text: [Themes: Science Fiction, dog, conversation, science fiction, child protagonist, coming of age]
  
  > About yourself
  The pier is built in the end of a breakwater that protects the natural bay of the island from northerly winds. There's room for a couple of sailboats or yachts in addition to your motor boat, which is now just
  a small dot on the sunlit sea, heading towards the mainland.
  
  The sky and the sea is hazy, there is a hard westerly wind and you can hear waves whipping and beating the rocky shore on the other side of the island. On the island the only landmark is your house - a lone, tall yellow building used by the pilots in your grandfather's time. Well, there's the navigational cairn on the high northern end of the island, just a pile of rocks painted white. There are only a couple of trees in your yard, otherwise the island has just smooth bare stone, low brushes, lichen and other such hardy plants.
  
  On the pier there's a windbeaten equipment shack, where you store supplies and fuel for the boat. To the south-east, through the haze
  and across the churning sea, you can make out the towers and buildings of Astro City One, the world's largest rocket base.
  
  Gogol looks up at the wheeling seagulls.
  
  > About yourself
  As good-looking as ever.
  
  > look at the astro city
  The air is hazy today, but you can still make out the distant
  buildings and towers in the mainland. Astro City One is the largest
  and most active rocket base on Earth, usually there are five or six launches per year but now, with all the trouble with the traitorous Martians, there has been almost one launch every month! You remember all the launches you have seen, the sharp ripping sound of the Atomic Pile ripping the world itself, that blinding light and the pillar of smoke that rises higher and higher until your mind and the world goes all weird, because you really see and understand that the
  smoke and the light go right through the clouds and into the dark of space!
  
  One day you will travel to Astro City One, step into one of the rocket-ships as a Rocket-Man, and head out to the universe!
  
  > look at Gogol
  Gogol is an Alsatian and you have the same birthday. He's your friend and he's very good at fetching things and catching seagulls!
  
  > Pet Gogol
  You scratch Gogol behind the ears and stroke his bag, he closes his eyes with pleasure.
  
  > look at shack
  supplies. The door of the shack is closed.
  
  > open the door
  You open the equipment shack, revealing a large orange life vest, a child size life vest, boating supplies and a boat hook.
  
  > look at the supplies
  There are ropes, cans of oil, tools, spare parts and all kinds of things like that in the shack, all neat and in order hanging on the walls or set on shelves. Your father will tan your hide if you mess with them.
  
  > examine the hook
  It's a long wooden pole, at least twice your height, with a hook and a spike in the end. It's used in pulling in equipment, ropes and other things that have fallen in to the water.
  
  > examine the vest
  Which do you mean, the large orange life vest or the child size life vest?
  
  > Child
  (first taking the child size life vest)
  
  Putting things on Gogol would achieve nothing.
  
  > Wear child
  (Gogol first taking the child size life vest)
  Gogol looks at you, vaguely puzzled.
  
  > wear large
  (first taking the large orange life vest)
  It's too big for you, better leave it where it is. Father has always said that you shouldn't mess with safety equipment.
  
  > close the door
  You close the equipment shack.
  
  > look at what you're carrying with you
  You are carrying:
  a child size life vest
  
  > open the door
  You open the equipment shack, revealing a large orange life vest, boating supplies and a boat hook.
  
  > put the child in the shack
  You put the child size life vest into the equipment shack.
  
  > Go west
  The wavebreak is a concrete causeway built over a big long pile of rocks to break the waves coming from the north during wintertime. It protects the little bay to the south, which is nice to swim in when
  the weather is a bit better. The boat shore and the island are to the west, and the pier is to the east.
  
  Gogol trots after you.
  
  > look at the bay
  There is a small bay in the eastern edge of the island, where you usually swim. There's also a small boat there nobody has used in ages.
  
  > look at the rocks
  Your home island is almost completely covered by bare rock, with some hardy lichen and small brushes for vegetation.
  
  > take the boat
  Maybe you'll be able to do that when your superpowers kick in!
  
  > Go west
  The boat shore is actually the innermost nook of the small bay where you swim in the summertime. It's a small nook with some reeds and
  water plants, and a nice gravely sea bottom without any sharp rocks to hurt your bare feet on. The wavebreak protects the bay, so the water
  is usually pretty calm and sometimes it gets really warm in the
  summer. There's a small wooden boat, but nobody has used it in a long time since you can't go to the sea with it, just row around the bay
  and very close to the island.
  
  stretches to the east, towards the mainland. Straight to the west are your mother's rose bushes, that hug the side of the house, but you really don't want to go through them because the thorns are sharp enough to bite even through your clothes. The roses are in bloom and gusts of wind wafts their sweet smell to you. You can see something white and plasticky behind the bushes.
  
  Gogol trots after you.
  
  > look at the white
  Which do you mean, the navigational cairn or something white?
  
  > Something
  You peel apart a few leaves and branches of the rose bushes, careful
  of their thorns, to get a better look. It's a small spray can your mother uses to spray the plants and flowers with. She must have
  dropped it behind the rose bushes.
  
  > Go northwest
  Up close the bushes look quite thorny, and the sweet smelling summer roses are full of buzzing, hairy bumblebees. You tried going through them once, last year, and you are not going to repeat that mistake any time soon.
  
  > Go southwest
  The front yard of the house is full of color. Mother has dotted the place with flowerpots and crates, and even small patches of grass. Mother takes very good care of the yard, she says it's her small patch of paradise. There are two small and gnarly trees with needles and a brown bark that shadow the yard a bit.
  
  On the other side of the yard there is an outbuilding, which is
  painted red and white. The double doors to the outbuilding are open, it's very dark in there and you don't really want to go inside. Next
  to the outbuilding is the red outhouse.
  
  To the south is the bare rocky center of the island with all the moss and stuff, and you can get to the boat shore and the pier by going northeast. By going northwest you get to the back yard, from where you can climb to the tall hill behind the house, where the navigational cairn is.
  
  Gogol trots after you.
  
  > examine the flowerpots
  There are all kinds of colourful flowers. You are forbidden to touch them, and your father once took the switch to you when you fell over the flowers while playing recklessly.
  
  > examine the trees
  They are pines, you think, you have never been good with trees since you have really seen only two of them. Of course you have been to the mainland, but not that many times. They are rather small and gnarly, and they drop small cones that open their scales when they fall and hurt a lot if you step on them barefooted.
  
  > examine the cones
  They are small pine cones, you think. On the trees they are shaped
  like a tear drop, but on the ground they open into a spiky ball that hurts a lot when you step in it.
  
  > take the cones
  You pick up a few pine cones.
  
  > fetch the spray can
  Gogol looks at you and makes a sound that's the canine equivalent of "hmm?".
  
  > drop the cones
  (the handful of pine cones)
  You don't want to leave them lying around.
  
  > throw the cone to Gogol
  (the handful of pine cones to Gogol)
  No use throwing that thing around.
  
  > Smell cones
  (the handful of pine cones)
  The handful of pine cones smells of nothing unexpected.
  
  > examine the outbuilding
  It's a red and white small building where you store firewood,
  gardening tools and stuff like that. The double doors of the outbuilding are open, revealing the pitch black indoors. You never
  want to look at there for too long, becauseâ¦ what if, right when you look away, you see a glimpse of glowing eyes in there?
  
  > examine the outhouse
  The outhouse is painted red and there's a little heart shaped hole on the door. It's downwind so you don't catch the stink. It's getting
  full and father will make you help him empty it soon.
  
  > enter it
  You don't need to go right now, and it's really not a place you want
  to just hang in.