text: [Themes: Surreal, language, magical realism, surreal, linguistics, ocean, aliens, gender-neutral protagonist, nonhuman protagonist]
  
  The sun has gone. It must be brought. You have a rock.
  
  For A Change, v1.02
  Dan Schmidt <dfan@alum.mit.edu>
  
  Under the High Wall (on the resting)
  Sweetness fills the shade of the High Wall to your east. Under this sweetness lies a small expanse of fod. A mobile releases mildly to the west; far in that direction a tower proudly plants itself, while the ground rises more slowly to the south and relaxes to the north.
  
  Spread on the resting is a guidebook.
  
  Sleep gradually departs from your eyes. A small stone has been insinuated into your hand.
  
  It is a small smooth stone, the size of a small gland, a size to roll between your fingertips, nothing more than a pebble.
  
  [Author's Note: The sun has gone. It must be brought. You have a rock.]
  
  > About yourself
  You are faded and silent.
  
  > look at guidebook
  This tattered book describes itself quietly but firmly as an indispensable guide to the plain.
  
  > take the guidebook
  Taken.
  
  > look at the sweetness
  The sweetness slowly shortens and expands.
  
  > examine mobile
  The mobile is made of dirt and twine and extends along the ground, beckoning.
  
  > take the mobile
  The mobile is to be traversed, rather than to be held.
  
  > take the fod
  The fod is, and remains, where it is.
  
  > read guidebook
  The guidebook inflates itself with numerous definitions.
  
  > look up the fod in the the guidebook
  'FOD is the substance of earth.'
  
  > look up the mobile in the guidebook
  'The MOBILE is laid for the provision of movement with additional ease.'
  
  > look up the tower in the guidebook
  'The TOWER of the plain admits a view of all that may be seen. Our standard flies proudly from its height.'
  
  > look up SUN in the guidebook
  'The fabled SUN, it is said, will rise in our lifetime to bring brightness and warmth, though to date it has remained hidden.'
  
  > look up HIGH WALL in the guidebook
  'The HIGH WALL divides the sunrise from its setting, and ensures the shade of the plain.'
  
  > look up the guidebook in the guidebook
  'This GUIDEBOOK explicates the statements of the plain. It may be consulted and carried. No finer guidebook can be found within reach.'
  
  > go to the east
  The resting must first be departed.
  
  > examine the resting
  The resting sits on five wooden legs and slopes gradually.
  
  > depart resting
  The resting sighs at your departure.
  
  > look up resting in guidebook
  'The RESTING is a device made for that selfsame purpose.'
  
  > Go west
  The land increases towards your head to the south, and decreases away from your feet to the north. Mobiles lead accordingly in both directions. The High Wall may also be approached to the east. A long walk to the west is a tower, dwarfing your form, and dwarfed in turn by the wall.
  
  It is clear, after a time, that all things are shaded, everywhere. Thus the Wall.
  
  Inscribed on the brown grass is a toolman.
  
  > examine the toolman
  The toolman is bright and misty. Thoughts and uses hang from his shoulders like birds.
  
  > look up the toolman in the guidebook
  'The TOOLMAN is the grower and keeper of tools. He takes with a hand and likewise provides.'
  
  The toolman smiles softly.
  
  > examine the thoughts
  The thoughts and uses of the toolman glimmer in the shade.
  
  The toolman smiles softly.
  
  > Hello
  The toolman understands.
  
  The toolman jingles in the breeze.
  
  > ask the toolman about the thoughts
  The toolman shakes his head.
  
  > tell you about the thoughts
  The toolman expresses a soothing regret.
  
  > look at what you're carrying with you
  In hand:
  a guidebook (loquacious and proud)
  a small stone (humble and true)
  
  > show the stone to the toolman
  The toolman is unmoved.
  
  The toolman jingles in the breeze.
  
  > Punch toolman
  You restrain from such an action.
  
  > go to the west
  A stone tower rises high and west above you, surrounded by a ring of stamped dirt. An archway faces the wall, strangely small compared to the tower's bulk; one must almost duck to transcend it. A plaque is set above the archway, approaching its size.
  
  > examine the dirt
  It lies below, and dreams of the sky.
  
  > Go west
  The inside of the tower is completely void, nothing remaining but a long spiral staircase rising through the ceiling far above. The plain awaits to the east.
  
  A few scraps of wood lie without pride on the floor, all that remains of the original construction.
  
  > look at the wood
  Potential and kinetic energy both lost forever, these timbers look helplessly upon the heights.
  
  > take the wood
  The wood is too heavy to move from its final place.
  
  > Up
  When viewed, as now, from four stories above the ground and an equal distance from the top of the tower, these stairs are the whole of the universe. Far above, they penetrate an opening in the stone ceiling.
  
  > Up
  For an observation room, the view disappoints; it is provided only by four small windows, perhaps two feet by two, long bare of glass, one in each of four directions. A slight breeze is redolent of altitude. An abandoned flagpole vainly gestures outward beneath the southern opening. Stairs descend from the bare stone floor.
  
  A glass-encased model landscape squats on the floor near the east window.
  
  > examine model
  The model is the size of a small desk. Spread across its top is the landscape you have traversed, down to the tiniest detail, including, of course, this tower. The structure is set flush against the east wall of this room so that the wall of the room functions as the High Wall. The scene is covered by a pane of glass.
  
  > examine the glass
  The pane of glass covers the landscape at a modest height.
  
  > examine the north window
  The window describes the wilds to the north, free of mobile and structure. Even there, with no elements to protect, the High Wall holds.
  
  > look at the south window
  The window describes the hills of the south. Blue with silence and age, they straddle the ground where once they sought the sky. Just below the window, a flagpole extends from the tower.
  
  > examine the flagpole
  It extends perhaps ten feet from the tower, and is long bare of any clothing.
  
  > look at the east window
  The window describes the High Wall of the east. Its bulk impresses even more from a location of altitude itself. The plain maintains itself before the High Wall, cowering beneath its span.
  
  > look at the west window
  The window describes the desert to the west. The brown is dark to the edge of your sight, covered to all directions by the shade that extends without cease.
  
  > examine the tower
  The tower is one of the few landmarks visible in the model. For all you know, you are inside it as well.
  
  > take the model
  The model is, and remains, where it is.
  
  > Break glass
  The glass resists all force.