EDGE : I, Hero Quests: Atlantis Quest 2

  www.franklinwatts.co.uk

  How to be a hero

  This book is not like others you may have read. You are the hero of this adventure. It is up to you to make decisions that will affect how the adventure unfolds.

  Each section of this book is numbered. At the end of most sections, you will have to make a choice. The choice you make will take you to a different section of the book.

  Some of your choices will help you to complete the adventure successfully. But choose carefully, some of your decisions could be fatal!

  If you fail, then start the adventure again and learn from your mistake.

  If you choose correctly you will succeed in your mission.

  Don’t be a zero, be a hero!

  The quest so far…

  You are a member of a Special Forces naval unit. You are an expert diver and can pilot submarines of all types. You are a specialist in underwater combat and have taken part in many dangerous missions in all of the world’s oceans. Your bravery and skill have won you many medals.

  You have been recruited by Admiral Crabbe, leader of ORCA – the Ocean Research Central Agency – a top-secret unit whose mission is to patrol the planet’s oceans and deal with any threats to humankind from hostile creatures of the deep. Your quest is to help fight the Atlanteans, a race of amphibians who are determined to destroy humankind.

  To help you in your quest you have been given command of the Barracuda, the most advanced submarine in the world. The Mer, another amphibian race, created this amazing machine. The Mer are sworn enemies of the Atlanteans and have an alliance with humankind.

  ORCA

  ULTRA SECRET BRIEFING DOCUMENT

  THE ATLANTEANS:

  A race of amphibians, who once lived in the legendary city of Atlantis. Masters of sea-based technology.

  HOME:

  New Atlantis, a realm under the sea floor.

  TRITON: King of the Atlanteans

  OBJECTIVE: To destroy humankind and take over the Earth.

  HISTORY:

  Hundreds of years ago, the Atlanteans declared war on humans. With the Mer’s help they were defeated. Entrance to Atlantis is guarded by the Mer.

  BACKGROUND INFORMATION:

  The Atlanteans have broken out from New Atlantis.

  They have declared war on humans and the Mer.

  With the help of Shen, a female Mer, you have managed to defeat Hydros, one of Triton’s commanders. You stopped his forces from capturing a top-secret island base and getting hold of the missiles stored there. You also managed to salvage the pressure shield generator from Hydros’s command ship. Shen has fitted this to the Barracuda, which means it can dive to unlimited depths. You are now preparing to hunt down the Atlanteans and send them back to their realm under the sea before they can carry out Triton’s threats to destroy humankind.

  The future of the Earth depends on you… Go to 1.

  1

  You and Shen are taking the Barracuda for a test dive to see how well the captured pressure shield generator works. You have already reached a depth of 10,000 metres.

  “To get to this depth without any problems is extraordinary,” you say. “This shield is incredible.”

  Shen nods. “We will need it if we are going to find the hole in the seabed where the Atlanteans broke out.”

  Before you can reply, an alarm begins to wail. “Warning! Crush depth exceeded! Outside pressure too great,” warns the Barracuda.

  “We’d better return to the surface,” you say.

  Shen shakes her head. “Don’t worry, I didn’t have time to re-program the Barracuda’s warning systems when I fitted the shield generator. We’re safe.”

  “Are you sure?” you ask.

  “I said we’re safe,” she replies. “Don’t you trust me?”

  To return to the surface, go to 36.

  If you trust Shen, go to 17.

  2

  “An all-out attack is impossible,” you say. “The cyborg’s defensive shield is too strong. We’ll have to neutralise it. That means getting inside the ship. I’ll take a sub-aqua bike over there while you take the Barracuda out of range and contact ORCA. You’ve got to send them our location.”

  “Right. It’s lucky that our engineers were able to make smaller copies of the pressure shield generator to protect us and our aquabikes.”

  Shen begins to prepare the bike as you put on your aquasuit.

  To set off immediately, go to 23.

  If you want to find out more about the Man-of-war, go to 45.

  3

  “We’re outnumbered, we have to get out of here! Switch to jet boost,” you order. But before the Barracuda can obey, a huge explosion rocks the super sub.

  “Hull breached!” warns Shen.

  Another torpedeo hits.

  “The pressure shield generator is failing!”

  It’s the last thing you hear as the outside water pressure crushes the Barracuda, sending you into the darkness.

  You have failed. To begin your mission again, go to 1.

  4

  “There are too many enemy ships to take on,” you say to Shen.

  She nods in agreement. “Let’s stay in stealth mode and follow the ship.”

  As the Man-of-war moves away, you follow it at a distance.

  After several hours, the Man-of-war slows down and stops.

  “Where are we?” you ask.

  “We’re off the east coast of China,” replies Shen. “We’re within range of Chinese, Korean and Russian nuclear bases.”

  “If the Atlanteans attack, each country will blame the other. The Atlanteans will start a new world war!” you say grimly.

  “We have to tell ORCA,” says Shen.

  “If we do we’ll have to break from stealth mode,” you reply. “We’ll give away our position.”

  If you want to contact ORCA now, go to 31.

  If you want to stay in stealth mode, go to 49.

  5

  You accelerate and just manage to squeeze through the closing gap.

  As you shoot out of the Man-of-war, you see the ocean lit up by explosions as the ORCA defence subs and the Atlantean ships do battle.

  “Harvester missiles being launched in thirty seconds,” warns Shen. “I’m nearly at your position.”

  You speed towards your parked sub-aqua bike and transfer from the seahorse, taking the defensive shield with you. Suddenly there is a massive explosion as the harvester antisubmarine missiles strike the Man-of-war. The huge ship erupts, sending a shockwave through the water, scattering many Atlantean vessels and knocking you from your bike.

  “Well, I’m still in one piece!” you tell Shen. At that moment you see a lone figure riding towards you on the back of a huge white cyborg shark. You realise that this is Hadal. He must have escaped from the Man-of-war!

  He closes in on you and the shark’s mouth opens, revealing two deadly looking guns.

  To get back on your sub-aqua bike, go to 12.

  To fight the Atlantean commander, go to 37.

  To ask Shen for help, go to 19.

  6

  “Those ships need to be dealt with,” you decide. “Lock on and fire torpedoes.”

  Seconds later the Turtle troopships are destroyed.

  Shen shakes her head. “I think we should have tracked them. They could have been useful to us.”

  You shrug. “Too late now. Let’s get back to ORCA HQ, re-arm the Barracuda and see what Admiral Crabbe has lined up for us.”

  Go to 33.

  7

  You hit the throttle, but the Atlanteans follow on their mounts, sending a volley of metal lassos towards you. You try to avoid them, but one wraps itself around your
body. You are pulled from the bike and float in the water. An Atlantean moves in and jabs you with an electro-lance. You feel a mind-numbing pain and then pass into blackness.

  Go to 43.

  8

  “We’re close enough for a surprise attack on the ship,” you say. “We fire our stunfish to knock out the defences and follow up with torpedoes. That should crack open the hull. Then we tell ORCA where we are, and they can come and mop up the rest of the Atlanteans.” Shen shrugs and agrees.

  You target and fire the stunfish at the cyborg. They hit the hull.

  “Fire torpedoes!” you order.

  The torpedoes speed towards the Man-of-war, but before they can strike home, the ship’s defences take out the torpedoes!

  “The stunfish didn’t work,” cries Shen.

  The Barracuda’s alarms sound. “Incoming torpedoes launched! Impact 10 seconds!”

  “Launching countermeasures,” says Shen.

  “Evasive action!” you order, but it is too late. The Barracuda is hit.

  The explosion is the last thing you hear as more torpedoes hit and blow the Barracuda apart.

  Go back to 1 to try again.

  9

  “Let’s see if there are any more vessels,” you say. “Scan again on all devices: thermal, sonar and radar.”

  The Barracuda obeys and seconds later projects an image of two Lionfish destroyers.

  “There you are,” you whisper.

  “Enemy destroyers at 70 degrees and five hundred metres away, but closing in,” reports Shen.

  To attack the destroyers, go to 30.

  To attack the troopships, go to 48.

  If you wish to retreat, go to 40.

  10

  You punch up the seahorse’s map system and find the engine room. You leave your seahorse on the other side of the airlock, and make your way through the corridors. The aquasuit’s visor screen flashes up a warning, “ORCA attack in 20 minutes.” You increase speed and soon reach the engine room.

  The door is guarded by two Atlantean warriors. Before they can react, you take them out with a burst from your jet gun and then blast open the doors with a self-propelled grenade.

  You move inside.

  The engine room is full of Atlantean engineers. They are shocked to see you!

  In front of you is a control panel, with the defensive shield unit!

  If you decide to attack the engineers, go to 29.

  If you want to walk over to the defensive shield control panel, go to 47.

  11

  The Barracuda heads towards the Atlantean forces at jet boost speed. It is not long before you find yourself just outside the detection range of their scanners.

  The tracking devices on the Turtle troopships show there are hundreds of Atlantean ships gathering around the cyborg Man-of-war.

  “They must be getting ready for an attack,” you say. “If we can destroy the fleet, I reckon that we’ll send the remaining ships back to Atlantis. Then we can follow them and find the hole on the ocean floor.”

  If you wish to attack the Atlantean force, go to 28.

  If you wish to use stealth mode, go to 42.

  12

  You spin around, but before you can get away, the guns open fire. A cloud of deadly steel darts hammer into you, turning the water red.

  You came so far, but have failed. To begin again, go back to 1.

  13

  “Good idea,” you say. You press a button and two tracking devices are sent speeding on their way to the troopships.

  The devices hit the metal hulls and attach themselves.

  Shen checks the monitor. “Tracking devices activated. They could be very useful later,” she says.

  You nod. “I hope so. Let’s get back to ORCA HQ, re-arm the Barracuda and see what Admiral Crabbe has lined up for us.”

  Go to 33.

  14

  You ride the sub-aqua bike towards the Man-of-war’s hangar. The huge sub is covered in hundreds of searchlights that cut through the blackness of the water.

  As you wonder how you will get into the hangar, you see two Atlantean guards on patrol. They are riding seahorses and both carry deadly electro-lances.

  Suddenly, one of the beams of light swings around onto you! The Atlanteans see you and head towards you.

  If you wish to attack the patrol, go to 27.

  If you wish to try to escape, go to 7.

  15

  “It’s a shame we destroyed the troopships,” says Shen. “If we’d used a tracking device, maybe they would have led us to the Atlantean force.”

  “What do you mean?” asks Admiral Crabbe.

  You tell him about destroying the ships.

  “You fool!” explodes the admiral. “You should have tracked them!” He shakes his head. “I don’t need a hothead like you. You’re going back to your unit!”

  Your quest is over. If you want to begin again, go to 1.

  16

  You decide to use the seahorse to get past the Man-of-war’s ID scanning system. As you head towards the hangar entrance, you are caught in a blue light beam. You realise that you are being scanned.

  You pass through the entry doors and breathe a sigh of relief. You were right to use the seahorse!

  As you move through the hangar, your comms link opens up. It is Shen. “ORCA’s defence subs will be here within an hour,” she tells you.

  You know that you will have to find the defensive shield and disable it or the attack will fail.

  If you want to head to the engine room, go to 10.

  If you want to head to the control room, go to 32.

  17

  “I trust you,” you say. “But can you do something about that alarm? The noise is driving me crazy.”

  Shen smiles and taps a button, and the alarm cuts off.

  As the Barracuda heads deeper, you stare out of the window but can see very little. Even the Barracuda’s powerful lights hardly pierce the blackness of the sea.

  “The Atlanteans could be anywhere in this,” you say. “No wonder it’s taking time to find out where they broke through.”

  The Barracuda gives a warning. “Two slow moving objects ahead…”

  An image projects onto a screen.

  “Atlantean Turtle troopships! They don’t seem to have spotted us,” Shen says. “What should we do?”

  If you wish to find out more about the troopships, go to 26.

  If you wish to attack them immediately, go to 48.

  18

  “We have to stop the Man-of-war getting away!” you say. “Cancel stealth mode, we must attack.”

  You launch torpedoes and they shoot towards the Man-of-war. They hit, but explode harmlessly against the hull.

  Immediately, the Barracuda’s scanners detect enemy torpedoes heading towards you – you have given away your position! More torpedoes launch from the Man-of-war’s tentacles.

  “Deploy countermeasures!” you cry as you swing the super sub around.

  You fight back and destroy several Atlantean ships as they turn to attack. But more vessels close in.

  To continue the fight, go to 35.

  If you wish to retreat, go to 3.

  19

  “I need some help here,” you tell Shen as Hadal opens fire with the shark’s guns.

  “Use the defensive shield,” she says. You push the defensive shield panel into the chest armour of your aquasuit. You are shocked when it grows into the fabric! The shark gun’s razor darts simply bounce off you like hail!

  Hadal attacks again, but the darts cannot get through the defensive shield.

  “The defensive shield works, Shen!” You jump onto your sub-aqua bike and launch six sea dart missiles at the cyborg shark. In turn, the shark fires explosive teeth at the missiles, destroying them all. Hadal moves in with his electro-lance, when suddenly you see bright lights heading towards you. It’s the Barracuda!

  “Hold on tight – this might sting a bit,” warns Shen.

  There is a burst
of bubbles as she launches a torpedo. It zooms past you and hits Hadal head on! The force of the explosion sends you spinning and you black out.

  Go to 50.

  20

  “Let’s head to the meeting point and surprise them,” you say.

  “Don’t be such a hothead,” snaps Admiral Crabbe. “We need to find out more about the location, and to find out if there is a build-up of enemy forces. We need more intelligence.”

  You realise that the admiral is right.

  Calm down and go to 24.

  21

  You raise you hands in surrender. The Atlanteans move in towards you.

  An electro-lance is thrust into your body. You feel a surge of intense pain before passing into blackness.

  Go to 43.

  22

  “Let’s move it!” you shout. You spin the Barracuda away, and the incoming torpedoes miss.

  However, the troopships open fire with their barnacle cannons, sending a salvo of explosive bombs your way.