The Altimer

by Samuel Isaacson

  143

  The door opens to reveal what appears to be an empty room except for what looks like a small electronic device in the far corner. Do you enter and search the room (turn to 89) or do you back away and go through the main door (turn to 42)?

  144

  The alarm suddenly changes in pitch, and you realise that you are running out of time. You quickly remind yourself of the layout of the bridge, but which console will you go to first?

  You could sit in the commander’s chair (turn to 105), the navigator’s chair (turn to 255) or the military officer’s chair (turn to 65)?

  145

  You search through the various cubicles and can’t find anything. While investigating one of the showers, the shower head inexplicably gets dislodged, swinging wildly out into the air and landing on the side of your head. Your head is now bleeding; lose 1 BODY point.

  Rubbing your head and feeling cross with yourself for getting a headache while this alarm is continuing, you leave the room. Will you enter the door opposite if you haven’t already (turn to 253) or continue down the corridor to your left (turn to 93)?

  146

  You try the door, which opens smoothly to reveal what looks like a full arsenal and armoury. Surely this should have been locked, you think to yourself, although that thought is quickly replaced by the confidence that you will find something very helpful in here, because at first glance you’d say it is well stocked and everything looks in good condition.

  You move into the room to find out what might be of use. Will you search for weapons (turn to 87) or armour (turn to 31)?

  147

  The two of them respond that they’re also excited, and the three of you appreciate your final morning on earth before your launch.

  “Not to get gushy,” says Catalina, “but I just want you two to know that I’m glad I’m doing this with you.”

  Mel smiles. “Actually, that is getting gushy,” she says. “Not that I don’t agree. Love you both!”

  Full of warmth, do you go to the storage unit if you haven’t already (turn to 33) or board the Altimer (turn to 201)?

  148

  You push yourself off the ground, and immediately find yourself feeling filled with regret over the potential missed opportunity. Maybe that keycard could open an important door elsewhere on the ship!

  You can go back to the bottom of the server room and take it if you wish (turn to 202) or leave it, simply moving on and going down the corridor (turn to 263)?

  149

  Pauline stands up, saying, “Team, I’m talking to you as captain right now. The bridge can’t be far ahead, and I’m not comfortable either leaving Bartu alone or leaving this alarm. I’m going to stay here while the rest of you keep going. Are we clear?”

  Part of you would like to argue with her, but you know she’s right. Pauline puts a surprisingly tender arm around Bartu while the rest of you continue down the corridor.

  You’ve not travelled more than ten yards before you hear Pauline’s voice behind you. Turning, you see her flying to catch up.

  “We were too late,” she explains, looking back apologetically at Bartu, now looking very still in his slumped position, hanging lifelessly in the air. “He died almost straight away. All he said was that we need the password to access his console in the bridge, which is 327.”

  You make a mental note of the password, close your eyes momentarily to pass a thought to Bartu’s soul, and gather yourself to continue to the bridge. Turn to 287.

  150

  You tap on the wall three times, and wait for it to mysteriously open, but nothing happens. You try again with your hand in a different place, and again get no response. For several minutes you engage with the wall, and it turns out to be just a wall.

  Frustratingly, you conclude that the map must have been from a different ship and that you have therefore wasted everyone’s time. Lose 1 HEART point and turn back to 254.

  151

  You make sure you have the attention of the team, waiting for a time for the conversation to reach a lull, then take a step of faith.

  “It’s clear that one of us is to blame,” you say. “The long timeframe means that it doesn’t make sense for it to have been anyone back on earth, and both Mel and Bartu ended up dying so I can’t believe they’d put their own lives in jeopardy. I know it wasn’t me, and so I look at the three of you, and when I do that there’s only one person – you Pauline,” you add, looking directly at her, “who has been on everyone’s case about everything from the moment we met. Your dislike for all of us, and particularly Mel, was clear even when we were back on earth, so I can only conclude that you must have been the one to have double-crossed us.”

  Pauline looks offended to her core, and for a moment you prepare yourself for the explosion that’s about to occur, when Catalina steps in.

  “No, I can’t accept it,” he says calmly. “It’s true that Pauline hasn’t put in a huge amount of effort to become friends with us, but that doesn’t mean she’s a saboteur. Her passion for space travel and sense of her destiny has always been clear, and I can’t reconcile that with what happened on the Altimer.” He turns to Pauline. “You do need to learn to build bridges more than walls,” he says to her, then turns back to you, “and you need to learn that being unfriendly is not the same as wanting harm to befall you.”

  Pauline, surprisingly, remains silent, and James does nothing to come to your defence. You feel that you have lost the team entirely. Lose 2 HEART points.

  That moment is the one Travis chooses to re-enter the room. Feeling a little concerned, he takes you aside for final preparation before the trial. Turn to 177.

  152

  The moment James is accused, you see a flicker in your vision, and he is suddenly not there anymore, as if he had never been in the room in the first place. If you have the codeword Pegasus, turn immediately to 45. If not, read on.

  You and the others remain still as if glued to your seats, and the others in the room look around desperately. They approach James’ chair and it appears that he is not only invisible but gone entirely.

  “Sound the alarm!” shouts one of the guards, and you suddenly find yourself in greater chaos than you’ve experienced so far. Alarms are sounding, people are running and shouting, and you, Catalina and Pauline hold your heads down on the table.

  Probably about twenty minutes later, the noise has died down and the judge coughs politely to get your attention.

  “James is on the run, it would appear. In any case, you have all been found not guilty and are free to go. If you attend the navy headquarters tomorrow morning, you will be offered a full rehabilitation programme and most likely a very lucrative career, as I imagine many people will want to hear about your adventures. I hope you can get some rest and would like to thank you for your cooperation.”

  In a bit of a daze, you shake the judge’s hand and make your way out, a police officer accompanying you all to a hotel that the city has put you up in for the night. It takes you some time that evening to fall asleep, and when it comes you are grateful for the sense of relaxation.

  Turn to 125.

  153

  As you get back to your room, you receive a phone call. You are to report to the General immediately. You say you’ll get there as quickly as you can, so head straight to his office. Turn to 281.

  154

  A clean, white square appears on the screen. Which number do you press next? If you press 1-5, turn to 25. If you press 6-9, turn to 205.

  155

  She grabs you by the arm and leans forward until her face is desperately close to your own.

  “Now you listen to me,” she hisses, aggressively. “Don’t cross me, do you hear? I’m serious. Whatever you might think, I’ve earned this more than you.” She pushes you away. “Watch yourself. Don’t talk to me again unless it’s a life or death situation.”

  You know when it’s time to back away, and you leave her to her brooding. Now, do you go to the storage unit if you
haven’t already (turn to 33) or board the Altimer (turn to 201)?

  156

  He raises his eyebrow at you, and then a smile creeps into the left corner of his mouth.

  “I have just the thing,” he says, and then shuffles away and through a door behind him. Thirty seconds later, he returns and hands you a small device looking like a monocle.

  “I know,” he says, “it kinda looks like it should be in a Victorian drama but look at this.” He leans forward and points to the outside of the lens. “This here is a suction cup. Give it a lick and stick it to your face. You might look slightly odd, but I pity anyone caught in a fist-fight against you wearing it.”

  You do as he says, and have a strange sensation that the world has slowed down.

  “It’s really clever. It sends the full image that your eye would normally see to every visual receptor in your eye, meaning you take in much more information than you normally would do. It’ll increase your reaction time and help you with all your combat duties.”

  From now on until you leave the Altimer, you may add one to all BODY checks you have to make. Now you can talk to the team if you haven’t already (turn to 139) or you can board the ship (turn to 201).

  157

  You wake up suddenly to the sound of a chilling, relentless alarm. A hiss and slight movement indicates that your pod has opened, although the translucent cover does not spring back as you had thought it would.

  You can see shapes forming and moving outside your pod, and you think you can hear conversation although who is speaking and what they are saying is not clear above the sound of the alarm.

  Do you remain in your pod (turn to 60) or push the door open and emerge (turn to 242)?

  158

  You gather the team together and put a pile of newspapers on the floor, explaining you are going to try to make the biggest tower you can. You set a timer for ten minutes, and immediately Pauline speaks up.

  “Hang on, are you kidding? We’re about to spend the next 18 months in each other’s company and the last thing we’re doing on earth is spending the worst time together yet? I’m out.” She turns and walks away from you.

  Mel looks at you sheepishly. “Sorry,” she says. “Normally I’d be well up for this, but it doesn’t make any sense without Pauline.” The others nod and disperse with apologetic looks back at you.

  Lose 1 HEART point, and now turn to 33 if you would like to go to the storage unit and haven’t yet, or turn to 201 if you are ready to board the Altimer.

  159

  You float forward a few yards, then stop suddenly. You notice that the pristine corridors you have been moving along until now are not pristine at all, but coated in an uneven layer of some sort of organic material. You are grateful that you are all wearing suits designed for extreme environments, and hope that Mel and Bartu didn’t somehow take theirs off, wherever they’ve ended up.

  The corridor ahead leads on to a pair of double doors, and there is a door on either side of the corridor. Would you like to walk through the double doors straight ahead of you (turn to 97), or enter the door on your right (turn to 11) or left (turn to 67)?

  160

  Fight the police officer.

  Police officer

  BODY 5

  SPIRIT 4

  If you win, you finally have space to get away so you turn to run away. Turn to 12.

  161

  As you step forward, the lady suddenly yells out “STOP!”, a hint of desperation in her voice. You quickly look around

  and feel the eyes of half the room on you. You immediately wish you’d at least asked if she was alright. Lose 1 HEART. She scrambles in front of you and seems to pretend to pick up something in the space you were about to tread. She springs to her feet and holds her hand out to you to shake.

  “Contact lens,” she explains. “No harm done though! Shall we eat lunch together, or are you here with anyone else?”

  You try to explain that you had already got plans to eat with Mel, James and Sand, and step forward to join them, and your new acquaintance walks with you.

  “Hello everyone!” she says, stuffing her considerable belongings under her arm and extending a hand for you each to shake. “I’m Catalina. Lovely to meet you all. Some people call me Cat, and that’s fine if you like, but please call me Catalina, I’m not normally as scatty as this, I promise. I’ve just been so excited!”

  The other three immediately warm to Catalina, and you find yourself sitting next to her while having lunch. She explains that her upbringing was a hard one in rural Spain, and that a series of coincidences led her to a maths drive at which a scout for GIG was present, and the rest is history. Despite your earlier mishap, you can’t help warming to her and the two of you are soon talking as if you had been best friends for years. As the lunch time comes to an end, the five of you stick together and find seats in the lecture hall with one another.

  Turn to 182.

  162

  You share your suspicions and everyone nods in agreement.

  “Absolutely,” says Catalina. “I can’t believe any of us would have put the others at risk.”

  James agrees. “The real question is how we deal with the issue of what happened while we were all in cryogenesis,” he says.

  “Simple,” says Pauline in a derogatory tone, her attitude clearly not changed by the fact she’s one step away from being imprisoned. “We tell the truth. All four of us woke up within a minute or so of one another, discovered Bartu and Mel were missing, and the ship was in chaos. How could it have been any of our faults? If anyone on board had anything to do with it, it would have been one of them.”

  You’re not sure you can go so far as to blame either Mel or Bartu, but it’s a narrative that makes sense out of the situation at least.

  You continue talking for a while, considering whether someone back at GIG mission control could have set you all up or whether there were some other outside force at work. When Travis re-enters the room, you are feeling much more ready to face whatever the trial brings. Turn to 177.

  163

  You are just about to board a shuttle when you see a police officer leaving it. You’re not sure why but your intuition tells you that something is wrong, and you find a way through the crowd to observe what’s about to happen.

  The police officer looks shadily across the crowd and then ducks down a narrow alleyway. You follow, getting as close as you can without being seen.

  You are not careful enough and manage to knock over a sign leaning against the wall, and the police officer spins round and moves to attack you. Defend yourself!

  Corrupt police officer

  BODY 5

  SPIRIT 8

  If you win, you leave the scene as quickly as possible and make your way back to the ground. If you have the codeword Cetus, turn to 99. If not, turn to 140.

  164

  You leap up, spin round, and pull up your weapon to attack the ship’s uninvited guests, but don’t even get your hand to a usable height before one of the police officers closest to you fires live electric wires directly at you, and you pass out.

  Some time later you come to and discover relatively soon that you are in a prison, although it looks like nowhere you’ve ever seen on earth. The walls seem to be made of a single block of a translucent stone, and you don’t see a light or anything else in your cell.

  It turns out that the evidence pointing to you couldn’t be more convincing, including witness statements from your only two surviving teammates, whom he refuses to name. Attacking the police officers was the final nail in your coffin.

  You are destined to spend the rest of your life locked up on this foreign world while the real saboteur goes free.

  165

  If you have the codeword Cetus, turn to 99. If not, turn to 140.

  166

  The robot pauses for several seconds, and then decisively says, “Good answer. I will come with you.”

  You are no closer to finding out the source of the alarm, but
you have inadvertently gained a new companion! From now on, providing you’re on the Altimer, you may add 2 to all rolls you make while checking your skills.

  You turn around, leave the room and turn right along the corridor (turn to 88).

  167

  If you have the codeword Virgo, turn immediately to 79. If not, turn to 19.

  168

  You collapse to the floor and are helpless to stop this professional killer slice open your neck. The last thing you see is your own blood filling your vision, and then everything goes black.

  169

  You say you’d like to follow the arrow towards the shuttle bay.

  “Good idea,” says Pauline. “That’s where I’m going, too.”

  “Ok…” says Catalina, suggesting with her tone that you’re all a team so should be making decisions together. “Let’s all head that direction then, yes?”

  James nods his agreement, and the four of you follow the corridor in the direction of the shuttle bay, the sound of the alarm ringing in your ears. It twists around to the left, then immediately right again, each time somehow threatening that something will leap out at you but with no effect. Ahead, it bends around to the left again, and several yards before that there is a door on your right.

  Would you like to try the door (turn to 258) or continue to the corner (turn to 62)?

  170

  “Howdy,” the lady says, with a smirk. “New around here?” You casually nod. “Business or pleasure?”

  “Accident,” you reply.

  “Ok, well make sure you get over to the extra-terrestrial research facility at the university while you’re here. You might find it a bit academic for your tastes, but there’s a lecturer there who’s quite something. He gets such little attention that if you show the slightest interest in his work, he’ll take you right behind the scenes and often gives gifts to people who pay him a visit! Ah,” she says, stepping forward from her place and looking past you, “here’s my date!”