text: [Themes: Zorkian]
  
  > go downwards
  At your touch, the bubble glides gently downward.
  
  Under the Ocean, in the giant bubble
  You are floating in a vast ocean, surrounded by a giant soap bubble full of damp but breathable air. Faint light from the distant surface overhead refracts off the bubble's walls into the mysterious depths beyond.
  
  A blue shark glides past.
  
  An animated burin hovers over your head.
  
  > examine the shark
  The shark gives you a fishy, toothy, kind of stare which you somehow find vaguely disturbing.
  
  The burin flutters around your head.
  
  > open Envelope
  Opening the red envelope reveals a packing slip and a black cube.
  
  The burin gives a screech of agony and dives back into the log book, which snaps closed after it.
  
  The bubble shimmers soapily.
  
  > give the cube to the shark
  The black cube slips through the bubble's wall and into the water. In a single smooth movement, the shark darts forward and swallows it.
  
  A dull black glow shimmers over the shark's body for a moment, and in its place a surprised-looking enchanter appears. He waves at you briefly and swims up toward the light.
  
  The bubble's walls tremble softly.
  
  > Up
  At your touch, the bubble glides gently upward.
  
  Ocean, in the giant bubble
  You are floating in a giant soap bubble, on the surface of a vast ocean. Apart from a tiny rock islet, barely more than a few feet across, no land is visible in any direction.
  
  You see a white cube here.
  
  A man in enchanter's robes stands on the islet, drying himself off.
  
  The bubble's walls tremble softly.
  
  > examine man
  The enchanter looks about as old as you are young, with the profession's typical air of lofty mystique, but he seems to be having a bad day so far.
  
  With a liquid 'thwap', the bubble bursts, tossing you back onto the islet.
  
  You are standing on a tiny rock islet, barely more than a few feet across, in the middle of a vast ocean. No land is visible in any direction, and the water swirls threateningly about your feet.
  
  You see a white cube here.
  
  A man in enchanter's robes stands on the islet, drying himself off.
  
  > ask man about the shark
  The enchanter, deep in thought, doesn't respond.
  
  The enchanter raises a hand in greeting. "Well met, young clerk. I see you face a dangerous puzzle, and you must not do that unaided." He hands you back the black cube, which appears from thin air, and frowns in deep concentration.
  
  > put the cube in Envelope
  Done.
  
  The enchanter stares into the distance, brow furrowed. "But no, that would be utter foolishness. Such an ancient power in the hands of..." he breaks off and studies you thoughtfully.
  
  > close Envelope
  Closed.
  
  The enchanter shakes his head. "It is decided. What was, must be. Listen to me carefully. I shall grant you one spell, only one, the oldest and most sacred of all the lore of Quendor. I dare not speak its name or tell you its purpose. That, you alone must discover. Look at me now, and steel your heart with virtue."
  
  > look at the enchanter
  You feel the enchanter's eyes boring deep into your soul. A burst of power fills you, and a single spell leaps into existence at the back of your mind. The enchanter smiles, swirls his cloak, and is gone.
  
  [You can now use the word SPELLS to check what spells you know.]
  
  > Spells
  You have the qwerty spell (whatever that is), stamped indelibly on your mind.
  
  > open Book
  Opened. The burin flutters out again.
  
  > Log task
  The burin scribbles something into the logbook.
  
  "Isn't this fun?" giggles the burin. "By the Quill, 'twill make a tall tale to tell thy tykes."
  
  > get the cube
  As you touch the cube, the universe abruptly turns itself inside out.
  
  The six interior walls of this perfectly cubical room are perfectly white and featureless. A single silver compass rose, balancing a delicate crystal sphere on its bloom, floats like a pedestal above the floor.
  
  An animated burin is perched on your head.
  
  > go south
  The flickering light of the compass rose picks out the curve of this grimy corridor as it twists from north to southeast.
  
  The compass rose continues to burn.
  
  A dank, rancid breeze wafts up the corridor.
  
  > go southeast
  A narrow crawl to the northwest opens here into a wide natural chamber, showing signs of later excavation and even later collapse. Tortured fragments of rock and rusted equipment lie scattered among piles of human-looking bones that crunch horribly underfoot.
  
  A terrified adventurer crouches among the rubble, frantically waving a pair of unlit brass lanterns.
  
  The compass rose continues to burn.
  
  > give the battery to the adventurer
  The adventurer takes the battery with trembling hands, and fumbles it into the shiny new lantern. As the lamp switches on, he wipes the sweat from his brow and relaxes visibly. Tossing the battered old lantern aside, he starts walking around the chamber examining objects.
  
  The compass rose continues to burn.
  
  The adventurer tries to turn the collection of rocks.
  
  > open Book
  Opened. The burin flutters out again.
  
  The compass rose continues to burn.
  
  The adventurer listens to the collection of rocks.
  
  > Log task
  The burin scribbles something into the logbook.
  
  The compass rose continues to burn.
  
  The adventurer mutters an incantation over the collection of rocks.
  
  > get the lantern
  Taken.
  
  The compass rose continues to burn.
  
  The adventurer tries to turn the scrawled lettering.
  
  The burin practises its penthingship.
  
  > go northwest
  The flickering light of the compass rose picks out the curve of this grimy corridor as it twists from north to southeast.
  
  The compass rose sputters urgently.
  
  An animated burin flies in small circles around your head.
  
  > Go north
  You are in a gently sloping underground passage which curves upwards to the west, and down into darkness to the south. A dim light filters in through cracked timbers overhead.
  
  You see a white cube here.
  
  The compass rose sputters urgently.
  
  The white cube trembles softly.
  
  An animated burin flies in small circles around your head.
  
  > touch the cube
  As you touch the cube, the universe abruptly turns itself inside out.
  
  The six interior walls of this white cubical room are shaking and disintegrating as you watch.
  
  You see a crystal ball here.
  
  The compass rose blows apart in a soft shower of petals.
  
  The walls sway with terrifying disregard for physics.
  The sphere spits out several tiny shards with a crystalline -ping-.
  
  An animated burin is perched on your head.
  
  > touch the sphere
  As you touch the sphere, a faint, flickering image forms in your mind:
  
  You are standing on the peak of a mountain reaching high above the rim of the world. Dazzling light fills your eyes, and a hollow voice booms down:
  "Don't try to match wits with us, Zuzvuz. We'll consider your request for reimplementation in the next beta release, not a single compile before."
  
  The vision abruptly cuts to black, as the crystal sphere explodes into a thousand splinters!
  
  Black writhing cracks appear in the walls, with endless night beyond.
  
  > Up
  As you move in that direction, the universe abruptly turns itself inside out.
  
  You are standing on the apex of a towering rock pinnacle high in the southern mountains. Before you, to the northeast, stands the unfinished shell of a building, presumably a temple of some kind.
  
  You see a white cube here.
  
  The white cube vaporises in a miniature thunderclap.
  
  An animated burin hovers over your head.
  
  > read the logbook
  The opened log book contains a list of previous magic support problems and solutions, signed and dated by the clerk on duty at the time.
  
  24/4   Malyon spell backfired; burin accidentally animated. Oops. Zuzvuz.
  27/4   Adventurer eaten by stray grues. Resurrected with gaspar. Zuzvuz.
  32/4   Trolls ravaging village. Applied two-handed axe; resolved. Felenar.
  6/5    Some trouble communicating with cyclops. See legend 2001. Zuzvuz.
  13/5   Adventurer llepsed gaspar. Summoned Implementors. Zuzvuz.
  17/5   Implementors de-implemented Zuzvuz. Attempted blorple to Old Quendor. Felenar.
  20/5   Felenar and Zuzvuz missing. Sent replacement job application to GUE Tech. Sorkin.
  23/5   GUE Tech gated to Old Quendor. Llepsed golmac might work. Sorkin.
  29/5   Two words: why me? New support clerk arrives tomorrow. Must train
  before (after) breaking Sorkin's time loop. Assuming
  counterspell
  exists, if not... Helistar.
  30/5   GUE Tech Vault jammed. Took time to open it. Krosk lord of blood.
  30/5   Princess imprisoned without rezrov scroll. Delivered.
  Krosk lord of blood.
  30/5   Enchanter permanently snaviged. Broke spell with antimagic. Krosk lord of blood.
  30/5   Tourist lost at rainbow chasm. Pushed off cliff blindfold. Krosk lord of blood.
  30/5   Adventurer low on batteries. Improvised with vending machine. Krosk lord of blood.
  
  The burin recites a few choice passages from the Rites of the Implementors, then laughs at them.
  
  > enter the temple
  You are inside the temple, which seems to be built roughly in a square; the roof, still unfinished, is open to the sky. In the centre of the room stands a transparent crystalline cube, about a metre a side. A doorless archway leads out to the southwest.
  
  An animated burin hovers over your head.
  
  > put the lamp on cube
  As you put the battered old brass lantern on the crystal cube, it glows white and vanishes.
  
  > put the ruler on the cube
  As you put the silver slide rule on the crystal cube, it glows white and vanishes.
  
  > put the coin on the cube
  As you put the gold zorkmid on the crystal cube, it glows white and vanishes.
  
  The burin makes a lunge at its shadow, and misses.
  
  > put Book on the cube
  As you put the log book on the crystal cube, it glows white and vanishes.
  
  The burin vanishes in a flurry of white sparkles.
  
  > Qwerty
  A bolt of thunder rumbles overhead.
  
  > Qwerty
  The sky darkens, and thunder rolls again.
  
  > Qwerty
  Jagged forks of lightning crackle through the swollen sky.
  
  > Qwerty
  A single lurid sheet of blue lightning arcs through the roof and strikes the crystal cube. The universe turns white.
  
  You are standing inside a very strangely dimensioned room, which appears to be composed of the plane surfaces between sixteen white cubes arranged at right angles to each other. It's the sort of thing you've had nightmares about while sleeping through Elementary Hyperspatial Topology 101. There are no visible exits.
  
  > check your inventory
  You are empty-handed.
  
  A white-shadowed figure walks through a wall that isn't there, looks you up and down absently, and speaks to someone who patently doesn't exist.
  
  "Dave? Looks like one of the NPCs has gone and tripped the invocation subroutine again. I'd better comment it out before... No, it can't be a player, we haven't had anyone get to the temple since we added the forest puzzle in the last beta. Maybe we should put in some more... okay, okay, I'll check. I'm telling you, though, there's not the slightest chance..."
  
  > examine the figure
  The Implementor looks vaguely author-shaped.
  
  The Implementor continues talking to his unseen partner.
  
  "Hey, what do you know? It's got the whole invocation right, and even logged all the support jobs! That's one smart NPC. Maybe we should take a copy of the object code and... yeah, okay, so it might be a player after all. Sure, hang on, I'll just check the trace file."
  
  > Qwerty
  A bolt of thunder rumbles overhead.
  
  "Oops. Looks like deleting Zuzvuz broke the whole GUE Tech timewarp simulation. It's running in an endless loop now. No, there's no way I'm coding that up again, there's some really hairy hacks in there. Easiest thing's just to put Zuzvuz back in and recompile from the last source backup. That should fix... oh, yeah, sure, I think I can reward the player somehow. Just give me a moment..."
  
  Abruptly, the universe goes dark.
  
  Nothing happens. It would seem that you are dead.
  
  > Wait
  Abruptly, the universe returns.
  
  GUE Tech, Modern Quendor
  You are walking through a familiar college campus. Enchanters and students mingle around the ancient moss-covered buildings, and every few minutes you hear the thumps and yelps of spells misfiring in the labs. Bright sunlight shines down from a cloudless blue sky.
  
  > Go west
  You enter the Interactive Mythology lab.
  
  A woman in senior Enchanter's robes runs up to you, gives you an informal hug, and grins. "Well done, Krosk lord of blood. You've saved the entire known universe with a single spell. That's a tale which will be long remembered in the Encyclopedia Frobozzica. Oh, but before I forget, this just came for you."
  
  Helistar hands you an envelope marked "Hero, Inc. Special Introductory Offer." With trembling hands, you eagerly tear it open...
  
  But that's another story.