text: [Themes: Science Fiction]
  
  > Look around
  The coffee nook was nothing more than a recessed counter top with a sink, providing easy access from the Northern boardroom. The office coffeemaker rested on the counter, cradling the coffeepot.
  
  From the boardroom I could hear one of the two investors ask a question. Malcolm murmured a vague reply, and cleared his throat in a private, unspoken inquiry as to my well-being.
  
  > put the mug on the counter
  I put the coffee mug on the counter.
  
  "The Petrian device is really something of a..." I could hear Malcolm beginning one of his sales pitches. They weren't too bad, but they weren't what investors wanted to hear. It was apparent that he was stalling until I came back before delving into the details.
  
  > go to the north
  The boardroom was elegant and lavish. The East wall was comprised of windows framing a scenic view of the cityscape. Light shined through, distilled by tinting, and illuminated the room's centerpiece, a large marble table. A windowed wall and door exhibited the hall to the West. To the South was a small coffee bar.
  
  Two investors sat at one end of the table, their backs to the windowed door and hall.
  
  On the marble table was a cage (which was closed).
  
  Malcolm, dressed in the sleek office attire he wore on such occasions, sat at the head of the table; a deep concern for me shown on his face.
  
  "It is real?" asked one of the two men. He was holding the life-sized statuette of a turtle in his hands. The other man looked at it over his shoulder. Both seemed to be scrutinizing it for some flaw.
  
  "Yes," responded Malcolm with a chuckle. "It is as real as this one." Malcolm pulled the cloth from the cage, revealing the kitten within. It had been sleeping, but awoke at the light. The kitten began to mew as Malcolm opened the cage and reached for it.
  
  > examine the kitten
  The fluffy white kitten mewed happily.
  
  Both men's eyes widened as Malcolm attached the Petrian device's electrode to the purring kitten's paw. It began to lick his right hand and he stroked the kitten playfully. In his left hand, he held the Petrian device.
  
  "Will it hurt?" the first man asked with a mixed expression of horror and fascination.
  
  "Not at all," replied Malcolm smiling. "The effect is instantaneous. The kitten will experience no sensation and will be unaware even of the passage of time."
  
  "How much time?" asked the second man.
  
  "Whatever we choose," replied Malcolm. "For this example, I've set the device for thirty days. I could just as easily have set it for thirty millennia."
  
  > look at the device
  It was partially obscured as Malcolm held it, but I had seen it many times. I did, after all, help invent it. There was one more, partially damaged but still functioning in the testing lab. I had plans for that one. It was small, about the size and shape of a portable stereo.
  
  Malcolm moved his hand from the kitten to the Petrian device. The kitten jumped playfully and tried to pursue his hand.
  
  Then Malcolm pushed the button and the kitten froze, turning instantly to a colorless grey stone material. It fell off the table, having been frozen in mid leap, and made a loud noise as it hit the floor. The two men gasped at the fallen kitten, paying no attention to the electrode which automatically retracted to the device.
  
  Malcolm reached down and picked the newly created statuette up from the floor and set it on the table. "If you have any questions," said Malcolm with a smug smile. "Dr. Philbrook and I will try to answer them as best we can."
  
  For a moment, both men were speechless. They looked at the stoned kitten -- a newly created eikon -- with obvious wonder. It was always the same with these investors. This was the calm before the storm of questions.
  
  > look at the kitten
  The kitten, neither fluffy nor white any longer appeared to be a small statue chiseled out of stone, a petra-eikon.
  
  "Can you bring the kitten out of this stoned state early?" one of the investors asked Malcolm.
  
  He shook his head. "Once the Petrian energy imbues the subject, it dissipates at a constant rate. We've had no success at either speeding up or prolonging its effect."
  
  As he spoke these words I realized that they weren't entirely true, but he didn't know yet. I had meant to tell him when I first made the breakthrough... but that had been just three weeks ago. All meaning in my life had been taken from me the very next day.
  
  > examine the investors
  Wearing almost identical black suits, the men were as two peas in a pod. I had participated in dozens of meetings exactly like this, and the investors were always the same. Karen and I used to joke that there was a cloning laboratory somewhere from which all investors came. I smiled at the fond memory of us joking, then winced at the pain of the realization that there would be no more of that happiness.
  
  "And prolonging? What about trying to stone a statue that's already stoned?" The man looked at Malcolm, a curious expression on his face.
  
  "No," He answered. "In the Petrian state, the subject no longer exhibits any of the qualities of organic matter and the process only affects the living."
  
  > ask the inventors about the petrian state
  (Asking investors)
  "I don't know anything about that," The investors said.
  
  One of the men looked at me with a quizzical expression. "It only affects living matter?"
  
  Suddenly the ache in my heart was too extreme. I could not endure this meaningless drivel which was once so important to me. An urgent desire to leave came over me.
  
  > Ms.
  Boardroom              Dr. Marcus Philbrook               [MSpk] 27 Press X to exit
  >I believe I have discovered a way to revive... [Malcolm]<
  Yes, and minimal inorganic material.
  Please excuse me.
  
  > go south
  On the counter was a coffee mug (which was empty).