text: [Themes: Science Fiction, conversation]
  
  > look at your surroundings
  Here the clearing is more overgrown than the main part of the clearing to the south, and among the undergrowth you can see a series of mounds.
  
  Leela is standing nearby.
  
  You can smell the cheese.
  
  Obvious exits: South
  
  > look at the undergrowth
  The thick, tangled undergrowth looks horribly like the advanced guard of the inexorably encroaching forest. Amongst the undergrowth you see a series of mounds.
  
  > Point drik at mounds
  (first taking the drik from the purple belt)
  Okay, you point the drik at the mounds.
  
  > Point drik at helmet
  Okay, you point the drik at the helmet.
  
  > ask Leela for the cheese
  "Leela, can you give me the small wedge of cheese, please?" you ask.
  
  "I'm not sure I care to!" she replies.
  
  > eat the cheese
  (first taking the small wedge of cheese)
  Leela won't let you have that.
  
  > Go south
  Leela follows close behind you.
  
  The trees that surround this large clearing seem to be gradually encroaching upon it, though it will be a century or two yet before they finally overwhelm it. For now, the overgrown remains of several buildings are still visible, with one solitary white stone building to the south still just about standing. The clearing continues to the north, while paths lead out to east and west.
  
  Leela enters the clearing with you.
  
  You can smell the cheese.
  
  Obvious exits: North, South, East, West
  
  > Examine remains
  There's really very little left except some pieces of rotting timber forming the outlines of floor plans of two or three large buildings. Even these are largely overgrown with grass and weeds and moss, and you suspect that in a few more decades even these poor remains will have vanished from sight.
  
  > look at the bridge
  The bridge has long since vanished, perhaps having collapsed into the river a century or so past; a couple of rotting posts sticking out of the ground are all that remain to suggest that there was once a bridge here.
  
  > take the posts
  The posts are firmly embedded in the ground.
  
  > go south
  The trees and undergrowth along the bank make it impossible to go that way.
  
  > Go east
  Leela follows close behind you. You walk a short way down to the path and arrive back in the clearing.
  
  The trees that surround this large clearing seem to be gradually encroaching upon it, though it will be a century or two yet before they finally overwhelm it. For now, the overgrown remains of several buildings are still visible, with one solitary white stone building to the south still just about standing. The clearing continues to the north, while paths lead out to east and west.
  
  Leela enters the clearing with you.
  
  You can smell the cheese.
  
  Obvious exits: North, South, East, West
  
  > go to the east
  Leela follows close behind you. You set off down the path to the east, and continue straight on until the point where it starts to bend.
  
  A narrow path, rather faint to the southeast but becoming clearer to the west, bends through the trees at this point. It may also be possible to squeeze through the gap to the east.
  
  Leela walks along the narrow path with you.
  
  You can smell the cheese.
  
  Obvious exits: East, West, Southeast
  
  > go to the north
  Alien foliage clogs the ground between the trees that crowd around you on every side. The main trail heads straight off to the north and snakes through the trees to the south. You can't see any side trails as such, but apart from the main path, the only gap through the trees that looks passable here is the one directly to the west. It's pretty narrow, but you could just squeeze through it.
  
  Obvious exits: North, South, West
  
  > Go west
  You squeeze through the gap, and then blunder around in the undergrowth for a while before hitting on another path.
  
  A narrow path, rather faint to the southeast but becoming clearer to the west, bends through the trees at this point. It may also be possible to squeeze through the gap to the east.
  
  Obvious exits: East, West, Southeast
  
  > Go west
  The trees that surround this large clearing seem to be gradually encroaching upon it, though it will be a century or two yet before they finally overwhelm it. For now, the overgrown remains of several buildings are still visible, with one solitary white stone building to the south still just about standing. The clearing continues to the north, while paths lead out to east and west.
  
  Obvious exits: North, South, East, West
  
  > put the raft in the river
  You lower the raft into the water.
  
  > enter raft
  You clamber aboard the raft. Okay, you're now sitting in the inflated rubber raft.
  
  > Paddle with wood
  (paddling the inflated rubber raft)
  You paddle the raft with the broken piece of wood over to the west bank of the river.
  
  On the River (sitting in the inflated rubber raft)
  You are sitting in an inflatable raft that's floating near the west bank of the river.
  
  Obvious exits: East, West, Out
  
  > Go outside
  (first standing up, then getting out of the inflated rubber raft)
  
  There's a clear view up and down the river from here, and it seems you could walk some way along the bank to north and south, while an overgrown path disappears off through the trees to the west. A solitary wooden post sticking out of the ground is all that remains of what may once have been a bridge.
  
  The river contains an inflated rubber raft.
  
  Obvious exits: North, South, East, West
  
  > pull the red handle
  There's a hiss of rushing air as the raft deflates.
  
  > look at the post
  It's a round post, about ten centimetres in diameter, broken off about half a metre from the ground.
  
  > tell Soolin about the graves
  "I've come across some old graves in a clearing in the forest," you say, "There must be dozens of them!" you say, "anyway, one of them still has a headstone. Apparently it's for some chap called Mark Villiers who was an IPC subcenturion back in the twenty-eighth century."
  
  "Hang on a moment, sir," she replies. After a brief pause she continues, "I've just checked the on-board datastore. Apparently there was a Subcenturion Mark Villiers of the IPC who was stationed here from 2720. It says he died here in 2722."
  
  "That matches the date on the tombstomb," you tell her.
  
  "Then it's obviously the same chap." you say.
  
  > tell Soolin about the graves
  "Does your datastore say anything else about Villiers?" you ask.
  
  "Just standard details of an unremarkable service record," she replies, "Plus, date of birth: 4th April 2687; planet of birth: Logya."
  
  "Nothing about how or why he died?" you wonder.
  
  "No, sir," she replies, "It's strangely silent about that. I wonder if it could be related to whatever it was that went so horribly wrong here way back when?"
  
  "I was wondering that too," you say.
  
  > examine bottle
  It's a clear plastic bottle of the sort that would be quite unremarkable on any human-occupied world but here. According to the label it contains "Magiclean All-In-One Conditioning Shampoo and Body Cleanser (manufactured by Stellarchem, a Harcourt Research Company)". It contains a bright green liquid.
  
  > tell Soolin about the bottle
  "I found a bottle of Magiclean All-In-One Conditioning Shampoo and Body Cleanser just across the river, hidden under an old bridge-support," you tell her.
  
  "It's a popular brand, sir," she remarks, "I use it myself. But if you found it by the river I'd guess that woman you met in the forest has been using it - in which case she can hardly be what she seems."
  
  "That's what's worrying me," you confess, "I suppose there could be some other explanation - another strange woman visiting the forest."
  
  "Soolin's razor, sir: strange women should not be multiplied beyond necessity," she replies pertly.