text: [Themes: Science Fiction]
  
  > look at your surroundings
  Records Room, in the hospital
  This small, stuffy, but not musty annexe lying west of the reception area houses the hospital's records, or at least the plaque on the door says so. Much to your surprise, there are no computers, and no ledgers either, on the solitary table, large as it is. There are no exits except the one back east.
  
  A pile of records sits on the table, neglected.
  
  > look at the discharge sheet
  A blank discharge sheet, of the kind issued to patients before they leave the hospital.
  
  > read it
  The form itself is blank, but it's the instructions to visitors, in small type at the base of the page, that interest you:
  
  1. Visitors to Wards 1,3,4 and 5 (General Surgery) are not allowed outside the allotted hours of 9 - 1 p.m and 3 - 6 p.m. They must be attired in aseptic outfits for patient safety, and require proof of identification.
  2. Visitors to Wards 2,6,7,8 and 9 (Internal Medicine) require proof of identification, but do not require any special attire.
  3. Visitors to Ward 10 (Maternity) should wear a disposable scrub suit (over their ordinary clothing) consisting of a cap, mask and gown, before entering the operating or recovery rooms.
  
  > read the dress
  Slightly dated, but you've always had a soft corner for this one ever since the Eugenics Repeal Act went through - with your assistance - on the day you bought it.
  
  > go west
  The entry to Ward Four is completely barred. Forget it - you're not needed there in the first place.
  
  > go to the east
  Not unlike any other ward you've seen in construction, Ward Two is equally empty. Where is everybody?
  
  Lying just at your feet is a small platinum key.
  
  > examine the key
  A platinum key, too small to be a door key. Perhaps it's used to open a safe-deposit box of some sort. There is no tag or serial number on it, which makes tracing it difficult.
  
  > go to the east
  Ward One is completely deserted. Rows of spotless beds, empty of patients, greet you coldly, under the glare of powerful, but not overpowering, arc lights.
  
  Lying thrown across one of the hospital beds is a long green gown of the disposable variety.
  
  > wear it
  After a little push and shove around the neck region - the gown was obviously designed for emaciated patients - you manage to slip it over your head, and acquire quite a competent, surgical appearance.
  
  > unlock the locker with the key
  You unlock the silver locker.
  
  > open the locker
  You open the silver locker, revealing a green surgical mask.
  
  > look at the mask
  A surgical face mask of some vague green fabric, just right for your size.
  
  > go to the east
  The door is closed.
  
  > check what you're carrying
  You are carrying:
  a green surgical mask (being worn)
  a long green gown (being worn)
  a platinum key
  a small square of paper
  a pink sheet of paper
  a discharge sheet
  a pale blue dress (being worn)
  
  > Go south
  There's a wall in the way, Cassie, and you do hate banging your head against those.
  
  > Go west
  Ward 10, Antechamber
  This is a small chamber that forms part of Ward 10, which continues to the north, near a doorway marked by a sign labelled "Recovery Room". The only other exit is back to your east.
  
  Standing near you, with one eye on the doorway, is a medical student, who was obviously asked to keep an eye on newcomers.
  
  > Go east
  First Floor Corridor, South End
  The southern end of the first floor corridor, as always, has east and west doorways, marked "Ward 7" and "Ward 10". You can't go any further south, but there's a safe return north.
  
  > Go east
  A group of surgeons, in animated discussion, bars your way.
  
  > go east
  Ward 6 is barred by a glass door, through which you can see an operation going on. Something tells you that you're not needed there.
  
  > Go west
  Ward 9 is obviously being renovated, because it's gleamingly white and clean, but has no beds, lights or other fixtures. The only exit is out east.
  
  > Go east
  There are only three beds in Ward 5, and no lighting. Obviously, the hospital isn't doing much business these days, and the only thing that strikes your attention is the cupboard in one corner. The way out is west.
  
  You can see a green cap here.
  
  > wear the cap
  It does take quite an effort for you to crowd your elaborate hairstyle - still rather unruffled despite all your adventures - under the cap, but you manage to do so.
  
  > go north
  Recovery Room, in Ward 10
  The southern end of the recovery room is empty, but there seems to be some activity going on to the north, to which you feel strangely drawn. The other exit, south, leads back to the antechamber.
  
  > go to the north
  You stride purposefully towards the other end of the recovery room....
  
  At the other end is a single bed - and a small chamber, not exactly an incubator, but perhaps a heat chamber of sorts, which contains a very young girl, who is sleeping peacefully. Lying on the bed is a woman of about thirty or so, who looks at you gratefully.
  
  "Good evening, Mrs. Anderson - Cassandra - I knew you would come. I apologize for making you come all this way here" - she waves lightly - "as my own home would have been a more convenient place; but plot comes before all". She laughs, then looks at the heat chamber. "And, if you haven't yet been introduced, this is my daughter. A few hours old, but much calmer than any of us."
  
  "Absolutely", you reply, drily.
  
  "Well, let me come to the point. There is one more task to be completed, but I do not know anything about it myself. Mr. Author, I fear, is very discreet. All I have been instructed to do, Cassandra, is to give you this."
  
  She hands you a small object, which you stuff into a pocket without even examining.
  
  "Good luck, Cassie", she says. The little girl waves behind the glass - at you? - and once again the whole room dissolves...........
  
  Press [SPACE].....
  Chapter Ten - It Takes A Village
  
  You are inside a small, cramped, dingy and dark thatched hut. You can see nothing but an exit to the west, slightly illuminated, but you can hear voices - faintly - ringing in your ears. The only exit is out to the west.
  
  > listen
  You can hear a hollow voice saying, "Bunch of fools."
  
  > go west
  This vast open space, stained a lurid red that reminds you of poorly made lipstick, fringed by trees on all sides, seems to close in on you. No escape is possible.
  
  What you see amidst the trees almost chokes you with revulsion. The ugliest monster you could ever think of - dressed in a zoot suit. Ugh!
  
  As the monster spots you, it laughs loudly and uproariously. "That all they send? End of road for little lady! HA HA HA!"
  
  > check your inventory
  You are carrying:
  a fountain-pen
  a pale blue dress (being worn)
  
  > examine the monster
  The monster, if he weren't so hideous, would be positively comic. For all his threats he is dressed in an elegant style, and looks positively foppish. You're not sure what kind of monster he is - perhaps a troll.
  
  The monster lunges at you. "Me need weapon", it grumbles.
  
  > kill the monster with the pen
  As you attack the troll with all your might, using your trusty pen, it dissolves into a whiff of green smoke. "NOOOOOO!" it screams. "UNFAIR! FOUL! OFFSIDE! UNSPORTING! TROLLS KILLED ONLY WITH SWORD!"
  
  As you shake your head in wonder, you can see something descend from the sky.
  
  Yes, it's the family jet. The door opens, and a familiar face pops out - Gerald. He walks quickly up to you, and takes you by the hand.
  
  "Welcome back, Cassie", he says, joyously, as your two children, looking at you and the troll, can barely conceal their admiration. "We're going home."
  
  "You defeated him", you say, amazed.
  
  "No, you did. Your character. You did, Harold. You have destroyed the menace that was threatening our dimension. This is your victory, not mine.", the Author replied. The Voice - appearing in the now familiar guise of a man whose profile resembled a coin - agreed, as mildly as it could.
  
  "You mean...........", you say, still unable to take it in. "You mean I've.......But I never did...."
  
  "Yes, you did not destroy your manuscript. You will go on to complete it - but we needed you, here, to understand what was at stake - and to save our dimension. And each time a new menace arises, your creatures - your gifts to this world - shall rise up, time and time again, and guarantee us success. But you must leave us now."
  
  The palace in the clouds dissolves around you.
  
  "Good luck, Harold."
  
  You wake up. Nothing has changed. It's the same room, the same bed, the same tired old manuscript, the same surreal dream fading from the edges of your mind.........
  
  No, something has changed. Forty-six copies be damned. Sales figures, faugh. After all, which author can claim to have saved an entire parallel dimension?
  
  You'll never really know how it all started.
  
  That's not surprising, because you're not even sure what happened in the first place. If it had been anything else, you would have dismissed it as ninety-nine per cent bad digestion and one percent fancy, much as Ebenezer Scrooge would have. Somehow, in this case, that explanation doesn't really grab you. Did it really mean anything? Or was it, as the physiologists would say, just a matter of a few neurons in your brainstem working overtime?
  
  But life is strange. It's almost impossible to predict - as Heisenberg pointed out - where exactly you might end up, even when you start in as mundane a place as your own home....
  
  This is hardly the place for an adventure to begin. You know the furniture of this room - desk, chair, bed and bookcase - almost as well as the contents of your pockets.
  
  On the wooden desk is a dusty manuscript.