text: [Themes: Science Fiction, self-referential]
  
  > look around
  Master bedroom, in your house
  The lighting in this room is much better than in the rest of the house, so that it's a welcome contrast to the dimly lit corridors. Somehow this room has never seemed as welcoming to you as it does now - the bed, the wardrobe and the armchairs take on the appearance of old friends. The entry to the bathroom is west.
  
  You can see a plastic cash card and a man's corpse here.
  
  > look under the bed
  Nervously, you look under the bed, nameless fears gripping at your mind. But, since anyone in the 29th can be an excellent housekeeper without trying, you don't even find dust.
  
  > Search chair
  You can see the floor. So there.
  
  > go west
  Bathroom, in your house
  A clean-tiled floor, bright lighting and a pleasant smell. Nothing else. All the fixtures, from the tub to your own favourite, the steam-free mirror, have vanished.
  
  > go east
  Master bedroom, in your house
  The lighting in this room is much better than in the rest of the house, so that it's a welcome contrast to the dimly lit corridors. Somehow this room has never seemed as welcoming to you as it does now - the bed, the wardrobe and the armchairs take on the appearance of old friends. The entry to the bathroom is west.
  
  You can see a man's corpse here.
  
  > go to the south
  End of corridor, in your house
  At the end of the corridor, you can see exits to your north and south, the former leading into your bedroom, and the latter into your small study-cum-office.
  
  > Go east
  It's a dead end.
  
  > Go west
  Corridor, in your house
  This short corridor leads, at your insistence, directly from the antechamber to the east wing of the house; it offers a quick retreat to your own chambers, and helps you avoid embarrassing or annoying visitors. It runs east to west.
  
  > Go west
  Antechamber, in your house
  The lights in the antechamber, strangely, seem to be malfunctioning, and burn so dimly as to resemble feeble candles; you can barely make out the oft-trodden pathways to your more private chambers, east, and to the drawing-room, north. Immediately next to you is a coat-stand. You can hardly even make out the wallpaper covering the walls.
  
  On the coat-stand is a long brown coat.
  
  > Go north
  Mysteriously, a wall seems to block your way.
  
  > look at the wallpaper
  A nice pattern in the style of 2600, with several species of flowers.
  
  > examine the coat stand
  A tall coat-stand, almost as high as you are, with hooks at several levels.
  
  > look at the coat
  (the coat-stand)
  A tall coat-stand, almost as high as you are, with hooks at several levels.
  
  > look at the brown coat
  This old coat, next to your thermoconditioner, is the ideal companion for a long winter.
  
  > check what you're carrying
  You are carrying:
  a plastic cash card
  a yellow flower
  a strange letter
  an identity card
  a pale blue dress (being worn)
  
  > take the brown
  Nervously, you grab the coat once more.
  
  > Wear coat
  (the long brown coat)
  You don't really need the coat now that you're indoors.
  
  > search the coat
  (the long brown coat)
  You find nothing of interest.
  
  > take the corpse
  That's hardly easy, and pointless besides.
  
  > look under the corpse
  Nothing here, I'm afraid.
  
  > examine the armchairs
  A set of four, that you fell in love with while vacationing in France and eventually bought.
  
  > look at the lights
  The rows of lights are all right at first glance, but the lighting they emit is dismal.
  
  > go south
  Front porch, outside the house
  Everything has changed. The absence of plants, which you would have once accepted purely as normal, now gives the entire place a sinister appearance, and the gravelled path leading away from the house is dark and uninviting.
  
  > close the door
  You close the door to your house.
  
  > lock door
  What do you want to lock the door to your house with?
  
  > go south
  The lane is dark and clouds hover uneasily over you, though the rain will not come. Looking at a house that has strangely changed on one side, and a narrow road on the other, it is hard to decide which way to go.
  
  > examine the clouds
  Not even a silver lining; just a thick blanket of ugly, depressing clouds.
  
  > go east
  You can barely suppress a shiver as you return to the place where you woke up, confused, just moments ago. It's a small, narrow lane, with no obvious source of illumination, running further east and back west to the house.
  
  Standing uncomfortably near you is a cab-caller machine.
  
  > examine the machine
  Simple in principle and in practice as well; put your cash card in the slot, and a cab appears within five minutes - or less if you're lucky. Unfortunately, your cash card is - or rather was - in what once was your study. It's definitely gone by now.
  
  > put the cash card in the machine
  You insert the card, hum a little tune, and wait for a cab to take you, far away from this nightmare scenario......Never mind where - perhaps your sister's place out North.....
  
  KABOOM!
  
  It's hard to say what actually happened. It's conceivable that the machine exploded, though if that had actually happened, you would hardly be alive. In fact, you wake up even more dishevelled than you first were, utterly bewildered.....
  
  This could be the middle of nowhere - in fact, it is. Apart from the railway tracks disappearing into the distance north, and the signpost to the east, there is nothing but dry, arid land.
  
  The sun beats down on you, and you regret having left your parasol at home.
  
  > examine signpost
  A signpost made of rotting wood, a few words painted over it in black paint or tar.
  
  You'll have to find your own answers, I'm afraid.
  
  On second thoughts, the parasol would've blown away in a sandstorm.
  
  > read it
  DESERT (As if you didn't know that already...)
  
  ..There is no need to beware of cacti, scorpions, wild animals or highwaymen, as they are all kept at bay by what you should beware of -- sunstroke.
  
  Eastern Colonies ...... 500 MILES NORTH
  Charlestown ........... 0.02 MILES EAST
  
  > Go east
  0.02 miles must be a much smaller distance than you bargained on, because immediately to your east the railway tracks stop, and through a thick fog or mist, you can make out the unmistakable outlines of buildings. Apart from this, the desert continues north and west.
  
  > look at the fog
  Thick clouds of mist or fog obstruct your vision.
  
  > go north
  Judging by the signs, this was once the office of the local newspaper, but now seems totally abandoned. A single shelf, once probably filled with superfluous newsprint, lies to one side, containing a few papers; apart from this, the office continues into a darker zone to the north.
  
  The torn front page of a newspaper lies here, unsung.
  
  > Examine newspaper
  It's the first page of an issue of the Charlestown Times, with one large article and little else.
  
  > go north
  This room, all empty shelves and dust, once stored all the back issues, manuscripts and other paraphernalia that are the birthright of a newspaper office - or so it seems. There are no obvious exits except the one back south.
  
  The only piece of furniture remaining, bar the shelves, is a horsehair chair, in none too good a condition.
  
  > look at the chair
  The chair has a certain dignity - even though it could hardly bear the weight of your six-year-old daughter in the state it's currently in.
  
  > look at the Form
  Legal Form 67 is what any witness in a case involving the International Code of Ethics, consequent upon its 23rd Amendment in the year 2786, is required to fill out. As such, it is devoid of interest to you, being blank. The other side, however, has something printed on it.
  
  > read it
  Harold, Ch. 3, Lines 1 - 10
  
  "This is not what I had in mind", the Creator said, irritably. "This is not it at all."
  
  "Silence!", said the Voice, not sternly, as was its wont. "You have already seen the consequences of your own actions, and I hope you realize how totally senseless they were....."
  
  "No need to rub it in", the Creator replied, calmly. "But why should someone else pay the price?"
  
  "For simple proof, Harold. Proof that, even in the face of a threat, that someone else - who originated, after all, in your own mind - would be able to withstand it. If someone else stands in your place, she stands there so that you may prove yourself."
  
  "Tortuous reasoning", the Creator replied, "but you're starting to make sense. When, then......"
  [Here the printing is abruptly cut short.]
  
  > go south
  Workhouse, in Charlestown
  From its attitude of desolation, from its decrepit appearance, you realize that this cannot be anything other than that despised institution, the workhouse. Strangely, no cries, no disturbing sounds, can be heard though you strain your ears, and though the place is deserted and disused, there are no signs of outright squalor. The furniture is of surprisingly good quality, though probably second-hand, and there is nothing creaky about the floor-boards as you tread on them. The passage you came through leads north, and another corridor seems to leads east.
  
  Merging with the floor is a closed wooden door, probably leading to a cellar, an eerie light gleaming at its edges.
  
  The passage to the east is blocked by a black door.
  
  > open it
  You open the cellar door.
  
  > look at the black door
  A dark black door, on the east wall. There is something painted on it.
  
  > read it