text: [Themes: Humor, Zorkian, grue]
  
  > descend
  I'm in what must be the basement of the factory. The walls and
  floor are made of concrete, and the ceiling is covered with pipes and ventilation ducts. Large metal light fixtures hang down at regular intervals, but they're all turned off. Only my little flashlight makes a pool of light in the middle of the room. There is a thick layer of dust on the floor. Otherwise, the room is completely empty.
  
  Open doorways lead south and east. A metal staircase attached to the north wall leads upward.
  
  Out of the corner of my eye, I catch a glimpse of movement through one of the doorways. I spin around and shine the flashlight through it, but there's nothing there. Maybe it was just my imagination playing tricks on me?
  
  > go south
  This is the oddest room. Well, the room itself is ordinary enough
  - more concrete, more pipes, doorways leading east and north. It looks like this was once a storeroom. I can see discolored patches on the walls and floor where large boxes must have sat for a long time.
  
  It's the current contents of the room that are strange. No boxes or furniture anymore, just a huge pile of... stuff... in the middle of the floor. It's a mass of all sorts of odds and ends: scraps of cloth, old phone books, broken mattresses, and who knows what else.
  It looks like a giant rat's nest. The strange musty smell that fills the basement is stronger here, like it was coming from this pile.
  
  > examine nest
  Holding my nose, I move carefully toward the strange pile of stuff. I can see it better up close. There are old pieces of clothing, shirts and jackets and such, all torn and stained. There are lots of sheets, blankets, even a sleeping bag. There's a large rubber ball, like one you'd play with at the beach. And something that looks like...
  
  Oh my...
  
  several large bones. Some of them with bits of meat still on them.
  
  > examine the bones
  Please, don't make me go any closer. I don't like this place. I don't know what it is, but I want to leave. Please...
  
  > Go east
  Another basement room, just like the others. This one isn't quite empty: a tall metal filing cabinet stands against one wall. Doorways lead north and west.
  
  > examine the cabinet
  It's an ordinary looking metal filing cabinet. It has five drawers, all of which are currently closed.
  
  Again, I see movement through the doorway. I'm sure of it this time. Something large and dark, moving slowly toward me. But again, when I shine the flashlight, there's nothing there. I don't like this place, I'm scared, I want to go home...
  
  > open the cabinet
  I try each of the drawers in turn. All of them are locked except the third one, which slides open easily. It is filled with papers.
  
  > examine papers
  I flip through the papers and select one at random. It's something from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. I guess it must be a patent. It's entitled, "A Device for Locomotion Through the Conversion of Rotary to Linear Motion." Huh?
  
  > look at the papers
  I flip through the papers and select one at random. It's a brochure from the Society to Ban Hydrogen Hydroxide. It says that hydrogen hydroxide is a pollutant which is created as a side effect of many industrial processes. It can be harmful or even fatal if ingested in sufficiently large quantities, and is a major component of acid rain. In spite of this, it is completely unregulated, and many factories just dump it into the environment! It has been detected in many streams, rivers, and lakes, and may even be getting into the drinking water supply. This is really scary stuff. And I'd never even heard of it!
  
  > examine papers
  I flip through the papers and select one at random. It looks like another patent. "A Method for the Production of Energy in Biological Systems Through the Decomposition of Simple Sugars." This stuff is really weird.
  
  > look at the papers
  I flip through the papers and select one at random. It's a thick packet of photocopied pages that look like they're from an old book: "The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter." I flip through a few pages, but I can't make head or tail of it. It reads kind of like poetry, but not really, and mostly it just sounds like someone was writing nonsense.
  
  > examine papers
  I flip through the papers and select one at random. This one's another brochure: "My Life as a Governess: A Witch's Guide to Controlling Children and Other Pests," by Silvia Daisy Pouncer. Since I don't have children, I'm not very interested in things like this.
  
  > Go north
  Basement, with Telephone
  This is another room, just like the last one. There are doorways leading west and south. The room is almost completely empty, except for one thing: sitting right in the center of the concrete floor is a little table, the sort of fancy table made from curved pieces of wood that you find in antique stores. And on top of the table is a telephone.
  
  > examine the Telephone
  How strange. There's no buttons, no dial, nothing. Just a handset sitting on a cradle, and a blank area where the buttons ought to be.
  I pick up the handset and listen to it. Instead of a dial tone, I hear a phone ringing on the other end. I let it ring several times, but no one answers, so I put it back.
  
  > examine table
  It's a little wooden table. The feet are shaped like claws holding balls, and the legs are carved to look like they're covered with flowers. I have no idea what this thing is doing here. I can hardly imagine anywhere that it would look more out of place. I don't understand anything that's going on.
  
  There it is again, movement through the doorway, but it disappears before I can shine the flashlight on it.
  
  > Go west
  I'm in what must be the basement of the factory. The walls and
  floor are made of concrete, and the ceiling is covered with pipes and ventilation ducts. Large metal light fixtures hang down at regular intervals, but they're all turned off. Only my little flashlight makes a pool of light in the middle of the room. There is a thick layer of dust on the floor. Otherwise, the room is completely empty.
  
  Open doorways lead south and east. A metal staircase attached to the north wall leads upward.
  
  > Inventory
  I have clean pants (being worn), clean socks (being worn), clean underwear (being worn), a clean shirt (being worn), a pair of shoes (being worn), a coat (being worn), a wristwatch (being worn), a wallet, keys, a flashlight (providing light), a broom, a uniform (being worn), a newspaper, a lunchbox, and a plastic card. The coat pocket seems to contain a book of famous quotations. The lunchbox seems to contain a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
  
  > examine wristwatch
  One of my proudest possessions. This wristwatch is water-proof, shock-proof, and heat-proof, with alarm, stopwatch, countdown timer, memory for 24 phone numbers, and built in compass and thermometer. I don't usually care about knowing the time that much, but it sure looks cool.
  
  > turn off the flashlight
  I turn off the flashlight, and immediately I'm plunged into darkness.
  
  > Wait
  Time passes...
  
  > wait
  Time passes...
  
  I just heard something. Or did I? A sort of muffled thump? I can't really tell. This place echoes strangely, and all my own sounds come back to me in odd ways.
  
  > Wait
  Time passes...
  
  I definitely heard something. Sort of a quiet scratching sound. I'm not sure which way it came from, but it definitely wasn't me. Where am I? What is this place?
  
  > wait
  Time passes...
  
  The sound is coming closer! There's something down here with me, and it's coming toward me! Help, please, get me out of here. There's something down here and I don't know what it is, but I'm really scared and I want to get out of here. Please help me...
  
  > Wait
  Time passes...
  
  Aaaiiiiieeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!
  
  > put the flashlight in the nest
  I don't want to leave it just lying around. It might get lost.
  
  Out of the corner of my eye, I catch a glimpse of movement through one of the doorways. I spin around and shine the flashlight through it, but there's nothing there. Maybe it was just my imagination playing tricks on me?
  
  > Go east
  Another basement room, just like the others. This one isn't quite empty: a tall metal filing cabinet stands against one wall. Doorways lead north and west.
  
  > look at the cabinet
  It's an ordinary looking metal filing cabinet. It has five drawers, of which the third one is currently open. It is filled with papers.
  
  > open the drawers
  The filing cabinet is already open!
  
  > look at the box
  It's a small metal box, attached to the wall. It is currently closed.
  
  Again, I see movement through the doorway. I'm sure of it this time. Something large and dark, moving slowly toward me. But again, when I shine the flashlight, there's nothing there. I don't like this place, I'm scared, I want to go home...
  
  > open it
  I open the box, revealing a circuit breaker switch.
  
  > turn off the flashlight
  I turn off the flashlight, and immediately I'm plunged into darkness.
  
  > Examine box
  It's a small metal box, attached to the wall. It is currently open, revealing a circuit breaker.
  
  > examine the lights
  The lights are spaced along the ceiling every ten feet or so. They're held in round metal reflectors that hang down about five feet from the ceiling to get below all the pipes and stuff.
  
  > look at the pipes
  I can barely see most of the ceiling, since it's hidden in shadow behind all the pipes and ducts hanging down from it. The shadows wiggle strangely as I move the flashlight back and forth. Almost as if there were something up there...
  
  > look at the breaker
  Inside the box is a circuit breaker switch. It is currently on.
  
  > go to the north
  Basement, with Telephone
  This is another room, just like the last one. There are doorways leading west and south. The room is almost completely empty, except for one thing: sitting right in the center of the concrete floor is a little table, the sort of fancy table made from curved pieces of wood that you find in antique stores. And on top of the table is a telephone.
  
  There it is again, movement through the doorway, but it disappears before I can shine the flashlight on it.
  
  > Examine book
  This is my guide in life. More than 10,000 quotations by the greatest, most intelligent people in history. I really can't imagine life without it. Anything important that's ever been said, I can find it in here.
  
  Not many people know this about me, but I was adopted. I don't know who my real parents were. I was just left on the doorstep of an orphanage with nothing but a change of diapers and this book of quotations. So I guess it won't surprise you that I've always thought of this book as my parents' voice. I've tried to live my life by it. When I've got to make any big decision, I always look here first, and I always find something that tells me what to do.
  
  > read it
  I flip through the book of quotations and pick one at random. G.K. Chesterton: "An inconvenience is only an adventure wrongly considered; an adventure is an inconvenience rightly considered."
  
  > read it
  I flip through the book of quotations and pick one at random. Samuel Johnson: "Curiosity is one of the permanent and certain characteristics of a vigorous mind."
  
  > read it
  I flip through the book of quotations and pick one at random. H.P. Lovecraft: "The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the human mind to correlate all its contents."
  
  > examine the walls
  The walls are made of concrete. I don't see anything interesting about them.
  
  > go east
  Another basement room, just like the others. This one isn't quite empty: a tall metal filing cabinet stands against one wall. A small metal box, previously hidden by the cabinet, is mounted on the wall. Doorways lead north and west.
  
  > climb the cabinet
  It's too tall for me to climb on top of, and I think it might tip over if I tried.
  
  There it is again, movement through the doorway, but it disappears before I can shine the flashlight on it.
  
  > Go north
  Basement, with Telephone
  This is another room, just like the last one. There are doorways leading west and south. The room is almost completely empty, except for one thing: sitting right in the center of the concrete floor is a little table, the sort of fancy table made from curved pieces of wood that you find in antique stores. And on top of the table is a telephone.
  
  > climb the table
  It's too small for me to stand on top of.
  
  > jump
  Wheeee!
  
  > look at the dust
  The concrete floor is covered with a thick layer of dust. It looks like it hasn't been cleaned in ages. There are strange patterns in the dust - long trails like objects have been dragged along the floor, and smaller streaks, and blotches that look almost like footprints but not quite.
  
  > turn on the switch
  It's already turned on!
  
  > switch the switch
  It's pitch black.
  
  > turn on the switch
  I flip the switch on the circuit breaker. At first I don't think anything's going to happen. Then I hear a quiet hum, and a moment later I'm blinded as all the lights in the basement suddenly come on.
  
  At the same moment a deafening sound echoes through the room, something half way between an animal roar and a scream. It's followed by a series of banging sounds, first dull ones, then ringing ones of something pounding against metal. Then there's a crash like something shattering. I hear a few more quiet screams vanishing into the distance, and then silence.
  
  I'm sorry. What just happened?