text: [Themes: Mystery, steampunk, female protagonist]
  
  > look at your surroundings
  You stand before the fortress through which all waterways flow. Enormous colonnades line the concourse, flanked by selenite sentinels; hydra-like channels snake in patterns and merge into bas-reliefs of dizzying scale. Before the fosse, the statue of Reason bears aloft the Azoth.
  
  The bridge to the Channelworks floats disconnected above the fosse, like the suspended pieces of a puzzle. Yet you see dozens of
  wandering ghosts here, shimmering animii treading paths around the Channelworks concourse in cycles; and they cross the empty air to the Channelworks in a spectral procession.
  
  > examine the fortress
  Justinian awaits.
  
  > show the passkey to the sentinels
  You can only do that to something animate.
  
  > follow the ghosts
  (You'll have to specify which cardinal direction you want to go in. For example, >go west.)
  
  > look at ghosts
  The ghosts move as though following the steps of a dance. They pour in from the streets and the side roads, congregating on the concourse; they take something out of their coats or their handbags and make a motion with it like turning a crank. And then, as though guided by some invisible signal, they walk across air over the fosse and disappear into the mouth of the Channelworks.
  
  > turn passkey
  The passkey grows warm in your hand, and there is a sensation like pulling on invisible strings in the air. You feel as though something tremendous is happening which you cannot directly observe.
  tremendous is happening which you cannot directly observe.After a second, the parts of the bridge lower into place with a
  thunk. Orichalcum fuses to orichalcum, forming an unbroken
  crossing over the fosse.
  
  > go north
  Past the swooping gates and the gilded halls, there is a weight: the weight of ten thousand tons of brass and machinery and art, of hundred-year-old frescoes and pumping mechanisms, all bearing the weight of the district which upon this building rests. This, then, is the Channelworks, in all its grandeur, its might, its immensity, its capacity to change lives.
  
  There are dozens of halls here and hundreds of stations, but you know almost on instinct where Justinian will be. You have known him for too long -- his penchant for drama, his desire for control -- and it only seems clearer now that you have seen his true self. There could only be one place where everything would end.
  
  The stairs spiral from the heart of the Channelworks, and they lead upward.
  
  > Go upward
  Here the mechanisms fall away, replaced by a vast emptiness. Motes of dust are suspended in the skylights, as though frozen in time; the stairs pause and morph into a mezzanine from which you can see over all the vaulted arches of the Channelworks. Yet the plants and statues here do not overlook their domain, but gaze skyward, into the rarified tower above.
  
  tower above.As you emerge upon the landing, you hear voices and footsteps, and you instinctively look about for somewhere to hide. You crouch behind a nearby sculpture and turn your eyes to the end of the landing with bated breath.
  
  landing with bated breath.A door opens. Doctor Justinian steps out into the walkway, followed by the spittle-flecked protests of Doctor Serpens -- "This was not in the agreement," he barks, gesturing and yelling as though he could skewer his junior with words. "We had a plan, and you have overturned it. You have ruined everything -- ruined the most basic integrity of our project!"
  
  the most basic integrity of our project!""Your 'project,' Doctor?" Justinian whirls around to face him. "You would claim ownership of this too? Is there nothing that you will not twist to serve your perverted interests?"
  
  perverted interests?"Doctor Serpens's expression darkens yet further. "You? You accuse me of twisting Noctis's purpose? You little
  -- you petulant child. You know nothing about what
  Arturus and I sacrificed for this. You could not stomach the plans we had, the power we crafted. Now you use our work to live out your little fantasy and you threaten me -- you threaten me --"
  
  --"Doctor Justinian chuckles lowly.
  
  --"Doctor Justinian chuckles lowly."What I said was not a threat," he says. "It was a declaration. I have no need to threaten something that has already been done."
  
  has already been done."The older man's eyes widen. Justinian closes his hand into a fist in a sudden motion, and it hits you -- you
  see an emptiness and a sun and an ocean and a beginning. For
  an instant something brilliant swims at the edges of your vision.
  
  an instant something brilliant swims at the edges of your vision.Doctor Serpens wails as the fingers of Noctis burrow into his animus and begin to rip it apart.
  
  animus and begin to rip it apart.He collapses to his knees, convulsing like a man possessed, ichor spilling from his slack-jawed mouth and bloodshot eyes. It reminds you of the way that Reden died in Doctor Cavala's clinic -- only this time you see what is truly
  happening. You see every gory, unpleasant detail of what is
  happening to Doctor Serpens's soul.
  
  happening to Doctor Serpens's soul.He screams, incoherently at first, then desperately, deliriously. "You -- bastard -- the wine --"
  
  then desperately, deliriously. "You -- bastard -- the wine --"Justinian shakes his head. "You are no longer useful to me, Doctor. You should have thought about that before making demands."
  
  You should have thought about that before making demands."He spits on the ground beside the flailing Serpens, before walking down the landing and through the double doors of a waiting lift. Doctor Serpens crawls pitifully after him, in fits and starts, leaving a trail of dripping black blood.
  
  dripping black blood.Justinian turns and looks directly in your direction. He gazes at you for a while, his lower lip stiff, his hands shaking ever so slightly.
  
  shaking ever so slightly.Then he presses an unseen button and the doors close. Doctor Serpens whimpers and cries, and slams his fist on the panel and vomits a puddle of blood at their feet.
  
  > examine Serpens
  He's moaning, spasming, coughing his own guts up. He will not see another sunrise.
  
  > talk to him
  Serpens chokes and gasps for air as you approach him. He clutches his hands to his eyes, trying to staunch the flow of blood that trickles forth.
  
  "You," he manages to utter. "Come... agh... come to gloat, did you?"
  
  1) "I'm so sorry."
  2) <Watch him struggle.>
  
  > 1
  "I'm... I'm so sorry," you say.
  
  Doctor Serpens scowls. He raises a quivering, accusatory finger.
  
  "I... don't need... your pity," he breathes.
  
  1) "Why did Doctor Justinian turn on you?"
  2) "Is it true? What he said about you?"
  3) "Is there anything I can do?"
  4) <Leave.>
  
  > 1
  "Why did Doctor Justinian turn on you?"
  
  Doctor Serpens gazes at you with bloodshot eyes. "He is a fool," he croaks. "A naive... reckless... fool. He thinks... he can change the world... alone."
  
  1) "Is it true? What he said about you?"
  2) "Is there anything I can do?"
  3) <Leave.>
  
  > 1
  "Is it true? What he said about you?"
  
  The doctor retches and spits a glob of blood onto the floor. He takes a ragged breath.
  
  "Hypocrite," he says. "The boy... is out for himself. Like everyone else..."
  
  1) "Is there anything I can do?"
  2) <Leave.>
  
  > 1
  Your hands tremble. "Is there anything I can do?"
  
  Doctor Serpens cranes his head up with some effort. His mouth opens in a gape -- he closes his bleeding eyes.
  
  "Nothing," he whispers. "Nothing. Our weapon... designed too well. Leave me be."
  
  1) <Leave.>
  
  > 1
  You step back from the quivering wreck of a man. He is moving less, now. Waiting to die.
  
  You can feel the weight of your scalpel in your coat pocket.