House of Dream of Moon
by Admiral Jota (2007)
Genres: Surreal


action: %
response: Are you sure you want to quit? 

Your very first night is over in your new house. It still seems surreal that you are now the proud owner of this place. It doesn't quite feel like home yet since you haven't been able to get your furniture. However, you can't get the rental truck until tomorrow. Maybe today would be a good idea to explore those woods behind your house. It'll be a good way to kill time until you can get properly moved in tomorrow.

Type "about" for more information.

Master Bedroom (on the mattress)
All that's unpacked in the room is your mattress with a sheet thrown over the top of it. Your dresser is still in storage. Windows look out to the north and west, and the closet lies to the south. The hallway is to the east.
action: Author
response: Scene 1, "Going Exploring", was written by Tom Blawgus.
action: You look at what you're carrying with you
response: You are carrying:
a house key
Every Child's Almanac of Lunar Conspiracy
action: You read Almanac
response: Rather than start at the beginning of the Almanac, and having no curiosity in any specific entry in particular, you flip to a random page and begin reading at random:

Just to make sure, you skim through the ontogeny section. Yeah, you were right. Not only is the metatarsal tubercule completely different, but larval Overlords are typically the size of small planets. Otherwise they're quite like tadpoles, though.

Out of context, this may or may not make a whole lot of sense, but I suppose that's what you get for not looking up a specific entry.
action: You go to the south
response: The closet's much too small to fit in.
action: You open the closet
response: You're not Mr. Fantastic. You'll need to get up to reach the closet.

Your vision goes blurry for a second, and a voice seems to be speaking to you right out of your brain.

"Dave? Dave? Can you hear me?" says the voice. "Hang on, we're trying to get you out of there."
action: You wake
response: The dreadful truth is, this is not a dream.

The voice continues. If you concentrate, you can just place the voice as Leslie's. "Listen. I think we can do this, but we need your help. We need to calibrate on this end with something you've held on that end. Can you describe something you've picked up, or something you're holding? Try telling me about it."
action: You stand
response: You get off the mattress.

All that's unpacked in the room is your mattress with a sheet thrown over the top of it. Your dresser is still in storage. Windows look out to the north and west, and the closet lies to the south. The hallway is to the east.
action: You describe Almanac
response: Ever since your youth, this book has been your dearest companion. Originally a slender mass-market paperback from Knockoff Press, it now bulges under the weight of your painfully cross-referenced annotations and additions. It largely deals with how the Atlanteans staged the moon landings in order to atrophy America's can-do attitude and defy the Cosmic Overlords, but has valuable information on many related topics.
action: You tell Leslie about Almanac
response: "Aha! Got it! Analyzing now..."

"Perfect! OK, we've noted Every Child's Almanac of Lunar Conspiracy as characteristic of this section, which should help us get a bead on your location.
action: You open the closet
response: You open the closet, revealing a backpack and a swibble.

"I really need that room," Leslie says again. "We almost have a lock on your avatar."

"OK, now we need to know where you are. Can you tell me about one of the rooms you've visited in this section?"
action: You tell Leslie about the closet
response: "Aha! Got it! Analyzing now..."
action: You look at the swibble
response: It's just a swibble.
action: You take all from the closet
response: backpack: Taken.
swibble: You can't intefere with a swibble! It would be... well, you just can't.
action: You look up the swibble in Almanac
response: You discover nothing of interest in Every Child's Almanac of Lunar Conspiracy.

"I really need that room," Leslie says again. "We almost have a lock on your avatar."
action: You open the backpack
response: That's already open.
action: You eat the swibble
response: (first taking the swibble)
You can't intefere with a swibble! It would be... well, you just can't.
action: You tell Leslie about Bedroom
response: "Ah, perfect! Analyzing the Master Bedroom now..."

"Great, we have that room now. That should help. Re-calibrating..."
action: You examine the swibble
response: It's just a swibble.

Leslie pipes up again. "OK! I'm going to send you a detangler. You should be able to use it to escape as-is, but if not, I can try sending you some attachments. I've attuned it to your signal in the simulator, so it should stay with you.

A strange beam of green light bathes you, then disappears.
action: Inventory
response: You are carrying:
detangler base (with a trigger attached.)
a backpack (open but empty)
a house key
Every Child's Almanac of Lunar Conspiracy
action: You examine the detangler
response: (the detangler base)
Long and sleek, with various notches for extra attachments. When it's working, you should be able to just fire it. Attached to the base is a trigger.
action: Fire detangler
response: (the detangler base)
Taking a deep breath, you pull the trigger and shoot the detangler. Blue static washes over you and the Master Bedroom, but then dissipates. And you're still in the same room as before.

"Dave? We caught a power surge in your location. That wasn't... drat, the detangler didn't work, did it? OK, we'll try again. Let me send you the focuser; I think the area of effect was too wide." You wait for the green light again.

After a few moments, you hear cursing from inside your head. "Um... Dave, I'm sorry, but the lock I had for your location is busted.
You'll need to find your way somewhere else, and try again from there. Sorry about that. I'll work on the focuser; you work on finding your way forward."
action: You look up Leslie in Almanac
response: The Atlantean legends are unclear on whether this figure is meant to represent some sort of demon or monster, or if it is merely a human being who achieved both great power and great viillainy. Her exact name varies according to the source text: sometimes it is written as "Lisellyi" or "Leslea"; other sources refer to her as "L'Z'L", perhaps as a reference to the holy tetragrammaton. Some modern academics have taken to transliterating the name as "Leslie" or even "Lucille", although this is generally recognized as a sign of less serious scholarship.
action: You look around
response: All that's unpacked in the room is your mattress with a sheet thrown over the top of it. Your dresser is still in storage. Windows look out to the north and west, and the closet lies to the south. The hallway is to the east.
action: You take the sheet
response: Taken.
action: You examine the mattress
response: At least you were able to haul this here on the top of your car. It would have been quite uncomfortable to sleep on the floor.
action: You take the mattress
response: That's hardly portable.
action: You ask Leslie about Leslie
response: "I'm trying to get you out of there! I think we can do this, just trust me."
action: North
response: You look out the window and see the neighbor's fence.
action: You examine the west window
response: You look out the window and gaze upon your front lawn and the street beyond it.
action: Go east
response: Peeling paint greets you as you gaze down the hallway. Once you get moved in and get your car back, a trip to the paint store is on your list of things to do. The threadbare carpet leads you south, or you can step into your bedroom to the west. The bathroom lies to the north, and there's a spare bedroom to the east.
action: About you
response: As good-looking as ever.
action: You go east
response: This is room is about as empty as your bedroom. There are windows looking north and east, and there's a closet to the south.
action: You open the closet
response: Opening the closet reveals a flashlight. The previous owners must have forgotten it when they moved out.
action: You take flashlight
response: (putting Every Child's Almanac of Lunar Conspiracy into the backpack to make room)
Taken.
action: You look at it
response: A durable flashlight found in the spare room closet.

The flashlight is currently switched off.
action: You examine the east window
response: You look out the window and gaze into your back yard and the woods beyond. You can also see the windows of the Sun Room and see a bit of the room itself.
action: Go north
response: All the usual fixtures are here. Unfortunately the water isn't turned on yet, so you can't use any of them. It's on your ever-growing list of things to do after getting your stuff.

You can see a surveillance camera here.
action: You examine the camera
response: It's the standard bathroom cam, same as in every other place you've ever lived.
action: You tell Leslie about the bathroom
response: "Ah, perfect! Analyzing the Bathroom now..."
action: You ask Leslie about yourself
response: "You were testing the simulation code when something went wrong. Do you not even remember who you are any more? That's bad."
action: You ask Leslie about the simulation
response: "You were working on the simulator, but something went wrong and it started to interface with your brain directly. Your own memories are now influencing the simulator in unpredictable ways, and the simulator is trying to keep up. It's going to get weirder before it gets back to normal."
action: You look up the Conspiracy in Almanac
response: At the core of the web of lies the Atlanteans have woven: the supposed moon landings. It is a shadowy business; you have few answers, but many questions. Where did the billions invested in the space program go? What really lurks inside the fridge in the NASA headquarters break room? What fiendish plan are the Atlanteans concocting against the Cosmic Overlords? The answers can only lie in one place: the moon.
action: You take the camera
response: That's fixed in place.
action: Go south
response: Peeling paint greets you as you gaze down the hallway. Once you get moved in and get your car back, a trip to the paint store is on your list of things to do. The threadbare carpet leads you south, or you can step into your bedroom to the west. The bathroom lies to the north, and there's a spare bedroom to the east.
action: Go south
response: Hardwood floors greet you and your steps echo as you walk around the room. There is a window in the west wall looking out into the front yard. The front door is to the west, and the kitchen lies to the east.
action: You go east
response: A small kitchen, perfect for one. Cupboards line the north wall, and there's a refigerator in the corner next to the oven. Oh, and there's also a kitchen sink. You can walk west to the living room, or east down some steps into the sun room.
action: You open the cupboards
response: You open them one by one and find nothing in them. Your dishes are still in storage.
action: You open the fridge
response: You open the refrigerator, revealing a water bottle.
action: You take the bottle
response: (putting the house key into the backpack to make room)
Taken.
action: You examine bottle
response: Just the thing to have along in case you get thirsty.

The water bottle contains water.
action: You close the fridge
response: You close the refrigerator.
action: You examine the sink
response: Now you've seen everything... except water.
action: You go to the east
response: A vast open room at the back of the house with windows on all sides. A door looking something like one you'd see on a barn leads outdoors, while the garage is to the southwest. The kitchen is up some steps to the west.
action: Go southwest
response: Obviously this garage was built many years ago because there's no way the modern car would fit in it. As a result, it becomes a convenient place to store your stuff when you get it out of storage. The garage door lies to the east, but it's locked shut and the realtor forgot to give you the key to the padlock. Another chore for you after moving in.

You can see some cobwebs and some dead flies here.
action: Inventory
response: You are carrying:
water bottle, which contains water
a flashlight
a sheet
detangler base (with a trigger attached.)
a backpack (open)
a house key
Every Child's Almanac of Lunar Conspiracy
action: Fire detangler
response: (the detangler base)
You shoot the detangler again, but nothing happens.
action: You examine the cobwebs
response: Sign of the enemy! Vile! Vile!
action: You take the flies
response: (putting the detangler base into the backpack to make room)
Taken. Ick.
action: You take the cobwebs
response: You obliterate the unclean thing. Hopefully you can forget that your beautiful new home ever contained such inappropriate filth.
action: You tell Leslie about the padlock
response: "Dave, there's no time," Leslie replies. " You need to find an item you can hold and a new room or area to tell me about, or I won't be able to pull you out of the simulator. If you can't find anything to hold, it might work to find something that can hold you, instead."
action: You tell Leslie about the garage
response: "Ah, perfect! Analyzing the Garage now..."
action: Look around
response: Obviously this garage was built many years ago because there's no way the modern car would fit in it. As a result, it becomes a convenient place to store your stuff when you get it out of storage. The garage door lies to the east, but it's locked shut and the realtor forgot to give you the key to the padlock. Another chore for you after moving in.
action: You open the door
response: You open the barn door.
action: Go east
response: A large carpet of green stretches all the way to the back of the property where the woods start. The house is back to the west, and you can enter the woods to the east.
action: You close the door
response: You close the barn door.
action: Go east
response: With anticipation, trepidation and excitement, you enter the woods.

Looking back through the trees, you can still make out your house. Looking forward, you see the vast wilderness surrounds you that is just begging to be explored. A path meaders through the trees leading east.

A Great Master stands by the path in watchful posture. You are awestruck. No one mentioned when you bought the house that you would be graced with such a blessing.

The Great Master acknowldeges you with a wave of its foreclaw, and you hear its voice resonate in your head: GREETINGS, SOFT ONE. ACCESS TO THE WOODS IS RESTRICTED.
action: You look at great Master
response: Magnificent, benevolent, wise, and at least eight feet tall. To gaze on it is to be honored. Its carapace is brilliant green, its compound eyes are irridescent blue-red. It stands in the Ready Watcher pose, four legs on the ground, its great knifelike foreclaws crossed in front of its thorax.
action: You tell Leslie about great Master
response: "Dave, there's no time," Leslie replies. " You need to find an item you can hold and a new room or area to tell me about, or I won't be able to pull you out of the simulator. If you can't find anything to hold, it might work to find something that can hold you, instead."

More static, and you hear Leslie's voice again. "You dropped off our old lock, so it looks like you've made it to a new section. Tell us about something you've held and about a room you see, and I'll try to send a focuser.
action: Author
response: You can't see any such thing.

Scene 2, "Introducing the Great Masters", was written by Carl Muckenhoupt.
action: You fight master
response: You can barely even articulate the thought.
action: You ask Master about the access
response: THE WOODS HIDE A TERRIBLE THING. ACCESS IS PERMITTED ONLY TO THOSE OF ASSURED LOYALTY.
action: You ask Master about the loyalty
response: A SERVICE IS REQUIRED. RESTORE THE BELOVED TO US.
action: You ask Master about BELOVED
response: THE BELOVED HAS STRAYED. BRING IT TO US THAT IT MAY REJOICE IN OUR LOVE ONCE MORE.
action: You check your inventory
response: You are carrying:
some dead flies
water bottle, which contains water
a flashlight
a sheet
a backpack (open)
detangler base (with a trigger attached.)
a house key
Every Child's Almanac of Lunar Conspiracy
action: You offer myself to Master
response: THE SOFT ONES DO NOT TRULY UNDERSTAND LOVE. THIS IS WHY YOU NEED OUR GUIDANCE.

(first taking yourself)
You are always self-possessed.
action: You ask Master about the soft ones
response: Why waste a Great Master's time with something irrelevant?
action: You tell Master about the house
response: The Great Master is unimpressed.
action: Kiss master
response: Keep your mind on the game.
action: You ask Master about the house
response: WE CONGRATULATE YOU ON ACQUIRING THE NEARBY RESIDENCE. IT IS IN A GOOD NEIGHBORHOOD, NEAR SCHOOLS.
action: You ask Master about the guidance
response: THE SOFT ONES DO NOT TRULY UNDERSTAND LOVE. THIS IS WHY YOU NEED OUR GUIDANCE.
action: Go east
response: The Great Master stops you. You hear its voice in your head: ACCESS DENIED.
action: You check your inventory
response: You are carrying:
some dead flies
water bottle, which contains water
a flashlight
a sheet
a backpack (open)
detangler base (with a trigger attached.)
a house key
Every Child's Almanac of Lunar Conspiracy
action: You ask Master about hard
response: Why waste a Great Master's time with something irrelevant?
action: You give Almanac to Master
response: (first taking Every Child's Almanac of Lunar Conspiracy)
(putting the sheet into the backpack to make room)
The Great Master doesn't seem interested.
action: You look at your surroundings
response: Looking back through the trees, you can still make out your house. Looking forward, you see the vast wilderness surrounds you that is just begging to be explored. A path meaders through the trees leading east.

A Great Master stands by the path in watchful posture.
action: You examine the house
response: Your house key. Without it, you wouldn't feel safe going anywhere.
action: Go west
response: A large carpet of green stretches all the way to the back of the property where the woods start. The house is back to the west, and you can enter the woods to the east.
action: You go west
response: (first opening the barn door)

A vast open room at the back of the house with windows on all sides. A door looking something like one you'd see on a barn leads outdoors, while the garage is to the southwest. The kitchen is up some steps to the west.
action: Go west
response: (first opening the front door)
(first unlocking the front door)
(first taking the house key)
(putting the flashlight into the backpack to make room)
(with the house key)

A neatly manicured lawn greets you and runs all the way to the sidewalk. Your driveway is to the south and you can step back inside to the east.
action: You go to the south
response: The concrete is cracked but is still servicable to park your car. The garage itself lies to the east, but there's no handle on this side of the garage door. Add a trip to the hardware store to your list of things to do.

A lesser mantid stands here, staring fascinated at the reflection of the sunlight reflected on the pavement by the rear view mirror.

You can also see a car here.
action: You take the mantid
response: It skitters away at your approach.
action: You look at the mantid
response: A beautiful insectoid, related to the Great Masters, but not intelligent, and much smaller. This one is barely the size of a dog.
action: You examine the car
response: Your trusty car that can get you places, except into the woods.

The lesser mantid stridulates plaintively.
action: You give the flies to the mantid
response: You kneel down and hold out the dead flies on your palm. The mantid approaches cautiously, then delicately picks up the flies in its mandibles one by one and crunches them down. It seems less skittish now.
action: You examine the car
response: Your trusty car that can get you places, except into the woods.
action: You enter the car
response: Today's not the day to explore the neighborhood. Today's the day to explore the woods.
action: You go north
response: A neatly manicured lawn greets you and runs all the way to the sidewalk. Your driveway is to the south and you can step back inside to the east.
action: You go east
response: A small kitchen, perfect for one. Cupboards line the north wall, and there's a refigerator in the corner next to the oven. Oh, and there's also a kitchen sink. You can walk west to the living room, or east down some steps into the sun room.

You reposition the lesser mantid to hold its weight better.
action: Go east
response: Are you going to leave your house open when you explore?
action: You tell Master that the mantid likes us better
response: A vast open room at the back of the house with windows on all sides. A door looking something like one you'd see on a barn leads outdoors, while the garage is to the southwest. The kitchen is up some steps to the west.

You can't see any such thing.
action: Go west
response: A small kitchen, perfect for one. Cupboards line the north wall, and there's a refigerator in the corner next to the oven. Oh, and there's also a kitchen sink. You can walk west to the living room, or east down some steps into the sun room.

The lesser mantid writhes.
action: You close the door
response: You close the front door.

The lesser mantid burbles.
action: You lock it
response: (with the house key)
You lock the front door.

You turn the lock in the doorknob to lock the front door.
action: You lock the door
response: That's locked at the moment.
action: You go east
response: A vast open room at the back of the house with windows on all sides. A door looking something like one you'd see on a barn leads outdoors, while the garage is to the southwest. The kitchen is up some steps to the west.

The lesser mantid burbles.
action: You close the door
response: You close the barn door.

The lesser mantid snuggles its head against your shoulder. Its antennae tickle your chin.
action: Go east
response: Looking back through the trees, you can still make out your house. Looking forward, you see the vast wilderness surrounds you that is just begging to be explored. A path meaders through the trees leading east.

A Great Master stands by the path in watchful posture.
action: You give the mantid to Master
response: You place it on the ground in front of the Great Master, who places its foreclaws around its neck protectively. You hear the Great Master's voice in your head: WE THANK YOU FOR THE RETURN OF THE BELOVED. YOU ARE LOYAL, SOFT ONE.

The lesser mantid uses a foreclaw to clean its large, soulful compopund eyes.
action: You tell Leslie about the mantid
response: "Aha! Got it! Analyzing now..."

"Perfect! OK, we've noted the lesser mantid as characteristic of this section, which should help us get a bead on your location.
action: You ask Master about the woods
response: ACCESS GRANTED.

"OK, can you tell us about one of the places you've visited from this section?" Leslie asks.
action: You tell Leslie about Woods
response: "Ah, perfect! Analyzing the Edge of the Woods now..."

"Great, we have that room now. That should help. Re-calibrating..."
action: You wait for a while
response: Time passes.

Another beam of green light hits you and your load feels a bit heavier. "There you go!" Leslie says. "I've sent you another attachment that should help."
action: Inventory
response: You are carrying:
a focuser
a house key
Every Child's Almanac of Lunar Conspiracy
water bottle, which contains water
a backpack (open)
a flashlight
a sheet
detangler base (with a trigger attached.)

The Great Master casually snips off the lesser mantid's head, then picks up and eats its body.
action: You attach the focuser to the base
response: With a click and a pop, you permanently attach the focuser to the detangler base.
action: You check your inventory
response: You are carrying:
a house key
Every Child's Almanac of Lunar Conspiracy
water bottle, which contains water
a backpack (open)
a flashlight
a sheet
detangler base (with a trigger and a focuser attached.)
action: Fire detangler
response: (the detangler base)
With the focuser attached, you pull the trigger once more. Bright blue static pours out of it and crackles around your feet. For a moment, the scene seems to shift... but then it dies out, and you're back to where you were before.

"Not again!" Leslie complains. "Let me check my readouts. Hmm. OK, maybe you just need more power. If you can get to a new section and get me a lock there, I'll send you an extra power source.
action: You look at your surroundings
response: Looking back through the trees, you can still make out your house. Looking forward, you see the vast wilderness surrounds you that is just begging to be explored. A path meaders through the trees leading east.

A Great Master stands by the path in watchful posture.

You can also see a lesser mantid head here.
action: You ask Master about BELOVED
response: IT WILL STRAY NO MORE.
action: You look at the head
response: Well, you're sure it was justified.
action: You ask Master about the LOVE
response: LOVE IS SOMETIMES HARSH. WE DO WHAT WE MUST.
action: You eat master
response: (first taking the Great Master)
I don't suppose the Great Master would care for that.
action: You go east
response: Fallen leaves crunch underfoot as you trundle exploritatively down the sun-dappled path. Fresh air, exercise, the beauty of nature: all is good. Until, quite suddenly, you get an uncanny feeling, like someone stepped on your grave.

You can't put your finger on it at first. Then you notice that the small clearing you've stepped into is perfectly spherical, the trees bending around it and in some cases cut by an invisible field. And you understand: this is a blast site. Unwholesome relic of the war, a zone of anti-life created by the humans' weapons when they tried to... to...

You choke back tears. How could people have ever been so foolish?

There's a perfectly spherical gap in the forest here, thirty feet in diameter, where nothing can grow. Tall maple and birch trees bend around this bubble of unlife. Distant blackbirds call.

A path has been hacked through the forest to the east, and you can see something to the northeast.

In the fused earth at your feet, you see a hint of something yellow.
action: You eat the head
response: That's plainly inedible.
action: You give the head to Master
response: You can only do that to something animate.
action: You listen
response: Somewhere, a red-winged blackbird gives a throaty cry in defense of its tree.
action: Author
response: Scene 3, "End of the World", was written by Ricardo Dague.
action: Dig
response: The fused earth is too hard to dig in with your hands.

Leslie says, "Looks like you've gotten to a new section. I'll need another room and object to reestablish a lock. After that, I can send you a power pack."
action: You tell Leslie about the blast zone
response: "Dave, there's no time," Leslie replies. " You need to find an item you can hold and a new room or area to tell me about, or I won't be able to pull you out of the simulator. If you can't find anything to hold, it might work to find something that can hold you, instead."
action: You tell Leslie about the blast site
response: "Ah, perfect! Analyzing Blast Site now..."

"Great, we have that room now. That should help. Re-calibrating..."
action: You tell Leslie about yellow
response: "Dave, there's no time," Leslie replies. " You need to find an item you can hold and a new room or area to tell me about, or I won't be able to pull you out of the simulator. If you can't find anything to hold, it might work to find something that can hold you, instead."

"Now we need an item you've picked up from this section," Leslie tells you.
action: You get yellow
response: It's too firmly embedded in the fused earth.
action: You pull yellow
response: It is fixed in place.
action: Inventory
response: You are carrying:
a lesser mantid head
a house key
Every Child's Almanac of Lunar Conspiracy
water bottle, which contains water
a backpack (open)
a flashlight
a sheet
detangler base (with a trigger and a focuser attached.)
action: You look at the head
response: Well, you're sure it was justified.
action: You look uthe anti-life zone in Almanac
response: I only understood you as far as wanting to dig.

You discover nothing of interest in Every Child's Almanac of Lunar Conspiracy.
action: You examine the head
response: You discover nothing of interest in Every Child's Almanac of Lunar Conspiracy.

Well, you're sure it was justified.
action: Describe the surroundings
response: There's a perfectly spherical gap in the forest here, thirty feet in diameter, where nothing can grow. Tall maple and birch trees bend around this bubble of unlife. Distant blackbirds call.

A path has been hacked through the forest to the east, and you can see something to the northeast.

In the fused earth at your feet, you see a hint of something yellow.
action: Go northeast
response: Trickling through the forest is a small, clear stream.
action: You look at the stream
response: You peer into the flowing stream and see something darting among the rocks.

The stream contains water.
action: Drink water
response: (the water bottle)
You quaff water, leaving the water bottle empty.
action: Drink stream
response: You scoop some water in your hands and slurp it refreshingly.
action: You fill the bottle
response: (with the stream)
The water bottle cannot contain any more than it already holds.
action: Search stream
response: By being patient, you finally see what's darting around in the water--tadpoles!

The stream is empty.
action: You look at the tadpoles
response: By being patient, you finally see what's darting around in the water--tadpoles!
action: You go to the south-west
response: There's a perfectly spherical gap in the forest here, thirty feet in diameter, where nothing can grow. Tall maple and birch trees bend around this bubble of unlife. Distant blackbirds call.

A path has been hacked through the forest to the east, and you can see something to the northeast.

In the fused earth at your feet, you see a hint of something yellow.
action: Empty bottle
response: You pour out the bottle.
action: You go east
response: The forest presses around this narrow throughway leading west to east.
action: You look up the tadpoles in Almanac
response: Just to make sure, you skim through the ontogeny section. Yeah, you were right. Not only is the metatarsal tubercule completely different, but larval Overlords are typically the size of small planets. Otherwise they're quite like tadpoles, though.
action: %
response: Your very first night is over in your new house. It still seems surreal that you are now the proud owner of this place. It doesn't quite feel like home yet since you haven't been able to get your furniture. However, you can't get the rental truck until tomorrow. Maybe today would be a good idea to explore those woods behind your house. It'll be a good way to kill time until you can get properly moved in tomorrow.

Type "about" for more information.

Master Bedroom (on the mattress)
All that's unpacked in the room is your mattress with a sheet thrown over the top of it. Your dresser is still in storage. Windows look out to the north and west, and the closet lies to the south. The hallway is to the east.
action: You stand
response: You get off the mattress.

All that's unpacked in the room is your mattress with a sheet thrown over the top of it. Your dresser is still in storage. Windows look out to the north and west, and the closet lies to the south. The hallway is to the east.
action: You open the closet
response: You open the closet, revealing a backpack and a swibble.
action: You take the backpack
response: Taken.
action: You take the sheet
response: Taken.

Your vision goes blurry for a second, and a voice seems to be speaking to you right out of your brain.

"Dave? Dave? Can you hear me?" says the voice. "Hang on, we're trying to get you out of there."
action: You go to the east
response: Peeling paint greets you as you gaze down the hallway. Once you get moved in and get your car back, a trip to the paint store is on your list of things to do. The threadbare carpet leads you south, or you can step into your bedroom to the west. The bathroom lies to the north, and there's a spare bedroom to the east.

The voice continues. If you concentrate, you can just place the voice as Leslie's. "Listen. I think we can do this, but we need your help. We need to calibrate on this end with something you've held on that end. Can you describe something you've picked up, or something you're holding? Try telling me about it."
action: You tell Leslie about Bedroom
response: Which do you mean, the Master Bedroom, or the Spare Bedroom?
action: Master
response: "Ah, perfect! Analyzing the Master Bedroom now..."

"Great, we have that room now. That should help. Re-calibrating..."
action: You check your inventory
response: You are carrying:
a sheet
a backpack (open but empty)
a house key
Every Child's Almanac of Lunar Conspiracy

"We still need an item you've picked up," Leslie tells you.
action: You tell Leslie about Almanac
response: "Aha! Got it! Analyzing now..."

"Perfect! OK, we've noted Every Child's Almanac of Lunar Conspiracy as characteristic of this section, which should help us get a bead on your location.
action: You open closet
response: Opening the closet reveals a flashlight. The previous owners must have forgotten it when they moved out.

Leslie pipes up again. "OK! I'm going to send you a detangler. You should be able to use it to escape as-is, but if not, I can try sending you some attachments. I've attuned it to your signal in the simulator, so it should stay with you.

A strange beam of green light bathes you, then disappears.
action: You take flashlight
response: (putting Every Child's Almanac of Lunar Conspiracy into the backpack to make room)
Taken.
action: Fire detangler
response: (the detangler base)
Taking a deep breath, you pull the trigger and shoot the detangler. Blue static washes over you and the Spare Bedroom, but then dissipates. And you're still in the same room as before.

"Dave? We caught a power surge in your location. That wasn't... drat, the detangler didn't work, did it? OK, we'll try again. Let me send you the focuser; I think the area of effect was too wide." You wait for the green light again.

After a few moments, you hear cursing from inside your head. "Um... Dave, I'm sorry, but the lock I had for your location is busted.
You'll need to find your way somewhere else, and try again from there. Sorry about that. I'll work on the focuser; you work on finding your way forward."
action: You go west
response: (first opening the front door)
(first unlocking the front door)
(with the house key)

A neatly manicured lawn greets you and runs all the way to the sidewalk. Your driveway is to the south and you can step back inside to the east.
action: You take all
response: cobwebs: You obliterate the unclean thing. Hopefully you can forget that your beautiful new home ever contained such inappropriate filth. dead flies: (putting the sheet into the backpack to make room)
Taken. Ick.
house key: (putting the detangler base into the backpack to make room) Taken.
Every Child's Almanac of Lunar Conspiracy: (putting the flashlight into the backpack to make room)
Taken.
action: You take the mantid
response: It nestles into your arms and leans against your shoulder, its chitinous spines gently pricking your skin.

The lesser mantid writhes.
action: Go north
response: A neatly manicured lawn greets you and runs all the way to the sidewalk. Your driveway is to the south and you can step back inside to the east.

You reposition the lesser mantid to hold its weight better.
action: You close the door
response: You close the front door.
action: You lock the door
response: (with the house key)
You lock the front door.

You turn the lock in the doorknob to lock the front door.

The lesser mantid snuggles its head against your shoulder. Its antennae tickle your chin.
action: You go to the east
response: A small kitchen, perfect for one. Cupboards line the north wall, and there's a refigerator in the corner next to the oven. Oh, and there's also a kitchen sink. You can walk west to the living room, or east down some steps into the sun room.

The lesser mantid snuggles its head against your shoulder. Its antennae tickle your chin.
action: You go to the east
response: Are you going to leave your house open when you explore?

The lesser mantid gently squeezes your arm in its powerful mandibles.
action: You close the door
response: You close the barn door.
action: Go east
response: With anticipation, trepidation and excitement, you enter the woods.

Looking back through the trees, you can still make out your house. Looking forward, you see the vast wilderness surrounds you that is just begging to be explored. A path meaders through the trees leading east.

A Great Master stands by the path in watchful posture. You are awestruck. No one mentioned when you bought the house that you would be graced with such a blessing.

The Great Master acknowldeges you with a wave of its foreclaw, and you hear its voice resonate in your head: GREETINGS, SOFT ONE. ACCESS TO THE WOODS IS RESTRICTED.
action: You ask Master about the access
response: THE WOODS HIDE A TERRIBLE THING. ACCESS IS PERMITTED ONLY TO THOSE OF ASSURED LOYALTY.
action: You ask Master about the loyalty
response: A SERVICE IS REQUIRED. RESTORE THE BELOVED TO US.
action: You give mantid to Master
response: You place it on the ground in front of the Great Master, who places its foreclaws around its neck protectively. You hear the Great Master's voice in your head: WE THANK YOU FOR THE RETURN OF THE BELOVED. YOU ARE LOYAL, SOFT ONE.

The lesser mantid stridulates plaintively.

More static, and you hear Leslie's voice again. "You dropped off our old lock, so it looks like you've made it to a new section. Tell us about something you've held and about a room you see, and I'll try to send a focuser.
action: You tell Leslie about the mantid
response: "Aha! Got it! Analyzing now..."

"Perfect! OK, we've noted the lesser mantid as characteristic of this section, which should help us get a bead on your location.
action: You tell Leslie about Woods
response: "Ah, perfect! Analyzing the Edge of the Woods now..."

"Great, we have that room now. That should help. Re-calibrating..."

The lesser mantid cocks its head.
action: You look at what you're carrying with you
response: You are carrying:
a focuser
Every Child's Almanac of Lunar Conspiracy
a house key
water bottle, which contains water
a backpack (open)
a flashlight
detangler base (with a trigger attached.)
a sheet

The lesser mantid uses a foreclaw to clean its large, soulful compopund eyes.
action: You attach the focuser to the base
response: With a click and a pop, you permanently attach the focuser to the detangler base.

The Great Master casually snips off the lesser mantid's head, then picks up and eats its body.
action: You take the head
response: Taken.
action: Fire detangler
response: (the detangler base)
With the focuser attached, you pull the trigger once more. Bright blue static pours out of it and crackles around your feet. For a moment, the scene seems to shift... but then it dies out, and you're back to where you were before.

"Not again!" Leslie complains. "Let me check my readouts. Hmm. OK, maybe you just need more power. If you can get to a new section and get me a lock there, I'll send you an extra power source.
action: You go east
response: Fallen leaves crunch underfoot as you trundle exploritatively down the sun-dappled path. Fresh air, exercise, the beauty of nature: all is good. Until, quite suddenly, you get an uncanny feeling, like someone stepped on your grave.

You can't put your finger on it at first. Then you notice that the small clearing you've stepped into is perfectly spherical, the trees bending around it and in some cases cut by an invisible field. And you understand: this is a blast site. Unwholesome relic of the war, a zone of anti-life created by the humans' weapons when they tried to... to...

You choke back tears. How could people have ever been so foolish?

There's a perfectly spherical gap in the forest here, thirty feet in diameter, where nothing can grow. Tall maple and birch trees bend around this bubble of unlife. Distant blackbirds call.

A path has been hacked through the forest to the east, and you can see something to the northeast.

In the fused earth at your feet, you see a hint of something yellow.
action: You look at the trees
response: On the very edge of the blast radius, you can see older trees that were partly sheared away, and healed over. The newer growth simply bends around the dead zone, as if growing around a wall. Branches hang down to within several inches of the upper boundary.
action: You climb trees
response: I don't think much is to be achieved by that.

Leslie says, "Looks like you've gotten to a new section. I'll need another room and object to reestablish a lock. After that, I can send you a power pack."
action: Search stream
response: The stream is empty.
action: You take the tadpoles
response: Try as you might, the tadpoles slip through your fingers and under the rocks.
action: You put the tadpoles in the water
response: (the water bottle)
The water bottle cannot contain any more than it already holds.
action: Drink bottle
response: You quaff water, leaving the water bottle empty.
action: You put the tadpoles in the bottle
response: You fill the water bottle up with water from the stream.
action: You examine bottle
response: The water bottle is full of water, and there's a tadpole swimming around in it!
action: You look at the tadpole
response: (the tadpole)
It swims around in the bottle.

For a moment, you suspect it might be a larval Overlord, but the metatarsal tubercule is all wrong.
action: You check what you're carrying
response: You are carrying:
a lesser mantid head
Every Child's Almanac of Lunar Conspiracy
a house key
water bottle, which contains water, and a tadpole
a backpack (open)
a flashlight
detangler base (with a trigger and a focuser attached.)
a sheet
action: You tell Leslie about tadpole
response: (tadpoles)
"Aha! Got it! Analyzing now..."

"Perfect! OK, we've noted tadpoles as characteristic of this section, which should help us get a bead on your location.
action: Describe the surroundings
response: Trickling through the forest is a small, clear stream.

"OK, can you tell us about one of the places you've visited from this section?" Leslie asks.
action: You tell Leslie about by a stream
response: "Ah, perfect! Analyzing Blast Site now..."

"Great, we have that room now. That should help. Re-calibrating..."

"Ah, perfect! Analyzing By a Stream now..."

Another beam of green light hits you and your load feels a bit heavier. "There you go!" Leslie says. "I've sent you another attachment that should help."
action: You check what you're carrying
response: You are carrying:
a power pack
a lesser mantid head
Every Child's Almanac of Lunar Conspiracy
a house key
water bottle, which contains water, and a tadpole
a backpack (open)
a flashlight
detangler base (with a trigger and a focuser attached.)
a sheet
action: You attach the power pack to the base
response: With a click and a pop, you permanently attach the power pack to the detangler base.
action: Fire base
response: You pull the trigger and are immediately knocked down by the force of the static charge erupting from the detangler. It flies from your hand, hits the floor, and the power pack gets knocked off. With a sigh, you retrieve both parts and put them back together.

"Wow, sorry about that," says Leslie, "I guess you'll need a stabilizer, too. I hope there are more sections to this place."
action: You check what you're carrying
response: You are carrying:
a lesser mantid head
Every Child's Almanac of Lunar Conspiracy
a house key
water bottle, which contains water, and a tadpole
a backpack (open)
a flashlight
detangler base (with a trigger, a focuser and a power pack
attached.)
a sheet
action: You go east
response: The forest presses around this narrow throughway leading west to east.
action: You go southeast
response: The trees have been cut back to make room for this tall device. Looking up at it, you see that it looks like...a phallus? Oh wait, it's a missile. Kind of the same thing, but instead of a little death there's great big death.

A cheerful-looking man in a black two-piece suit and black horn-rimmed glasses stands nearby studying the huge device.

You can also see some rope and a shovel here.
action: Shovel
response: rope: The industrial-purpose rope far too heavy for you to lift. shovel: The man stops you, saying, "Here now, does that belong to you?"
action: You look at the man
response: This guy looks like an insurance salesman from the 50s!
action: You look at the missile
response: It's sixty feet tall and gleaming white! An American flag and skull and bones are painted on one side.
action: You ask the man about himself
response: He says, "The name is McWiggy."
action: You ask McWiggy about the missile
response: He says, "It's a fine, fine missile, isn't it? If you saw the blast site to the west, well, that was this fella's little brother's work! Did a beautiful job!"
action: You show the head to the man
response: He says, "You didn't find anything alive there, did you?" His eyes twinkle behind the thick lenses. "If you did there'd be something seriously wrong! When one of our missiles land on something, it's completely gone! In fact, if you did find anything alive there, I don't know what I'd do!"

"No thank you," he says, patting his missile. "This here is all I need to be happy."
action: You show the tadpole to McWiggy
response: (first taking the tadpole)
The mouth of the bottle is too narrow to stick your fingers in.
action: You tell the man about the yellow
response: He looks at it a bit nervously. "Ew, life," he says. "At least you didn't find that in the blast site! That would be tragic." He shudders.

This provokes no reaction.
action: You take the shovel
response: He says, "Tut tut! Can't have any more life than necessary, can we? That's why I'm here."

The man stops you, saying, "Here now, does that belong to you?"
action: Yes
response: He grins. "Carry on, then!"
action: You get the shovel
response: You already have that.
action: You ask McWiggy for the shovel
response: The cheerful man has better things to do.
action: Dig
response: You dig for a few minutes, turning up an old helmet!
action: You examine the helmet
response: The standard army helmet is dirty and cracked. A strange green film is on the inside of it.
action: You go southeast
response: The trees have been cut back to make room for this tall device. Looking up at it, you see that it looks like...a phallus? Oh wait, it's a missile. Kind of the same thing, but instead of a little death there's great big death.

A cheerful-looking man in a black two-piece suit and black horn-rimmed glasses stands nearby studying the huge device.

You can also see some rope here.
action: You show the helmet to McWiggy
response: He stares at the item, his cheer quickly turning into horror. He says, "What is this?! If you found this helmet in the blast site, and the tadpole was in the helmet, then that means...something was left alive! The missile was a failure? I don't believe it! I refuse to believe it!"

The man starts running in circles! He's lost his mind!
action: You take the missile
response: You can't, because suddenly the man runs at you, making you jump backwards! You land on the coil of rope!

"So sorry," he says, and pulls out a something that looks like a large cellphone. "I know what to do now. If this missile is fired and destroys its target, then we'll know that the last failure was just a fluke, right?"
action: You get the rope
response: The industrial-purpose rope far too heavy for you to lift.

After pressing a few buttons, the man looks up at the missile. "System check is okay!" he says, then turns to you, "I suggest you leave. The blast from the rocket engine will kill everyone in this area!"
action: You hit man
response: Violence isn't the answer to this one.

The man says, "Level B checks clear! Begin firing sequence!" Then he notices you again, "I thought I told you to go! This is a holy launch and you have no right to be here!"
action: You throw the rope at the man
response: (first taking the rope)
The industrial-purpose rope far too heavy for you to lift.

The missile starts making a humming sound, and steam begins blowing out of the base. "It's about to fire!" he yells at you. "I guess there's no helping it, if you really need to stay. Bask in the glory with me!"
action: Bask
response: What do you want to ask the upset man for?
action: You shoot the detangler
response: (the detangler base)
With some trepidation, you fire the detangler again, but nothing happens.

Suddenly the missile roars and flame and smoke shoot out of the base. The heat is becoming unbearable! The man chortles madly. "Success! Success! Off you go to wreak havoc my boy!"

As it lifts off you and the man and everything around are consumed in flame!
action: You look
response: The trees have been cut back to make room for this tall device. Looking up at it, you see that it looks like...a phallus? Oh wait, it's a missile. Kind of the same thing, but instead of a little death there's great big death.

An upset-looking man stands here pale and terrified, madly hitting buttons on something like a cellphone.

You can also see some rope here.

After pressing a few buttons, the man looks up at the missile. "System check is okay!" he says, then turns to you, "I suggest you leave. The blast from the rocket engine will kill everyone in this area!"
action: You check your inventory
response: You are carrying:
a shovel
a lesser mantid head
Every Child's Almanac of Lunar Conspiracy
a house key
water bottle (empty)
a backpack (open)
a flashlight
detangler base (with a trigger, a focuser and a power pack
attached.)
a sheet

After pressing a few buttons, the man looks up at the missile. "System check is okay!" he says, then turns to you, "I suggest you leave. The blast from the rocket engine will kill everyone in this area!"
action: You attach the rope to the detangler
response: (the detangler base)
That doesn't seem to fit.

After pressing a few buttons, the man looks up at the missile. "System check is okay!" he says, then turns to you, "I suggest you leave. The blast from the rocket engine will kill everyone in this area!"
action: You tie the rope to man
response: A valiant attempt.

After pressing a few buttons, the man looks up at the missile. "System check is okay!" he says, then turns to you, "I suggest you leave. The blast from the rocket engine will kill everyone in this area!"
action: You go to the northwest
response: You're tangled in the rope! You can't walk anywhere!

The man says, "Level B checks clear! Begin firing sequence!" Then he notices you again, "I thought I told you to go! This is a holy launch and you have no right to be here!"
action: You remove the rope
response: (first taking the rope)
The industrial-purpose rope far too heavy for you to lift.

The missile starts making a humming sound, and steam begins blowing out of the base. "It's about to fire!" he yells at you. "I guess there's no helping it, if you really need to stay. Bask in the glory with me!"
action: Fire detangler
response: (the detangler base)
With some trepidation, you fire the detangler again, but nothing happens.

Suddenly the missile roars and flame and smoke shoot out of the base. The heat is becoming unbearable! The man chortles madly. "Success! Success! Off you go to wreak havoc my boy!"

As it lifts off you and the man and everything around are consumed in flame!
action: You examine the film
response: You can't make out what it is.

The missile starts making a humming sound, and steam begins blowing out of the base. "It's about to fire!" he yells at you. "I guess there's no helping it, if you really need to stay. Bask in the glory with me!"
action: Wear helmet
response: (first taking the helmet)
That seems to belong to the upset man.

The missile starts making a humming sound, and steam begins blowing out of the base. "It's about to fire!" he yells at you. "I guess there's no helping it, if you really need to stay. Bask in the glory with me!"
action: You touch the film
response: You feel nothing unexpected.

Suddenly the missile roars and flame and smoke shoot out of the base. The heat is becoming unbearable! The man chortles madly. "Success! Success! Off you go to wreak havoc my boy!"

As it lifts off you and the man and everything around are consumed in flame!
action: You check what you're carrying
response: You are carrying:
a shovel
a lesser mantid head
Every Child's Almanac of Lunar Conspiracy
a house key
water bottle (empty)
a backpack (open)
a flashlight
detangler base (with a trigger, a focuser and a power pack
attached.)
a sheet

The missile starts making a humming sound, and steam begins blowing out of the base. "It's about to fire!" he yells at you. "I guess there's no helping it, if you really need to stay. Bask in the glory with me!"
action: You hit the man
response: Violence isn't the answer to this one.

Suddenly the missile roars and flame and smoke shoot out of the base. The heat is becoming unbearable! The man chortles madly. "Success! Success! Off you go to wreak havoc my boy!"

As it lifts off you and the man and everything around are consumed in flame!
action: You examine man
response: This guy looks like an insurance salesman from the 50s!

Suddenly the missile roars and flame and smoke shoot out of the base. The heat is becoming unbearable! The man chortles madly. "Success! Success! Off you go to wreak havoc my boy!"

As it lifts off you and the man and everything around are consumed in flame!
action: You ask Leslie about the missile
response: Please give one of the answers above.
action: You look at the rope
response: It's a coil of very large-diameter rope, maybe three inches. On one end is a hook.

After pressing a few buttons, the man looks up at the missile. "System check is okay!" he says, then turns to you, "I suggest you leave. The blast from the rocket engine will kill everyone in this area!"
action: You tie the hook to missile
response: You throw it at the missile! It sticks on! The man yells at you, "You better not have scratched that!"

The man says, "Level B checks clear! Begin firing sequence!" Then he notices you again, "I thought I told you to go! This is a holy launch and you have no right to be here!"
action: You pull the rope
response: Nothing obvious happens.

The missile starts making a humming sound, and steam begins blowing out of the base. "It's about to fire!" he yells at you. "I guess there's no helping it, if you really need to stay. Bask in the glory with me!"
action: You climb the rope
response: I don't think much is to be achieved by that.

Suddenly the missile roars and flame and smoke shoot out of the base. The heat is becoming unbearable! The man chortles madly. "Success! Success! Off you go to wreak havoc my boy!"

It lifts off, with the hook, the rope, and yourself being pulled along! The man yells, "What do you think you're doing?! You altered the trajectory! It's going straight up!"

As he falls away below, the man is waving his arms, "Hold your breath! Hold your breath!"

The missile is roaring towards space, with you in tow! Air and clouds whip by you and the earth below is getting smaller and smaller.

You hang onto the rope for dear life!
action: You hold the breath
response: You inhale mightily and begin holding your breath.

You would scream in terror, but you're trying to hold your breath!
action: You examine the earth
response: Everything down there is getting smaller and smaller...

As the rocket shoots straight up, the air seems to be getting thinner!

You courageously continue holding your breath.
action: You examine the clouds
response: They whip buy too fast to see!

Hang on! The missile seems to be nearing the end of earth's atmosphere!

You courageously continue holding your breath.
action: Author
response: Scene 3, "End of the World", was written by Ricardo Dague.
action: You wait
response: Time passes.

The missile will enter outer space in just a moment!

You courageously continue holding your breath.
action: You wait for a while
response: Time passes.

You fly out into outer space!

The missile is shooting toward the moon with you right behind! There's deathly silence here in outer space.

You courageously continue holding your breath.
action: You examine the moon
response: It is great big and rock-colored!

Terrifyingly, you fly along!

You courageously continue holding your breath.
action: You look at the stars
response: They twinkle silently.

Oh no, you're about to hit the moon!

You courageously continue holding your breath.
action: You examine moon
response: It is great big and rock-colored!

With a huge crash, the rocket hits the moon! How you have survived, you don't know.

Though stunned momentarily, you slowly open your eyes and stand up...

Wow you've landed on the moon! Gray, rocky, dusty, airless landscape stretches all around.

A double line of suspicious footprints leads to the crater's center.

Holding your breath is becoming difficult!
action: You enter
response: You make an attempt on the crater walls, but they're just too steep. There does seem to be an easier climb to the north, however.

You can't hold your breath much longer!
action: You go to the north
response: You stand on the lip between two overlapping lunar craters; the one into which you crash-landed is dwarfed by the immense, ancient crater before you. Far below you on the crater floor, you can make out patches of green; beyond that, a sprawling silvery mass, many kilometres to the north, that can only be the secret Atlantean lunar base. First, however, you have to find some way of getting down this cliff.

You can't hold your breath much longer!
action: Author
response: Scene 4, "The Great Lunar Conspiracy", was written by Sam Kabo Ashwell.
action: You breathe
response: You remember that the moon's supposed lack of atmosphere is, in fact, yet another scientific hoax. You hadn't realised how deeply the education system had planted lies in your psyche.

You breathe out. Hahhhhh.
action: You examine the footprints
response: You look to the south, toward the crater in which you crash-landed. In addition to your own tracks, a set of footprints reach a patch of smooth ground at the crater's centre, then double back.
action: You look up the moon in Almanac
response: Why does the moon coincidentally look exactly the same size as the sun? Why did all ancient civilisations venerate a Moon deity? Why do the Freemasons have no lodges in Antarctica? If you're not convinced by now, there's clearly no hope for you.

Leslie contacts you once more. "Good job! Another section. Get me another room and an object to analyze, and I can send you a stabilizer.
action: You go south
response: Wow you've landed on the moon! Gray, rocky, dusty, airless landscape stretches all around.

A double line of suspicious footprints leads to the crater's center.
action: Dig
response: You thrust the shovel into the dust and excavate mightily.
It's not long before you've uncovered a large wooden crate.
action: Examine crate
response: Ha! You always knew that Australian wines were really lunar in origin, and here is undeniable evidence!
action: Open crate
response: You open the crate of wine, revealing some wine bottles.
action: You examine the wine
response: (the crate of wine)
Ha! You always knew that Australian wines were really lunar in origin, and here is undeniable evidence!
action: You tell Leslie about crate
response: "Aha! Got it! Analyzing now..."

"Perfect! OK, we've noted the crate of wine as characteristic of this section, which should help us get a bead on your location.
action: You take the crate
response: Even in lunar gravity, the crate is too heavy for a mere Earth-human to lift.

"OK, can you tell us about one of the places you've visited from this section?" Leslie asks.
action: You tell Leslie about the crater
response: "Dave, you already visited that room in the last section. I need a new room for this section if I'm going to be able to lock on to your location properly."
action: You look at the wine bottle
response: (the delicious wine)
A bottle of Wachawoomagoo Slope, a perfectly respectable if little-known pinot noir from the Ibn Battuta vinyards.
action: You tell Leslie about the overlook
response: "Ah, perfect! Analyzing Scenic Overlook now..."

"Great, we have that room now. That should help. Re-calibrating..."
action: You tell Leslie about the wine bottle
response: (the delicious wine)
"Aha! Got it! Analyzing now..."

Another beam of green light hits you and your load feels a bit heavier. "There you go!" Leslie says. "I've sent you another attachment that should help."
action: You check your inventory
response: You are carrying:
a stabilizer
a delicious wine
a shovel
a lesser mantid head
Every Child's Almanac of Lunar Conspiracy
a house key
water bottle (empty)
a backpack (open)
a flashlight
detangler base (with a trigger, a focuser and a power pack
attached.)
a sheet
action: You tell Leslie about the crater
response: "Thanks, but you told me about that room already."
action: You attach the stabilizer to the detangler
response: (the detangler base)
With a click and a pop, you permanently attach the stabilizer to the detangler base.
action: Fire detangler
response: (the detangler base)
Holding your breath and closing your eyes, you fire the detangler. Click. You open your eyes. You're still where you were before. You pull the trigger again. Click. Nothing. "Leslie?" you ask, "did something go wrong? The detangler won't fire."

"What? Oh, no! The power pack must be drained. Grar; I'll send you a recharger. I've used up the lock on this section, though; you'll have to go somewhere else and do it all again." With a sigh, you pack the detangler away again.
action: Go north
response: You stand on the lip between two overlapping lunar craters; the one into which you crash-landed is dwarfed by the immense, ancient crater before you. Far below you on the crater floor, you can make out patches of green; beyond that, a sprawling silvery mass, many kilometres to the north, that can only be the secret Atlantean lunar base. First, however, you have to find some way of getting down this cliff.
action: You examine the lunar base
response: A sprawling silvery mass, yes. And filled, no doubt, with treachery.
action: You jump
response: The cliffs look too steep to climb easily. Even in lunar gravity, the fall could be fatal. Well... probably. You don't really feel brave enough to find out.
action: You look at the green
response: Tiny patches of green dot the otherwise harsh landscape far below. If only you could find some way to explore that verdant Eden...
action: You jump
response: You peer over the side. It doesn't really look that dangerous. Still, it might be better if you were a little more lubricated first, or had some protection.
action: Go west
response: The crater walls are too steep in that direction.
action: You go to the south
response: Wow you've landed on the moon! Gray, rocky, dusty, airless landscape stretches all around.

A double line of suspicious footprints leads to the crater's center.

You can also see a crate of wine (in which are some wine bottles) here.
action: Go south
response: You make an attempt on the crater walls, but they're just too steep. There does seem to be an easier climb to the north, however.
action: You drink the wine
response: (the wine bottles)
Glancing around to make sure you are unobserved, you snaffle a bottle of delicious wine.

Normally you wouldn't drink this much, what with the lunar oxygen saturation and everything...

This time your throw is distinctly wobbly, and the bottle barely makes it over the horizon. Your sense of self-preservation feels somewhat dulled, too.
action: You jump
response: With a silent invocation to the Cosmic Overlords, you close your eyes and fling yourself off the cliff.

Thanks to lunar gravity and the relaxing effects of pinot noir, you avoid being splattered like a ripe tomato. And would a true hero be slowed down by a fractured arm? Hardly!

Ah, the sun-kissed slopes of Jules Verne Crater, where the grape grows and the wallabies frolic. Presumably. You've yet to see any wallabies, but there are certainly grapevines aplenty.

You can see a big craggy moon rock here.
action: You sit on the rock
response: You get onto the big craggy moon rock.

"OK, you've moved on. You look for a room and object, and I'll get you a recharger." Leslie sounds a bit haggard, but hopeful.
action: You take the rock
response: Uuuugh! Nope, you can't lift it.
action: You take the grapes
response: That's hardly portable.

Around the edge of a nearby trellis wanders a heretofore unseen wombat.

Wait. Wombat?! Wombats don't exist. They're like... wallabies. And kangaroos. And walaroos. And Tasmanian devils. And dingoes who eat babies. They're all made up, mythical creatures from the fictional continent of Australia...

You rub your eyes in disbelief, but when you look again, the wombat is still there. Upon seeing you, he stops, cocks his head, then narrows his eyes and wrinkles his hairy snout. He appears to be... snarling. It's all a bit of a farce, really - something so little and adorable as a wombat trying to look threatening.

What was it you heard about Wombats, anyway? They're herbivores... right?
action: You look up the wombat in Almanac
response: Deceptively adorable, these mythical creatures from the fictional continent of Australia are about a meter long, with a very short tail. A favorite prey of the Tasmanian devil (also mythical), wombats are generally thought to be shy herbivores. Legend holds, however, that they possess sharp teeth and claws, can run at 40 km/hr, and have been known to kill the (equally mythical) dingo. They have even been known to exist in vinyards. That is, if they're actually real, which they're not. But if they were  real, it would also be interesting to note that their scat is cubical.
action: You look up the wombat in Almanac
response: Deceptively adorable, these mythical creatures from the fictional continent of Australia are about a meter long, with a very short tail. A favorite prey of the Tasmanian devil (also mythical), wombats are generally thought to be shy herbivores. Legend holds, however, that they possess sharp teeth and claws, can run at 40 km/hr, and have been known to kill the (equally mythical) dingo. They have even been known to exist in vinyards. That is, if they're actually real, which they're not. But if they were  real, it would also be interesting to note that their scat is cubical.

Before you can make a move, the deceptively adorable wombat leaps forward and tries to eviscerate you with his mighty digging claws! You're able to tear away from his vicious teeth just in time...

You might want to keep track of how you're doing by diagnosing yourself.
action: You look up the australia in Almanac
response: A weighty appendix, which constitutes about three-quarters of the book's actual weight, details the histories of such fictional continents as Atlantis, Lemuria, Mu and Australia. Despite their technical non-existence, cultural belief in them sustains their para-existence in the collective subconscious, better known as the moon.
action: Author
response: Scene 5, "Night of the Wombat", was written by Jacqueline A. Lott.
action: You hit Wombat
response: You jump to the side just as the wombat comes at you, and turn to jab him in the side as he goes by!

That was a pretty good hit, but it'll take more than that to put the little blighter in line.
action: You hit Wombat
response: You jump to the side just as the wombat comes at you, and turn to jab him in the side as he goes by!

The wombat seems to have lost some of the spring in its step.
action: You hit Wombat
response: You take a short running kick at the wombat, and it connects! The wombat goes flying!

The wombat is doesn't look quite so agile anymore. I think you could probably finish the little bugger off.
action: You hit Wombat
response: You put everything you have in a solid roundhouse kick, and the wombat shuffles away, yelping!

That final blow proved to be too much for the wombat - it lies down, rolls over onto its back, its little furry feet wiggle for a few seconds, and then the marsupial goes limp.

Looking down upon its adorable frame, you feel a twinge of remorse.
"It was trying to kill me," you think to yourself. "I had no choice but to strike..." You feel a sudden, odd desire to pet the poor misguided creature. As you reach out, however, the body starts to shimmer, then fade. Soon, it is gone altogether.
action: You diagnose yourself
response: You hear a whisper from behind you. It says, "You have proven yourself worthy."

You turn around to see a shimmering face suspended in the air at eye level. It is the most beautiful face you have ever seen; being in its presence fills you with a mixture of both fear and awe. "Are you... one of the Cosmic Overlords?" you stammer.

The face smiles at you benevolently. "Yes. The marsupial was... a test. It is difficult to bring oneself to strike such a fluffy, adorable creature. Some are so entranced by its fluffiness that they can never bring themselves to attack it - even if it means their own death. Through your skill and bravery in Wombat Combat, you have proven yourself worthy of our cause. You will fight the Atlanteans, who in their perfidiousness will use many tricks in an attempt to stay your hand. Do not fall victim to their beguiling ways.

"But... I'm hurt. How can I be of any use?" you whine.

The Cosmic Overlord rolls its eyes, sighs heavily, and says to you, "Okay, we're not supposed to help you out this much, but just this once we will..." There is a tingling sensation in your arm... you feel... fantastic. And your arm seems to have healed.

"Gee, thanks, Overlord. Say, not to sound ungrateful or anything - because I'm certainly very grateful indeed - but... is there anyway you could help me get to the Atlantean Base?"

The Overlord narrows its eyes at you. "Okay, fine, but really, this is the last time we're helping you.
action: You examine Overlord
response: "Like, really."
action: Look around
response: There is a sudden, blinding flash of light, followed by... you're not sure what. When you regain consciousness, you find yourself in an entirely different place.
action: You look at the wall
response: A sprawling silvery mass, yes. And filled, no doubt, with treachery. You must  find a way inside!
action: You look around
response: You find yourself standing outside the Atlantean Base. The silvery walls of the base rise tall into the starry sky, and seem to stretch on endlessly in either direction. Behind you, to the south, lies a vast, unwelcoming expanse of moonscape.
action: You examine the sky
response: The sky appears as a dark, enveloping blanket, studded with diamond-like stars which twinkle at you. The two most prominent objects in the heavens are the Earth and the Sun.
action: You look at Earth
response: Gazing up at the blue-and-white marble that mankind calls home, your heart swells with an inexpressible and profound feeling... of resentment that the Atlanteans imprisoned humanity on such a dingy little orb. No wonder the females evolved smaller breasts.

You note, with a touch of bitterness, the patch of ocean where so-called "geographers" claim Australia is located. How dare Google Earth lie to you.
action: You look at Earth
response: Gazing up at the blue-and-white marble that mankind calls home, your heart swells with an inexpressible and profound feeling... of resentment that the Atlanteans imprisoned humanity on such a dingy little orb. No wonder the females evolved smaller breasts.
action: You examine Sun
response: The light emanating from the sun takes only minutes to travel this far. It's a shame there's not more atmosphere to trap some of that heat and keep you warm. Better watch what you wish for, though - the people of Earth asked for an atmosphere that could retain heat and we all know what happened there, don't we now?
action: Go south
response: The moonscape draws on endlessly in that direction, desolate and barren. Your destiny lies in front of you, inside the Atlantean Base.
action: You examine the moonscape
response: Gazing out across the moonscape, you realize that there are no words to properly describe it. Vast... unwelcoming... those are just the start. If you had to put it into one word, it would be this: lonely.
action: Author
response: Scene 6, "Entering the Unknown", was written by Mark J. Musante.
action: Smell
response: Your singing is abominable.

You smell nothing unexpected.
action: Go west
response: There are no entrances visible east or west. Trudging around the entire base on the off-chance that a convenient door might pop up borders on madness. You'll have to try finding another way in.
action: You examine the sky
response: The sky appears as a dark, enveloping blanket, studded with diamond-like stars which twinkle at you. The two most prominent objects in the heavens are the Earth and the Sun.
action: You look at Earth
response: Gazing up at the blue-and-white marble that mankind calls home, your heart swells with an inexpressible and profound feeling... of resentment that the Atlanteans imprisoned humanity on such a dingy little orb. No wonder the females evolved smaller breasts.
action: You hit the wall
response: You are carrying:
a shovel
a lesser mantid head
Every Child's Almanac of Lunar Conspiracy
a house key
water bottle (empty)
a backpack (open)
a flashlight
a sheet

Violence isn't the answer to this one.
action: Inventory
response: You are carrying:
a shovel
a lesser mantid head
Every Child's Almanac of Lunar Conspiracy
a house key
water bottle (empty)
a backpack (open)
a flashlight
a sheet
action: You jump
response: You jump on the spot, fruitlessly.
action: You look up Atlantean in Almanac
response: The book contains a pretty comprehensive summary of Atlantean perfidy, from imperilling the very fabric of the collective subconscious by their treachery against the Cosmic Overlords, to trimming their pubic hairs in your soap dish.
action: You look around
response: You find yourself standing outside the Atlantean Base. The silvery walls of the base rise tall into the starry sky, and seem to stretch on endlessly in either direction. Behind you, to the south, lies a vast, unwelcoming expanse of moonscape.
action: You think
response: What a good idea.
action: You ask Leslie about Atlantean Base
response: There are no entrances visible east or west. Trudging around the entire base on the off-chance that a convenient door might pop up borders on madness. You'll have to try finding another way in.

You can't see any such thing.
action: You look up the atlantis in Almanac
response: A weighty appendix, which constitutes about three-quarters of the book's actual weight, details the histories of such fictional continents as Atlantis, Lemuria, Mu and Australia. Despite their technical non-existence, cultural belief in them sustains their para-existence in the collective subconscious, better known as the moon.
action: You look up the moon in Almanac
response: Why does the moon coincidentally look exactly the same size as the sun? Why did all ancient civilisations venerate a Moon deity? Why do the Freemasons have no lodges in Antarctica? If you're not convinced by now, there's clearly no hope for you.
action: You give up
response: (to yourself)
You must name something more substantial.
action: You wear the sheet
response: (first taking the sheet)
(putting the empty water bottle into the backpack to make room)
You're carrying too many things already.
action: You get the wall
response: They are too massive, too endless, too... silvery to take.
action: You look around
response: You find yourself standing outside the Atlantean Base. The silvery walls of the base rise tall into the starry sky, and seem to stretch on endlessly in either direction. Behind you, to the south, lies a vast, unwelcoming expanse of moonscape.
action: Author
response: Scene 6, "Entering the Unknown", was written by Mark J. Musante.
action: You get all
response: empty water bottle: (putting the house key into the backpack to make room)
Taken.
flashlight: (putting Every Child's Almanac of Lunar Conspiracy into the backpack to make room)
Taken.
sheet: (putting the lesser mantid head into the backpack to make room) Taken.
action: You turn on the flashlight
response: You switch the flashlight on.
action: You turn off flashlight
response: You switch the flashlight off.
action: Empty wall
response: You will have to do that manually.
action: About yourself
response: As good-looking as ever.

You are horrendously drunk.
action: You look up the silver in Almanac
response: Silver is a chemical element with the symbol Ag (Latin: argentum) and atomic number 47. Atlanteans used silver for much of their building material, having learned how to make it stronger and more durable than any steel alloy created on Earth. Showoffs.
action: You turn on the flashlight
response: You switch the flashlight on.
action: You look at the wall
response: What's this? The light from the flashlight illuminates a twinkly pattern on the wall.
action: You look at the pattern
response: The pattern sparkles and twinkles in the artificial light.
action: Touch pattern
response: You reach out for the pattern, and a spark of static shocks your finger. You reach out again, and you are Drawn Inside.

The interior of the Atlantean's base is a great deal more hospitable than the lunar surface was. But that's not saying much. The walls of this room are as shiny and silvery as the giant silvery wall was outside. A simple, unmarked doorway leads north.
At last - you're on the brink of discovering what fate your parents met. Perhaps they're even still alive! Maybe they can reassure you that Aunt Bertha was your aunt by marriage and not by blood...
action: Author
response: Scene 6, "Entering the Unknown", was written by Mark J. Musante.
action: Go north
response: East and west sparkle and twinkle at you, down a long featureless corridor. A doorway is in the south wall, with a Greek letter theta above.
action: Go east
response: Silvery, sparkily, twinkly walls all tend to blend into your vision and make it all so very disorienting. You're pretty sure the corridor leads east and west, but it's hard to be certain.
action: You check your inventory
response: You are carrying:
Every Child's Almanac of Lunar Conspiracy
action: Go northeast
response: Silvery, sparkily, twinkly walls all tend to blend into your vision and make it all so very disorienting. You're pretty sure the corridor leads east and west, but it's hard to be certain.

You can't go that way.
action: Drop almanac
response: Dropped.
action: Go west
response: Silvery, sparkily, twinkly walls all tend to blend into your vision and make it all so very disorienting. You're pretty sure the corridor leads east and west, but it's hard to be certain.

You can see Every Child's Almanac of Lunar Conspiracy here.
action: You go east
response: Silvery, sparkily, twinkly walls all tend to blend into your vision and make it all so very disorienting. You're pretty sure the corridor leads east and west, but it's hard to be certain.

East and west sparkle and twinkle at you, down a long featureless corridor. A doorway is in the south wall, with a Greek letter theta above.

Silvery, sparkily, twinkly walls all tend to blend into your vision and make it all so very disorienting. You're pretty sure the corridor leads east and west, but it's hard to be certain.

Silvery, sparkily, twinkly walls all tend to blend into your vision and make it all so very disorienting. You're pretty sure the corridor leads east and west, but it's hard to be certain.

Silvery, sparkily, twinkly walls all tend to blend into your vision and make it all so very disorienting. You're pretty sure the corridor leads east and west, but it's hard to be certain.

Silvery, sparkily, twinkly walls all tend to blend into your vision and make it all so very disorienting. You're pretty sure the corridor leads east and west, but it's hard to be certain.

Silvery, sparkily, twinkly walls all tend to blend into your vision and make it all so very disorienting. You're pretty sure the corridor leads east and west, but it's hard to be certain.

Silvery, sparkily, twinkly walls all tend to blend into your vision and make it all so very disorienting. You're pretty sure the corridor leads east and west, but it's hard to be certain.

Silvery, sparkily, twinkly walls all tend to blend into your vision and make it all so very disorienting. You're pretty sure the corridor leads east and west, but it's hard to be certain.

Silvery, sparkily, twinkly walls all tend to blend into your vision and make it all so very disorienting. You're pretty sure the corridor leads east and west, but it's hard to be certain.

East and west sparkle and twinkle at you, down a long featureless corridor. A doorway is in the south wall, with a Greek letter theta above.

Silvery, sparkily, twinkly walls all tend to blend into your vision and make it all so very disorienting. You're pretty sure the corridor leads east and west, but it's hard to be certain.

What's this? A small yet silvery box? This wasn't here before, was it?

Silvery, sparkily, twinkly walls all tend to blend into your vision and make it all so very disorienting. You're pretty sure the corridor leads east and west, but it's hard to be certain.

Silvery, sparkily, twinkly walls all tend to blend into your vision and make it all so very disorienting. You're pretty sure the corridor leads east and west, but it's hard to be certain.

Silvery, sparkily, twinkly walls all tend to blend into your vision and make it all so very disorienting. You're pretty sure the corridor leads east and west, but it's hard to be certain.
action: Go west
response: Silvery, sparkily, twinkly walls all tend to blend into your vision and make it all so very disorienting. You're pretty sure the corridor leads east and west, but it's hard to be certain.

Silvery, sparkily, twinkly walls all tend to blend into your vision and make it all so very disorienting. You're pretty sure the corridor leads east and west, but it's hard to be certain.

Silvery, sparkily, twinkly walls all tend to blend into your vision and make it all so very disorienting. You're pretty sure the corridor leads east and west, but it's hard to be certain.

What's this? A small yet silvery box? This wasn't here before, was it?
action: Go east
response: Silvery, sparkily, twinkly walls all tend to blend into your vision and make it all so very disorienting. You're pretty sure the corridor leads east and west, but it's hard to be certain.

Silvery, sparkily, twinkly walls all tend to blend into your vision and make it all so very disorienting. You're pretty sure the corridor leads east and west, but it's hard to be certain.

Silvery, sparkily, twinkly walls all tend to blend into your vision and make it all so very disorienting. You're pretty sure the corridor leads east and west, but it's hard to be certain.

Silvery, sparkily, twinkly walls all tend to blend into your vision and make it all so very disorienting. You're pretty sure the corridor leads east and west, but it's hard to be certain.

Silvery, sparkily, twinkly walls all tend to blend into your vision and make it all so very disorienting. You're pretty sure the corridor leads east and west, but it's hard to be certain.

Silvery, sparkily, twinkly walls all tend to blend into your vision and make it all so very disorienting. You're pretty sure the corridor leads east and west, but it's hard to be certain.
action: You go east
response: Silvery, sparkily, twinkly walls all tend to blend into your vision and make it all so very disorienting. You're pretty sure the corridor leads east and west, but it's hard to be certain.

Silvery, sparkily, twinkly walls all tend to blend into your vision and make it all so very disorienting. You're pretty sure the corridor leads east and west, but it's hard to be certain.

East and west sparkle and twinkle at you, down a long featureless corridor. A doorway is in the south wall, with a Greek letter theta above.

Silvery, sparkily, twinkly walls all tend to blend into your vision and make it all so very disorienting. You're pretty sure the corridor leads east and west, but it's hard to be certain.

Silvery, sparkily, twinkly walls all tend to blend into your vision and make it all so very disorienting. You're pretty sure the corridor leads east and west, but it's hard to be certain.

Silvery, sparkily, twinkly walls all tend to blend into your vision and make it all so very disorienting. You're pretty sure the corridor leads east and west, but it's hard to be certain.
action: Go east
response: Silvery, sparkily, twinkly walls all tend to blend into your vision and make it all so very disorienting. You're pretty sure the corridor leads east and west, but it's hard to be certain.

Silvery, sparkily, twinkly walls all tend to blend into your vision and make it all so very disorienting. You're pretty sure the corridor leads east and west, but it's hard to be certain.

Silvery, sparkily, twinkly walls all tend to blend into your vision and make it all so very disorienting. You're pretty sure the corridor leads east and west, but it's hard to be certain.

Silvery, sparkily, twinkly walls all tend to blend into your vision and make it all so very disorienting. You're pretty sure the corridor leads east and west, but it's hard to be certain.

Silvery, sparkily, twinkly walls all tend to blend into your vision and make it all so very disorienting. You're pretty sure the corridor leads east and west, but it's hard to be certain.

East and west sparkle and twinkle at you, down a long featureless corridor. A doorway is in the south wall, with a Greek letter theta above.
action: Go east
response: Silvery, sparkily, twinkly walls all tend to blend into your vision and make it all so very disorienting. You're pretty sure the corridor leads east and west, but it's hard to be certain.

What's this? A small yet silvery box? This wasn't here before, was it?

Silvery, sparkily, twinkly walls all tend to blend into your vision and make it all so very disorienting. You're pretty sure the corridor leads east and west, but it's hard to be certain.

Silvery, sparkily, twinkly walls all tend to blend into your vision and make it all so very disorienting. You're pretty sure the corridor leads east and west, but it's hard to be certain.

Silvery, sparkily, twinkly walls all tend to blend into your vision and make it all so very disorienting. You're pretty sure the corridor leads east and west, but it's hard to be certain.

Silvery, sparkily, twinkly walls all tend to blend into your vision and make it all so very disorienting. You're pretty sure the corridor leads east and west, but it's hard to be certain.

Silvery, sparkily, twinkly walls all tend to blend into your vision and make it all so very disorienting. You're pretty sure the corridor leads east and west, but it's hard to be certain.
action: Go east
response: Silvery, sparkily, twinkly walls all tend to blend into your vision and make it all so very disorienting. You're pretty sure the corridor leads east and west, but it's hard to be certain.

Silvery, sparkily, twinkly walls all tend to blend into your vision and make it all so very disorienting. You're pretty sure the corridor leads east and west, but it's hard to be certain.

East and west sparkle and twinkle at you, down a long featureless corridor. A doorway is in the south wall, with a Greek letter theta above.

Silvery, sparkily, twinkly walls all tend to blend into your vision and make it all so very disorienting. You're pretty sure the corridor leads east and west, but it's hard to be certain.

What's this? A small yet silvery box? This wasn't here before, was it?

Silvery, sparkily, twinkly walls all tend to blend into your vision and make it all so very disorienting. You're pretty sure the corridor leads east and west, but it's hard to be certain.

Silvery, sparkily, twinkly walls all tend to blend into your vision and make it all so very disorienting. You're pretty sure the corridor leads east and west, but it's hard to be certain.
action: Go west
response: Silvery, sparkily, twinkly walls all tend to blend into your vision and make it all so very disorienting. You're pretty sure the corridor leads east and west, but it's hard to be certain.

Silvery, sparkily, twinkly walls all tend to blend into your vision and make it all so very disorienting. You're pretty sure the corridor leads east and west, but it's hard to be certain.

What's this? A small yet silvery box? This wasn't here before, was it?
action: Examine box
response: Smallish and silveryish. A fine seam runs round the outside indicating that it could be opened.
action: You open the box
response: You open the small silver box, revealing a complicated button.
action: You eat box
response: That's plainly inedible.
action: You look at the controls
response: A vast wall of dials, levers, knobs, gears, and readouts. If you started at one end and analyzed them until you got to the other, it would probably take you three days, and you would be none the wiser for it.
action: You look up mom in Almanac
response: Your mother was a beautiful, amazing woman, as far as you can remember. Unfortunately, she was abducted by the Atlanteans when you were but a wee child, and you were sent to live with horrible Aunt Bertha.
action: You look up the aunt bertha in Almanac
response: Aunt Bertha wasn't exactly your favorite aunt. When you were forced to stay with her as a child, she told you horrible, terrible bedtime stories about small children being eviscerated by wallabies.
action: You look up the wallabies in Almanac
response: Deceptively adorable, these mythical creatures from the fictional continent of Australia are smaller than their closely-related (though equally mythical) cousin, the kangaroo. Seeing as how neither one exists, the dividing line between what constitutes a wallaby and what constitutes a kangaroo is somewhat arbitrary. In general, a wallaby is smaller and stockier than a kangaroo, a kangaroo is generally larger and lankier than a wallaby, and a "wallaroo" is what you call a specimen if you can't bring yourself to otherwise pigeon-hole the creature. In myth, wallabies, kangaroos, and wallaroos live in a variety of habitats, and one can never be entirely certain that any given area is safe from their kicking feet and sharpened claws. They have even been known to exist in vinyards.
action: You pull the lever
response: It is fixed in place.
action: You look at the wall
response: (the crack in the wall)
It wouldn't even be noticable if it wasn't in the middle of an otherwise blank section of wall.
action: You examine the floor
response: You can barely discern a faint, gentle humming under the floor.
action: Describe the surroundings
response: Even deeper still inside the Atlantean Base. Complex machinery hums deep within, and complex controls line every wall of this large, cavernous room. The walls are still silvery, though. There does not appear to be any exit.

A hairline fracture can be seen in the southeast wall, not even wide enough to put your fingernail inside.
action: You go southeast
response: (first opening the crack in the wall)
That's not something you can open.
action: You look up the fracture in Almanac
response: Fracturing bones is usually quite painful and should generally be avoided as a matter of course. Skeletal fractures can occur in an infinite number of ways, only a few of which are included here for the sake of brevity:

---> Getting lit and taking your lunar rover for a spin without due regard for the safety of yourself or others.

---> Getting lit, then challenging a boar grumptar to a wrestling match.

---> Getting lit and pretending you can fly over a lunar crater.

Please notice the common thread in all of these examples and remember the anti-binging slogan, kids: UNCHECKED DRINKING LEADS TO ABSENCE OF THINKING! And that's  one to grow on.
action: You look up the grumptar in Almanac
response: Not to be confused with your Aunt Bertha, grumptars are a very dangerous species indeed. AFGNCAAPs which have wrestled with a boar grumptar and lived to tell the tale state that the only creature they fear more is the grue.
action: You look up the afgncaap in Almanac
response: Ageless, Faceless, Gender Neutral, Culturally Ambiguous Adventure Person. DUH. Didn't you pay attention during IF Theory? Or were you too busy dreaming about going into space? Well, your day dreams certainly paid off, didn't they, slacker?
action: You look up the controls in Almanac
response: The Atlanteans are notorious for the complexity of their machinery, and the controls for those machines are generally just as complex. Whether through superstition or habit, however, their dislike of the number 14 means that this setting is usually skipped for most controls, and if it is included, it is usually involved with some sort of fail-safe measure.
action: Yes
response: That was a rhetorical question.
action: You say 14
response: (to yourself)
There is no reply.
action: You look at the controls
response: A vast wall of dials, levers, knobs, gears, and readouts. If you started at one end and analyzed them until you got to the other, it would probably take you three days, and you would be none the wiser for it.
action: Search controls
response: Without something particular to search for, your task is hopeless.
action: Search controls for 14
response: A-ha! In an otherwise unremarkable corner is a dial with a 14 on it!
action: You examine the dial
response: The dial is fairly unremarkable, but it can be set to all values between 1 and 20.
action: You set the dial to 14
response: The machinery rumbles and roars as part by part of it screeches to a halt! The room shudders and groans until you have to plug your ears from the noise. Finally, the dust settles and everything is quiet.
The dial seems to have come off in your hands, too.
action: You eat the dial
response: That's plainly inedible.
action: You describe your surroundings
response: Even deeper still inside the Atlantean Base. Complex machinery hums deep within, and complex controls line every wall of this large, cavernous room. The walls are still silvery, though. There does not appear to be any exit.

All the shuddering has opened the crack wide enough for you to slip through to the southeast.
action: Author
response: Scene 8, "Mechanisms and More", was written by Admiral Jota.
action: You examine the damaged scroll
response: This scroll is in bad shape. Not only is the handle broken off and the material itself fraying at the edges, but there are two distinct sets of text inscribed on it: the original Atlantean text, which you can make neither head nor tail of, and then a separate message written over that in black marker -- and in your mother's handwriting!
action: You read the scroll
response: With black marker and in an uneven hand, someone -- apparently your mother, from the handwriting -- has scrawled this message: "Have we escaped from her voice? Maybe if we press on, go further in... If I did not have my husband and he I, then surely we would have both been driven mad by now. She calls herself Lucy, and she sends such confusing hullicinations. I fear that even my memories can no longer be trusted. She seems to want us to trust her, but I cannot understand why... Whoever you are, if you find this, you must resist her suggestions at all costs! I think. I honestly no longer know why... or even what is real anymore. It is as though everything is slipping away... No. I am certain we will find answers further on. Onward, always, onward, always, onward..." It trails off into a scrawl at that point.
action: You look at your surroundings
response: Dozens of pigeon holes line the walls, most of them filled with what could only be scrolls. The ceiling of the room is paneled with some kind of crystalline material; the panels glow softly, providing a gentle illumination.

You can see the room filled with machinery through the crack to the northwest.
action: You examine the panels
response: The ceiling of the room is paneled with some kind of crystalline material; the panels glow softly, providing a gentle illumination.
action: You look at the scrolls
response: Time has not been kind to this repository of information, and many of the scrolls are damaged or missing. But by the number of brightly-colored handles sticking out of their pigeon-holes, it would seem a fair number have survived.
action: Search scrolls
response: This one is wedged tightly in its slot... That one is too fragile, and would probably crumble if you pulled too hard on it.. Ah, but here's one that you slide out easily. It seems to be decorated with colorful pictures.

There may even be more loose ones, if you keep looking.
action: Search scrolls
response: After a little more searching, you discover another scroll that can be safely removed: one with a distinctive silvery handle.
action: You read the colorful scroll
response: Most of the text on this scroll is in a dialect that's utterly indecipherable to you. However, it does feature several colorful diagrams, and you notice that the numerals they're labeled with look remarkably like modern ones. Most of the pictures seem to depict complicated mechanisms that you can't quite follow, although there does seem to be a definite progression of colors from light blue, through green and then yellow, finally leading up to a reddish-orange. The simplest diagram you can find is made of gemotric shapes: two equilateral triangles. The message next to the smaller one includes the numbers 1, 2, 3, and 4. The larger one has a similar caption, but with the numbers 5, 10, 15, and 20.
action: You read the silvery scroll
response: This scroll contains some rather boring honorations to Atlantean doctors gone long before your grandparents were born. Your father has scribbled over this one in his distinctive, plain handwriting: "What can we do? Everything is so strange here, everything is locked, or dangerous...or worse. Those hallucinations, they are all to real? How shall I decide what's what? She, Lucy, stole my pet, hide it somewhere beneath the small chamber. How to free him?"

-Is this a trick? You can't remember your parents having any pets. Must've been after you left, then.
action: You examine the floor
response: You can barely discern a faint, gentle humming under the floor.
action: Go east
response: A long corridor leads east and west. To the west is the archive and lobby. To the east is a closed door made of some kind of greenish metal. Archways lead north and south.
action: You go to the north
response: The machinery in here seems to be composed primarily of springs, interlocking gears, larger springs, large padded plates set up parallel to the floor, even larger springs, some sort of piston-like things, and even a few absurdly large springs. Conveniently, there seems to be some kind of control panel for it all right next to the entrance (which leads back south to the corridor).
action: You examine the panel
response: Inconveniently, someone seems to have partially disassembled it. You can see the places where controls are supposed to be attached (along with their labels which you can't read), but all the knobs, switches, dials and levers have been removed.
action: You put the dial on the panel
response: The dial clicks neatly into place.
action: You set the dial to 14
response: But that could start all that shaking again!
action: You take dial
response: It's now locked into place. You can still set it to different numbers, but it doesn't seem to want to separate from the rest of the panel.
action: You open the door
response: At your touch, the door slides open automatically.
action: Go east
response: This room is small and round. It's only feature is a hole in the ground, through which you can see rungs leading downwards, and the metal door through which you came.
action: Go downwards
response: Steel coats the walls of this long and narrow room. A hole in the ceiling leads back up. A doorway leads east. The stench of rotting meat waves through it. Next to the doorway, you can see a cage of reinforced glass, which is connected to the next room by a grille.

In the cage you see a penguin.
action: You examine the penguin
response: A cute little penguin, looking heartbreakingly out of place. He looks at you with big, scared, black eyes.
action: You open the cage
response: You can't. The only entry is the food slot on top.
action: You put Almanac in the slot
response: Every Child's Almanac of Lunar Conspiracy slides into the cage.
It misses the penguin.
action: You go east
response: This is some sort of makeshift cell. The walls are steel platings, with dents here and there as a fist or a head-ram may make. The stench of rotten flesh is almost unbearable and stems from a huge heap of half-eaten animals and bones in a corner. There is some writing on the wall, just above the grille.

A weak red force field shimmers in the eastern doorway.

An enormous troll sits in the corner of this room! Upon spotting you, she stands up and groans.
action: You examine troll
response: A female Atlantean troll. She's tall and lean, but all there is to her seems to be muscle under a green skin covered with eczema and blains. Her head is small and round, with protruding veins and short, broken horns. She's covered in the remains of a silvery jumpsuit.

The troll slowly moves towards you.
action: You ask the troll about the penguin
response: There is no reply.

She has almost reached you.
action: You read the writing
response: HAVE FUN! -Lucille

As the troll bites off your head (mercifully quick and mumbling "I don't wanna do this Dave"), you think you can hear Lucy laugh somewhere, the sound somewhat muffled as your head sinks down the troll's throat.
action: You go to the southeast
response: Dozens of pigeon holes line the walls, most of them filled with what could only be scrolls. The ceiling of the room is paneled with some kind of crystalline material; the panels flicker erratically, lighting the room in fits and bursts. A corridor leads east.

You can see the room filled with machinery through the crack to the northwest.

One of the scrolls has been left lying here on the floor. It looks badly damaged.
action: Go east
response: A long corridor leads east and west. To the west is the archive and lobby. To the east is a closed door made of some kind of greenish metal. Archways lead north and south.

You realize that the rumbling you felt earlier hasn't stopped completely. Messing around with that machinery must have destabilized something deep within the complex, because you can still feel a vibration coming up through your feet.
action: Go east
response: (first opening the metal door)
At your touch, the door slides halfway open. Then it shudders, jerking back and forth for a few moments before slamming shut again. Whatever it is that powers the door seems to be malfunctioning.
action: You go to the west
response: Dozens of pigeon holes line the walls, most of them filled with what could only be scrolls. The ceiling of the room is paneled with some kind of crystalline material; the panels flicker erratically, lighting the room in fits and bursts. A corridor leads east.

You can see the room filled with machinery through the crack to the northwest.

One of the scrolls has been left lying here on the floor. It looks badly damaged.

The shaking seems to be growing stronger.
action: You go to the east
response: A long corridor leads east and west. To the west is the archive and lobby. To the east is a closed door made of some kind of greenish metal. Archways lead north and south.

The vibration in the floor suddenly gets much stronger. For a moment it feels as though everything is about to come down on your head, but then it subsides again to the same mild trembling it was before.
action: You go to the north
response: The machinery in here seems to be composed primarily of springs, interlocking gears, larger springs, large padded plates set up parallel to the floor, even larger springs, some sort of piston-like things, and even a few absurdly large springs. Conveniently, there seems to be some kind of control panel for it all right next to the entrance (which leads back south to the corridor).
action: You put the dial on the panel
response: The dial clicks neatly into place.
action: Go south
response: This room seems to exist soley to house an elaborate mechanism which is shaking dramatically. If you had to guess, you would say it looked like some kind of power generator -- although what kind of power it generates, you have no idea. A railing protects you from being injured by whatever it is. Or perhaps it prevents whatever it is from being damaged by you. An archway leads back north to the corridor.

The shaking seems to be growing stronger.
action: You wait
response: Time passes.

The machinery starts shaking violently, as though the strain it's been under has become too great for it to handle. Just as it seems about to tear itself apart, all that energy is somehow shunted back into the ground, nearly knocking you off of your feet. After that, the shuddering seems to die back down to what it was before, and the crystals seem to have changed color.
action: You examine the crystal
response: Which do you mean, the large crystal, or the small crystal?
action: You examine large
response: The large crystal is easily as tall as you are. Its surface is perfectly clear.
action: You examine small
response: While much smaller than the large crystal, it's still rather larger than your head. Its surface is firey orange.
action: You turn the dial to 4
response: The machinery shifts and reconfigures itself in response. You immediately notice a significant dampening of the vibrations that you've been feeling ever since you entered this area. What was once a constant (if minor) trembling of the ground is now naught but a barely-perceptible hum.
action: Go south
response: This room seems to exist soley to house an elaborate mechanism. If you had to guess, you would say it looked like some kind of power generator -- although what kind of power it generates, you have no idea. A railing protects you from being injured by whatever it is. Or perhaps it prevents whatever it is from being damaged by you. An archway leads back north to the corridor.
action: You examine large
response: The large crystal is easily as tall as you are. Its surface is perfectly clear.
action: You look at small
response: While much smaller than the large crystal, it's still rather larger than your head. Its surface is perfectly clear.
action: You look up troll in Almanac
response: These creatures were breed as watchhound for millennia. They are considered strupid and slow, but are nigh indestructable due to incredible powers of regeneration. Some people even kept them as pets in the old days. Those were considered unwise.
action: Go west
response: Dozens of pigeon holes line the walls, most of them filled with what could only be scrolls. The ceiling of the room is paneled with some kind of crystalline material; the panels glow softly, providing a gentle illumination.

You can see the room filled with machinery through the crack to the northwest.

One of the scrolls has been left lying here on the floor. It looks badly damaged.
action: You go east
response: (first opening the metal door)
At your touch, the door slides open automatically.

This room is small and round. It's only feature is a hole in the ground, through which you can see rungs leading downwards, and the metal door through which you came.
action: Go downwards
response: Steel coats the walls of this long and narrow room. A hole in the ceiling leads back up. A doorway leads east. The stench of rotting meat waves through it. Next to the doorway, you can see a cage of reinforced glass, which is connected to the next room by a grille.

In the cage you see a penguin.
action: You look at the grille
response: The cage is cubical, its sides made of reinforced glass. The is a huge red button on the side of it, with wires disappearing into the eastern wall, just beside the grille. There is a food slot on top.

In the cage you see the penguin.
action: You go east
response: This is some sort of makeshift cell. The walls are steel platings, with dents here and there as a fist or a head-ram may make. The stench of rotten flesh is almost unbearable and stems from a huge heap of half-eaten animals and bones in a corner. There is some writing on the wall, just above the grille.

A weak red force field shimmers in the eastern doorway.

An enormous troll sits in the corner of this room! Upon spotting you, she stands up and groans.
action: You go to the west
response: Steel coats the walls of this long and narrow room. A hole in the ceiling leads back up. A doorway leads east. The stench of rotting meat waves through it. Next to the doorway, you can see a cage of reinforced glass, which is connected to the next room by a grille.

In the cage you see a penguin.
action: Go east
response: This is some sort of makeshift cell. The walls are steel platings, with dents here and there as a fist or a head-ram may make. The stench of rotten flesh is almost unbearable and stems from a huge heap of half-eaten animals and bones in a corner. There is some writing on the wall, just above the grille.

A weak red force field shimmers in the eastern doorway.

You also see a very ugly troll.
action: You examine the grille
response: A normal grille.

The troll slowly moves towards you.
action: You examine the wires
response: The cage is cubical, its sides made of reinforced glass. The is a huge red button on the side of it, with wires disappearing into the eastern wall, just beside the grille. There is a food slot on top.

In the cage you see the penguin.

The troll arrives from the east.
action: Go east
response: This is some sort of makeshift cell. The walls are steel platings, with dents here and there as a fist or a head-ram may make. The stench of rotten flesh is almost unbearable and stems from a huge heap of half-eaten animals and bones in a corner. There is some writing on the wall, just above the grille.

A weak red force field shimmers in the eastern doorway.
action: You read the writing
response: HAVE FUN! -Lucille
action: You examine the grille
response: A normal grille.

The troll arrives from the west.
action: You examine field
response: A weak force field. You suppose it's meant to keep the troll's food from escaping, as it's too weak to even stop something human-sized, let alone a troll.

The troll slowly moves towards you.
action: You go east
response: It tickles a bit, but you can slip through effortlessly.

This is a small, almost featureless room. A plate sits next to the eastern doorway, and a huge metal door leads north.

A weak red force field shimmers in the western doorway.

You can also see a steel door here.
action: You look at the plate
response: A smooth metal plate. It has a small, F-shaped lock on its side.
action: You examine the door
response: This door is square and made of steel. It has a viewscreen in the middle and a ridiciously small numberpad underneath it.

The troll slides through the force field as effortlessly as you did.
action: You examine the numberpad
response: A numberpad with pads so small you'd need to have toothpick-sized fingers to enter something.

The troll slowly moves towards you.
action: Go west
response: It tickles a bit, but you can slip through effortlessly.

This is some sort of makeshift cell. The walls are steel platings, with dents here and there as a fist or a head-ram may make. The stench of rotten flesh is almost unbearable and stems from a huge heap of half-eaten animals and bones in a corner. There is some writing on the wall, just above the grille.

A weak red force field shimmers in the eastern doorway.
action: Search heap
response: Holding your breath, you carefully move aside animal parts, some dry and rough, others sickeningly wet and slippery. You finally grab the uniform. Fishing around in its pocket, you get a strange, f-shaped key, which you pocket. Then you throw the uniform back on the heap.
action: You examine the uniform
response: A waist-high heap of death flesh. Mostly animals, but you think you can see a uniform somewhere in it. Of course, not everything is dead. There are flies. Lots of flies.

The troll slides through the force field as effortlessly as you did.
action: You look at the key
response: It's a key and it's f-shaped.

The troll slowly moves towards you.
action: You go east
response: It tickles a bit, but you can slip through effortlessly.

This is a small, almost featureless room. A plate sits next to the eastern doorway, and a huge metal door leads north.

A weak red force field shimmers in the western doorway.

You can also see a steel door here.
action: You unlock the plate with key
response: You unlock the plate.
action: You open the plate
response: The plate swings to the side, revealing a valve.

The troll slides through the force field as effortlessly as you did.
action: You look at the valve
response: It can be turned to two settings: "Normal" and "Security". It's currently set to "Normal".

The troll slowly moves towards you.
action: Go west
response: It tickles a bit, but you can slip through effortlessly.

This is some sort of makeshift cell. The walls are steel platings, with dents here and there as a fist or a head-ram may make. The stench of rotten flesh is almost unbearable and stems from a huge heap of half-eaten animals and bones in a corner. There is some writing on the wall, just above the grille.

A weak red force field shimmers in the eastern doorway.
action: Wait
response: Time passes.
action: You wait
response: Time passes.

The troll slides through the force field as effortlessly as you did.
action: Turn valve
response: You turn the valve to "Security."

The troll moving through the Security force field is a dreadful sight, her hands and feet are shredded and instantly regrow. Then her torso splatters through. As the force field reaches her heart, she suddenly disappears in a puff of green smoke.
action: Turn valve
response: You turn the valve to "Normal."
action: You look at your surroundings
response: This is a small, almost featureless room. A plate sits next to the eastern doorway, and a huge metal door leads north.

A weak red force field shimmers in the western doorway.

You can also see a steel door here.
action: Go west
response: It tickles a bit, but you can slip through effortlessly.

This is some sort of makeshift cell. The walls are steel platings, with dents here and there as a fist or a head-ram may make. The stench of rotten flesh is almost unbearable and stems from a huge heap of half-eaten animals and bones in a corner. There is some writing on the wall, just above the grille.

A weak red force field shimmers in the eastern doorway.

You can also see a herring here.
action: You examine the herring
response: A normal herring. Somehow you're surprised it isn't red.
action: Author
response: Scene 9, "The cute and the Deadly", was written by Taleslinger.
action: You go to the west
response: Steel coats the walls of this long and narrow room. A hole in the ceiling leads back up. A doorway leads east. The stench of rotting meat waves through it. Next to the doorway, you can see a cage of reinforced glass, which is connected to the next room by a grille.

In the cage you see a penguin.
action: You show the herring to the penguin
response: The penguin is unimpressed.
action: You put the herring in the slot
response: The herring slides into the cage.
It misses the penguin.

The penguin dives for the herring, gulping it down in one huge bite. He slaps his wings happily and looks at you lovingly. Looks like you made a new friend.
action: You go to the east
response: This is some sort of makeshift cell. The walls are steel platings, with dents here and there as a fist or a head-ram may make. The stench of rotten flesh is almost unbearable and stems from a huge heap of half-eaten animals and bones in a corner. There is some writing on the wall, just above the grille.

A weak red force field shimmers in the eastern doorway.

You can also see a penguin here.
action: You examine the penguin
response: A cute little penguin, looking heartbreakingly out of place. He flaps his wings happily.
action: Pet penguin
response: The penguin rubs his head on your hand and squawks happily.
action: You go east
response: It tickles a bit, but you can slip through effortlessly.

This is a small, almost featureless room. A plate sits next to the eastern doorway, and a huge metal door leads north.

A weak red force field shimmers in the western doorway.

You can also see a steel door here.

The penguin squeaks as he waddles though the force field.

The penguin waddles straight towards the steel door and pecks at the numberpad. The door beeps approvingly and a pneumatic hissing indicates it is indeed unlocked.

You stare in wonder at the small animal and can't help thinking he'd smirk if he could.
action: You go to the east
response: You open the steel door.

You can't go that way.
action: You go to the north
response: Improbably, you are in your father's bedroom. It has been ransacked except for the portrait of Grandfather XVIII. A hallway lies to the east; the maintenance room, where you dispatched the troll, to the south.

You can see a steel door and a science fiction novel here.

The penguin waddles along.
action: Author
response: Scene 10, "Puff of Smoke", was written by N. B. Horvath.
action: You look at the novel
response: This was one of your favorites as a child. It describes a nightmare world in which bodies are preserved after death. The hero fights to gain social acceptance for "cremation" and thus save the planet from being overrun by "cemeteries."
action: You look at the door
response: This door is square and made of steel. It has a viewscreen in the middle and a ridiciously small numberpad underneath it.
action: You look at the portrait
response: The portrait stares back at you with beady, tired eyes. XVIII isn't his name, of course; this is just an old Atlantean tradition of numbering important ancestors. If your number is in the upper teens, you must be pretty grumping important. You were always amazed that Father kept this portrait in his room.
action: You look at your surroundings
response: Improbably, you are in your father's bedroom. It has been ransacked except for the portrait of Grandfather XVIII. A hallway lies to the east; the maintenance room, where you dispatched the troll, to the south.

You can see a penguin, a steel door, and a science fiction novel here.
action: You go east
response: As you enter the hallway, the penguin scoots past you to a previously unseen keypad, then pecks a few digits. A secret passageway opens to the south.

You are in a regally carpeted east-west hallway. At the east end, an urnstone door leads to the foyer, while a secret passageway leads south.

The penguin waddles along.
action: Go east
response: Before you can take a step toward the foyer, the penguin steps in front of you and hops silently up and down, eyes wide and pleading. Listening at the urnstone door, you hear the characteristic wheeze of a Koskos. No way are you going in there. You are no match for a Koskos.
action: You look up Koskos in Almanac
response: A squat, compact monster, often used as a guard. The troll is the natural enemy of the Koskos. Many wealthy Atlanteans employ both trolls and Koskii, but those who do so make sure to keep them separate.
action: You go south
response: Your father's vast laboratory looks entirely different from when you last were in this house. A frightening contraption fills the west end of the room floor-to-ceiling. A teak desk sits along the east wall. The hallway lies to the north, the annex to the south, and the Taboo Room to the southeast.

On the teak desk is a jagged-edge scroll.

The penguin waddles along.
action: You go to the north
response: You are in a regally carpeted east-west hallway. At the east end, an urnstone door leads to the foyer, while a secret passageway leads south.

The penguin waddles along.
action: You describe your surroundings
response: Your father's vast laboratory looks entirely different from when you last were in this house. A frightening contraption fills the west end of the room floor-to-ceiling. A teak desk sits along the east wall. The hallway lies to the north, the annex to the south, and the Taboo Room to the southeast.

On the teak desk is a jagged-edge scroll.

You can see a penguin here.
action: You examine the scroll
response: It is a letter to your father from Grandfather VI, begging him to stop his research and invoking the memory of Grandfather XVIII.
action: You look at contraption
response: The exterior of this machine is all orange and red stripes, apart from a six-foot-high entryway which is solid black. You can't stop looking at those stripes, until finally you look away at a room that has changed ...

Your father and a female assistant are standing outside of the contraption, clad in white coats, arguing heatedly over his insistence that she be a test subject. Ultimately she relents, giving him a desperate kiss and then walking into the device with head down and eyes squeezed shut.

There is a single click, and then the entire structure shudders. You hear screams and thuds as the shaking continues for at least a minute. Then there is silence.

Out of the machine steps not the assistant, but Lucille. She is looking directly at you with hate in her eyes.

The hallucination ends as abruptly as it began.
action: Go south
response: You are in a small annex to the large lab. This room is dominated by a mysterious chamber. The main lab is to the north and a closed wooden door is to the east.

You can see a plain glass bottle (empty) (closed) and an empty cage here.

You notice that a thin layer of salmon-pink smoke has gathered under the ceiling.
The penguin waddles along.
action: You look at the bottle
response: The empty bottle is completely nondescript, lacking any label or other distinctive feature. The bottle is closed.
action: You look at the chamber
response: The mysterious chamber is like a miniature gazebo, a platform supporting four extensible metal posts with a little dome at the top. It's all made of metal, and it's all painted midnight black. A soft pushbutton and a small, bottle-shaped receptacle jut out from one edge of the platform.
action: You look at the door
response: The wooden door is closed.
action: You examine receptacle
response: The small receptacle is empty.
action: Inventory
response: You are carrying:
plain glass bottle (empty)
a f-shaped key
Every Child's Almanac of Lunar Conspiracy
action: You examine the smoke
response: The salmon-pink smoke is almost dissipated but manages to stay coherent.
action: You fill the bottle with the smoke
response: It's just air.
action: Smell smoke
response: The salmon-pink smoke is odorless, but it does seem to signify something.
action: You open the bottle
response: It takes a surprisingly strong effort to open the bottle. Finally it opens with a shhhhoop sound. In an instant, the salmon-pink smoke is drawn into the bottle with a whhhhhhhip; then it closes again with a ffffoomp.
action: You examine the smoke
response: The salmon-pink smoke inside the closed bottle is inert, unmoving.
action: You look around
response: You are in a small annex to the large lab. This room is dominated by a mysterious chamber. The main lab is to the north and a closed wooden door is to the east.

You can see a penguin and an empty cage here.
action: You look at the chamber
response: The mysterious chamber is like a miniature gazebo, a platform supporting four extensible metal posts with a little dome at the top. It's all made of metal, and it's all painted midnight black. A soft pushbutton and a small, bottle-shaped receptacle jut out from one edge of the platform.
action: You put the bottle in the receptacle
response: You put the plain glass bottle (containing salmon-pink smoke) into the small receptacle.
action: Open chamber
response: That's not something you can open.

The rattling grows louder inside the chamber. The platform starts to glow.
action: You examine the platform
response: The mysterious chamber is like a miniature gazebo, a platform supporting four extensible metal posts with a little dome at the top. It's all made of metal, and it's all painted midnight black. A soft pushbutton and a small, bottle-shaped receptacle jut out from one edge of the platform.

The rattle becomes an infernal thunder coming from underneath the shaking platform, as the glow spreads to the entire chamber.
action: You look at the platform
response: The mysterious chamber is like a miniature gazebo, a platform supporting four extensible metal posts with a little dome at the top. It's all made of metal, and it's all painted midnight black. A soft pushbutton and a small, bottle-shaped receptacle jut out from one edge of the platform.

The thunder peaks, then dies down as the glow fades.
A little pink-coated rat appears on top of the platform, then scurries away out of sight.

The now-empty bottle pops back into the receptacle from within the chamber.
action: You open the door
response: You open the wooden door.
action: You go east
response: You are in a small utility closet.

The penguin waddles along.
action: You look at the shelf
response: As good-looking as ever.

You are horrendously drunk.
action: You go to the west
response: You are in a small annex to the large lab. This room is dominated by a mysterious chamber. The main lab is to the north and an open wooden door is to the east.

You can see an empty cage here.

The penguin waddles along.
action: Go southeast
response: This is the room where your mother (also a scientist, who left under mysterious circumstances) worked on her most taboo project. This project not only violated the edicts of Grandfather XVIII, it stood in stark violation of the prohibition against time travel. Rumor had it that once the project was complete, anyone who prayed in the Taboo Room would trigger the creation of a spatio-temporal anchor, something that would alter the very fabric of reality. You were always a little curious about it.

The penguin waddles along.
action: Pray
response: Enter saved game to store: Save failed.
action: Go northeast
response: Your father's vast laboratory looks entirely different from when you last were in this house. A frightening contraption fills the west end of the room floor-to-ceiling. A teak desk sits along the east wall. The hallway lies to the north, the annex to the south, and the Taboo Room to the southeast.

On the teak desk is a jagged-edge scroll.

The penguin waddles along.

You can't go that way.
action: You go to the west
response: Improbably, you are in your father's bedroom. It has been ransacked except for the portrait of Grandfather XVIII. A hallway lies to the east; the maintenance room, where you dispatched the troll, to the south.

You can see a steel door and a science fiction novel here.

You notice that a thin layer of sea-green smoke has gathered under the ceiling. It must have seeped in from the maintenance room.

The penguin waddles along.
action: You go to the south
response: This is a small, almost featureless room. A plate sits next to the eastern doorway, and a huge metal door leads north.

A weak red force field shimmers in the western doorway.

You can also see a steel door here.

The penguin waddles along.
action: You open the bottle
response: It takes a surprisingly strong effort to open the bottle. Finally it opens with a shhhhoop sound. In an instant, the sea-green smoke is drawn into the bottle with a whhhhhhhip; then it closes again with a ffffoomp.
action: You put the bottle in the receptacle
response: You put the plain glass bottle (containing sea-green smoke) into the small receptacle.
action: You wait
response: Time passes.

The rattling grows louder inside the chamber. The platform starts to glow.
action: Go east
response: You are in a small utility closet.

The penguin waddles along.

The rattle becomes an infernal thunder.
action: You close the door
response: You close the wooden door.

The thunder peaks, then dies down.
You hear the roar of the troll, followed by the howl of the Koskos. The troll stomps off toward the hallway. A moment later, you hear the terrible sound of Koskos-troll combat.

Finally you hear a pitiful yowl, followed by a bang. Then silence returns to the house.

It is now pitch dark in here!
action: You open the door
response: You open the wooden door.

You are in a small utility closet.

You can see a penguin here.
action: You go to the west
response: You are in a small annex to the large lab. This room is dominated by a mysterious chamber. The main lab is to the north and an open wooden door is to the east.

You can see an empty cage here.

The penguin waddles along.
action: You go to the east
response: (first opening the urnstone door)

You are in the foyer of your childhood home. To your north is what remains of the front door. It has been torn off its hinges, leaving the forest beyond it visible. You shudder to think about how one monster died here and the other escaped.

Intact exits lie to the east and west.

You notice that a thin layer of cobalt-blue smoke has gathered under the ceiling.
The penguin waddles along.
action: Inventory
response: You are carrying:
a f-shaped key
Every Child's Almanac of Lunar Conspiracy
action: You go north
response: Your father's vast laboratory looks entirely different from when you last were in this house. A frightening contraption fills the west end of the room floor-to-ceiling. A teak desk sits along the east wall. The hallway lies to the north, the annex to the south, and the Taboo Room to the southeast.

On the teak desk is a jagged-edge scroll.

The penguin waddles along.

You are in a regally carpeted east-west hallway. At the east end, an urnstone door leads to the foyer, while a secret passageway leads south.

The penguin waddles along.
action: Go east
response: You are in the foyer of your childhood home. To your north is what remains of the front door. It has been torn off its hinges, leaving the forest beyond it visible. You shudder to think about how one monster died here and the other escaped.

Intact exits lie to the east and west.

You notice that a thin layer of cobalt-blue smoke has gathered under the ceiling.
The penguin waddles along.
action: You open the bottle
response: It takes a surprisingly strong effort to open the bottle. Finally it opens with a shhhhoop sound. In an instant, the cobalt-blue smoke is drawn into the bottle with a whhhhhhhip; then it closes again with a ffffoomp.

You have a terrible feeling about what you just did. Taboos against time travel notwithstanding, you wish you could undo it.
action: Go east
response: You are in your father's study. It has been cleaned out except for an urnstone end table against one wall.

On the urnstone end table is a quickpulp scroll.

You notice that a thin layer of dark-orange smoke has gathered under the ceiling.
The penguin waddles along.
action: You read the quickpulp
response: The quickpulp scroll contains a note to you from your father. It reads:

Dear Dave,

Having made it home first, I wish I had a happier Welcome Back to give to you. I'm afraid I did not treat your mother well, and you have seen how Lucille treated me far worse even than that. I have only now learned the extent of Lucy's cruelty. I pray that you can not only forgive but save me -- and save my beloved Rex, too. (I couldn't handle the "empty nest" after you left. So I added a new nest.) He is the only one who can unlock the doors. If you are reading this message, it means the worst has happened for me.

Well, perhaps not entirely the worst. My experiments in wuolui have borne the most incredib

Here the writing stops abruptly.
action: You look up the wuolui in Almanac
response: The ancient Atlantean art of resurrection, long believed lost and in any case considered morally wrong.
action: You open the bottle
response: It takes a surprisingly strong effort to open the bottle. Finally it opens with a shhhhoop sound. In an instant, the dark-orange smoke is drawn into the bottle with a whhhhhhhip; then it closes again with a ffffoomp.
action: You describe your surroundings
response: You are in your father's study. It has been cleaned out except for an urnstone end table against one wall.

On the urnstone end table is a quickpulp scroll.

You can see a penguin here.
action: You go to the west
response: You are in the foyer of your childhood home. To your north is what remains of the front door. It has been torn off its hinges, leaving the forest beyond it visible. You shudder to think about how one monster died here and the other escaped.

Intact exits lie to the east and west.

You notice that a thin layer of cobalt-blue smoke has gathered under the ceiling.
The penguin waddles along.
action: You put bottle in the receptacle
response: You put the plain glass bottle (containing dark-orange smoke) into the small receptacle.
action: You wait
response: Time passes.

The rattling grows louder inside the chamber. The platform starts to glow.
action: You wait for a while
response: Time passes.

The rattle becomes an infernal thunder coming from underneath the shaking platform, as the glow spreads to the entire chamber.
action: You wait
response: Time passes.

The thunder peaks, then dies down as the glow fades.
Your father materializes in the chamber and gives you an unreadable look. Fendit permitting, the two of you have some catching up to do.