text: [Themes: gender choice]
  
  > look around
  You come across a surprise. There is a door to the South with a large EXIT sign above. This time there is a window that shows a stairway on the other side leading directly up to a back alley. The door doesn't seem to be locked.
  There is an exit door on the South wall
  
  > Go west
  The wall to the West has a door frame.
  A full length mirror is mounted in the door frame.
  
  > examine the MIRROR
  You see your own reflection in it. You look tired. (Is that a zit?)
  
  > touch the MIRROR
  The mirror seems not to mind being touched. In fact, it seems somewhat reluctant to let go of your hand. Oops, wrong story. This is just a plain mirror.
  
  > Break mirror
  BREAK! Someone say BREAK? Great, I'll see you in ten minutes. Bye, bye. I'm back. Now, what were you saying? You wanted to BREAK the MIRROR? Don't know how to break here...
  
  > go to the west
  You are in the Northwest corner of a big room just East of the greasy door.
  A packrat has emerged from a crack in the wall
  
  > give the book to the packrat
  The packrat carefully inspects the BOOK that you offer, then somehow stuffs it into a tiny crack in the wall. He darts toward the wall himself, pausing only long enough to throw a small object back to you, then vanishes.
  
  You are in the Northwest corner of a big room just East of the greasy door.
  There is a double-fulcrum bolt cutter
  
  > take the cutter
  You pick up the bolt cutter.
  
  > Examine cutter
  The jaws on this baby would do you proud on even hardened steel.
  
  > Go west
  To the West is the guillotine that gave you so much trouble.
  Actually, there was nothing to worry about. The blade was nailed up. It couldn't fall. (If you can't trust your programmer, who can you trust?)  East is a doorway.
  
  > go to the west
  You have a small problem. The hall narrows to the East and jammed into the tightest spot is a very genuine-looking guillotine. Its heavy frame extends from wall to wall and from ceiling to floor. The razor-sharp blade is poised high above an ominous wicker basket. The only way East is through the frame.
  
  > Go west
  You have come to a fork in the hallway. You can go North, East or South.
  
  > Go north
  The hall continues South, but the rest of the walls are blank.
  A stream appears from under the East wall then drains down a
  grating.
  
  > Oil stream
  The oil flows out over the surface of the stream. At first, you see no effect, then you hear a sound like rocks crumbling somewhere and the water slows and recedes, leaving only a calm, shallow sheet, inches deep. You toss away the empty oilcan. (So you're littering. It keeps the inventory neater.)
  
  The hall continues South, but the rest of the walls are blank.
  The water on the floor is as calm as glacial lake (but warmer).
  
  > Go east
  You cross easily through the two-inch deep water.
  
  You have come to a dead end. North is the plank over the gap, but there are only blank walls in the other directions.
  The water on the floor is as calm as glacial lake (but warmer).
  
  > look at WATER
  A beautiful sight. Through the rainbow colors of the oil slick, you see the reflection of the next room under the West wall. You can wade there easily.
  
  > Swim
  You cross easily through the two-inch deep water.
  
  The hall continues South, but the rest of the walls are blank.
  The water on the floor is as calm as glacial lake (but warmer).
  
  > Swim
  You cross easily through the two-inch deep water.
  
  You have come to a dead end. North is the plank over the gap, but there are only blank walls in the other directions.
  The water on the floor is as calm as glacial lake (but warmer).
  
  > go north
  You are balancing precariously on the plank over the deep gap. Under your weight, the ends slip and settle into the ground, wedging them tighter.
  
  > Go north
  The hall continues South. To the East is the one-way passage back to the pit.
  A deep gap looms ahead to the South.
  
  > Go east
  You arrive at a small cranny (or is it a nook? I never know) at the West side of the pit. You see, "Our Secret Place" inscribed above a small lens. Looking into it, you see nothing and decide it must be some sort of electric eye.
  
  > go east
  You find yourself near the podium in the orchestra pit. The pit extends to the West and there is a small, almost hidden crawl way to the North.
  The door to the East is securely locked.
  
  > Inventory
  You're carrying:
  dim bulb (Providing light)
  bolt cutter
  long hotdog
  sharp knife
  old lamp (Providing light)
  oaken bucket
  valve trumpet
  You're wearing:
  pointed hat
  solitaire ring
  scuba suit
  dark secret
  
  > go south
  Ignoring everything that you learned as a two year old, you impulsively turn E and walk right into the closed door.
  
  You find yourself near the podium in the orchestra pit. The pit extends to the West and there is a small, almost hidden crawl way to the North.
  The door to the East is securely locked.
  
  You can't go that way.
  
  You can't go that way.
  
  > move coat
  A gentle tug causes the coat to slip slightly to one side. Through the eruption of moths you see that the coat is covering a doorway North. Pushing the coat to the side like a drape, you go through.
  
  > cut the bolts with the cutter
  You try to get at the bolts, but you slip, shattering the box.
  
  You have come across a store room. A stairway leads down. A closet is North.
  A small magnesium box sits on the floor
  A exquisite multi-faceted diamond catches your eye.
  
  > Examine box
  The box is secured to the floor by hardened steel bolts.
  
  > take the DIAMOND
  You pick up the sparkling diamond.
  
  > examine the DIAMOND
  What a hunk o' ice. Bet that baby'd put a dent in your mortgage payment.
  
  > examine the bolts
  The box is secured to the floor by hardened steel bolts.
  
  > cut the bolts with the cutter
  You try to get at the bolts, but you slip, shattering the box.
  
  You have come across a store room. A stairway leads down. A closet is North.
  A small magnesium box sits on the floor
  A exquisite multi-faceted diamond catches your eye.
  
  > take the DIAMOND
  You pick up the sparkling diamond.
  
  > check what you're carrying
  You're carrying:
  dim bulb (Providing light)
  bolt cutter
  long hotdog
  sharp knife
  sparkling diamond
  old lamp (Providing light)
  oaken bucket
  valve trumpet
  You're wearing:
  pointed hat
  solitaire ring
  scuba suit
  dark secret
  
  > take the solitaire stone
  You pick up the solitaire stone.
  
  > wear RING
  You put on the ring.
  
  > check what you're carrying
  You're carrying:
  dim bulb (Providing light)
  bolt cutter
  long hotdog
  sharp knife
  sparkling diamond
  old lamp (Providing light)
  oaken bucket
  valve trumpet
  You're wearing:
  pointed hat
  solitaire ring
  scuba suit
  dark secret
  
  > remove the suit
  You take off the suit.
  
  > read secret
  As your fingers touch the organ stop labelled "4", you hear a scraping sound behind you. Twisting around on the organ bench you see that a small panel has opened in the wall behind you and is already starting to re-close. Hastily you turn to vault over the bench but only succeed in falling in a heap, jamming your head between the wall and the almost-closed panel. This, however, stops its forward motion allowing you to pry it back enough to free your bruised scalp and crawl unceremoniously through before it once more hisses shut.
  
  You READ the secret that you've been so carefully keeping under your hat. There is an almost imperceptible darkening of the small lens in the center of the wall, and with a soft whoosh, a panel swings open allowing you to pass.
  
  > go to the west
  You cross easily through the two-inch deep water.
  
  > cut the MIRROR with the DIAMOND
  You make a series of scratches on the surface with the gem, then you hurl it at the mirror from the far side of the room, shattering it into more pieces than you care to count. It is then that you realize how much diamond looks like broken glass. By the time you relocate the gem, you HAVE counted the pieces.
  
  With the shattered mirror to the East, you turn South to see an odd room with even odder stains on the walls and floor.
  
  > go to the south
  This is definitely going to be one of THOSE days! The wall just slid shut behind you and the other walls are starting to move toward you.
  I have a funny feeling about this. (No, you do NOT have a com-link available.)
  
  The walls of the room are inching inward at an alarming rate. A desperate search of the walls, ceiling and floor reveals no escape routes.
  
  > Inventory
  You're carrying:
  dim bulb (Providing light)
  bolt cutter
  long hotdog
  sharp knife
  sparkling diamond
  old lamp (Providing light)
  oaken bucket
  valve trumpet
  You're wearing:
  pointed hat
  solitaire ring
  dark secret
  
  > Go west
  You are in a long twisting hall with side doorways to the West and South.
  
  > Go south
  You see doorways to the West, North and East and... WAIT A MINUTE! This CAN'T belong in this game! This place looks exactly the transporter chamber from a Constitution Class Federation Starship. (NCC 1700 series) From just out of sight, someone orders, "Energize, Scotty".
  
  > Go north
  As you bolt for the doorway, the world shimmers from view and you experience a sensation not unlike that which you felt when you rode a drunken bull elephant down Alameda Street in Beautiful Downtown Burbank last July wearing only the epaulets and scabbard from your Order of the Most Esteemed Aardvarks Lodge ceremonial uniform, playing your uncle's Ukranian raisin-bladder bagpipe and yodelling the dirty version of Supercalifragilisticexpialidosious in protest of Disney's not releasing FANTASIA on videotape. Thought I didn't know about that, did you? I have ways of finding these things out. Anyway, when the world un-shimmers, you find yourself in a new location. Whoopee, big surprise.
  
  This is another restroom like all the others you've seen. I'll spare you the colorful description except to mention that someone has scratched, "KEEP SECRETS UNDER YOUR HAT" on the wall.
  
  > Inventory
  You're carrying:
  dim bulb (Providing light)
  bolt cutter
  long hotdog
  sharp knife
  sparkling diamond
  old lamp (Providing light)
  oaken bucket
  valve trumpet
  You're wearing:
  pointed hat
  solitaire ring
  dark secret