text: [Themes: Science Fiction, escape, alien world, money, nonhuman antagonists, violence]
  
  > Look around
  Rows of seats descend towards a raised stage. A pair of cages stand on the stage, surrounded by machinery that crackles with electricity.
  
  Dr. Sliss stands on the stage, trying to lecture on matter transmission theory.
  
  An audience of gentlemen in top hats chatter loudly amongst themselves, mostly about "the lizard woman".
  
  Dr. Sliss tries to be heard over the hubbub. "-distant worlds-"
  
  > get in the cage
  Dr. Sliss is too busy trying to hold the audience's attention. She just gestures for you to get on the stage.
  
  Dr. Sliss gestures frantically for you to get on the stage.
  
  > remove the hat
  Be seen out hatless?! Ladies would faint to see such brazen nudity.
  
  Dr. Sliss tries to be heard over the hubbub. "-matter and energy become interchangeable-"
  
  > turn off the machinery
  That isn't something you can turn off.
  
  Dr. Sliss gestures frantically for you to get on the stage.
  
  > examine machinery
  A bizarre mishmash of primitive technology hammered into something that throbbs and crackles with Dr. Sliss' otherworldly knowledge.
  
  Dr. Sliss tries to be heard over the hubbub. "-considerable power drain-"
  
  > talk to the gentlemen
  You can't get a word in edgewise.
  
  Dr. Sliss gestures frantically for you to get on the stage.
  
  > Kiss sliss
  Dr. Sliss probably wouldn't like that.
  
  Dr. Sliss tries to be heard over the hubbub. "-alternate timelines-"
  
  > kill Sliss
  You cannot attack her.
  
  Dr. Sliss gestures frantically for you to get on the stage.
  
  > take the cages
  cage: You can't take that.
  
  cage: You can't take that.
  
  Dr. Sliss tries to be heard over the hubbub. "-curved spacetime-"
  
  > Break machinery
  Breaking that would serve no purpose.
  
  Dr. Sliss gestures frantically for you to get on the stage.
  
  > check your inventory
  You are carrying nothing, and are wearing a top hat and a three-piece suit.
  
  Dr. Sliss tries to be heard over the hubbub. "-asteroid-"
  
  > look under the stage
  You see nothing unusual under the stage.
  
  Dr. Sliss gestures frantically for you to get on the stage.
  
  > enter the cage
  (first standing on the stage)
  Okay, you're now standing in the cage.
  
  Dr. Sliss sighs with relief and shoots you a grateful smile.
  
  "My loyal assistant," Dr. Sliss yells at the disinterested crowd, "will now demonstrate the practical application of the theory I've discussed."
  
  She works the controls of her machinery. The cages begin to pop and ripple. You experience a familiar sensation, and then a blinding flash.
  
  You appear in the opposite cage with a resounding pop. The audience stares at the stage open-mouthed.
  
  "Gentlemen," Dr. Sliss says, with a predatory smile, "I know that in your eyes I am a mere reptile - and worse still: a woman. But what would you say if I offered you the untold riches of alternate worlds?"
  
  > Kiss sliss
  Dr. Sliss probably wouldn't like that.
  
  > look
  Rows of seats descend towards a raised stage. A pair of cages stand on the stage, surrounded by machinery that crackles with electricity.
  
  Dr. Sliss stands on the stage, trying to lecture on matter transmission theory.
  
  An audience of gentlemen in top hats chatter loudly amongst themselves, mostly about "the lizard woman".
  
  Dr. Sliss tries to be heard over the hubbub. "-more advanced civilisations-"
  
  > throw hat
  What do you want to throw it at?
  
  > Sliss
  (first taking off the top hat)
  You miss. The top hat hits the ground.
  
  Dr. Sliss gestures frantically for you to get on the stage.
  
  > throw the suit at Sliss
  (first trying to take off the three-piece suit)
  It's a cold and uncaring Multiverse out there to be running around naked.
  
  Dr. Sliss tries to be heard over the hubbub. "-wormholes-"
  
  > examine the hat
  You'd think a world with headwear like this would have taller doorways.
  
  Dr. Sliss gestures frantically for you to get on the stage.
  
  > put the hat in the cage
  (first taking the top hat)
  Done.
  
  Dr. Sliss tries to be heard over the hubbub. "-unexpected opportunities-"
  
  > put the suit in the cage
  (first trying to take off the three-piece suit)
  It's a cold and uncaring Multiverse out there to be running around naked.
  
  Dr. Sliss gestures frantically for you to get on the stage.
  
  > sit
  What do you want to sit on?
  
  > sit on the chairs
  You take a seat in the audience and watch Dr. Sliss flounder. Gradually, the gentlemen of the Royal Academy leave to follow pursuits they consider more worthy of their time.
  
  When the theatre is empty but for you two, Dr. Sliss comes down to sit beside you. "Okay," she says. "I get it. No more matter transmission. I'll try and eke out a life on this barren rock."
  
  She points a scaly green finger at you. "But we're entering a marriage of convenience. Getting anything done on this world as a single woman is impossible."
  
  Would you like to RESTORE a saved position, RESTART the story, UNDO the last move, see your FULL SCORE, or QUIT?
  
  > accelerate
  With a thunderous roar, the afterburner kicks in. You cling to the handlebars with all your strength.
  
  "Nobody's following us?" Dr. Sliss says. "I'm almost disappointed."
  
  > accelerate
  With a thunderous roar, the afterburner kicks in. You cling to the handlebars with all your strength.
  
  With the throaty roar of a personal rocket pack, an Alliance Enforcer appears behind you.
  
  Dr Sliss readies her plasma blaster. "Me and my big mouth."
  
  > Left
  You drive briefly off-road, but the bike begins to judder uncontrollably as it lurches over uneven rocks and slippery sand.
  
  Dr. Sliss yells into your ear. "Hit the gas! We've gotta lose our new friend!"
  
  > accelerate
  With a thunderous roar, the afterburner kicks in. You cling to the handlebars with all your strength.
  
  The enforcer seems to have no trouble keeping pace with you.
  
  Dr. Sliss aims the plasma blaster and squeezes off a shot at the enforcer.
  
  > Brake
  The jet engine winds down.
  
  The enforcer, unable to slow down in time, smacks into the back of your jet bike and tumbles down onto the road in a roll.
  
  Dr. Sliss looks back for a few seconds, and then reassures you, "She's all right. That arm will regrow by itself."
  
  You hear a familiar sound - another rocket pack! This time a saurian enforcer is approaching you from behind.
  
  > accelerate
  With a thunderous roar, the afterburner kicks in. You cling to the handlebars with all your strength.
  
  The enforcer seems to have no trouble keeping pace with you.
  
  "Watch out!" Dr. Sliss shouts. "He's trying to get alongside us!"
  
  > Right
  You steer into the right lane.
  
  The enforcer sees his chance to accelerate up alongside of you.
  
  Dr. Sliss yells into your ear. "Get us out of here!"
  
  > Left
  You ram the enforcer from the side, sending him tumbling into the sand.
  
  Glancing over your shoulder you see him getting up, dusting himself off and kicking his mangled rocket pack.
  
  "That's it!" Dr. Sliss says triumphantly. "They can't have more than two rocket packs. We're home free."
  
  Along the horizon ahead you can see a row of blinking blue lights.
  
  > accelerate
  With a thunderous roar, the afterburner kicks in. You cling to the handlebars with all your strength.
  
  "Okay," Dr. Sliss says, grabbing your shoulders painfully tight.
  "Don't panic! We can punch through. Give it all you've got!"
  
  > accelerate
  With a thunderous roar, the afterburner kicks in. You cling to the handlebars with all your strength.
  
  Ahead of you, great towers rise from the desert.
  
  Dr. Sliss leans over your shoulder to point at a small and shabby tower block. "I don't like our chances of getting far into the city, but we should be able to reach my apartment. From there, well..."
  
  It's... a mess. Clothes and books are thrown haphazardly on every surface, along with circuitboards, tools and spare parts. Beneath all the clutter you can just make out a sofa and an aquarium.
  
  In the centre of the room is a small platform beneath a familiar-looking antenna.
  
  Dr. Sliss spins around, hands outstretched. "Of course you're not surprised I built one in my spare time, are you? It should be able to safely fire a couple of times. Before blowing out power across the city."
  
  (You could ask her about the exploding collar, or her plans.)
  
  > ask Sliss about her plans
  She winks. "Oh, don't worry about me. I've got somewhere nice lined up. You can come if you want. I mean, I kind of like you as a test subject - maybe even a friend. Or I can send you off somewhere by yourself and you'll never see me again."
  
  > look at the sofa
  Something about its disarray suggests that it's often slept on.
  
  The doctor looks at her aquarium. "Let me just get my..."
  
  Her shoulders slump. "Great. I forgot to fucking feed them."
  
  > look at the books
  Mostly about matter transmission theory, unsurprisingly.
  
  "Let me get that collar off you," she says, grabbing a screwdriver from a nearby surface.
  
  After a little poking and prodding, the collar drops to the floor.
  
  > stand on the platform
  Okay, you're now standing on the platform.
  
  Dr. Sliss looks around her apartment and sighs. "Well, this is it then. Do you want to go where I'm going?"
  
  (You could say yes or no.)
  
  > No
  She looks sad, but unsurprised. "Sure thing. I know a nice place to send you an' all. Goodbye, Hunkomeat. And good luck."
  
  She flicks a switch, and you feel the familiar sensation of being beamed through time, space and alternate realities. "Consider being someone else's test subject," you hear Dr. Sliss call out, her voice fading into the distance, "you're good at it!"
  
  It's been quiet, this past year, but after what you've been through you don't mind so much. It's spring once again now, and time to plough your fields.
  
  The morning sun is low in the sky. Along the horizon are the shattered domes and broken skyscrapers of a ruined civilisation. Fertile forests spill over, through and around the ruins, divulging a broken road in the direction of the fields beyond.
  
  You can follow the road forwards.
  
  > throw the hat at the road
  (first taking off the straw hat)
  You miss. The straw hat hits the ground.
  
  > wear the hat
  (first taking the straw hat)
  Okay, you're now wearing the straw hat.
  
  > look at road
  Newer stones laid over the broken remnants of old tarmac.
  
  > examine the skyscrapers
  Some of them apparently snapped in half by some terrible force.
  
  > Forward
  A rickety wooden fence denotes the edge of the farmland. The fields lie a short way ahead.
  
  A massive industrial farmbot waits here.
  
  The farmbot activates with a brief warning klaxon, and stands unsteadily on four hydraulic legs.
  
  > look at the farmbot
  Badly rusted, its paint almost entirely peeled off, but careful maintenance has kept it running well.
  
  > F.
  A large square of exposed earth, the fertile soil interrupted in one corner by the huge rusting skull of a fallen warbot.
  
  Ahead is the small dome of the farmhouse.
  
  The farmbot lowers its plough, and tries to get its bearings with long-broken proximity sensors. You carefully guide it around the field until the ground has been neatly tilled. By the time you're done, the noon sun beats down on you mercilessly.
  
  > F.
  A small, broken dome, the largest cracks thatched over. Ivy clings valiantly to its smooth sides. Cheerful voices emerge from further in.
  
  The farmbot stomps after you.
  
  You catch Old Man Cadan on his way out. "Alright my ansum," he says. "Best I warn thee the schoolmarm's on the warpath. Scarin' the chillurn wi' your stories o' bee people an' nasty Dr. Stick, she reckons."
  
  He starts to leave, and then pauses. "Now me, I be rememberin' you turnin' up near a year ago in your strange clothes, with those comical stories 'bout you fallin' out the sky. You've settled in quite nice-like, but I reckon there's something different 'bout you, and that ain't no bad thing."
  
  He strolls off, whistling to himself. "Don't go losin' that specialness, y'hear?"
  
  > F.
  You head inside the dome to face up to the schoolmarm's scorn, and partake of Mama Gwen's freshly made lunch; to tell stories of high-speed jet bike chases to fascinated children, while your wide-eyed, eavesdropping sweetheart pretends to be doubtful or unimpressed.
  
  Your days of hopping from world to world are over. You'll never again find strange treasures or be torn limb from limb by strange monsters only to be glued back together. Like almost everyone in the Imbroglio, you're stuck on just one world, with people you've grown to love and hate.
  
  Yours is the wistful happiness of the adventurer who lived to tell the tale.
  
  > Dig
  What do you want to dig in?
  
  > Soil
  What do you want to dig in it with?
  
  > look at the farmbot
  Badly rusted, its paint almost entirely peeled off, but careful maintenance has kept it running well.