Desert of Danger

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"Desert of Danger"
Publisher	Corgi Books
Imprint	Young Corgi Adventure/Adventure Game Books
First published	1987
Writers	Dave Morris
Illustrator	Bob Harvey (interior pencils and cover painting)
ISBN	ISBN 0 552 52502 2 ISBN 9780552525022
Page count	71 pp

You get embroiled in a Decepticon Headmaster plot on Nebulos.

Synopsis

You are the co-pilot of an interstellar cargo ship, making a delivery to a mining town on the equatorial continent of the planet of Nebulos. While Harry the pilot files your flight papers with Traffic Control you are left to unload the ship's cargo—a crate of Sirian brandy for the Wolf at the Door nightclub and two deliveries to Professor Sparks's laboratory. The first is a package containing computer discs and the second is a flashy red-and-gold sports car which you are astonished to find transforms into the Heroic Autobot Hot Rod.

Hot Rod agrees to deliver the discs to Professor Sparks while you deliver the brandy to the nightclub. Wolf at the Door caters to Nebulan miners, playing loud electronic music while androids serve high-grade oil and sparkplugs. Using an anti-gravity pod you take the brandy down to the cellar but while you are down there you stumble across a pile of gnawed human bones. Returning upstairs in shock you bump into Hot Rod and Sparks but the three of you are quickly bundled out by Monzo, the club's owner. You tell Hot Rod that there's something unusual about the club's cellar and the three of you investigate, observing Monzo and Vorath collaborating with Weirdwolf, one of the evil Decepticons. They have retrieved a cylinder from the desert, killing a space pilot in the process. As they leave you explore further discovering that the cylinders contain Attack Squad robots—ancient Decepticon robotic infantry from the war on Cybertron which contravene the rules of the truce established on Nebulos.

When you return to your ship that night you are hit with some terrible news. The Nebulan police inform you that they have found Harry's ID and they fear he may have been murdered. You meet up with Hot Rod and Sparks who believe the Decepticons are responsible, but before any of you can act, two Attack Squad robots storm the laboratory followed quickly by Mindwipe, Skullcruncher, and Weirdwolf. Hot Rod takes care of the Attack Squad robots while you and Sparks handle Mindwipe, then you trick Skullcruncher into swallowing your anti-gravity pod so he floats high above the battle. Reunited with Hot Rod and Sparks, the three of you face down Weirdwolf and he retreats. Hot Rod ruefully notes that they will have to return the Decepticons under the terms of the truce, but the Attack Squad robots will be melted down into slag.

You head back to the ship to be greeted with the surprise of your life—Harry is waiting for you in the pilot's seat. It turns out that the night before he had lost his jacket and wallet before getting drunk on Betelgeux whiskey with an old friend. You plot the course back to Earth and promise to tell him about your adventures with the Transformers.

Endings

The ending given in the synopsis is the result of the optimum path through the book but there are alternate endings that lie in wait for you:

• You, Hot Rod and Sparks are captured by the Decepticons and non-specifically "doomed".
• Mindwipe melts Hot Rod with his viper pistol then crushes you with his fists.
• You electrocute yourself trying to recharge Hot Rod and Sparks.
• Weirdwolf shoots you and you are vapourised.
• You are shot by the Attack Squad robot's ruby lasers.
• Weirdwolf eats you.

Featured characters

Autobots	Decepticons	Humans	Nebulans	Others
Hot Rod Kup Blurr	Weirdwolf Skullcruncher Mindwipe	You Harry Bob Traven	Professor Sparks Monzo Vorath	Attack Squad robots

The order in which the characters appear depends on the path you take through the book.

Notes

• All Transformers' names are printed in CAPITAL LETTERS.
• Hot Rod's Targetmaster partner is referred to throughout as "Professor Sparks". Like all Nebulans in this book, he's robotic rather than fleshy.
• The treaty in operation on Nebulos is to ensure that the conflict does not spill over into full-scale war, and rules that only those Transformers who are binary-bonded to a Nebulan may stay on the planet.
• Hot Rod abbreviates "Decepticons" to "Decepts". He also asks Monzo if he's feeling lucky.
• Oddly, Grax is nowhere to be seen.

Errors

• Monzo is drawn as being at least as tall as Hot Rod.