text: > look at your surroundings
  Anything you do, you will have to do by touch.
  
  > touch the wall
  (the walls)
  You detect nothing extraordinary.
  
  > touch the ladder
  It feels reassuringly solid.
  
  > touch myself
  Substantial as ever.
  
  > jump
  You jump a few times.
  
  > touch the floor
  Your hand closes around something cubical, lying in the center of the floor.
  
  > touch the floor
  And you're back in that place, where he sent you the first time. Groping hand and foot in a stifling blackness, no light anywhere. ("I can't promise you help, but remember: rely on your wits. And whatever you do, keep looking.")
  
  Whispering it to yourself in the close corridors, hearing the corridors whisper it back again. Keep looking.
  
  And so you crawl on, sometimes falling unexpectedly, sometimes getting stuck; sometimes finding yourself far down a passage without outlet, having to crawl backwards again, start over.
  
  Even when you find what you seek -- a deep pool of matter in its rawness, chaos without shape -- you must make your way back again. There's no time here, no orientation, no measure. Only blind persistence can ever bring you home.
  
  > touch the pool
  Then the darkness is just darkness again.
  
  (You grasp at air, startled. It's gone -- not in your hands after all -- unless...?
  
  Something has changed. Something has certainly changed. But the possession is not of a physical sort.)
  
  > feel yourself
  Your body is still present.
  
  > Pray
  Silence. Whether you are heard or not is another question.
  
  > go upwards
  The overwhelming darkness parts, and you emerge again into the ordinary air...
  
  On the curving walls are painted the village and the nearby countryside; beyond those are impossibly distant places (labelled for your better instruction): Paris, spired and shimmering; southward Rome; a misty London in the north.
  
  One of the large paving stones has been removed from its position, and a ladder descends into the dark gap beneath.
  
  > Inventory
  You are carrying:
  a tube (enlarged and made of metal)
  a vellum scroll
  a delicate key (enlarged and made of metal) (which opens the
  silvered door)
  a magnifying glass (shrunken)
  a rock
  a workbox
  a ball of yarn
  a needle
  a brown dress (being worn)
  a ring (being worn)
  some slippers (being worn)
  
  > About yourself
  Some essential restlessness is gone from you; you tremble less than you used to; your hand, relaxed, remains still.
  
  An upright triangle scars the back of your left hand, the symbol of earth.
  
  > Up
  The door opens west.
  
  > Up
  Tower, Mid-level
  A midpoint in the tower, with doorways east and west, lit from above. The south wall is occupied by a deep niche, in which is a statue of a young man in the Greek mode.
  
  The walls have been sheathed with a variety of fine materials, all exceptionally costly: sheets of beaten gold, squares of lapis lazuli, placards of ruby and adamant.
  
  From somewhere nearby comes a low rumbling.
  
  > go to the west
  You stand in the center of a dim room, lit from above by a piercing light. Evidently there is another room above you, but the brilliance of its illumination makes it impossible for you to perceive anything up there.
  
  The center of the room is occupied by a bulky expandable staircase.
  
  > put the lens in the light
  It's too small to stay positioned in the slot.
  
  > examine the staircase
  The staircase is currently folded down, but there appears to be machinery for raising it. The accessible parts of this consist of a boiler full of water, an open oven beneath, and a brass button.
  
  There is a slot in the side of the oven, of a shape to hold a circular object perhaps the size of your palm. Through this open space a beam of very bright light falls obliquely into the oven itself.
  
  > go to the east
  Tower, Mid-level
  A midpoint in the tower, with doorways east and west, lit from above. The south wall is occupied by a deep niche, in which is a statue of a young man in the Greek mode.
  
  The walls have been sheathed with a variety of fine materials, all exceptionally costly: sheets of beaten gold, squares of lapis lazuli, placards of ruby and adamant.
  
  The grumbling of machinery catches your attention.
  
  > D,S,W
  Tower, Bottom
  You stand at the bottom of a stone tower. Doorways open in each of the cardinal directions, except for the north; there, a spacious niche contains the statue of a woman, skillfully executed in white marble.
  
  The center of the room is occupied by a spiral staircase, but one made of such slender and delicate supports that it obscures neither light nor view.
  
  The silvery door to the south stands open.
  
  A straight white light comes through the hole in the ceiling, but it is soon after twisted and bent: mirrors cast it from angle to angle; crystal divides it; glass stains it.
  
  East and west, low corridors lead into shadow.
  
  The silvery door to the north stands open.
  
  A long, vaulted room, lined with cages of filigree and jewels. All of the animals are motionless and still, perhaps through the art of a taxidermist. In one cage is an elephant, so short that he reaches only to your knee; you easily could lift him under one arm and carry him away. In another cage, a giant mouse lies, curled as though slumbering, his paws folded in the semblance of prayer.
  
  Mounted on a swivel on the wall is what looks like an irregular hourglass, one bulb larger than the other. There is no sand within -- nor could there be, since the contraption is open at each end. At the moment the smaller end is uppermost.
  
  > put the lens in the hourglass
  You put the magnifying glass into the contraption; predictably, it squinches down, passes through the narrow neck, and emerges from the other end larger than it was when it went in.
  
  > E,N,U,W
  A straight white light comes through the hole in the ceiling, but it is soon after twisted and bent: mirrors cast it from angle to angle; crystal divides it; glass stains it.
  
  East and west, low corridors lead into shadow.
  
  The silvery door to the north stands open.
  
  Tower, Bottom
  You stand at the bottom of a stone tower. Doorways open in each of the cardinal directions, except for the north; there, a spacious niche contains the statue of a woman, skillfully executed in white marble.
  
  The center of the room is occupied by a spiral staircase, but one made of such slender and delicate supports that it obscures neither light nor view.
  
  The silvery door to the south stands open.
  
  Tower, Mid-level
  A midpoint in the tower, with doorways east and west, lit from above. The south wall is occupied by a deep niche, in which is a statue of a young man in the Greek mode.
  
  The walls have been sheathed with a variety of fine materials, all exceptionally costly: sheets of beaten gold, squares of lapis lazuli, placards of ruby and adamant.
  
  You stand in the center of a dim room, lit from above by a piercing light. Evidently there is another room above you, but the brilliance of its illumination makes it impossible for you to perceive anything up there.
  
  The center of the room is occupied by a bulky expandable staircase.
  
  > put the lens in the slot
  The magnifying glass slides into the slot with a satisfying click, bringing the light into sharp focus inside the oven.
  
  > look in the oven
  The oven is empty.
  
  > examine the staircase
  The staircase is currently folded down, but there appears to be machinery for raising it. The accessible parts of this consist of a boiler full of water, an open oven beneath, and a brass button.
  
  Mounted in a special slot in the side of the oven is a large magnifying glass, which focuses the light from above into a single blazing point inside the oven itself.
  
  > K button
  Unlikely that would achieve anything.
  
  > Examine button
  It is a fairly ordinary-seeming button.
  
  > take yarn
  Taken.
  
  > wear the dress
  You slip the rough cloth back over your head.
  
  > E,D,S,E
  Tower, Mid-level
  A midpoint in the tower, with doorways east and west, lit from above. The south wall is occupied by a deep niche, in which is a statue of a young man in the Greek mode.
  
  The walls have been sheathed with a variety of fine materials, all exceptionally costly: sheets of beaten gold, squares of lapis lazuli, placards of ruby and adamant.
  
  Tower, Bottom
  You stand at the bottom of a stone tower. Doorways open in each of the cardinal directions, except for the north; there, a spacious niche contains the statue of a woman, skillfully executed in white marble.
  
  The center of the room is occupied by a spiral staircase, but one made of such slender and delicate supports that it obscures neither light nor view.
  
  The silvery door to the south stands open.
  
  A straight white light comes through the hole in the ceiling, but it is soon after twisted and bent: mirrors cast it from angle to angle; crystal divides it; glass stains it.
  
  East and west, low corridors lead into shadow.
  
  The silvery door to the north stands open.
  
  An orchard of glass trees: trunks slender and orderly as the columns of the Alhambra, foliage iridescent and frail. No wind stirs, and yet, from time to time, a leaf casts free of its branch and drifts to the ground. The whole floor of the cavern is deep with them.
  
  At the center of this is a clearing where a monstrous furnace stands -- shaped like a coiled dragon.
  
  > Inventory
  You are carrying:
  a ball of yarn
  a tube (enlarged and made of metal)
  a vellum scroll
  a delicate key (enlarged and made of metal) (which opens the
  silvered door)
  a rock
  a workbox
  a needle
  a brown dress (being worn)
  a ring (being worn)
  some slippers (being worn)
  
  > take the dress
  You already have that.
  
  > put the dress in the furnace
  You put the brown dress into the furnace.
  
  > turn the dial to 3
  You turn the dial to 3.
  
  > turn the dial to 1
  You turn the dial to 1.
  
  > look at the dress
  An effigy of your dress, executed in wood, with a fine detailing of folds and hems and even the grain of the original cloth.
  
  > W,N,U,W
  A straight white light comes through the hole in the ceiling, but it is soon after twisted and bent: mirrors cast it from angle to angle; crystal divides it; glass stains it.
  
  East and west, low corridors lead into shadow.
  
  The silvery door to the north stands open.
  
  Tower, Bottom
  You stand at the bottom of a stone tower. Doorways open in each of the cardinal directions, except for the north; there, a spacious niche contains the statue of a woman, skillfully executed in white marble.
  
  The center of the room is occupied by a spiral staircase, but one made of such slender and delicate supports that it obscures neither light nor view.
  
  The silvery door to the south stands open.
  
  Tower, Mid-level
  A midpoint in the tower, with doorways east and west, lit from above. The south wall is occupied by a deep niche, in which is a statue of a young man in the Greek mode.
  
  The walls have been sheathed with a variety of fine materials, all exceptionally costly: sheets of beaten gold, squares of lapis lazuli, placards of ruby and adamant.
  
  From somewhere nearby comes a low rumbling.
  
  You stand in the center of a dim room, lit from above by a piercing light. Evidently there is another room above you, but the brilliance of its illumination makes it impossible for you to perceive anything up there.
  
  The center of the room is occupied by a bulky expandable staircase.
  
  > put the dress in the oven
  Under the bright spot of the magnifying glass, the wood dress begins to smolder and then to burn. After a few minutes, the water boils. There is a hiss and clank from within the machine, and the button in front begins to glow.
  
  > hit the button with the tube
  Unlikely that would achieve anything.
  
  The steam is recondensing in the boiler.