text: [Themes: Mystery, romance, female protagonist, steampunk]
  
  > Look around
  Sorry, but that's not a keyword you can use right now.
  
  This cobbled square, surrounded on all sides by TREES, is home to a FOUNTAIN and a BENCH.
  
  I see a BOWLER hat here.
  
  IVY is by my side, elfin and mischievous.
  
  FORTHRIGHT stands here, hands on his lapels, trying to look like he's in charge of the situation.
  
  The giant SQUID splashes about happily in the fountain, its robotic LEGS now abandoned.
  
  A group of blue-uniformed CONSTABLES stand around the square, wondering what to do with the creature.
  
  > Legs
  Thickly armoured and crab-like. Although there's nothing too unusual about their construction, I have to wonder where exactly a person like Davenport was able to obtain machinery like this.
  
  > leave
  Ivy slips her arm in mine and sets my bowler on my head at a jaunty angle. I straighten it.
  
  "I need a cup of tea after that," I say.
  
  It's me again: your favourite dissident turned detective. Okay, let's get this over with.
  
  I feel sort of naked without my hat.
  
  NATE and me come in through the fancy double DOORS, awkward and out of place.
  
  We're greeted by a beautiful woman in a kalasiris. "I am Haqikah," she says, "God's Wife of Amun. The Pharaoh will see you now."
  
  She turns from us with impossible grace and glides further IN to the museum.
  
  "I don't know about this, Nate," I whisper. "It's not all that long ago I was being tried for blasphemy."
  
  "You were tried for plenty of other things as well," he reassures me.
  
  > Nate
  He's looking very fine and dandy tonight, in an immaculately tailored TUXEDO. His hair's its usual disobedient self, which only adds to his charm.
  
  Nate is carrying a CANE.
  
  > CANE
  Nate leans heavily on a smart black walking stick.
  
  > Dress
  This must be the most expensive thing I've ever worn, and I'm not entirely sure why. Okay, it's a gorgeous, floor-length dress, but it's also just a thin bit of material and it doesn't even have sleeves.
  
  Nate sees me looking down at myself and says, "You look perfect."
  
  I stare at the floor. "I'm going to pay you back."
  
  He shrugs. "Keep it."
  
  Yeah, well, I'll pay him back - you'll see.
  
  > Doors
  I look at the way out and consider just making a break for it.
  
  Nate holds out his delicate HAND so I can see he's trembling, ever so slightly. "I'm nervous too," he says. "I've not exactly been much of a friend to the rich and powerful. But we're in enough trouble as it is."
  
  "Sooner or later," I tell him, "you'll get sick of being right all the time."
  
  > Hand
  I grab Nate's hand, squeezing his slender fingers.
  
  "If they feed us to a crocodile," I tell him, "let it eat me first, and I'll choke it from the inside while you escape."
  
  "That's very noble of you, Ivy."
  
  He doesn't think I'm being serious.
  
  > Go inside
  I squeeze Nate's hand until he winces and laughs, and then we walk forward, together.
  
  This place is all marble pillars and soft lighting. Most of the space is taken up by a low platform with the pharaoh's SARCOPHAGUS on it - which is hooked up to all sorts of MACHINERY and surrounded by half-naked SERVANTS.
  
  HAQIKAH stands between us and the pharaoh, looking properly serene and dignified.
  
  NATE's close by, clutching his cane.
  
  > Servants
  I won't describe them in too much detail, cos it wouldn't be proper. Let's just say I feel better about not having my hat with me.
  
  The speaker on top of the sarcophagus crackles, and a buzzing voice emerges. "It has been many centuries since I last heard of champions defeating a monster."
  
  Nate says, "I'm really not sure we- Ouch!"
  
  I'm standing on his foot.
  
  > Machinery
  Nate could probably tell you what all this machinery is. Me, I just see a load of hoses snaking into the SARCOPHAGUS, something a bit like a wireless, some flashing lights and bubbling beakers - and, sitting right on top of the sarcophagus, a big, elegant gramophone speaker.
  
  The buzzing voice continues. "This strange city needs champions. Henceforth you are both Special Detectives to the Office of the Pharaoh."
  
  Haqikah hands a BADGE each to Nate and me.
  
  > Sarcophagus
  A big, gold, person-shaped coffin, lying down on its back. The face looks sort of aloof and not bothered about anything. Pulsating hoses snake into it from the surrounding MACHINERY.
  
  "Blasphemer!" the speaker booms, and I almost jump out of my skin. "Know that your living god is merciful."
  
  Haqikah hands me a sheet of PAPYRUS. I take it with wildly shaking hands.
  
  > Badge
  So it looks like I'm now a woman policeman. I wonder if I outrank Forthright?
  
  Nate looks up from his shiny new badge. "I want the Old Warren desk."
  
  Haqikah looks surprised, and the Phararoh's electric voice is silent.
  
  Should I SPEAK up or just WAIT quietly?
  
  > Papyrus
  The papyrus bears writing in neat calligraphy:
  
  Miss Ivy Blissheart is hereby pardoned for her crimes and blasphemies. Her actions before this date must never be considered when judging her innocence or sanity.
  
  And then it's signed by Haqikah and stamped with wax.
  
  "Very well," the Pharaoh's voice says. "You shall bring My justice to the destitute and filthy in their narrow streets."
  
  Nate brushes his hair back from his eyes... and smiles.
  
  They step out of the museum side by side - the young man in the bowler, leaning on his cane; the young woman in the battered jacket, her hat brim low over her eyes.
  
  "Our first case together," she says, "and we wrestle a mechanised squid and have an audience with the Pharaoh. Is it always like this?"
  
  He looks thoughtful. "Sometimes it's like this."
  
  "So... what now?"
  
  "Tea", he says. "There'll be crime and mystery soon enough. Before all that, we need a cup of tea."
  
  They walk to the motor car in silence - the only sounds their footsteps and the low murmur of the city.
  
  "Mine's with three sugars," she adds.
  
  > Awards
  Awards earned:
  -Flapper in Shining Armour - Ivy rescued Nate from the Chief Inspector!
  -Mollusc Mate - the squid lived!
  -Oh I Say - Ivy and Nate held hands!
  
  You earned 3/3 awards.
  -Unlocked Ivy's bio.
  -Unlocked Nate's bio.
  
  Would you like to RESTORE a saved position, RESTART the story, UNDO the last move, see your AWARDS, read about IVY, read about NATE, or QUIT?
  
  > speak
  I clear my throat. Everyone looks at me.
  
  I'm, uh, not really good at public speaking. Graffiti is more my medium. Okay, here goes.
  
  "Look, I know we're a right pair of misfits, but all we've ever tried to do is what we thought was right. If we can help people who need help and don't often get it, then I think, you know, that'd be a real opportunity for us."
  
  My voice sounds really squeaky. I swallow. "And, you know, maybe some people who don't think the Pharaoh cares about them will, you know..." I trail off.
  
  Haqikah raises an eyebrow. At least Nate seems pleased with my little speech.
  
  "Very well," the Pharaoh's voice says. "You shall bring My justice to the destitute and filthy in their narrow streets."
  
  Nate brushes his hair back from his eyes... and smiles.
  
  They step out of the museum side by side - the young man in the bowler, leaning on his cane; the young woman in the battered jacket, her hat brim low over her eyes.
  
  "Our first case together," she says, "and we wrestle a mechanised squid and have an audience with the Pharaoh. Is it always like this?"
  
  He looks thoughtful. "Sometimes it's like this."
  
  "So... what now?"
  
  "Tea", he says. "There'll be crime and mystery soon enough. Before all that, we need a cup of tea."
  
  They walk to the motor car in silence - the only sounds their footsteps and the low murmur of the city.
  
  "Mine's with three sugars," she adds.
  
  > IVY
  Biographical records:
  
  Age: 25
  Father: Unknown
  Mother: Jessica Blissheart (whereabouts unknown)
  Education:
  Sister Hardlove's Home for Foundlings
  Qualifications:
  Apprenticeship in mechanical loom use and maintenance
  Employment:
  Factory girl, Thompson's Ornithopters
  Notable Skills:
  Consummate artist in a variety of old and new media.
  Expert at understanding and manipulating household and industrial machinery.
  Self-taught locksmith.
  
  Would you like to RESTORE a saved position, RESTART the story, UNDO the last move, see your AWARDS, read about IVY, read about NATE, or QUIT?
  
  > Nate
  Biographical records:
  
  Age: 23
  Father: Charles Richmond (deceased)
  Mother: Olivia Richmond nee Walker (deceased)
  Education:
  Excelsior Grammar School
  Oldchester University
  Qualifications:
  Bachelor's Degree in the Natural Sciences (with Distinction) Employment:
  Detective, Oldchester C.I.D.
  Notable Skills:
  Expert criminologist with considerable knowledge of a wide variety of relevant disciplines.
  Classically trained pianist.
  Competition fencer (retired).
  
  Would you like to RESTORE a saved position, RESTART the story, UNDO the last move, see your AWARDS, read about IVY, read about NATE, or QUIT?