text: [Themes: Espionage, Science Fiction, spy, memorable NPC, flashbacks, unreliable narrator, twist, Guns, technology]
  
  > Look around
  Interrogation Chamber (in the chair)
  You are in a dim room, bounded by metal walls. A steel chair squats on a low pedestal; facing it is an instrument-covered desk. Otherwise the room is sterile. The bright hallway waits to the south.
  
  For a moment, someone is visible, facing you across the desk.
  
  > wait
  You remain silent.
  
  > Search desk
  There is nothing on the desk.
  
  The human outline bends over the desk, then regards you again. A sense of wordless sound moves across you.
  
  > look at human
  The figure is nearly not there -- like shadows at the edge of your sight, or a dream of blindness. It crawls away from your vision; your eyes feel thick and strained.
  
  > stand
  You jerk out of the chair, stumbling as you pull against restraints that are not there.
  
  The half-visible figure is gone.
  
  > Go south
  This is the end of a short hallway, which runs southwest back to the main corridor. Three large doorways open to the north, east, and south.
  
  Your toolcase is lying open nearby. Inside are a scan scrambler (connected to a voice module), a key transmitter, a radio module, a minilamp, a timer, a toggle switch, a pushbutton, a blast tab and an acid pack.
  
  You can also see a wrapped package here.
  
  > drop all
  toolcase: Dropped.
  wrapped package: Dropped.
  drawing of a night sky: Dropped.
  portrait of a young man: Dropped.
  seascape: Dropped.
  pen: Dropped.
  voice transmitter: Dropped.
  
  > look at the walls
  You cannot move the floor tiles.
  
  The walls are naked metal, unadorned. They give your eyes nowhere to rest.
  
  > examine the ceiling
  The ceiling is a solid sheet of acoustical insulation. Light comes from glowing discs, deeply inset behind wire grilles. A band of scan-web runs along the ceiling in front of the doorway.
  
  > touch the wall
  The walls are immovable.
  
  > touch the chair
  The metal is cool and clean.
  
  > look at discs
  The room is illuminated by discs of glowing plastic, recessed in the ceiling and covered by wire grilles.
  
  > examine the chair
  The chair is ugly. Steel slats are riveted to a heavy metal frame, and the whole rests on a steel column rising from a pedestal on the floor. Restraints are welded to the arm and foot rests; wires hang limply from the head support.
  
  > cut the wires
  Cutting those up would achieve little.
  
  > Wait
  Time passes.
  
  There is a half-remembered cool pressure around your wrists, your ankles, your forehead.
  
  > examine desk
  The desk is a standard modular composite design. The surface is panelled with ranks of controls and instruments.
  
  > Wait
  Time passes.
  
  For a moment, someone is visible, facing you across the desk.
  
  > examine man
  The figure is nearly not there -- like shadows at the edge of your sight, or a dream of blindness. It crawls away from your vision; your eyes feel thick and strained.
  
  > Continue
  The figure is nearly not there -- like shadows at the edge of your sight, or a dream of blindness. It crawls away from your vision; your eyes feel thick and strained.
  
  The human outline bends over the desk, then regards you again. A sense of wordless sound moves across you.
  
  > look at the man
  The figure is nearly not there -- like shadows at the edge of your sight, or a dream of blindness. It crawls away from your vision; your eyes feel thick and strained.
  
  The chill is gone. You are alone in the room.
  
  > look at controls
  The desk is covered with dials, readouts, screen panels, sliders, and dozens of other instruments. You can put no form nor name to any of them.
  
  > sit in the chair
  But you're already on the chair.
  
  > look
  Interrogation Chamber (in the chair)
  You are in a dim room, bounded by metal walls. A steel chair squats on a low pedestal; facing it is an instrument-covered desk. Otherwise the room is sterile. The bright hallway waits to the south.
  
  > Go south
  You'll have to get off the chair first.
  
  > stand
  You stand up.
  
  > Go south
  This is the end of a short hallway, which runs southwest back to the main corridor. Three large doorways open to the north, east, and south.
  
  Your toolcase is lying open nearby. Inside are a scan scrambler (connected to a voice module), a key transmitter, a radio module, a minilamp, a timer, a toggle switch, a pushbutton, a blast tab and an acid pack.
  
  You can also see a pen, three sketches (a seascape, a portrait of a young man and a drawing of a night sky) and a wrapped package here.
  
  > look
  This is the end of a short hallway, which runs southwest back to the main corridor. Three large doorways open to the north, east, and south.
  
  Your toolcase is lying open nearby. Inside are a scan scrambler (connected to a voice module), a key transmitter, a radio module, a minilamp, a timer, a toggle switch, a pushbutton, a blast tab and an acid pack.
  
  You can also see three sketches (a seascape, a portrait of a young man and a drawing of a night sky) and a wrapped package here.
  
  > go southwest
  The corridor runs north and south, like every other hallway in this place. A short hallway branches off to the northeast. To the west is a blank metal door, with attendant black plate beside it.
  
  -- glaring light...
  
  [Hit any key.]
  Interrogation Chamber (imprisoned in the chair)
  You blink away memory. The dim room comes again into focus, and the man behind the desk.
  
  "No, you've forgotten the pen again. The crystal was intact when you left, as we discovered shortly thereafter."
  
  ...glaring light --
  
  [Hit any key.]
  Security Annex
  This is the end of a short hallway, which runs southwest back to the main corridor. Three large doorways open to the north, east, and south.
  
  > examine the pen
  It's an ordinary-looking pen. The nib looks a bit sharp, though.