Do you apologise, admit you shouldn’t have questioned a direct order and commit yourself to this mission (turn to 276) or do you stand your ground, insisting that you shouldn’t lead a mission that you don’t understand the justification for (turn to 92)?
244
The dog fighting crowd is tightly packed and pushing your way into the midst of it gives you a very warm sense of comfort – and of sweat! You don’t even notice what’s happening in front of you as you constantly check around you to see if your pursuer has found you yet, and when the crowd disperses you are pleased to see that – as far as you know – you are alone.
Now you’re here, you decide to explore the plaza. Turn to 200.
245
Through the door, you find yourself in another dark corridor. You allow yourself to drift forward through the air, looking around as you go.
Make a MIND check at difficulty 10. If you are successful, turn to 171. If you fail, turn to 54.
246
You can’t decide where to start and feel the pressure to determine the source of the alarm as quickly as possible, so you look for locations you know you’ve not visited.
Seeing labels for the kitchen and shuttle bay, you flick the switches, expecting them to light up with at least something, but your action has no effect. You try to look down the sides of the screens to trace where they should be getting power from and find a collection of cables leading into the corner of the room. As you stoop to switch them on, your hand touches something that must still have a latent current running through it. It explodes in your hand; lose 1 BODY point.
While crouched on the ground, you spot a data stick marked with the initials SBK, which you may take if you wish. Would you like to spend some more time searching (turn to 174), or leave the room (224)?
247
“Hmm,” he grunts. “Well, let me tell you something. Having someone on your team say that they agree with you is not the same thing at all as being a good leader, believe me. I’m afraid I don’t really feel very good about you acting as captain for the first time when someone so vocal on your team disagrees so strongly with you.”
He turns around, sits down, and beckons you to do the same. “I think I made a mistake in giving you the captain role so early in your career. Pauline’s been around this world a bit longer, and I think will be a less effective leader than you in a year or two, but having her on your team is going to trip you up more than help you out, so I’ve decided to give her the captaincy instead.”
Record the codeword Virgo and turn to 276.
248
You power up your glove and strike at the robot. It whips its multiple arms out towards you. Fight the robot using the rules presented at the beginning of the book.
Robot
BODY 6
SPIRIT 9
If you win this battle, turn to 186. If you lose, turn to 136.
249
This will be your last time to address the team before you board. What would you like to do with them?
If you would like to lead a team-building exercise, turn to 158. If you would like to share a story of a visionary team you would like to emulate, turn to 286. If you would like to lead the team in a moment of silent reflection and gratitude, turn to 197.
250
You round the corner and quickly start to sprint through this alleyway between two buildings. Lined with pipes reaching up from the ground and littered with debris discarded from the upper levels you are confident you will be able to lose your pursuer, providing you don’t get lost yourself.
After a few yards the alley reaches a T-junction and you can hear your pursuer round the corner behind you. Do you turn left (turn to 142) or right (turn to 49)?
251
“You think you’re not ready?” says the General. “Good call, captain.” He turns to the rest of the team. “You should be grateful for the good leadership you’ve been shown here, with this one on your team you’re bound to be successful.”
Increase you HEART by 1 point. The team is sent on an additional training session, which is hard work but you feel is worth it.
Catalina approaches you afterwards. “Thanks captain,” he says. “I’m a bit nervous to tell you the truth, but with you here I’m looking forward to it.”
Turn to 153.
252
It doesn’t take you long to find drawers full of a wide range of items. You can take what you like from a kitchen knife, a thermometer and a commemorative coin with an image of The Altimer printed on its tails side.
You also find a printed note under a chopping board, which says:
DEAR ALL, WE HAVE BEEN SUBJECT TO AN AUDIT AND HAVE BEEN INFORMED THAT EVERY PASSWORD HAS STARTED WITH THE NUMBER 7. WE MUST BE MORE DILIGENT TO CHANGE THESE PASSWORDS TO SOMETHING MORE UNPREDICTABLE.
Someone has scribbled a response underneath it in red ink:
“Done! I just reversed the last one! They never saw us coming!”
You leave the kitchen through the door opposite the one you came in by (turn to 83).
253
You open the door to reveal what looks like a medics bay. Cupboards line the left and right walls along with the one the door is set into, three beds are set up on the wall opposite, and a large work surface reaches almost the entire width of the room in front of you.
“I’ve got a bad feeling about what’s to come,” voices Pauline. “There’s got to be some useful stuff in here, don’t you think?” That’s exactly what you’d thought.
Do you search the room to see what you can find (turn to 121), leave and cross the corridor to go through the door opposite if you haven’t already (turn to 2) or continue down the corridor (93)?
254
You have not travelled far down the corridor when it ends at a door. There is also a door on the right-hand wall. Will you go through the door ahead of you (turn to 42) or the one to your right (turn to 143)?
255
You drop your body into the navigator’s chair, and immediately spot the source of the alarm. There is a flashing light only visible from this seat, with a “silence” button immediately above it, which you hit.
The calming silence is immediately relaxing, and you take a deep breath in.
Your brief enjoyment is suddenly interrupted and your pace quickens, as every screen in the bridge lights up with an image of earth, getting visibly larger by the second. Your immediate, alarming suspicion is confirmed by a message, which appears on one of the navigator screens in front of you:
EMERGENCY.
CRASH LANDING IMMINENT.
ENTER PASSWORD TO ASSESS AND ADDRESS.
Do you know the password?
The only keys you can press are the numbers 1-9, so which do you press first? If you press one of the numbers 1-3, turn to 154. If you press 4, 5 or 6, turn to 77. If you turn to 7, 8 or 9, turn to 204.
256
The Six Stones is one of the only bars on ground level, named after the collection of six stones that rolled into the entrance of the ship that was originally used to colonise Mars. The six stones returned to earth with the ship, and a tradition of sending a stone back home when you safely landed on Mars became a long-standing tradition.
The bar itself is a variation on the theme of social drinking establishments that every recorded animal has enjoyed for as long as it matters. The bar is being tended by a slim man with a handlebar moustache and there are various individuals and groups spread across the room.
Do you go to the bar (turn to 195), join some locals at a table playing a game you have never seen before (turn to 64), or enter into conversation with a friendly-looking lady who is leaning against the doorframe (turn to 170)?
257
You place the keycard on the door, which buzzes in a disappointing fashion. The owner of this card must not have been authorised to pass this way! Disappointingly, you will have to enter the maintenance hatch anyway (turn to 35).
258
The door opens to reveal a small cupboard fil
led with boxes.
“Yet another brilliant choice,” intones Pauline. “Let’s keep moving, please. This alarm is doing my head in.”
“Stop it, Pauline,” says Catalina, giving you a nod of encouragement.
You can step further into the cupboard and search through some boxes if you like (turn to 34) or leave the cupboard and proceed to the corner (turn to 62).
259
Leaving the living area, you find yourself in a tight corridor in which many of even the emergency lights are not lit. You push yourself forward slowly, ready for anything that might be lying in wait for you and end up at a corner as the corridor bends round to the right. Just as you reach the corner there is a door on your left-hand side. Do you go through the door (turn to 126) or do you keep on following the corridor round the corner (turn to 224)?
260
You are successful in getting your glove powered up, but she is clearly a better fighter than she is a tracker. She easily steps under your first swing at her and knocks your legs from underneath you, flattening you with a single, well-aimed blow.
Then, with a strength you don’t understand from having seen her slender frame, she physically lifts your body and without a moment’s pause launches you over the balcony.
The thoughts that cross your mind as you fall extend no further than “oh no,” and your impact with the ground kills you instantly.
261
“Are you sure?” says Travis. “Your captain – Pauline, isn’t it? – has called this meeting. Do you really want to go against her wishes?”
If you’re determined to not meet with the team, turn to 69. If you would like to join them now you know it may be seen as suspicious for you not to join, turn to 5.
262
As you pull yourself forwards, a loud, scraping sound cuts through the alarm’s ongoing cacophony, and you feel a large object hitting your right-hand side. You scrabble for anything you might have that will give some light, and the pressure from this thing continues until you are forced against the wall.
You reach for your gun and shoot in the direction of the object trapping you, hoping to do away with whatever’s pushing it, but to no effect. Your blasts land ineffectively on the walls and ceiling, and the pressure squashing you intensifies until you feel a rib cracking.
You cry out in pain, and try to squirm free, but the pressure is relentless and increases until multiple bones break in quick succession, and your lungs become so restricted that you can barely breathe.
Within a few minutes it is all over. You die in pain, fear and darkness.
263
You give yourself one big push and allow your body to float freely down the centre of the corridor, trying to ignore the sensory overload you are getting from the continuing alarm and dimmed lighting. Before you have travelled a long way, you find yourself at a mini crossroads, with doors on either side of you.
Do you enter the door to your left (turn to 146) or the door to your right (turn to 189), or do you continue down the corridor instead (turn to 73)?
264
You float up the stairs and retrace your steps back around the corner, past the cryogenic chamber and towards the shuttle bay, the sound of the alarm continuing without any sign of letting up. The corridor twists around to the left, then immediately right again, each time somehow threatening that something will leap out at you but with no effect.
You are moving with such intention that you almost bump into Catalina and Pauline, who are caught in a discussion, floating in mid-air in the corridor. When you arrive, they immediately turn to you.
“Did you find them?” Pauline asks. You shake your head. “Why did you come back then?” she demands. You explain what you found, and you agree that you should stay together from now on.
Ahead of you, the corridor 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)?
265
After a short distance, the tunnel climbs a small slope and you have to change your trajectory. It’s so dark in this pipe that you have no idea which direction you’re heading in, and are grateful when it begins to level out and then descend, ending at another hatch, through which you can see two shuttles.
You open the hatch and float forwards into the shuttle bay. Turn to 8.
266
“Yes?” demands the military minister, a sharply-dressed blonde-haired lady with an asymmetrical haircut. You explain how you ended up in New Gaia.
“Ha! I’d heard about that ship! Incredible. Truly incredible.” She beckons you closer. “Let me tell you something. There was a lady came in on your ship, and I’m told she’s a piece of work. If she’s not been arrested already I’m predicting she will be soon. Look out who you associate with now you’re here, yes?”
She walks off, leaving you to choose where to go next. Will you visit the prime minister if you haven’t already (turn to 208), the culture minister if you haven’t already (turn to 228) or will you leave and return to the city centre (turn to 165)?
267
The square spins round and changes to the colour orange. Which number do you press now? If you press 1-5, turn to 280. If you press 6-9, turn to 102.
268
You fall to the ground, knowing you’re about to breathe your last breath, and brace yourself for the final blow from your attacker. You are therefore relieved to see James’ face appear in the corner of your vision, as the door must have opened, but he appears to be unarmed and alone. You wonder where the others are. Rather than immediately coming to your aid, he casually wanders over to the commander’s chair, and sits back in it.
A smile crosses his face, and your mouth gapes open as the screens all light up with the sight of a dusty red planet getting larger and larger, and you realise that you are on a collision course. You groan in helplessness, and he appears to notice you for the first time. Rather than leap to your aid, however, he seems annoyed, and wanders in your direction. He looks at you noncommittally for a moment, and then brings his foot down hard on your throat. The only moment of gratitude you have as you die is that you will not have to experience the fatal crash.
269
You are just about to board a shuttle, when you see a police officer leaving it. You’re not sure what happens, 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.
From your position behind a corner, you overhear two voices, one male, one female, discussing something about betrayal and revenge. You can’t place the voices but there’s something familiar about the conversation, and quickly rush away when the police officer turns round to return to the shuttle.
You manage to make your way back to the ground without being seen. If you have the codeword Cetus, turn to 99. If not, turn to 140.
270
You rest in one of the armchairs for a while. Every so often a nurse walks past and gives you a pleasant smile, but there is no opportunity for conversation and eventually you begin to get restless, so decide to go for that walk after all. As you stand, you crack your knee on the corner of a chair, causing you to limp on your way out (lose 1 BODY point).
It is not difficult to reach the ground, although you are a very long way up so it takes quite a while. It doesn’t take long once you’re outside to make some startling discoveries. You have landed in New Gaia, which is not the medium-sized town you believed it to be but in fact is a bustling city of almost 10 million people, serving as it does the entire human ecosystem on Mars. And as much as it feels like this was a secret held back from you when you left the earth two days ago, in actual fact the year is 2342 and Mars is now a small yet self-sustaining world, benefitting from its own controlled climate within a 1,500 mile radius of New Gaia.
Turn to 140 to choose where to visit.
271
“Ah yes, I’d heard about them; very interesting. Not the first time I’ve heard of them either, although I wasn’t there to see that one. About fifty years ago or so, someone in this very laboratory was doing an experiment on this purple fruit a team had brought back from an interstellar trip, and…oh, you don’t want to hear about this, do you?”
You would feel rude to say otherwise, so you ask her to go on. Turn to 51.
272
“Interesting thought,” replies the General. “It is important to invest our resources wisely, is it not?”
Unsurprisingly, Pauline fundamentally disagrees with you. “What is wrong with you?” she demands. “You’ve been given an order from a General. Not only that, an order that will allow you to do the single thing you’ve come here to do, and the first thing you do is say you shouldn’t do it? Seriously, how have you made it to this point? You are such a loser.”
The General steps in. If you have the codeword Virgo, turn to 109. If not, turn to 243.
273
It takes about half an hour before you are seen by someone, a young lady whose badge reveals that her name is Tracey.
“Hello and welcome to the immigration centre,” says Tracey. “Do you have your immigration request form please?”
You explain that you are not looking to immigrate, so don’t have a form.
“You need one of the pink forms available from that desk over there,” she says, pointing to another long queue.
The Altimer Page 12