text: [Themes: Surreal, magical realism, linguistics, aliens, surreal, language]
  
  > Go downwards
  The walls steepen inward; your feet have no hold.
  
  > Go east
  The wall to your east continues to gain out of sight. To your north is a massive transparent cube, perhaps five of your heights on each side. Retreats lie west and south.
  
  > look up the cube in the guidebook
  'It portends poorly to extend a CUBE by other than artifical means; it must be constructed deliberately if at all.'
  
  > examine cube
  The cube is featureless in all respects. There appears to be something small on the ground inside, perhaps a manner of cup.
  
  There is a sudden cracking high above.
  
  > look at the cube
  The cube is featureless in all respects. There appears to be something small on the ground inside, perhaps a manner of cup.
  
  A shower of crystal clatters down on the cube and the dirt around you. Shards shoot past your face and embed themselves in the ground.
  
  > examine the shards
  The shards act as a carpet of broken glass. Even standing here is treacherous.
  
  > examine cube
  The cube is featureless in all respects. There appears to be something small on the ground inside, perhaps a manner of cup.
  
  > examine the cup
  The cup sits patiently.
  
  > look up
  You see the sky.
  
  > look up sky in the guidebook
  'The SKY covers the land. Its farthest reaches, it is said, house the sun.'
  
  > take the shards
  The glass sharpens far too acutely to retrieve safely.
  
  > Break cube
  The glass resists all force.
  
  > Go south
  Sweetness fills the shade of the High Wall to your east. Under this sweetness lies a small expanse of fod. A mobile releases mildly to the west; far in that direction a tower proudly plants itself, while the ground rises more slowly to the south and relaxes to the north.
  
  Almost touching the High Wall is a resting, firm and soft.
  
  > Go south
  Dun tumbles down loosely from a steep hill to the south, sliced through by the wall to the east.
  
  A spinster flutters in the breeze.
  
  > look at the spinster
  It brightens to your approach.
  
  > look up the spinster in the guidebook
  'The SPINSTER, traditionally made of burlap and bark, predicts sunlight and likewise foretells its shade.'
  
  > look at Dun
  It rises to the sky.
  
  > look up Dun in the guidebook
  'DUN: loose fod.'
  
  > climb dun
  You slip on the loose tall earth.
  
  > take the spinster
  The spinster is, and remains, where it is.
  
  > go to the west
  The mobile from the north ends as the land's slope increases too greatly. Dirt glistens blue. To the south, amid the land, a way opens into darkness, while more ground lies to the east.
  
  > look at the dirt
  Void of even grass, the blue of the underworld pokes through.
  
  > go south
  A dark volume, curried from the surrounding stone, fills your eyes and ears. To the north a passing opens into dimness; from further inside, to the east, a slight glow weakly straggles into the room.
  
  > examine the glow
  The glow crawls in from the east and collapses on the floor.
  
  > go to the east
  This subsection of the inset brightens and flickers. The shadows belong to the air more than you do, it seems. They walk the cordstone walls; they move and excite. The shadows look to a wall, to bars in the wall, and the songlantern behind them. Further in is east, further out is west, and a slope obtains up to the south.
  
  > examine the shadows
  The shadows dance up and down the cordstone, following the brightening and dimming of the songlantern, following the rhythm of its song.
  
  > examine the songlantern
  The songlantern hums and burbles, circled by brightening words, evading the bars and piercing the silence and darkness.
  
  The songlantern murmurs and sings.
  
  > listen
  "For a fever well or neither nor believe her..." The songlantern sings brightness; sparks hum and circle lightly. The shadows dance in three.
  
  > take the songlantern
  The bars divide any possible touch between you and the lantern.
  
  > look at the bars
  The tall bars, vertical metal and close-set, provide two faculties. First, the creation of shadows. Second, the absence of emptiness by which to pass through. Behind the bars, in a space the width of a handful and height of an arm, the songlantern sits patiently.
  
  > look up SONGLANTERN in the guidebook
  'The SONGLANTERN brightens without intervention; its tones enlighten its words, as all tones do.'
  
  > Sing
  Words tumble and float from you, and brighten your eyes.
  
  > look up the cordstone in the book
  'CORDSTONE: A mass consisting of strands of rock, twisted or knotted. Sympathy to waves is thus inherent. Currying of cordstone is uncharacteristically difficult, due to its lengthy nature.'
  
  > look up currying
  (in the guidebook)
  'CURRY: to consume silently and with regret.'
  
  The songlantern murmurs and sings.
  
  > Curry cordstone
  The age of currying is long past.
  
  The songlantern murmurs and sings.
  
  > take the bars
  One bar is loose, and looser, and then free.
  
  The songlantern murmurs and sings.
  
  > look at the bar
  (the iron bar)
  An armlength of iron.
  
  > take SONGLANTERN
  The songlantern is wider than the gap.
  
  > examine the gap
  It is difficult to describe an absence.
  
  The songlantern murmurs and sings.
  
  > About you
  You glow with song.
  
  > go south
  The walls and light contract as this space leads up and westward. The light and song from the north weaken with distance.
  
  > About yourself
  You are faded and silent.
  
  Your circling utterances collapse and distune, fading.
  
  > Go west
  You are surrounded by the lack of thought and light.
  
  > go west
  You are surrounded by the lack of thought and light.
  
  The song of the lantern dances in and out of your hearing, faint with distance.
  
  > Sing
  Words tumble and float from you, and brighten your eyes.
  
  The song of the lantern dances in and out of your hearing, faint with distance.
  
  The passage ends without foreshadowing, as if the end came without warning.
  
  A worn anchisel rests on the roughened floor.
  
  > take the anchisel
  Taken.
  
  > look up anchisel in the book
  'An ANCHISEL may be used to curry any softer rock with precision. For larger work, a granchisel is required.'
  
  > Go east
  The passage ends at a wall of water to the east. Light stumbles from the west.
  
  Glowing words hang in the air before the water.
  
  Your circling utterances collapse and distune, fading.
  
  > look at the water
  The water hangs in midair like a hummingbird.
  
  > examine the words
  "In this hall
  Shall water stand
  And gravity's grip be loose"
  
  > go north
  The land increases towards your head to the south, and decreases away from your feet to the north. Mobiles lead accordingly in both directions. The High Wall may also be approached to the east. A long walk to the west is a tower, dwarfing your form, and dwarfed in turn by the wall.
  
  Inscribed on the brown grass is a toolman.
  
  The toolman examines your anchisel with interest.
  
  > give the anchisel to the toolman
  The toolman smiles and accepts the anchisel with grace. Holding up one finger, he invites before you and impresses a lie opener upon your hand.
  
  The toolman smiles softly.
  
  > look at the lie opener
  The lie opener is intentional in shape, and surmounted by a small button, shy and silent.
  
  The toolman smiles softly.
  
  > look up LIE OPENER in the guidebook
  'The LIE OPENER is a device utilized to unstop that which is false. On the object which is true it has no effect.'
  
  The toolman jingles in the breeze.
  
  > go east
  The passage ends at a wall of water to the east. Light stumbles from the west.
  
  Glowing words hang in the air before the water.
  
  > look at the water
  The water hangs in midair like a hummingbird.
  
  > press the button
  As you press the button surmounting the lie opener, the hovering words falter and dim. Seconds of silence later, the water collapses upon you, falling and churning.
  
  > examine the words
  You can make out almost nothing through the torrent of water.
  
  The water rushes down and through, covering and carrying you along.
  
  This subsection of the inset brightens and flickers. The shadows belong to the air more than you do, it seems. They walk the cordstone walls; they move and excite. The shadows look to a wall, to bars in the wall, and the songlantern behind them. Further in is east, further out is west, and a slope obtains up to the south.
  
  A torrent of water is rushing through the room.
  
  > examine water
  You can make out almost nothing through the torrent of water.
  
  You surface and submerge, grabbing at nothing but water as it carries you further.
  
  A dark volume, curried from the surrounding stone, fills your eyes and ears. To the north a passing opens into dimness; from further inside, to the east, a slight glow weakly straggles into the room.
  
  A torrent of water is rushing through the room.
  
  > Wait
  Time passes.
  
  The water roars out into the plain, tumbling you with it.
  
  The mobile from the north ends as the land's slope increases too greatly. Dirt glistens blue. To the south, amid the land, a way opens into darkness, while more ground lies to the east.
  
  A torrent of water is rushing out of the cave mouth.
  
  > Wait
  Time passes.
  
  You are tossed aside onto the dirt as the water continues to rush downhill to the north.
  
  > Go north
  The land increases towards your head to the south, and decreases away from your feet to the north. Mobiles lead accordingly in both directions. The High Wall may also be approached to the east. A long walk to the west is a tower, dwarfing your form, and dwarfed in turn by the wall.
  
  A stream of water rushes swiftly to the north.
  
  Inscribed on the brown grass is a toolman.
  
  > Go south
  The mobile from the north ends as the land's slope increases too greatly. Dirt glistens blue. To the south, amid the land, a way opens into darkness, while more ground lies to the east.
  
  A stream of water rushes swiftly to the north.
  
  > go south
  A dark volume, curried from the surrounding stone, fills your eyes and ears. To the north a passing opens into dimness; from further inside, to the east, a slight glow weakly straggles into the room.
  
  A cold knee-deep stream rushes out to the north.
  
  > Go east
  This subsection of the inset brightens and flickers. The shadows belong to the air more than you do, it seems. They walk the cordstone walls; they move and excite. The shadows look to a wall, to bars in the wall, and the songlantern behind them. Further in is east, further out is west, and a slope obtains up to the south.
  
  A cold knee-deep stream rushes to the west.
  
  > Go east
  A cylinder heightens out of sight, a steady stream of water descending it and splashing about your knees.
  
  Gray words hang lifelessly in the air.
  
  > examine the words
  "In this hall
  Shall water stand
  And gravity's grip be loose"
  
  > Drink
  What do you want to drink?
  
  > Drink water
  The water is swift, cool and clean.
  
  > go north
  The land increases towards your head to the south, and decreases away from your feet to the north. Mobiles lead accordingly in both directions. The High Wall may also be approached to the east. A long walk to the west is a tower, dwarfing your form, and dwarfed in turn by the wall.
  
  A stream of water rushes swiftly to the north.
  
  Inscribed on the brown grass is a toolman.
  
  The toolman smiles softly.
  
  > go to the north
  By the mobile south, a rounded hole, five times as wide as you are tall, deepens through the earth. Its dark is deeper than that around you. The east is also passable.
  
  A stream of water flows in from the south, filling the hole with a pool.
  
  > look at the pool
  The water waves gently. A handle slowly circles it round.
  
  > take the handle with the bar
  Reaching out, you hook the handle, and the fish attached.
  
  > look at the fish
  The handlefish blinks impassively.
  
  > look up the handlefish in the guidebook
  'The HANDLEFISH has adapted to the water of the shade so perfectly that it is liable to violently discorporate when exposed to the water of the sun.'
  
  > check your inventory
  In hand:
  a handlefish (stoic and taciturn)
  a lie opener (merry and vigorous)
  an iron bar (forthright and content)
  a guidebook (loquacious and proud)
  a small stone (humble and true)
  
  > Up
  For an observation room, the view disappoints; it is provided only by four small windows, perhaps two feet by two, long bare of glass, one in each of four directions. A slight breeze is redolent of altitude. An abandoned flagpole vainly gestures outward beneath the southern opening. Stairs descend from the bare stone floor.
  
  A glass-encased model landscape squats on the floor near the east window.
  
  Something seems to have cracked the model's glass cover.
  
  > look at the crack
  It is too small even to fit a finger through.
  
  > check your inventory
  In hand:
  a handlefish (stoic and taciturn)
  a lie opener (merry and vigorous)
  an iron bar (forthright and content)
  a guidebook (loquacious and proud)
  a small stone (humble and true)
  
  > put the stone in the crack
  The stone barely fits through the crack in the glass. It drops to the landscape below, shattering a small crystal structure.
  
  Through the east window, in the distance, a dark object flashes downwards and disappears.
  
  Something thuds in the distance, and the tower shudders.
  
  > look at the model
  The model is the size of a small desk. Spread across its top is the landscape you have traversed, down to the tiniest detail, including, of course, this tower, as well as the stream you recently created. The structure is set flush against the east wall of this room so that the wall of the room functions as the High Wall, against which the pebble you dropped is visible. The scene is covered by a pane of glass.
  
  > examine the tower
  The tower is one of the few landmarks visible in the model. For all you know, you are inside it as well.