[Restarting with a completely new thread in case that was hiding these posts from people…]
You ask your secretary for Chameleon and Blade's report. She tells you Yellowblades is on-line and you ask Ameena to put him through on the holovid. Yellowblades' massive form seems to appear before you. There is a fresh scar on his shoulder. Normally Autodoc treatment leaves no scars - it seems Yellowblades prefers to keep his battlescars - presumably a Rigellian form of battle honours. He looks pleased and begins to tell you what has happened. It appears the agents materialised in a large colony ship without hyperdrive that was filled with colonists frozen in deep sleep to be awakened when the ship reached its destination. Its course had been changed. As they headed for the Control Room of the ship, they were attacked by the Thaccoid, but they were able to kill it. 'It was a magnificent battle. Unfortunately Chameleon was hurt early on, but I was able to slay the beast. It was a formidable opponent,'he says, and then continues: 'Yelov was found at the Control Room but the Symbiont appeared in his Time Machine and they escaped. Apparently Yelov had redirected the Colony ship towards the recently discovered hostile alien sector of the Galaxy. The ship would have alerted them of the Federation's presence 200 years ago and the likely outcome would have been a devastating attack whilst the Federation was still weak. Chameleon and I put the ship back on course.'
'How is Chameleon?' you ask.
'He is recuperating in hospital - only an overnight stay. He is a brave warrior and I was honoured to fight with him.' You commend Blade on his prowess and, visibly, he swells with pride. At least his morale is riding high, you think to yourself as you break holo contact. Yelov has been thwarted, anyway, although you failed to prevent the polybdenum raid.
There is nothing else you can do for now, so you decide to get some rest, as night falls over the city of Alpolis. You lie back in your plexiform couch and soon you are asleep. At dawn you are awakened by the sound of your holovid bleeping insistently. You may restore 1 point of Endurance for your rest if you have lost any. Accepting the call, you see that it is Po-Ling, looking bleary eyed and sleepy. 'Something just came in, Section Chief. Yelov has been sighted on Sirius Secundus, his homeworld. That's all we know. Goodbye.' You are taken aback by Po-Ling's unusual taciturnity, he is usually irritatingly verbose. Anyway, his news is momentous. It would not be fair to send any of your agents to deal with such a deadly opponent as Yelov alone. In any case, it is almost a personal duel between the two of you after all this time. The driving force behind Yelov's insane behaviour is his single- minded desire to kill you. Indeed, he has tried destroying the whole Federation just to achieve that one goal before now. You decide you will have to go to Sirius and decide to send Leopard and Sparrowhawk on ahead. She is a Siriun and her contacts may prove useful. You take a shower and ready yourself for the trip.
Losing no time you board a strato-cruiser at the Alpolis Stardome that will deliver you to the Calgary spaceport within hirty minutes. You commandeer the pilot's holovid and open a ink to Agent Sparrowhawk who, with Agent Leopard, is awaiting your orders at the spaceport. She looks fit and alert and seems pleased when you tell her that they are to fly to Sirius Secundus, her homeworld, on the nearest available nava cruiser, without waiting for you to arrive. 'We can leave a message for you at the alien immunisation centre,' says Sparrowhawk.
'I would prefer not to have to observe customs formalities,' you reply but Sparrowhawk replies that even she cannot arrange for you to be treated as a Siriun.
The Siriuns are a fiercely independent lot who are unlikely to make things straightforward for you, but you order Sparrow- hawk to arrange a meeting with the Siriun Enforcement Agency who have been alerted about Yelov, then fall to remembering your most recent encounters with the insane Siriun who was once your boss.
Soon after landing at the wide open glasteel expanse of the starport on Sirius Secundus, you are waiting in a long queue of merchants and trippers, mostly Earther stock, although directly behind you are two Clyss, tall insectoids from Cygnus Alpha 3. You are waiting to be cleared for contact with the Siriun population. As the line shuffles slowly forward, you find yourself blaming Sparrowhawk for the delay, though in all probability she could have done nothing to speed you on your way. At last the spaceport's Deputy Commander strides up to you, apologising profusely for the breach of etiquette that has kept you waiting. Agidy Yelov has brought disgrace to the Siriun race, but you can tell that there is an irrational resentment towards you as if his criminal doings were in some way your fault. At last your ID has been checked and you are hovcarred to the immunisation block.
You walk through an airlock into the spaceport's immunisation block where a smiling Siriun medtech gives you an appro- priately sized pill to place in each of your bodily orifices. Then she politely asks you to remove all articles of clothing which she then places inside a sterilisation chamber telling you that they will be returned to you on the other side of the gas chamber. This is standard procedure when visiting Sirius Secundus so you step into the chamber. Inside the sterilisation dome all foreign microbes on your skin and in your guts will be killed so that you do not bring a crippling offworlder disease to the population of Sirius Secundus.
As you walk into the chamber which is in fact a small white dome, your body is sluiced in jets of water. Next, there is a spoken command to close your eyes, which you do, followed by a flash that glows white even through your closed eyelids. When you open them you see that the outer layer of your skin has turned to a fine powdery white ash. You are sluiced once more and then the dome begins to fill with gas which is intended to sterilise your lungs. You detect the unpleasant smell of ammonia. Will you:
The medtech's mind falls quickly under your control and you force her to open the exit door of the sterilisation dome, before staggering outside, tears streaming from your smarting eyes. You can tell that she is entirely innocent and intended you no harm. She supposes that the dome had been set up to receive one of the Clyss insectoids by mistake. You decide to waste no time in getting onto Yelov's trail.
The view outside the sterilisation dome is spectacular. You are at the edge of a plateau, a sheer cliff begins fifty feet from you and below lies one of the largest cities on Sirius Secundus, Poikile. The distinctive Siriun architecture with its slanting rooftops of solar panels and sun umbrellas reminds you of a man-made mushroom forest. As soon as you appear outside the dome your clothes and weapons appear in a hatch behind you and you are soon ready for action once more. As you belt on your blaster there is a shrieking whirr and a hovcar sideslips towards you landing near the edge of the plateau.
A section of the reflecting airshield slides down into the body of the hovcar and a black-leather-clad arm beckons. The car bears the golden and blue markings, S.E.A., of the Siriun Enforcement Agency. The nearest wing tilts upwards sharply so that you can step beneath it into the cockpit. It is a luxury airlimo, probably used for ferrying important Siriuns from place to place in safety. The car accelerates out over the plateau edge even as you fasten the safety harness. It seems superfluous to identify yourself to the two Siriun Enforcers so you ask your destination and receive the reply: 'Central Enforcement Agency in Poikile, Sir.' You tell them you are expecting a message from Agent Sparrowhawk and they assure you that she is in control of everything.
You ask them if they have heard anything of Yelov but are greeted with silence so you fall to contemplating the Enforcers' backs. They are clad from head to foot in the black skin of a crocodilian animal, which smells real. On their heads they wear flanged black helmets that turn their normally cat- like grace into a clumsy threat. They are armed with percussion rifles and laser pistols. You find yourself wondering why all Enforcers, no matter what their race, look so brutal? The passenger turns suddenly towards you and offers you a Siriun mindweed smoke, an exotic delicacy which heightens the senses, and a time-honoured gesture of esteem. You eye the blue velvet covered box that he offers and, feeling that it would be undiplomatic to refuse, take it from him. When you open it a horrible sight greets your eyes.
Inside is an object nine inches across. The first thing that you notice is an eye surrounded by melted flesh, which looks unnervingly familiar. Underneath is melted circuitry and slightly scorched and floating in a sack of bloody fluid, is a raw human brain. Suddenly recognition overwhelms you. The eye is a bionic eye, the eye of Agent Leopard.
As you stare at the limpid brain of Agent Leopard, the Enforcer who handed you the box whips out his laser pistol and aims it at you, daring you to move. There is a sound behind you and a sharp prick in the back of your neck. Your Psychic Awareness tells you that someone with psychic powers has appeared behind you, seemingly from nowhere, as you drift into a deep sleep. When you awake you are alone in the car except for the brain of Agent Leopard. All of your weapons have been taken. There is a loud report behind you.
The jetcar's airshield has been blown off and, standing up, you see Sparrowhawk squinting down the sights of a lightweight percussion rifle that could blow your head off at a thousand paces. She is dressed in a scarlet uniform similar to that of a hussar of Napoleonic times on Earth. Her long black hair is held up by a psionic damper circlet which you recognise as that given to Agidy Yelov by the Hivers when he conspired with the Renegade Lord to conquer the Federation. 'So you're in league with Yelov?' you ask.
'You always were quick off the mark, Falcon,' Sparrowhawk replies. '
'But why? He's insane!' you say.
'Because I love him and I can cure him.' You can tell that she is in deadly earnest and you cannot assail her with your psychic powers for the damper circlet protects her. As a Special Agent of TIME she is unlikely to be bested by a weaponless attacker while armed with a percussion rifle.
'What are you going to do with me?' you ask.
'Walk up that ramp behind you, Falcon,' she orders. You turn to do as she bids.
The ramp leads up a dark tunnel into a covered bay near the starport. At the top of the tunnel is a silver solar racer, one of the special racing ships due to take part in the Solar Racer Grand Prix around the dying sun, Sirius, tomorrow. Sparrowhawk orders you to climb in. There is room inside the cramped cockpit for only one. Will you:
As you tense to leap, Sparrowhawk reads the signs of your tautening muscles. She flips the switch on the percussion rifle to half power and blows your feet out from under you. You somersault through the air like a doll and crash down to the glasteel floor of the bay. Lose 7 Endurance points. [9/20] If you are still alive you decide to do as Sparrowhawk says and climb into the narrow confines of the solar racer's cockpit.
Once you are crammed inside the cockpit of the solar racer, Sparrowhawk begins to explain. The authorities are just beginning to worry about you, Falcon. I controlled the mind of the Enforcers sent to collect you from the sterilisation dome and brought you here. Agent Leopard tried to stop me, he had a nasty accident.' She pauses to look around, then continues: 'As you can see, you are in a solar racer. You're going to take part in the Grand Prix tomorrow, Falcon, and so is Agidy Yelov. If you are skilful enough to survive the race Agidy will make sure you die. I'd kill you myself, but Agidy wants the pleasure. Your racer has as good a chance as any. Oh, yes ... I nearly forgot. The lascom unit doesn't work. You will be just another casualty of the most dangerous sport in the galaxy, burnt up in the dying sun, nobody will ever know what happened to Falcon, the saviour of Earth.' She activates the airlock and you are entombed in darkness.
As you wait in your dark tomb you turn over in your mind all you know about the sport of solar racing. The small vessel you are in will be towed to the start near the red giant, of a sun, Sirius, and set free with those of the other competitors at one tenth of light speed. Then you will have to jockey for position using the small amount of fissionable fuel carried in your solar racer and fly into the middle of a huge lightsail. When you have docked, with the enormous span of silver panels like a great spider's web in space, you will have turned your small ship into an immense sailing galleon, curving around terrifyingly close to the sun and then accelerating away towards Sirius Secundus once more, blown by the solar wind of photons or particles of light from the sun. If you sail too close to Sirius you will risk being enveloped in a solar flare, a tongue of burning hydrogen flung up from the surface of the sun thousands of miles into space which would reduce you to atoms. If you sail too faraway from the sun, it will take too long to make the orbit, the racer's neutron shields will overload and you will suffer a painful radiation death. If you fail to dock with a lightsail you will hurtle or to die in deep space for the racer does not carry enough fissionable fuel for a return to Sirius Secundus.
Like you the other competitors will have been sealed into their racers and are now waiting in darkness. You rack your brains to find a way out, but the airlock switch seems to have been disconnected. You begin to reconnect the circuit, but the air is filled with a gas which sends you to sleep. Sparrowhawk has prepared well for your surprise trip to the sun. A loud buzzing like a swarm of bees enters your dreams and slowly you reawaken to find that the racer's computer is unscrambling a lascom broadcast. With a start you strain upward against a pull of several G which soon presses you back into the crash couch. Outside all is in darkness, relieved only by the pin pricks of the stars. You are being towed towards the sun. The broadcast is being made by one of the Intelfax sports commentators.
'... for this, the climactic race in this year's four race series. Strong favourite to win the title again is the reigning champion from Lastlanding, Lord Pilota of the Time Executive. Her closest rivals are Remo Benedetti, the Farther from Romopolis in the "Scarlet Bird" and the Insectoid Clyss in the "Indigo Swarm". Her other adversaries include Skyseeker, the Rigellian; the veteran solar racer, Singleship Sly from Acension, and a newcomer to the sport, Greta Erikson, until recently a pilot in the Federation navy. The Phocian Goldwing will race in his magnificent golden craft as usual, and the local hero, the young Siriun, Vladislow Petrov, racing in the "Silver Dart". A surprise second entry from Sirius Secundus has been received, number 1. The pilot's identity is a closely kept secret but he flies in a black craft with painted flames licking backward from its nose.'
The name of your craft is inlaid in silver above your head. The Silver Dart'. You have been imprisoned in the ship which should have been raced by the young Siriun, Vladislow Petrov. The commentator's voice whines on.
'... and now the freighter is about to set the racers free, the race is about to begin ...'
There is a slight jolt as the drag line is pulled away from the Silver Dart. The race has begun. You are hurtling towards the great red sun at a tenth of the speed of light and you haven't enough fuel to 'turnover'. That is to stop the ship and return the way you have come. You will have to try to dock with one of the lightsails. You consult the deep radar display which shows the other eight racers clustered around you and only eight huge lightsails, each two miles across, a mere thousand miles ahead. Beyond these are four more to be used by anyone failing to dock with one of the nearer lightsails, but anyone forced to do this will lose time.
The other racers are too far away for you to see them with the naked eye. You have only a few seconds to manoeuvre towards one of the lightsails, using the ship's rockets and you will be competing with the skilful pilots of the other ships. Will you try to dock with the lightsail at:
You line up on one of the lightsails at the end of the first line. Glittering silver mesh fills your vision as you hurtle towards the central hub of the sail. Two other racers come into sight, one to your right-hand side and another below and slightly behind you. The latter ship, which boasts green and turquoise markings, turns away towards a sail that is not too hotly contested. The ship to your right is bright scarlet and shaped like a bullet, the craft belonging to Remo Benedetti of Romopolis. It comes ever closer as you converge on the hub of sail together. You are momentarily enraptured by the sail's fragile magnificence, a great arcing span of silver looking as if it must fall apart at any moment. You will have to slow down if you are not to damage the lightsail when you dock with it, but if Remo brakes later than you he will arrive at the sail first and claim it for his own. Will you:
Ahead of you is the glittering silver mesh of the lightsail filling your vision as the two ships converge on the central hub of the sail and you wait to see if Remo will concede defeat, but his ship hurtles on, ever closer to your own. At the last second you realise that his nerve is not going to give way. The moment for safe braking comes and passes as you streak towards the silver hub of the sail. Make a Chance Roll.
At the last moment Remo's craft veers away and you brake sharply while lining the Silver Dart's nose up with the centre of the sail. There is a scraping and a sudden jarring, then the enormous span of the sail shudders. Amazingly the silver mesh holds and you realise with a flood of relief that you have docked successfully. The Scarlet Bullet turns towards the second line of sails and you turn your craft towards the great red orb of the sun.
Studying the deep radar display you realise that you are close to three other ships that have picked up sails, not far behind the three who are leading the race. Two others have been forced to turn towards the second line of sails. Now that you have a sail with which to fly around the sun, you must concentrate on orbiting it without being engulfed in a solar flare, at the same time staying close enough to the sun so that the orbit is completed before your neutron shields overload.
The Computer has projected three possible courses onto the radar display. Which course will you take: [Noting that the diagram I'm not including here shows solar flares up to about 80% of the height of the lowest course.]
Your course takes you very close to the sun, its rolling surface is like a great field of flame stretching as far as the eye can see. The neat shields glow white hot as they struggle to damp out the effects of the sun's rays. You are closer to the sun than anyone else and you will take the lead in the race soon if you continue as you are. The deep radar shows that two of the blips have turned closer to the flaming sea of Sirius to give chase. Will you:
As you drift silently around the flaming sun, a great tongue of fire as large as a planet erupts from the surface like a geyser. It is thousands of miles across and there is nothing you can do as the rolling flames engulf you. The racer is vapourised and so are you, cremated in a solar flare.
[wavylines]
Soon after you change course, drifting silently around the flaming sun, a great tongue of fire as large as a planet erupts from the surface like a geyser. It is thousands of miles across and rushes forward to consume you at terrifying speed. The red glow surrounds the racer's cockpit and as the heat dampers begin to overload your skin blisters and smokes. Lose 6 Endurance points. [3/20] If you are still alive, the racer is thrown higher by the blast which disappears as suddenly as it erupted, the geyser of hydrogen consumed. Luckily the controls are developed to withstand such heat and you bring the Silver Dart back under control and consult the deep radar display to check your position.
Checking your deep radar display shows that your brave gamble of passing so close to the red giant has paid off in terms of the race. You are in the lead. Above and behind you there is the sudden flare of a firing rocket motor. A yellow disk-shaped racer with red fangs painted on its front cuts across your field of vision. Singleship Sly has used some of his precious manoeuvring fuel to surge across your bow and dip down close to Sirius. You have lost the lead. At least, you reflect, you have managed to avoid Yelov thus far. Will you:
The angle of your course becomes ever more critical as you approach the end of your orbit of Sirius and three other racers are moving in close to crowd you: Pilota's blue and white racer, the golden discus of the Phocian, Goldwing, and the Indigo racer of the insectoid Clyss. Will you:
You lose time as the Silver Dart sways majestically out of the path of Lord Pilota's racer and out onto a higher orbit. You catch sight of the 'Indigo Swarm', the Clyss Insectoid's racer, which floats along in her wake as she corrects her course to fly the path that you would have flown. By the time you are on your new course two other racers have overtaken you. One of them seems to slacken speed, dropping back towards you.
As you steadily overhaul the solar racer ahead, you strain to identify it visually. It turns slightly and you see its colours, black with red flames licking backwards from its nose as if the fire of Sirius itself had kindled it. Suddenly your attention is distracted. The deep radar has picked up a small object falling through space towards you from the back of the black and red racer, but it is too small to see. Anything hitting your sail at two-tenths the speed of light would destroy it utterly, but it will not be easy to take evasive action with the cumbersome lightsail ship you are now flying. Make an Evasion Roll.
The Silver Dart rotates excruciatingly slowly as you try to dive towards the sun. Horror fills you as you catch sight of the object hurtling towards your sail. It is a contact mine and if it hits, your sail will be destroyed. The sail flexes as you turn more sharply and the mine misses its edge by a few yards. When you regain your course, the black and yellow racer has moved some way head of you.
As you watch, the huge silver sail of the black racer begins to rotate. Its pilot, whoever it is in there, has given up the race. Instead, the black craft with red flames is heading straight for you. Suddenly a red beam unites it with the Silver Dart, the beam of a military laser. It has done little damage as yet at this range but the two ships are closing fast. If you have a Siriun Enforcer's laser pistol… [no you don't]
Desperately you turn towards the sun to avoid the death-dealing laser. Yelov must have had it fitted, for it can only be he who is cutting your sails to ribbons. Great sections of silver mesh shear away from the Silver Dart and plunge towards the sun. Yelov is still too far away to be affected by the powers of your mind and as he turns away towards space you realise you haven't enough fuel left to escape from the giant sun's gravity. The hull begins to shudder, your skin blisters, the heat shields overload and you are vapourised.
[…I guess you did after all. You could take it off the enforcers in that hovcar where you got given Leopard's brain in a box.]
Realising, as the black and yellow racer approaches, that its laser will soon cut your flimsy sail to shreds you decide to fight back. Quickly you struggle into the young Siriun's space suit. He must be tall and thin because it doesn't fit too well, but it will do. Taking the laser pistol, you manage to open the minute airlock and, hanging on tightly, peer round the outside of the Silver Dart and take aim. Make an Attack Roll.
Your aim is true, but at this range you must still call it a lucky shot which rips into the lightsail of Yelov's solar racer, slicing a chunk out of it and sending him careering off course. You dodge back into the airlock and then wrestle with the Silver Dart's controls once more. She is damaged but you can still carry on. Yelov's racer careers out towards deep space and just when you are wondering if his solar racer is to become his tomb, a fast moving blip appears on the deep radar display and docks with his racer. He has been saved but you can't tell who has picked him up. You are forced to continue the race or die so you move back on course. Soon you have completed your orbit and sight the pale green planet Sirius Secundus and accelerate away from the sun on the wings of the solar wind. You are in radio contact once again and can hear the Intelfax commentator's report on the race. Singleship Sly has crashed into the sun and the commentator assumes that the pilot of Yelov's craft is dead too. You finish in sixth place, ahead of Greta Erikson, but Pilota has won again. The freighter arrives to tow you in.
Some hours later you are sitting in the Central Office of the Siriun Enforcement Agency. It seems that Sparrowhawk used her powers as a Special Agent of TIME to smuggle Yelov into the black solar racer, then she kidnapped you and forced you to take part in the mistaken belief that Yelov would be able to kill you. The ship which rescued Yelov was a high speed freighter controlled by CYBERNET, and Sparrowhawk followed it soon afterwards in a hijacked scoutship from the Siriun navy. The Siriun commissioner of Enforcers is very apologetic and ashamed that Sparrowhawk was able to beat his security so easily, but she was a trusted part of it. The Siriun navy tracked the course of her ship and the CYBERNET freighter and it is 97.797% likely that they are heading for the exile-planet Barbarossa. The Siriun commissioner places his fastest deep-space fighter at your disposal with which to follow them. As it is probable that they have a Time Machine on Barbarossa, you decide to travel to that dangerous planet.
If you are to seek Yelov and Sparrowhawk on Barbarossa, a planet whose denizens make the criminals of the Earth jail, Chicago, look like volunteer Medtechs, you will need some support from your team of Special Agents. If the CYBERNET raid on a starport warehouse was successful, [yes it was]…
As you are preparing to board the Siriun deep-space fighter a holophone message from Jobanque, the Lord of TIME, comes rough. 'Congratulations, Falcon, I hear you've given up your duties with TIME and become a solar racer.' You laugh and he goes on: 'But you've left one small problem here on Earth that needs looking after. Please detail one of your agents to follow up the attack on the starport warehouse. We must recover the polybdenum. Terminating holo-contact. Falcon. Good luck.' Seeing Jobanque's face reminds you of Leopard whose brain has been placed in a nearby resuscitation tank. He has suddenly recovered consciousness and his mind shouts out to yours: 'For space's sake get me out of here and inside a tin-can body, Falcon.' Don't worry, you'll be back in the Health Executive hospital in Alpolis tomorrow,' you think back, and his mind leaves yours. You decide to detail your least experienced remaining agent, not Chameleon, to track down the polybdenum and send a holophone order to that effect.
You order Blade to track down the polybdenum from the Starport and Chameleon to accompany you to Barbarossa, telling him to board an Earther navy ship which will dock with the Siriun craft, carrying you, in orbit around the exile planet.
When the two ships have docked above the orange, gas-wreathed planet Barbarossa, Agent Chameleon, looking like a handsome Earther in a green costume with blue circles, meets you on the bridge. You confer together and come up with a plan. Chameleon will change his appearance to look like a member of the criminal underworld of Barbarossa and together you can penetrate a public gathering place to search for information as to where, near the starport, Yelov's Time Machine is hidden. You decide to make disabling the machine your top priority. The area surrounding the starport is called Smugglers Port and so it contains many warehouses in which a Time Machine could be easily hidden. Your own Time Machine, Falcon's Wing, has been freighted to Barbarossa under Chameleon's directive and will be kept on the Siriun ship under armed guard. Sparrowhawk and Yelov arrived on Barbarossa some hours earlier but the TIME beacon has not registered any disturbance of the time flux so Yelov's machine is still nearby.
Barbarossa is an anarchy world, without Enforcers. It is a haven for any criminal, sadist, bully or cheat who cares and dares to make it his home. An offworlder, as they refer to new arrivals, is always in danger, all the more so if he or she is an Enforcer Barbarossa is CYBERNET's stronghold from which the tentacles of the underworld reach out to poison the galaxy.
You are smuggled out of the starport inside a large gas cylinder from which you emerge into the slum of Smugglers Port. The buildings are a bizarre mixture of crude and crumbling archaic designs and occasional modern plasteel blocks funded by CYBERNET blood money. You are on your guard but the street you are in, Lasgun III, is deserted. Just as Chameleon is about to change his form into one of the stout tripedal Barbarossi, the ground gives way beneath you and sheets of spiked metal slam shut on your stomach and back. The spikes move to meet each other, inexorably driven by an unseen engine. Lose 3 Endurance points. [0/20 - let's leave you on 1.] Luckily Chameleon is able to transform himself into a repnid and force the trap apart through sheer strength. The horrifying form of the repnid shimmers and ripples and Chameleon stands before you as a handsome Earther once more. 'Designed to catch Earther Enforcers,' he says pointing at the trap. You mutter your thanks and walk warily on.
As you tread warily together down Lasgun III Street, the din of the air traffic which drones above the city and the hot humid air is oppressive. The dust makes your eyes smart when whipped up by a sudden oil-tainted gust of wind. There is a creaking and grinding and the plasmetal street tips up> suddenly throwing you through a revolving wall into a dark room which reeks of narcotics. 'Welcome to the "Surprised Visitor",' shouts a gruff voice and there is a chorus of chirrupping, flute-like tittering and belly laughs like those of giants amid many other unusual sounds of mirth. The 'Surprised Visitor' is a narc-bar, where the decadent dropouts of many races meet to take smuggled mind-changing drugs. As you look through the drug smoke you can see perhaps seven different species: Siriuns, Hivers, Earthers, a huge Bequal wrapped in wet silk, a group of Clyss insectoids, native Barbarossi and, walking towards you, three Phocians armed with ultralasers!
An unnatural hush falls in the narc-bar as the three armed Phocians, sworn enemies of the Federation, walk over to you menacingly. 'Newly arrived, Earther? A long way from your nest, aren't you?' caws one in a rough imitation of Fedspeak. Their hawk-like faces make them look chillingly cruel, but it is not their beaks which you fear, but their ultralasers, deadly weapons with which it is difficult to miss, the only drawback of such weapons being that it is easy to catch one's friend in their wide blast pattern. These Phocians are obviously space pirates, well used to killing Earthers. Will you:
Summoning up all of your concentration you make an attempt to subjugate the Phocian leader to your will. Make a Power of Will Roll.
The bird man's will cracks quickly before the mighty onslaught of your thought and you force him to turn away and call his companions to leave you alone. Perplexed, they do so, and you walk with Chameleon to a dark alcove to take stock of the situation.
All eyes are turned your way as you confer quietly in the alcove. In some cases this means many more than two per individual. The native Barbarossi are squat, yellow barrel-shaped beings with three legs, two eyes set in a face just above their stomachs and a third on top of a brown hump which is where an Earther's head would be. The Bequal wallows nonchalantly in its clinging pile of wet silk and the insectoid Clyss appear to be staring at you defiantly, but it is difficult to tell where their compound eyes are focused. Chameleon suggests that you choose a mind to probe. If anyone in Smugglers Port knows where Yelov's hide-out is, they might well be among those lounging in the Narc-bar. Whose mind will you probe:
You choose one of the nearest Barbarossi and, using your Psychic Awareness, probe his mind. He starts as he feels the touch of your thoughts, but is soon cowed by a veiled thought- threat. He knows where two Siriuns have recently hidden a large container in a CYBERNET warehouse and you can read the location from his mind. You Thinkstrike to stop him talking until you are well on your way and leave with Chameleon before anyone realises anything is amiss.
As soon as you leave the narc-bar Chameleon transforms himself into a Barbarossi, capering comically on three short fat legs. Mindful that you have already fallen foul of two traps, including that which tipped you into the narc-bar, you tread carefully on your way to Subway Alpha VI where Yelov's hide- out lies. The streets are almost deserted, but the heavy air is still thick with the droning of jetcars and 'copters. You tell Chameleon not to use any of his powers of the mind until you give the command to attack, lest Yelov senses your approach. After no more than five minutes walk you enter the tunnel of a disused subterranean hovrail which leads to the back of the warehouse.
You peer through a gelquartz window which distorts the inside of the warehouse to make thing appear nearer, as if you were looking into a goldfish bowl. You can hear no sound through the warehouse door, but one glance confirms that you have found your quarry. Yelov is loading polybdenum rods into his Time Machine. The Symbiont is helping him and Dark Star is talking to Sparrowhawk. These two are sitting on hover couches half way between you and the Time Machine. No-one has noticed, you, but your quarry are all armed. A poor Barbarossi lies quivering helplessly on the ground behind the Time Machine. Will you:
[There's a lot of this, but I'm going to be away for a few days.]
You wait outside in the disused hovrail tunnel as Chameleon makes pitiful burbling noises before turning back into the form of a human. The warehouse door opens and you are suddenly face to face with Dark Star and Sparrowhawk, both armed with blasters. If you are using ultralasers, [nope]. Otherwise make an Attack Roll.
Your fire slices through Sparrowhawk's legs and she falls lifeless to the floor. Chameleon's attack on Dark Star is similarly successful and you race past the scene of carnage into the warehouse. Sparrowhawk's dying act was to think a warning to Yelov, her lover, and you arrive to see the other Siriun, Yelov, and the Symbiont being drawn up inside the Time Machine together. You open fire but it is too late. Seconds later the machine dematerialises. Once more Agidy Yelov has slipped through your grasp. He has jumped to a different timehole. There is nothing you can do but dash back to Falcon's Wing and chase him across time and space. You lose no time and within minutes arrive safely back at the Spaceport where Falcon's Wing awaits.
You take Chameleon up into your Time Machine, Falcon's Wing, and deliver a quick report to Jobanque. He is extremely pleased that you have terminated Sparrowhawk and Dark Star, but you know that your most difficult adversary, Yelov, and the Symbiont are on the loose somewhere in the past. At last a report reaches you from the monitoring section to the effect that there has been a disturbance in the timehole on Earth, 1881 AD. You decide to investigate, it can only be Yelov and his Time Machine.
You instruct CAIN to set co-ordinates for the timehole on Earth in 1881 AD. You may lie in your Autodoc and regain up to 12 points of lost Endurance. Unfortunately the Autodoc in Falcon's Wing is specific to humanoids and if Chameleon is wounded, as an Illusion Master he will be unable to receive any treatment. Soon you have materialised on Earth and CAIN switches on the external cameras saying that Falcon's Wing has been disguised as a ramshackle disused barn. The view shows a town about a mile away, baking in the glare of a hot summer's day. The town consists of many wooden buildings, some grand, others simply dirty warehouses and stables. It looks odd to your eyes - all around it stretches an empty expanse of parched grass, as if the town has been dropped randomly from the skies. You are used to vast sprawling cities. An ancient-looking steam locomotive is puffing towards the town, following two iron rails. It is pulling several brightly painted carriages and dull dirty cattle wagons.
You ask CAIN for an historical update. 'This is the town of Tombstone in the state of Arizona, in the United States of America, Falcon. In a month's time the famous"Gunfight at OK Corral" will be fought between the Earp gang and the Clanton gang. Virgil Earp is currently the Marshal of the town and will soon deputise his brothers Wyatt and Morgan, and Doc Holliday. No doubt you will have seen old 20th Century entertainment vids on the subject. I will run off some suitable clothing for you in the Molecular Convertor, including some of the local money, which may be of use to you. I advise against taking any hi-tech weapons, Falcon, as the danger of them being seen or falling into the hands of anyone in this time period is far more likely to force changes in the future than in most time-periods you have visited.'
Soon you are dressed in typical clothes of the period - high, narrow leather boots with pronounced heels, simple trousers and a cotton shirt and leather waistcoat. A hat rests on your head, and you have a scarf. Around your waist is buckled a leather belt lined with bullets. In a holster at your hip lies a Colt .45 'Peacemaker', a revolver or 'six-gun'. In your left hand you hold an 1873 Winchester repeating rifle with fifteen cartridges Moving the trigger guard lever down and back moves a fresh shell into the chamber and ejects the old one. Chameleon is dressed much as you are. You decide to follow CAIN's advice and leave your 31st century weapons behind.
'Ready, Chameleon?' you ask.
He nods. You descend onto the parched earth and walk towards the town, side by side. After a twenty minute walk you enter Tombstone along its dusty main street. Horse-drawn chuck wagons and buggies drive past you and cowboys and well- dressed gentlemen mill about on the boardwalks that line the street. Wooden buildings, saloons, stables, stores and so on rise up on either side. Billboards and signs add a little colour to the drab-looking habitation. You are walking down the street 'listening' with your mind for signs of Yelov, when a dishevelled young boy runs up to you and says, 'Hey, are you the one they call the Falcon?' Instantly alert Chameleon looks around, scanning the rooftops and shadowed alleys as you nod your head, not looking at the boy but all around. 'I got a message fer you then,' and he hands you a note saying: The old Lucky Horseshoe ranch's outta town, thattaway,' and he points at the far end of Tombstone. You take the note. It is written in Galactic.
I know you're coming, Falcon. The Symbiont and I will be waiting for you at the deserted Lucky Horseshoe ranch. Let us finish this once and for all, for I am going to kill you.
You look up and the boy is still there, uncomfortably shifting from foot to foot. After a minute's silence he says,' The man with the long hair and funny face said you'd give me a silver dollar, mister.' Resignedly, you take one of the coins CAIN gave you and pass it to the boy. Without a word he snatches it and scampers gleefully away.
You will have to shoot it out at the Lucky Horseshoe. Soon you are leaving Tombstone behind you, following the dusty track that leads to a dilapidated cluster of buildings about two miles from Tombstone. A strong breeze starts up and tumbleweeds begin to roll across your path. Eventually you come to a battered wooden fence with a broken gate. Across the top, suspended between two poles is a sign with 'Lucky Horseshoe' painted on it. The old barns, outhouses and the ranchhouse seem to beckon menacingly. Everything is quiet, save for the rustling breeze and the monotonous creak, creak of the sign blowing in the wind. The sun beats down mercilessly and you wipe the sweat from your face and neck with the red bandana draped around your throat. Nerves tingling and senses alert for the first sign of danger the two of you walk into the Lucky Horseshoe, with Chameleon on your left.
To the right is a log cabin and beyond that a stable. An empty water trough, filled with dust now, lies ten feet ahead of you. To the left stands a barn, an old hitching post outside it. Opposite the stable is a row of dilapidated sheds. At the far end, directly ahead of you, is a fine mansion-like house, but now its timbers are rotten, its windows smashed, its doors hanging off their hinges. Suddenly Yelov, his face plate gleaming in the sun, steps out with the Symbiont from behind the stable about fifty feet ahead of you. The two of you tense expectantly but no move is made. Yelov is dressed in smart black trousers, tailed jacket and black hat with a white frilled shirt, like a 19th century riverboat gambler. His coat is pushed back over the butt of his pistol that hangs at his hip. His hand hovers near it. You can make out the bulge of another weapon on his other hip. The Symbiont is dressed in buckskin trousers and a checked shirt, looking like a hunchbacked cowboy. He holds a Winchester rifle in his hands and a Navy Colt .44 at his hip.
The Symbiont titters madly, drawing a black look from Yelov. 'So you have come, and you've brought your lackey with you. Do not think he will save you from my vengeance, Falcon, you Arcturan slime-worm.'
Chameleon sends you a telepathic message telling you he intends to go for the Symbiont. Will you:
You dash for the water trough readying your Winchester to fire from the hip and all hell breaks loose. Yelov draws his pistol and fires at you with lightning speed, the sound of his gun echoing around the deserted ranch like a thunderclap. But it is difficult to hit a moving target and he misses you, dirt spurting up from the ground at your feet where the bullet landed. Suddenly Chameleon sinks to his knees in agony, the subject of the Symbiont's Ego Whip. Will you fire:
Your Winchester discharges with a loud bang and you hit the Symbiont in the arm and he cries out in pain. Chameleon is suddenly released from his Ego Whip and picks up his rifle. Yelov fires at you and, instinctively, you dive for the cover of the water trough. Chameleon's rifle makes two sharp reports. The Symbiont is hit once in the stomach and then again in the chest which sends him flying backward to lie sprawled in the sun, a bloody mess, quite dead. Yelov curses and fires with deadly accuracy and Chameleon is knocked over by a bullet, as if he'd been hit by a sledgehammer. He lies in a pool of milky translucent blood, groaning feebly, incapacitated. Yelov is turning to you, but you have a chance to get a shot off at him from your position behind the trough. Make an Evasion Roll.
Your rifle barks once and you hit Yelov in the shoulder. The force of the Winchester bullet throws him backward to the ground and he cries out in pain. Quickly he fires his pistol at you from his prone position, forcing you to duck. Then everything goes deathly quiet. Only Chameleon's occasional moans of pain and the creaking of the ranch sign break the silence. Will you:
You surge up and vault the trough, running as fast as you can for the sheds, jumping over the body of the Symbiont. You reach them a few seconds later, safely. You dart into one and take up a position by a shattered window, looking out at the stable opposite. Yelov is not behind the stable corner anymore. Your eye is drawn to a movement in the log cabin, behind the water trough where you were moments ago. Yelov appears in the doorway, his gun pointed at the trough, a malevolent grin on his face. He hesitates in surprise when he sees that you are no longer there. [If you still have your Winchester rifle…]
You aim the Winchester. You have several seconds to make sure as Yelov looks uncertainly about. You squeeze the trigger and the rifle bucks and roars. It takes him in the chest and he gives a strangled cry of pain and slumps backwards into the cabin, his pistol firing harmlessly into the sky. You can see his booted feet protruding motionless from the doorway. Carefully, you approach him, ready for any tricks, but he makes no move. Looking down you can see that he is dead, you have shot him in the heart. You can hardly believe your eyes as you look down at his body. Finally, you have killed Yelov, The Federation will, at last, be safe from his depredations. An enormous sense of relief comes over you and you turn and walk out into the sun. You notice a pulpy mess, a purplish blob of protoplasm some feet away from the body of the Symbiont. It is still and its outer edge is cracked and dry. It is the parasite from Hel, having crawled from its host body. It has dehydrated and died in the open sun. You notice that Coin Helm's face is peaceful and calm in death as it never was in life. You gather up the dead and wounded, leaving no trace that this gunfight ever occurred and return to the Eiger Vault, 3034 AD.
A few days later, you are sitting in the Hall of Honours, in front of the horseshoe-like desk behind which all the Lords of TIME are gathered - Silvermane the Rigellian, Jobanque, Pilota and R'lllk the Keladi, who floats in a large tank of sea water. Jobanque says, 'I hope you have rested well, Falcon. You'll be glad to hear all of your agents have recovered and are well and that we've retrieved Yelov's model A3. Once again you have exceeded our expectations. Without you the Federation would be in ruins, there's no doubt of that. I'm afraid we simply do not have any honours left to bestow on you - other than making you a TIME Lord,' and he laughs, as if the idea were somehow ridiculous. 'You are much more valuable in the Special Agent Section. We could create another award just for you but that seems a little indulgent. We can only offer you the heartfelt thanks of all the Lords of TIME. Thank you Falcon.' He beckons you over, and shakes your hand. 'Good work, the best agent, and the best Section Chief I could ever hope to command,' he says under his breath.
You move on to Lord Silvermane, who lays a massive hand on your shoulder, and mumbles, 'A fine display of martial prowess, Falcon. You would have made a good Rigellian, with a little meat on your bones!' This is indeed a high compliment to receive from a Rigellian.
Lord Pilota looks you up and down and says officiously, 'The Government of Lastlanding extend their thanks to you in recognition of your deeds,' and then she leans forward conspiratorially and whispers, 'You were pretty good out there at Sirius. We must have a solar race, just the two of us. I've an excellent racer I'd like you to try.'
R'lllk the Keladi, a cross between a giant crayfish and a giant squid bubbles nonsensically and your Universal Translator renders it as, 'I am empowered to bestow on you the highest honour a Keladi can bestow on a non-Keladi. You are henceforth an honorary clan member of Kelados and entitled to all the rights accruing to a clan member.' There is a short pause and then, 'And expected to perform all those duties and obligations a clan member is expected to perform.' You thank him and decide you had better do some quick reading on Keladi culture, to find out exactly what this entails.
The ceremony over, you hurry back to your office - you have more important things to attend to, you tell yourself, such as locating your old comrade and friend, Agent Bloodhound ...
[And that's the end of Falcon 5: The Dying Sun. No scores in this one, but five deaths: fighting Diomedes, sending Sosquilla to the timehole in space, solar flare, no laser pistol, ran out of Endurance. I'll begin the final book, At the End of Time, soon.]
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