Roaring, she leaps at you and you are forced to defend yourself.
The Surgeon
BODY 10
SPIRIT 10
If you win, turn to 43.
284
The corridor continues for a fair distance before turning to the left and ending ahead at a door on the right. Throwing the door open, you sprint through to reveal another corridor heading left and right. Add 10 seconds to your TIME score.
Will you head to your left (turn to 66) or your right (turn to 335)?
285
If you have the codeword Arcadia, turn immediately to 41. If not, turn to 108.
286
You are doing everything in your power to remain undetected in a hospital in which most patients and staff members have seen your face on the news. There is a security officer standing just next to the door you’re about to walk through and so you’re going to have to sneak past him quickly and quietly.
Make a combined BODY and MIND check at difficulty 19. If you are successful, turn to 17. If you fail, turn to 151.
287
You feel your stomach convulsing and make no attempt to stop yourself being violently sick as your body rejects the poison. With bloodshot eyes, you look up at Catalina and Pauline and see that the same has happened to them. Lose 4 SPIRIT points.
“No more strange drinks,” says Catalina and you all manage a relieved laugh, although the hotel staff take no time to respectfully escort you out of the building. By the time you have reached the floor you are grateful to be feeling more like yourself again, cautious about the threat that could be hiding around every corner.
Will you now go to The Worker’s Rest (turn to 130), the hospital (turn to 90) or the farms (turn to 39)?
288
You spin away from him and try to make it out of the door on the third floor to find a crowd to mingle in with. Make a BODY check at difficulty 13. If you are successful, turn to 17. If you fail, turn to 151.
289
You find yourself stuck to the spot, your vision of the room framing the downed form of the Surgeon with Catalina and Pauline crouched over her body on either side. You are filled with a sense of relief and achievement; you feel your shoulders physically slump and recognise for the first time the tension you’ve been carrying round with you.
Catalina stands. “Come on,” she says. “My descendants invited us to spend some time with them. I’m sure they’ll make a good meal and provide a bed for the night.”
Before you leave, you search the room and the three of you decide to each take one item as a personal reward for this achievement. You may choose one of her bulletproof vest, the chess set or her stealth wristband.
If you take the bulletproof vest, any time you are due to take damage you may roll one die. If you roll 1-3 you take the damage as normal, but if you roll 4-6, the vest has absorbed up to 4 points of damage.
If you take the chess set, you may have the opportunity to sell or trade this at a future point, or it may be helpful in another way.
If you take the stealth wristband, you may add 3 to any future skill checks you have to make related to remaining unseen and unheard.
Catalina and Pauline take one of the remaining items each, and you head to Catalina’s family back in New Gaia. The three of you reach the thirteenth floor of a residential block a little north of the centre of the city during the darkest hours of the morning. Catalina hesitantly knocks on the door, then thirty seconds later repeats her knock with more vigour.
“Alright!” comes a muffled voice from behind the door, which opens to reveal an older man in a dressing gown. His frown turns to a welcoming grin as soon as he sees Catalina’s face, and he steps back to allow the three of you to enter.
“Pauline,” says Catalina, “This is Tomas, my great-niece’s grandson.”
“So he’s your great-great-grand-nephew?” replies Pauline, looking unimpressed.
Tomas pauses for a moment, then bursts out laughing.
“She said I’d like you!” he says, wrapping Pauline in a hug she can’t help but return the affection of. “Any friend of my family is a friend of this house. Now,” he says, turning to greet you as well, “let’s get you a place to sleep, shall we?”
He offers a light meal and then shows you through to a humble yet comfortable space to sleep, and you wake up the next morning feeling refreshed. Restore your SPIRIT back to its initial level.
You are in the middle of eating breakfast with Tomas’ family when there’s another knock at the door. You, Pauline and Catalina all spring to your feet and line up on either side of the doorway, while Tomas opens it cautiously.
Turn to 172.
290
The door opens to reveal a corridor quite unlike the last one, with a deep red carpet and several portrait photographs hanging along both walls as it leads to another door at the other end. You recognise Ada’s face in the final image on the right-hand wall, but the others bear no resemblance to anyone you’ve seen. David stops in front of one of them.
“Hmm,” he says, pointing at the image of a man with greying hair and a bushy beard. “This is the owner of a hotel chain with close ties to the UDE. He lives in New Cairo and is well-known as a friend of Mars – he built the first hotel here and gifted it to the Martian government to help build the tourism industry here. In fact,” he says, suddenly stepping back with a concerned expression, “he offered the hotel room I organised for Pauline on earth. As soon as we’re out of here I will want to follow up on that.”
Both you and Catalina are slightly shocked at this revelation but can’t do anything about it right now. You go through the door (turn to 336).
291
Having had such a positive experience from your previous visit to the research facility, you can’t help feeling that this must be a good idea. Just like last time, you walk into the reception area and are shown through to the rooms of Lady Yatch, who bustles in after keeping you waiting for only a couple of minutes.
“Oh, how exciting!” she gushes as she approaches you. “It’s so wonderful to see you again! And these must be your teammates from the 22nd Century. Well, you’re very welcome here. Would you like to see my research project on the Rotannels?”
Pauline is about to interrupt her when Catalina quickly steps in.
“We’d love to,” she says. “Please, lead the way.”
You begin to make your way over to the same laboratory you visited only a couple of days ago. While you’re walking, Pauline can’t help herself but explain how the eyepiece that Lady Yatch gave you was fundamental in overcoming the alien threat that arrived on board The Altimer, which the researcher is very pleased to hear. She goes on to explain your present situation, at which point the whole group stops walking suddenly.
“You might be infested?” Lady Yatch asks, with an air more of excited fascination than anything like fear.
You reply that you’re certain that you are.
“Well,” she says, “I started testing out a new drug yesterday following the news breaking. It’s not finished yet and of course haven’t been tested, but there’s no time like the present! Would you like to be my first test subject?”
Do you agree to subject yourself to this experimental drug (turn to 245) or do you say that you’d probably rather wait until it’s at least finished its development before you try it (turn to 304)?
292
“Right!” he barks, a huge smile on his face. “Well then, we only have one option then. There are three prominent earthborn currently on Mars who could be responsible, and so we need to show that we care about the situation enough to deal with them.
“Firstly, there’s Benjamin Joel the cult leader. He has many followers here and has been sending random messages into deep space for as long as I can remember. Then there’s Sandra Pablita the UDE interplanetary secretary. She’s always up to something. Or we’ve recently spotted this guy Leo Liren, a small-time criminal who’s been happily floating under the radar but I can tell has
got a hidden agenda. Which do you think is the culprit?”
Do you say Benjamin Joel (turn to 60), Sandra Pablita (turn to 208) or Leo Liren (turn to 154)?
293
The door opens into a small room filled floor-to-ceiling with black computing boxes. You run across and through the door on the right-hand side. Add 5 seconds to your TIME score and turn to 363.
294
“Oh yes, let me tell you about them. Energy usage has never been uniform across the area but recently there have been some surprising spikes. It’s difficult to pinpoint exactly where these most recent ones originated but they certainly weren’t from New Gaia itself.”
“I’m afraid we’re still not familiar with the local geography,” explains Catalina.
“Oh, of course you’re not. Well, the dome extends a few miles outside the city in every direction, then each compass point contains different infrastructure, like the ship port to the south, the power station to the east, the out-of-town research centres to the west and the farms to the north.
“Well, the recent spikes come from the north so it would appear that something fishy is going on at one of the farms. My money would be on Freedom Farm, because you don’t see any of their produce anymore. Just a hunch.”
You thank her and explain that your time is short so you’re going to have to leave. You politely make your way out and back to the safehouse to be reunited with Pauline (turn to 152).
295
He gives a heavy sigh, his eyes dropped to the floor, then lifts his head to look at you, forcing a polite smile.
“Not a problem,” he says. “I will organise transport to the port, and perhaps you can do something from the surface we won’t be able to here, but you’ll have to act quickly.” You nod in understanding and leave him to send some messages to organise your travel arrangements.
Catalina insists on staying behind to help, and the three of you take a moment to wish each other well and promise to meet one week later in New Cairo on earth.
When the knock on the door comes with your transport, Abofanwe puts a hand on your shoulder. “Before you go,” he says, “will you just give one word of advice?”
What will you say? Will you advise him to strike with aggression as soon as he gets the chance (turn to 259), to trust that the Skreel have actually come in peace and that he should instead seek to understand them (turn to 24) or to invest the military’s efforts in sending a fleet of ships to meet the incoming navy (turn to 164)?
296
David listens carefully to your reasoning until he holds his hand up to stop you. “Alright,” he says, with hesitation. “I’ve heard enough. I don’t mind having to apologise if we’re wrong about this. Let’s break into the observatory and see what she was hiding.”
The three of you carefully skirt the wall until Catalina gives a low whistle and points out a window that’s been left slightly open. She reaches up and inside and manages to wedge it open far enough to squeeze in. She disappears for a moment and then comes back.
“There’s no-one here,” she says. “In you come.”
You and David look at one another and then follow Catalina’s lead, making your way back into the main room inside the observatory (turn to 379).
297
A quick scan of the equipment reveals a console that seems to be controlling the other components in the room, and the sheer size and number of them makes you conclude that they are combining to send a complex message somewhere far away.
If you have the codeword Thaumasia, turn immediately to 313. If not, turn to 325.
298
“Right,” says Pauline, “let’s get on with this. Catalina and I both thought we were being followed in the runup to the trial.” You nod to indicate that the same happened to you. “Well,” she continues, “we’ve been doing some digging thanks to our new friend Mr Travis, and it turns out we accidentally fell into the gaze of a new gang.”
“That’s right,” agrees Catalina, who picks up the thread. “Crime has never particularly been a big issue on Mars, organised crime even less so. Then, about a year before we arrived, immigrants started getting targeted. So far, almost thirty people have been killed. The police still haven’t figured out who’s doing it or what the payoff is for them.”
“And so,” cuts in Pauline, “Travis suggested we might be in a better position than the limited police force are to investigate the gang and report back.”
There’s a pause before Catalina speaks again.
“We don’t have much choice,” she says. “They’re out to get us and the police don’t have the capacity to deal with them. I don’t want to live in hiding the rest of my time on Mars, and I’d like to get back to earth at some point.”
You’re inclined to agree.
“So we have a plan,” says Pauline. “Sort of. We’ve already met a couple of people in the military here, and with Travis’ support should be able to get kitted out with some proper weapons and armour. Then Travis says he has some leads so we should be able to get in, find out what’s going on safely and report back.”
“Well,” says Catalina, hesitantly, “we don’t need to go to the military base-”
“I’m going there,” interrupts Pauline.
“Alright, well there are a few other places it might be worth visiting. Firstly, I’ve found some descendants of mine living in New Gaia. I’d like to meet them anyway but as locals they might be able to give us some insights on the lie of the land and what’s been going on recently. Or another option might be to visit the CDT-”
“Huh!”
“Yes, it turns out that Pauline used to be a member of the Cryogenic Destiny Tribe before we left earth and they have some strange attitudes towards missing your membership payments without cancelling for 200 years. They seem to be completely unreasonable but may act differently around a potential new recruit in you, and as a general rule are very well connected. Finally, as a bit of a wild card, the extra-terrestrial research facility might not necessarily have a database on organised crime but they’re constantly monitoring what’s going on around Mars as well as into space so they may have insights we won’t get anywhere else.”
“Well, thanks for that speech,” says Pauline, who turns to you. “Are you going to come with me or waste your time at one of these other places?”
Do you agree to go to the Martian Navy base with Pauline (turn to 45), or do you visit Catalina’s descendants (turn to 271) the CDT headquarters (turn to 393) or the extra-terrestrial research facility (turn to 6)?
299
Past the spyholes, the corridor bends around in another U-turn and down two more steps, before continuing for five yards or so and ending in a door. You walk through it (turn to 254).
300
Turn the first name of the person you want to accuse and turn each digit into a number using the sequence A=1, 2=B, etc. Add all the numbers together and add the total to this section number, then turn to that new section number.
The opening section will contain that person’s name; if it does not, return to 40 and make a different selection.
301
“Are you trying to be funny?” she says, angrily. “The point isn’t about her offering employment, it’s about her offering fair employment; did you know that each month she takes home ten times more than the combined total of her entire multiplanetary workforce? This conversation’s over.”
She stands up and opens the door, expecting you to leave immediately. Turn to 2.
302
You are standing in the grounds of Freedom Farm. The perimeter wall stretches out around you in roughly a square shape, with a large gate in the west wall and a series of gaps in the east wall, leading to large fields. The grounds are poorly lit apart from around the house in the centre of the square, and now the sun has set you are shrouded in darkness.
The ground on which you’re standing has been terraformed to enable a variety of minor crops to grow, and you can smell herbs and spices, some familiar and some ent
irely foreign to you. From what you can see in the dim light, the grounds are filled with a pleasant garden and carefully selected trees.
The building looks less like a farmhouse and more like a sleek home for a military baron. The front door is set into a small ground floor, and the first floor above it extends in all directions, supported by four pillars on each side. There is a staircase to the right-hand side, presumably to a second entrance on the first floor.
Would you like to go through the front door (turn to 47), or up the stairs on the right-hand side (turn to 391), or would you like to explore the grounds first (turn to 36)?
303
The room you enter is full of sofas and bunkbeds and you quickly cross it, running through the door on the right-hand wall. Add 5 seconds to your TIME score and turn to 52.
304
“Hmph, ok then,” she replies, and then stops walking. “Oh, I’m sorry. I just remembered that I have something urgent I shouldn’t really miss. Maybe come back another day? Thanks.”
She points you back in the direction of the reception area and scuttles off to her laboratory.
“Well, that was odd,” says Catalina.
“Rude, more like,” adds Pauline. “Where now then?”
Record the codeword Diacria. Now, will you go to the police (turn to 231) or the doctor (turn to 48)?
305
If you have the codeword Lacus, turn immediately to 178. If not, turn to 289.
306
“Ada, really?” says David. You will have to convince him. Make a HEART check at difficulty 12. If you succeed, turn to 296. If you fail, turn to 157.
307
A few moments after the hissing starts you feel yourself losing becoming lethargic. Raising your feet to walk is difficult, and as you try to speak to Catalina and David your speech comes out slurred.
The three of you fall to the floor, still fully conscious yet having lost all physiological capabilities. Ada steps into your field of vision and is joined shortly by several security guards.
New Gaia Page 12