text: [Themes: Time Travel, science fiction, strong profanity, time travel, gadgets, sciencefiction]
  
  > describe your surroundings
  From the architecture of the house, you can tell that this is the only bedroom to have its own walk-in closet, which no doubt was an issue of some discussion when bedrooms were assigned. The majority of the closet is taken up by clothing, but you can see a few boxes toward the back.
  
  > check your inventory
  You are carrying:
  a fake diary
  an electronic device
  a prosthetic eye
  a real diary
  an autokey
  your StreamDive console
  five chips:
  a library chip
  a cryptography chip
  a blank chip
  an interface chip
  a shield chip
  
  > Go west
  Coming, as you do, from an enlightened time period where man has, by and large, learned to overcome prejudicial assumptions about people on the basis of gender or background [Footnote 6], you know better than to jump to conclusions about the occupant based on the cultural stereotypes of their living space.
  Nevertheless, you can always tell a girl's room. It isn't some particular thing [Footnote 7]; rather, an air of femininity issues more from the juxtaposition of objects than the contents themselves. The dollhouse; the partially completed watercolor on an easel in the corner; the ornate, hand-carved chest at the foot of the bed; the paper ribbons affixed to the vent cover on the floor, all suggest, but do not insist that the occupant of this room is female. And yet, there is a certain something about this space that rarely arises in a man's quarters.
  The walls are a soft, uniform pastel. The desk stands opposite the bed, well stocked, but uncluttered. There is a closet door on the east wall. The exit to the hall is south.
  
  On the nightstand is a charger.
  
  > Footnote 6
  [Footnote 6]
  Except for the rat-men of Karelia IV. Filthy, thieving little things.
  
  > Footnote 7
  [Footnote 7]
  Though the decidedly female undergarments you can see poking out of the hamper are something of a giveaway.
  
  > examine the hamper
  A tall basket where used clothing waits to collect critical mass for washing.
  
  > search the hamper
  In the hamper are some dirty clothes.
  
  > analyze fake diary
  Analyzing...
  Examining text...
  Performing heuristics...
  Counting character frequencies...
  Performing statistical analysis...
  Performing more heuristics...
  Results: Coded text using unknown cipher (This text cannot be decoded at this time)
  Note: Unbreakable ciphers (eg. Ciphers using One Time Pad or RUR nanocode encoding) cannot be decoded until matching key has been analyzed. Unknown ciphers may be decoded after more encrypted text has been analyzed.
  
  > Go south
  You are in a small room which you suspect has no fixed purpose. There is a table in the center of the room, with a faux-wooden chair at it, and a long bench-seat under the window. The door along the north wall has been removed, presumably in an attempt to turn the room into some sort of work alcove.
  
  > examine the window
  It's safer to steer clear of windows, just in case.
  
  > examine the seat
  Which do you mean, the wooden chair or the bench seat?
  
  > examine the handle
  It looks like a rather small knob, containing a small magnet. You've seen the general design before, used as a release for child-safety latches.
  
  > examine the sewing machine
  Essentially, this is a sort of automated needle and thread. It is a hobbyist's version of the sort of machinery used to make most garments of this time. By repeatedly thrusting a threaded needle through a piece of fabric, it is able to quickly make a variety of stitches. Though in your own time, tailoring is usually done by laser-guided polymer injection, the basic principles remain more or less unchanged.
  
  > Go north
  Hallway, east end
  You are at the east end of the main hallway on this floor. The hallway ends at a door on the east wall, and another door is north. A doorway to the south has no door, though it looks as if it were designed for one.
  
  A framed photograph of a young man is affixed to the wall.
  
  > go east
  That door is locked.
  
  You manage to unlock the door with the autokey.
  
  Of all the rooms you've seen so far, this bedroom shows the least signs of having been tidied before the house was abandoned. Naturally, of course, this heightens your curiosity; untidy rooms generally tell you more than clean ones. From the space-shuttle wallpaper, you suspect that this room belonged to a young child, though it might simply imply that the room is long-overdue for renovation. There is a bookcase along one wall, containing model space ships, toy robots, and a very few books. A desk beside the door is loaded down with computer equipment. The most interesting feature of the room is the floor; while most of the other rooms have had wall-to-wall carpeting, this room has what appears to be industrial grade linoleum tile. The hallway lies west.
  
  > put the handle on the floor
  (the floor)
  Putting things on the floor would achieve nothing.
  
  > touch the floor
  (the floor)
  You feel nothing unexpected.
  
  > go east
  That door is locked.
  
  You manage to unlock the door with the autokey.
  
  You are in a very small bathroom, fitted out as you would expect, in a pastel decor. A number of decorative touches lead you to surmise that this bathroom was intended primarily for guests. A gentle breeze issues from a vent high on one wall. The exit is west.
  
  On the fixture is a scientific journal.
  
  > Examine journal
  This is a magazine whose articles showcase current events in the scientific community. It is written to a target audience of educated, but not scientifically trained, readers.
  You browse through the magazine, looking for anything of interest. You are not disappointed. There is a short article, all the way at the back, summarizing the doctoral thesis of one Emmanuel Kaldeki.
  This is quite a find; Kaldeki's original thesis has long been lost, and it has long been assumed that he had not pursued the line of research that would eventually lead to StreamDive technology until after the war. You read the article...
  
  Physicist Emmanuel Kaldeki created a buzz in the scientific world early this month with the delivery of his PhD thesis, "Mathematical Modeling of Non-Temporal Quantum Particles" at the Pacific Institute of Technology. The paper describes a set of mathematical formulae which model a theoretical particle called "Q-omega". The Q-omega particle, according to Kaldeki's model, behaves in most respects like a strange-matter quark, but also exhibits properties previously only modeled in tachyons. Specifically, it reacts in unusual ways to space-time curvature. The Kaldeki model suggests that that at relativistic velocities, the Q-omega particle would "plane" on highly curved space-time, in much the same way that the hull of a speed boat planes over water.
  
  Most of the excitement over Kaldeki's paper comes not from the modeling technique itself, but from the two major example models included. The first demonstrates how the non-temporal nature of the Q-omega particle renders it immune from the effects of time and mass dilation occurring at speeds near that of light. Indeed, because of their unique nature, the model shows that Q-omega particles can be accelerated above the speed of light, a possibility generally disallowed by the theory of relativity.
  
  The second, and more impressive example studies the behavior of Q-omega in the vicinity of a black hole. Under such extreme space-time curvature, Kaldeki predicts that the Q-omega particle would completely disassociate itself with conventional space-time, being displaced along a predictable path to some distant point in the universe instantaneously. Because the path of the particle does not go through space-time during this journey, it is possible for Q-omega to re-enter normal space at a point in time prior to its departure.
  
  The scientific community is excited about the implications of this theory: several researchers have suggested that Kaldeki's findings may open the way to faster-than-light travel, matter transmission, and time travel. Asked about these possibilities, Kaldeki said, "I think it's a bit early to start talking about applications; we don't even know yet if the particles I've modeled can be created. There's nothing in the mathematics that would prohibit [these applications], but actually doing it is a long way off. You've got to remember, we're talking about sub-atomic particles, and if we could scale the effect to something the size of, say, a man, it's not very likely that a living creature could survive being moved around like that."
  
  Kaldeki has received a grant for an undisclosed amount to pursue the fabrication of these particles. The degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Quantum Physics will be conferred upon Emmanuel Kaldeki by the Pacific Institute of Technology during commencement exercises next month.