through the ship and dying.
Dr Velkova is shown out of the room, and the next statement is called for.
Turn to 114.
45
The eyepiece that you are wearing reveals James to be standing up, taking care not to knock the furniture as he moves. It’s clear that no-one else in the room can see him, so you shout that you can and roll forward over the table. You try pushing James back into a table but he is immensely strong and you rebound onto the floor. Lose 2 SPIRIT points. One of the guards rolls his energy baton along the floor to you, and you spring to your feet to take on the one who took your 22nd Century life away from you.
Despite your eyepiece, James is still invisible and so his image is not as clear as you are used to. You must therefore suffer a -2 penalty on your combat rolls, unless your glov
e has an ultraviolet attachment.
Invisible Skreel host
BODY 9
SPIRIT 10
If you lose, turn to 118. If you win, turn to 283.
46
You are sure there must be something of interest in here, so you start pulling out the insides of all of the drawers and cupboards. Soon, the air is filled with all manner of papers and useless trinkets, and your diligence is rewarded as you pull the bed away from the wall and discover a person-sized hole.
You look in, and from this angle it looks like an escape pod, with space for just the two of you. It would give you a way out of here, potential to see the ship from the outside and may even have remote access to the ship’s computer! Gain 1 HEART for this exhilarating find.
“This is a gift!” says James, a huge grin on his face. “Let’s get in – we can see what’s going on from the outside and get back in through the airlock if we can’t control things remotely.”
Would you like to get in with James and activate the escape pod (turn to 187) or would you like to leave the room via the door (turn to 14)?
47
Only authorised employees are allowed entry through this door. The owner of the keycard you found will have their employee number imprinted on it. The final three digits will spell out a paragraph number; turn to this now to try the keycard in the door.
If the new paragraph makes no sense, the employee whose keycard you found did not have access and so the door does not open. Lose 1 SPIRIT as, disappointingly, you will have to enter the maintenance hatch anyway (turn to 35).
48
The moment you speak your answer, the robot seems to shudder, as if enraged with what you just said.
“That’s the wrong answer!” it screams, a quivering rage in its voice that chills you as you try to back away. “You must always offer to help! Prepare to die.”
Turn to 248.
49
You sprint up the stairs, which lead to a continuation of the alley at the top as it bends round to the left. A few yards forward at it bends round to the right, and then a few yards later round to the left again. You are beginning to get disoriented and can hear the running footsteps of your shadowy pursuer behind you.
The Altimer Page 3