New Gaia

by Samuel Isaacson

  He wanders past you and on with his rounds. Will you swallow the pill (turn to 248) or walk on without taking it (turn to 299)?

  118

  You duck and dive through crowds of people gathered around various shops and restaurants, trying to appear as little like a thief running away from the law as possible. You hear footsteps getting closer behind you and force your legs to keep moving for several minutes despite the pain you’re beginning to feel.

  Ahead is a crossroads and you run into it at full speed. As you reach it, you pick up a sharp movement to your left and see an aggressive-looking man start to make his way towards you. Do you run to your right and into an area signposted as “Earthborn Corner” (turn to 49), or do you run straight across the crossroads, in the direction of an area that looks a bit less touristy (turn to 203)?

  119

  Through the door you find yourself in a small dining area. A table large enough for about six people has been cleared of any crockery and cutlery and has a single vase of orange flowers in its centre. A large abstract painting with large purple streaks on a red background fills most of the wall in front of you alongside a small doorframe that looks like it leads onto a hallway area. There is a door in the wall to your right, presumably leading into the room you heard the people talking in while you were outside, and to your left the room stretches round to the right into a kitchen area, and it looks like there are people in that area who haven’t spotted you yet.

  Do you go round to the kitchen area (turn to 209), through to the hallway (turn to 316), or do you go through the door (turn to 99)?

  120

  Ada enters the room, carrying a plate of food. She sees you instantly and drops her plate in surprise.

  “What are you doing here?” she screams, and then slams her fist against the wall, dimming the lights. She runs directly at you and attacks. You will have to defend yourself against this surprisingly strong opponent and will suffer a penalty of -1 on your rolls due to the dimmed lighting.

  Crazed Ada

  BODY 7

  SPIRIT 10

  If you win, turn to 176.

  121

  You open the door and step into the little tunnel, Catalina and David following closely behind you, both looking around curiously. You expected the interior of the dome to be warm and humid but it is not uncomfortable, and there seem to be some markings on the floor.

  You point them out, and as the others step forward to look the door slams shut behind them and you realise that there is no handle on this side of the door.

  You run to the door and it looks tightly shut. You think that you might be able to manipulate the locking mechanism somehow, or you wonder if it will open with enough force. Will you try to use your strength to escape (turn to 35) or see if you can tamper with the lock (turn to 105)?

  122

  You join the queue for the reception desk. It is now early evening and there must be something about the time of day because it’s now far busier than it was when you were here this morning and you’re left waiting for a long time, during which you, Catalina and Pauline become increasingly frustrated and bored.

  When you eventually reach the desk, the middle-aged man behind the desk stares at you blankly. You ask politely if he’s seen anything of interest recently.

  “I work in a hospital,” he replies. “Everything’s interesting here, and so nothing is. It’s a busy night, like every night. What’s your medical problem?”

  Pauline butts in. “We don’t have a medical problem. We just want to know if you’ve seen anything out of the ordinary recently.”

  He pauses for a moment, looking off into the distance and then looks back at the three of you.

  “Let me put it like this. Three people I’ve seen on the news claiming to be from a different planet over 200 years ago following an experience with aliens no-one’s ever seen have just queued up and started a conversation with me when I’m trying to do my job of helping people with medical problems. This is not the strangest thing that will happen to me this evening. Now, if you’d like to sit and watch the people coming in, I guarantee you’ll see something out of the ordinary. If not, I suggest you go somewhere else. Next please!”

  You step away from the desk, even more frustrated now you’ve wasted all that time. Lose 1 HEART point. Do you now go upstairs to the room you were in (turn to 206), or leave to visit the hotel bar (turn to 116), The Worker’s Rest (turn to 130) or the farms (turn to 39)?

  123

  The next shot is aimed at your head by a professional sniper. You don’t even hear the crack before your skull explodes and your body becomes the latest that will be dragged into the already full basement here.

  124

  Walking along in the dark, you suddenly feel a painful burning sensation in your side, which knocks you to the floor. You roll over and face back towards the building. It takes a moment to work out what’s happened, and then you realise you’ve been shot! Lose 3 SPIRIT points.

  You get to your feet in time to see a dark figure running directly towards you armed with an energy baton and you are forced to defend yourself.

  Ninja

  BODY 6

  SPIRIT 7

  If you win, record the codeword Arcadia.

  From this angle, you can see that the stairs lead up to a balcony on the first floor that stretches the whole width of the building and offers entrance via two double doors. Will you enter the house through the front door (turn to 47) or via the balcony (turn to 391).

  125

  The moment you open this door, your vision is filled with two men armed with knives. You instinctively take a step back to force them to attack you one at a time and will have to defend yourself.

  First knife-wielder

  BODY 7

  SPIRIT 6

  If you win, the second moves forward to take his place.

  Second knife-wielder

  BODY 6

  SPIRIT 7

  If you defeat this second opponent, turn to 348.

  126

  You suddenly remember the man’s story about the oak tree and quickly scout around to find it. There are several trees in the grounds but only one oak, so finding it is not hard, and his description of how he buried it means that you are clutching a small box within a few minutes of starting to dig in the dirt at its base.

  It’s difficult to tell exactly what’s in the box in this dark and searching through the contents you find a piece of string, a toy spaceship, some remarkably well-preserved food you don’t think you’d trust anymore and a crumpled piece of paper. You carefully hold it up to read it in the light spilling over from the building and make out the following troubling message written on it in neat, round child’s writing:

  If you wish, you may continue searching the grounds (turn to 36), enter the building through the front door (turn to 47) or head up the stairs (turn to 391)?

  127

  The room you have just entered looks like a research laboratory, full of benches and paraphernalia of different kinds. Posters on the walls are of a range of planetary systems.

  There is one other door leading out of this room, which does not have a handle on this side. Will you search through this room (turn to 23) or go back through the door and leave through either the door by the roulette table (turn to 237), or the poker table (turn to 160)?

  128

  A different nurse from the one you saw before you slept enters the room and goes through the same routine of checking the small screen before stepping over towards the sink.

  Suddenly, you find yourself stepping out of the bed as if someone is pulling at your limbs. You try to stop yourself but are helpless and hear your own voice growl at the nurse: “Come here and fight!”

  She turns with a slightly amused smile on her face, which quickly turns to a look of astonishment and terror as you raise your hand to hit her. She ducks out of the way and grabs a metal tray on the side to defend herself. You must fight her.

  Nurse

  B
ODY 4

  SPIRIT 4

  If you win, turn to 331.

  129

  Seemingly out of nowhere and presumably alerted by the noise of you fighting, a black-clad man leaps down the stairs and attacks you; you will have to defend yourself.

  Ninja

  BODY 7

  SPIRIT 8

  If you win, turn to 387.

  130

  The entrance to The Worker’s Rest is a small, unassuming door away from the main thoroughfare, with a simple sign stealthily placed to one side. You push it open and descend the stairs in front of you, which turn a corner and reveal a large room filled with low music, bare beams holding up the angled ceiling, and a growing number of people clustered around tables and along the bar, which fills the left-hand wall. It is early evening and there are few places to sit, so you expect it will get very busy quite soon.

  Your eyes are drawn to a few people who look slightly out of place, so you decide to approach one of them. One of the booths in the space next to the bar contains a table around which three smartly-dressed men are huddled. On the wall on the other side of the bar are a series of games machines, and one of them has attracted a rough-looking gang. Finally, there is only one person in the entire bar sitting by themselves, a middle-aged lady wearing a grey-green dress.

  Will you talk to the smart-looking trio (turn to 255), the gang of troublemakers (turn to 282), or the lady by the bar (turn to 56)?

  131

  “Yes, this really is interesting,” she says. “The population of New Gaia has been steadily increasing through a combination of managed immigration from earth as well as new births in the city. This has led to an odd change in the average age of the city as well as the spread of ages; we still have virtually no teenagers but give it five years and we’ll be testing our capacity for education at that level. Come with me.”

  She begins to walk away, and you’re forced to follow her down a long corridor and into a small room with a single screen built into one of the walls.

  “Look!” she says. “My assistant Jalla turned all of that information into this interactive chart. What do you think of the colours she used?”

  You and Catalina share a look before explaining that you’re aware of the time and need to leave to be reunited with Pauline. Lady Yatch makes you promise to return so she can tell you more about the emerging population, and you make your way back to the safehouse (turn to 152).

  132

  You step out into the corridor and immediately are greeted with the smiling face of the nurse you last saw in your room.

  “There you are!” she says. “You do know it’s important that stay in your room, don’t you? Come on, let’s go.”

  She turns and walks a step towards your room and then looks back to see if you’ll follow her. You quickly glance behind you and spot that the lift doors are open. Do you go with her and climb back into bed (turn to 34), spin around, run away from her and dive into the lift (turn to 79) or will you attack her (turn to 253)?

  133

  The poison on the blade immediately begins to take effect. You feel the life being drained out of you and slump to your knees.

  Catalina and Pauline rush over to you, and you catch a glimpse in the background of the Surgeon, still moving. Before you can say anything you see a flick of her hand, and both Catalina and Pauline drop to the floor, clutching at their necks. You try to drag yourself forward to finish the job you thought you just had, but the poison is working too quickly for you and you feel the impact your head makes with the floor before you’re aware that you’re falling.

  Lying in a helpless heap with your teammates your life drifts away, leaving you wondering whether the finishing blow you landed ultimately did the job at all, or if your sacrifice was for nothing.

  134

  At that, the COMN slams his hand down on the table in anger.

  “Why have you even come here?” he barks. “This is a waste of my time and your time. Thank you for making the effort to come here, and I’d ask you please to not return until I’ve dealt with this threat. You may leave the way you came in.”

  David sheepishly escorts you out of the COMN’s office and out of the building. Turn to 228.

  135

  You look her directly in the eyes and explain as calmly and sincerely as you can that you are concerned they’re after you, and that you’d really be very grateful for her help.

  “Alright,” she says. “Wait here, I’ll go and investigate.” She walks out of the room, leaving you alone. You quickly look around and see that someone has left a stethoscope on the side, which you can take if you like.

  On the edge of your hearing, you detect the doctor explaining to a security officer that you are in the staff room and you decide to make a quick exit. Turn to 210.

  136

  You wander around the café and conclude that the best food to grab will be some of the wrapped bars of fruit and seeds. They’re small and portable, and will last in your pocket. Make a Combined BODY and MIND check at difficulty 20. If you are successful, turn to 88. If you fail, turn to 370.

  137

  My dear,

  Thank you for your hard work in securing Yiringa for us. Over the last several months she has proved to respond very well to the drugs and is turning into quite the attraction. The subtlety with which she disappeared from her parents was masterful, and I look forward to seeing you being entertained at the next bout.

  Now, onto your next commission. I know you are aware of the newcomers who arrived on The Altimer. They know too much, and I know you will do the right thing. Normal terms, normal payment, normal consequences of failure.

  A.

  138

  You collapse into one of the sofas and lean back, appreciating the beautiful imagery covering the wall. You can’t bring yourself to find the components to start playing at one of the tables, instead simply feeling the benefits of the time taken to pause. Gain 5 SPIRIT points and record the codeword Memnonia.

  Having rested, will you leave through the door by the roulette table (turn to 237), the poker table (turn to 160) or the craps table (turn to 127)?

  139

  You run down the alley after her, closing the distance with every stride despite your exhaustion. You dive at her feet and knock her to the floor, holding her legs tightly together to stop her from wriggling free. She squirms in your grasp until she can see your face.

  “They’re coming!” she says, a manic grin covering her face. “I’m sending them a message of welcome right now!”

  She looks up to the sky, which currently looks the same as it did when you first arrived on Mars, holding out a small white box in her hand. If you didn’t know the truth of it you would think she was losing her mind, but the weight of what she’s said hits you.

  You grab the box out of her hand and stare at its small screen, containing an indecipherable message made up of what looks like coordinates and orders to be carried out.

  If you have the codeword Elysium, turn immediately to 400. If not, turn to 334.

  140

  “The UDE has been expanding successfully, thanks to our recent collective tax alignment. I can’t see how it would be connected to this, but I suppose that has led to an increased level of technology activity. In fact, Anna Michaels has been quite involved in that so it may be worth speaking to her if you get the chance.”

  “Thank you, Mr Grakler,” says David, “time is running short.”

  “My pleasure,” he replies. “I only hope I have helped.”

  Will you reply that he has been very helpful and wish him every success (turn to 227) or will you express your frustration that he was not more helpful (turn to 360)?

  141

  She turns and shuffles out of the main room purposefully, leaving the three of you alone. Will you search the room while she’s gone (turn to 379) or not risk getting caught and wait patiently instead (turn to 279)?

  142

  You suddenly hear a huge explosion overhead and
then experience its effects as the ceiling collapses, burying you all instantly.

  David is killed in that moment, but you and Catalina remain alive, trying to work out a way to escape despite both of you being trapped under the rubble. Catalina is the first to die of thirst, and within a few hours you will share her fate.

  143

  Ada is no longer standing where she was; the door behind the table is wide open, and she didn’t go past you so must have escaped that way. You quickly glance around you; you are surrounded by communications equipment and wonder if this is the place that is sending the signals to the invading force.

  Will you run through the door in pursuit of her (turn to 72) or will you pause for a moment to see if this is the place and stop the messages (turn to 297)?

  144

  She sighs dramatically and pulls up her screen again.

  “Right,” she says, turning the screen so you can see a complex display filled with overlapping geometric shapes and seemingly meaningless lines of code. She interacts with the screen while explaining to you. “Here’s the comms leaving Mars. All of this is our tests trying to bring the lines back online, then all of this here is the entire population trying to continue as if everything’s normal. If I take out the view of anything on our channels, we’re left with…”

  She pauses, then pulls the screen round to see it more clearly. She stares silently for several seconds, her mouth moving as she thinks.

  “Well, I-” she says with a look of deep confusion on her furrowed brow, “I…I don’t know why they’re doing it but they’re sending messages to specific coordinates thousands of miles into space.”

  “Presumably where the fleet is?” asks Catalina.

  Anna snorts a patronising laugh. “Well, yes I suppose so. But why are they doing that?”

  David steps in at this point. “Someone on Mars is coordinating the invasion,” he explains.