text: [Themes: Science Fiction]
  
  > Go downwards
  You're floating above a city whose identity is unknown to you, walking on what seems to be a cloud but is actually much sturdier. The clouded path leads further north.
  
  > Go north
  You are standing in front of a large, barred gate that seems to open into a mansion - or at least a large residence - of some sort. Peering through the bars you can make out the outlines of trees and a statue, but no actual building. To your east, a smaller lane runs into darkness.
  
  > examine gate
  A large, imposing, barred, gilded gate, closed quite firmly. Whether it is locked or not is uncertain. There is a sign on it.
  
  > read the sign
  The inscription on the gate reads:
  
  Where there is no lock, there can be no key.
  You might as well wait for the gate to rust,
  But who can dissolve the King's crown?
  
  > check what you're carrying
  You are carrying:
  a fountain-pen
  a blue shawl
  a yellow flower
  
  > open gate
  You try opening the gate, but it doesn't seem to open in the usual way. A voice seems to float around your ears, saying : "The solution is not here, Harold."
  
  > write on the shawl
  For a writer of your calibre, graffiti is a come-down.
  
  > Go south
  You're floating above a city whose identity is unknown to you, walking on what seems to be a cloud but is actually much sturdier. The clouded path leads further north.
  
  > examine the city
  The clouds surround you and actually form the ground under your feet, blocking the view of the city you thought you saw below.
  
  > Go east
  Standing on the lane, you can now actually make out that it isn't dark at all, and in fact continues to grow brighter as it runs further east. In the distance you can make out the outline of a tall tower.
  
  > Go east
  A vast, wide open field, completely covered with overgrown grass, and with only two well-trodden paths interrupting the carpet; one to the north towards a tall building, and one straight down the middle of the field, to the east, leading towards the tower.
  
  > Go east
  You are at the base of a spiral staircase that leads up to a tall tower, which would make a passable lighthouse if it weren't on dry land. The stairway leads up, while the path that brought you here runs back, to the west.
  
  > Go upward
  Standing at the top of a spiral staircase, a crude hole cut in the wall of the tower, to your east, beckons you in; the stairway leads back down to solid ground.
  
  > go to the east
  The sights inside the tower are nothing less than breath-taking. They remind you in some eerie manner of an alchemist's laboratory, with glass tubes and bulbs, filled with liquids of every conceivable colour, arrayed along the four walls. In one corner of the room, a huge brass pot is boiling, and emits multicoloured fumes; in another lies a crude stone table. There seems to be no way to reach the lower levels of the tower, and the only exit is to the west.
  
  On the crude stone table is a small glass bottle.
  
  Abandoned amidst all this splendour is a small key.
  
  > examine bottle
  A small glass bottle, which is currently closed quite tightly. It has some faded writing on it, which you can just about decipher.
  
  > read the bottle
  Will Dissolve Silver, Gold, and Just About Everything Else
  Use With Extreme Caution
  
  [Not Approved by the FDA For the Treatment of Jealousy.]
  
  > examine table
  A roughly-hewn, crude stone table, standing stolidly in one corner of the laboratory.
  
  > go north
  You are in the immediate periphery of a large building, whose nature is - at least, at the moment - a mystery to you. Barring the board above the building and the rusty door to the north, there are no windows or ornaments of any kind.
  
  The rusty door is quite definitely closed.
  
  > look at the door
  A small, rusty, metal door, with a tiny keyhole.
  
  > unlock the door with the small key
  You unlock the door to the building.
  
  > go north
  (first opening the door)
  
  The inside of the building looks totally deserted, and the dim corridor running further north looms in front of you ominously. An intersecting corridor, present at a strangely early stage, runs east to west.
  
  > Go west
  Judging by the rows of chairs, desks and disused benches scattered haphazardly around the room, you'd venture to guess that this once was a schoolroom, or at least a classroom of some sort. There is nothing else though - not even a teacher's desk - to interrupt the monotony. The exit lies to the east.
  
  In one corner of the room is a tall blackboard.
  
  > look at the blackboard
  A blackboard, with some writing on it. It seems quite firmly anchored to the underlying wall.
  
  > check your inventory
  You are carrying:
  a small glass bottle
  a small metal key
  a fountain-pen
  a blue shawl
  a yellow flower
  
  > examine the desks
  That's just scenery.
  
  > Go east
  The inside of the building looks totally deserted, and the dim corridor running further north looms in front of you ominously. An intersecting corridor, present at a strangely early stage, runs east to west.
  
  > Go east
  This room was once a storeroom, but - barring a cardboard box in one corner - it is now as bare as it can conceivably be. There are no windows, no ventilator vents, and the only exit is back out to the west.
  
  > look in it
  You search among the old paper, shattered glass and other debris for a while, but finally unearth a worn leather handbag, in fairly good condition considering where it's been stored.
  
  > look at it
  A worn leather handbag with a broken clasp ornamented in gold foil, weakly closed. It seems to have no pockets, decoration or other distinctive features.
  
  > open it
  You open the leather handbag, revealing a lacy handkerchief and a small microfilm badge.
  
  > examine the badge
  A small microfilm badge, that can be easily worn, and that obviously serves as a form of ID, though you're not sure what for. There is no photograph, just a few markings, and the name "Harvey Price".
  
  > wear the badge
  (first taking the small microfilm badge)
  You put on the small microfilm badge.
  
  > examine the lacy
  A lacy, frilled, woman's handkerchief, of a style popular about a hundred years ago - counting from your time, that is. In one corner is a name : "Marguerite".
  
  > Search box
  Nothing else in the crate, and I must warn you that that glass is going to cut your hands if you mess around with it.
  
  > examine the glass
  (the small glass bottle)
  A small glass bottle, which is currently closed quite tightly. It has some faded writing on it, which you can just about decipher.
  
  > Go west
  The inside of the building looks totally deserted, and the dim corridor running further north looms in front of you ominously. An intersecting corridor, present at a strangely early stage, runs east to west.
  
  > Go north
  You walk boldly to the north, and hear a loud voice saying, "Good morning, Mr. Price. Welcome. Your usual places have been reserved. Welcome to the adventure of your choice.
  
  And then the wall dissolves, and you find yourself in the building no longer....
  
  Third Interposition - A Romantic Interlude
  
  Though you never really knew what a boudoir was, this certainly looks like one - or at least its popular conception. The lounge and divan in opposite corners of the room, covered in cushions, the fine curtains on the windows, the massive bed, the dresser near the bed - this is almost a textbook room. There's even a Louis XVI chair here.
  
  The door out of the room is closed.
  
  You can hear voices from behind the door, but cannot make out what they are saying.
  
  > open the door
  You are unable to do so.
  
  For some inexplicable reason, you feel a trifle sleepy.
  
  > listen door
  In the distance you can make out a lute being played, but you're not sure if it isn't a mandolin.
  
  You hear a scream - or was it air rushing out of a balloon?
  
  > knock on the door
  No reply, I'm afraid.
  
  You hear a dull thumping against the door.