text: [Themes: Surreal]
  
  > take the syringe
  Taken.
  
  Dr. John notices you during a pause between breaths. "Thanks," he says. "We have it under control." Breath. "You can go." Then his attention is focussed on the woman. "Pulse back, breathing again. 60 mg lidocaine." Two of the faceless doctors usher you, not unkindly, through the door. As you leave, the door closes behind you, snicking shut.
  
  Two doors, a closed one on the north wall and one on the south,
  flank this east-west hall. A sign hangs from the ceiling to the west.
  
  > Inventory
  You have a white cane, a pair of gloves (being worn), a pair of sunglasses (being worn), a hall pass, a rucksack, some dust, and a syringe. The rucksack seems to contain a fool, a tuft of insulation, a length of rope, a dark sphere, a light sphere, and a thin coat.
  
  > enter the gap
  The space is much too small for you.
  
  > examine the chairs
  Plastic chairs, grouped in small sets of three or four. They are surprisingly empty; when you worked here, they were always in use. Magazines decorate a few of them.
  
  Bubbles's tail hits the ground softly.
  
  > Hello
  "Bark! Bark!"
  
  > look at the speaker
  When you first worked here, only muzak issued from the speaker. Now, however, it is playing songs in their original versions.
  
  > go north
  The corridors of the hospital join in a T-junction. The arms of the
  T lie east and west, while the base runs south. A pair of swinging doors crowns the top of the T, to the north. Over the east corridor is a sign.
  
  Bubbles comes trotting after you.
  
  A faceless man in blue scrubs appears from further down the hall. He starts to walk past, then pulls up short next to Bubbles. He turns his head towards you, then ushers Bubbles to the south.
  
  A group of doctors and interns appears in the hall, headed towards you. They, too, are faceless. Their heads nearly touch; they are obviously in conference, though you can hear nothing. They pass you and are gone.
  
  > Go north
  The doors will not budge for you. As you push harder, a squirt of grey smoke escapes from behind them.
  
  > Go west
  You push past the doors, which shut behind you on Linda's startled exclamation.
  
  The hall jogs west to north, interrupted by several stairs to the north. A sign hangs from the ceiling to the west, delineating where the stripe of color changes from purple to green. A set of doors leads east.
  
  Bubbles comes trotting after you.
  
  A faceless man in blue scrubs appears from further down the hall. He starts to walk past, then pulls up short next to Bubbles. He turns his head towards you, then ushers Bubbles to the north.
  
  > tie the rope to Bubbles
  You must be holding the rope in your hands before you can tie it to anything.
  
  > tie the rope to Bubbles
  You tie the rope to Bubbles. Bubbles wriggles a bit, but submits to being leashed.
  
  > Go west
  You push past the doors, which shut behind you on Linda's startled exclamation.
  
  The hall jogs west to north, interrupted by several stairs to the north. A sign hangs from the ceiling to the west, delineating where the stripe of color changes from purple to green. A set of doors leads east.
  
  Bubbles is dragged behind you.
  
  A faceless man in blue scrubs appears from further down the hall. He starts to walk past, then pulls up short next to Bubbles. He looks as if he is about to take action, but then he notices your sunglasses and cane. Realizing what has happened, you inspiredly begin tapping the cane on the ground. The man, satisfied, continues on his way.
  
  > get the vial
  Bubbles looks at you for a moment, then begins wiggling into the space between crates. Shortly after its tail has vanished into the space you hear excited barking, followed by the reemergence of Bubbles. Bubbles then trots to you and drops the glass vial at your feet.
  
  Bubbles strains at the rope, then stares back at you.
  
  > take the vial
  Taken.
  
  A section of the air just above your head shimmers. A small pyramid falls from the disturbance to the ground below.
  
  > take the pyramid
  The pyramid begins glowing softly. It unfolds like a flower and a feminine voice issues from it, saying, "Oh!" The voice is fainter than before. "Dr. Boozer! In here, behind the crates!" When the light dies down, the pyramid is gone.
  
  > Inventory
  You have a white cane, a pair of gloves (being worn), a pair of sunglasses (being worn), a hall pass, a rucksack, some dust, a syringe, a length of rope (tied to Bubbles), and a glass vial. The rucksack seems to contain a fool, a tuft of insulation, a dark sphere, a light sphere, and a thin coat.
  
  > put all in rucksack
  fool: You cannot put the fool anywhere without holding it.
  tuft of insulation: You cannot put the tuft of insulation anywhere without holding it.
  dark sphere: You cannot put the dark sphere anywhere without holding it.
  light sphere: You cannot put the light sphere anywhere without holding it.
  thin coat: You cannot put the thin coat anywhere without holding it. white cane: Done.
  heavy gloves: (Taking off the gloves first)
  Done.
  sunglasses: (Taking off the sunglasses first)
  Done.
  hall pass: Done.
  dust: Done.
  syringe: You refrain for fear of snapping off the end of the needle. rope: Not while the rope is tied to anything.
  glass vial: Done.
  
  Bubbles strains at the rope, then stares back at you.
  
  > untie the rope
  You untie the rope.
  
  > go to the south
  A nondescript hall leading east to northwest. To the north is an
  open doorway. The ever-present stripe changes color to the east, just beyond a sign.
  
  Bubbles comes trotting after you.
  
  A group of doctors and interns appears in the hall, headed towards you. They, too, are faceless. Their heads nearly touch; they are obviously in conference, though you can hear nothing. They pass you and are gone.
  
  > go east
  The hall jogs west to north, interrupted by several stairs to the north. A sign hangs from the ceiling to the west, delineating where the stripe of color changes from purple to green. A set of doors leads east.
  
  Bubbles comes trotting after you.
  
  A faceless man in blue scrubs appears from further down the hall. He starts to walk past, then pulls up short next to Bubbles. He turns his head towards you, then ushers Bubbles to the north.
  
  > follow you
  Bubbles gets up and trots over to you.
  
  > check your inventory
  You have a syringe and a glass vial.
  
  > inject the hand with syringe
  You stick the syringe into your hand and depress the plunger. A shock of cold runs through you as your hand grows numb.
  
  > take the globe
  You pick up the globe with your numbed hand. Your fingers feel warm, but the novocaine blocks any pain.
  
  > examine the globe
  Its borders are nebulous; it gives off a faint glow.
  
  > give the globe to the man
  When you press the globe to the man's chest, his eyes snap open. The glow suffuses his face and he smiles, revealing gaps once inhabited by teeth. The glow fades, leaving behind a lead sphere. The man's muscles relax, allowing the sphere to fall to the floor. His whole face sags; his breathing stops.
  
  Numbness begins creeping up your arm. You look down to find your hand turning black, beginning to suppurate. Horror, you think, I should be feeling horror. But you are as numb to your growing disfigurement as your hand is to pain.
  
  > examine sphere
  A dull lead sphere, devoid of any distinguishing marks.
  
  Your hand cracks and bleeds, the white pus running from it turning red. You stumble back against a wall, holding your arm away from you. You close your eyes against the sight, amazed that you still feel no pain. Then you make the mistake of trying to flex your hand.
  
  Pain, unending pain, until you can bear no more, until...
  
  The ceiling above you looms, fluorescent lights glaring down at you. You've been strapped to a gurney and reattached to monitors. Ambulance workers run alongside you, occasionally bending over to check your condition. Your ill-fated IV has been brought along for the ride, its needle bouncing against your hand from time to time.
  
  > look at IV
  It has been attached to the gurney, most likely for the hospital staff to analyze the drug.
  
  One of the workers bends down and shines a light in your left eye.
  Your reflexive blink seems to take forever.
  
  > look
  You've been strapped down on a gurney and covered in a blanket.
  Around you, ambulance workers run along side, guiding you to the ambulance. Your IV is attached to the side of the gurney, the needle occasionally bouncing against your hand.
  
  > look at IV
  It has been attached to the gurney, most likely for the hospital staff to analyze the drug.
  
  Two of the medical workers confer over your head, their lips moving slowly. No sound reaches you.
  
  > look at the blanket
  It covers you, keeping you uncomfortably warm.
  
  Ahead of you, the clinic exit creeps closer.
  
  > put the needle in the arm
  You can't reach your arm to put the needle in it.
  
  You are wheeled outside and into an ambulance, its roof cutting off the light of the sun. Blackness descends, and you fall into a dreamless sleep.
  
  --=== Your journey is over ===--
  
  You have achieved a score of 33 points out of a possible 100.
  
  You may restore a saved game, start over, quit, or undo the current command.
  
  > put the needle in the hand
  By a series of excruciating contortions, you can just reach the needle and jab it in your hand. The familiar waves of heat and cold race through your body. The lights overhead approach and recede, light and dark, light and dark, blending into...
  
  Fit the Third: Renascence
  
  "When I was a child/I caught a fleeting glimpse
  Out of the corner of my eye"
  -- Pink Floyd
  
  You are lying on your bed, staring up at the ceiling. The sun
  streams through the window blinds and falls in stripes across your face.
  
  But it's not the bed in your apartment. It's your childhood bedroom, upstairs in the house you lived in until shortly after your Mom died.
  
  Judging from the room's neatness, your Mom must have died not too long ago; you remember cleaning your room compulsively after she died in the hopes that it would bring her back. You also remember being sent to your room this day for some unexplained infraction of your father's rules.
  
  Your dresser leans against the north wall and a closed door leads east. There is a window in the west wall.
  Sitting on the dresser you see a book of mythology and a book of faeries.
  
  > About yourself
  What you can see of yourself is familiar.
  
  > check what you're carrying
  You are empty-handed.
  
  > examine the mythology
  In the third grade you became enamored with Greek mythology, scouring the 000-010 section of your school library. This book by Edith Hamilton is a remnant of that time.
  
  > look at the faeries
  Shortly after your interest in mythology waned, you became interested in faeries. At this age your nascent research had not yet taken over the top of your dresser, as this lone oversized book can attest.
  
  > read the mythology
  You flip through the book, remembering different stories which caught your attention: Perseus and Medusa, the rivers lethe and mnemosyne, Zeus visiting Leda in the guise of a swan.
  
  > read the faeries
  As you skim through the book, several facts jump out: how faeries are driven away by church bells, how they change homes on Quarter Days, how you shouldn't eat faerie food, how a four-leaf clover will let you see them.
  
  > open the dresser
  You pull open a few drawers and look at the rows of neatly-folded clothes before closing the drawers once more.
  
  > examine the window
  The window is closed and looks out on the rolling hills behind your house; without looking directly through the window, the details are hard to make out. You can just see your backyard one story beneath you.
  
  > look in the window
  It's closed.
  
  > take the books
  book of mythology: Taken.
  book of faeries: Taken.
  
  > look through the window
  You see the hills behind your house and your backyard. Your father called that region "Big Country," and he used to tell you stories of heroes who walked Big Country in search of adventures. Though he stopped telling you those stories after your mom died, the dreams stay with you.
  
  > go to the west
  The fall would kill you.
  
  > take the sheet
  You pull the bedsheet free, unmaking the bed in the process.
  
  > look at the bed
  The bed was large enough for you through your tenth birthday. It has been unmade and its bedsheet removed.
  
  > Tie sheet to bed
  You loop the sheet around your bed and tie it.
  
  > examine the door
  It is closed.
  
  > open the door
  Your father would see you come out of your room if you left via this door, and the punishment to follow would be painful.
  
  > climb out the window
  You realize that it is impossible to hold onto the bedsheet and anything as large as the oversized books at the same time if you intend to reach the ground safely.
  
  > drop the books
  book of mythology: Dropped.
  book of faeries: Dropped.
  
  > throw it through the window
  You throw the book of mythology through the window. It vanishes to the ground below.
  
  > throw it through the window
  You throw the book of faeries through the window. It vanishes to the ground below.
  
  > climb out the window
  You grab hold of the bedsheet tightly and lower yourself out the open window. You shimmy down the sheet, old skills returning. A few feet above the ground your sheet runs out, but the shock of the drop is easily absorbed by your young legs.
  
  The backyard ends to the south and west in a chain-link fence which fetches up against your house. Grass covers the ground in a remarkably even carpet.
  You see a book of mythology and a book of faeries here.
  
  > take the books
  book of mythology: Taken.
  book of faeries: Taken.
  
  > search the grass
  There is too much of it for you to search indiscriminately.
  
  > examine the grass
  It thickly covers the ground. A rogue patch of clover has established a beachhead in the sea of grass. Your father will no doubt rip it out at the first opportunity, restoring the backyard to its former glory.
  
  > look at the clover
  The patch of clover huddles together in solidarity against the encroaching grass.
  
  > search the clover
  You get on hands and knees and begin carefully examining each clover individually. After a moment you are rewarded with a pristine four-leaf clover, which you take.
  
  > look at the faeries
  Shortly after your interest in mythology waned, you became interested in faeries. At this age your nascent research had not yet taken over the top of your dresser, as this lone oversized book can attest.
  
  > look
  The backyard ends to the south and west in a chain-link fence which fetches up against your house. Grass covers the ground in a remarkably even carpet.
  
  > Go east
  The house is in the way.
  
  > check what you're carrying
  You have a book of mythology, a book of faeries, and a four-leaf clover.
  
  > Go north
  The fence paces you to the west, then angles north to block further progress. To the east is the old tool shed your father built. The thick mat of grass leads back south.
  
  From somewhere around your feet you hear a tiny voice pipe up: "Top o' the mornin' to ya!" You look down and see a small faerie just on this side of the fence. He is joined by two others, though you can't see where they came from.
  
  One of the others replies, "And the rest of the day to yerself!"
  
  > examine the faerie
  Which faerie do you mean, the book of faeries, or the small faeries?
  
  > examine small faeries
  There are three of them, small faeries with gnarled faces and red stubbly beards.
  
  > Hi
  The faeries do not notice you.
  
  From the house you hear, "Terry! TERRY!"
  
  Your father. He's found your open window.
  
  > Exits
  You can go south and east.