text: > Go downward
  Your house, in the basement
  Your ex-girlfriend used to stay down here, but now the area is mostly storage...and your grid hardware. In the center of the dark concrete floor is a flimsy table with numerous aging computers both under it and on top. A tangle of ethernet and power cables criss-cross the room like spiderwebs.
  
  Your cat Strawberry is here.
  
  You can also see Reality and Fiction here.
  
  Strawberry licks a paw and washes her forehead with it.
  
  > release the ANTS
  You already released ANTS.
  
  Strawberry is curled up and napping in the corner.
  
  > Go upward
  This is a modest one story house, cluttered by a decade of being lived in. Bookshelves line the walls. Your Plan 9 terminal is here, connected to the grid servers downstairs. A few trinkets from Astral Enchantments are scattered about. Your dark wooden upright piano has a collection of Schumann's music open on the music rack.
  
  You can see the Artemis prints, some bookshelves, a terminal and a piano here.
  
  > look at the trinkets
  You think your decorations from Astral Enchantments improve the look of your home considerably. It definitely seems like a loonie lives here.
  
  > go to the west
  Willy Street, east end
  The east end of Williamson street is vibrant with a wide assortment of stores and an eclectic mix of pedestrians and potential time travelers. Traffic is thick around the Willy St. grocery co-op, a neighborhood institution.
  
  > Enter
  Willy St. Grocery Co-op
  The Willy street co-op has been selling organic foods and Dr. Bronner's magic soaps to the local crunchies for decades.
  
  You can see a Dr. Bronner's Peppermint Soap here.
  
  Now that your life has been transformed, you are inspired to work on improving its quality in every way. Why not combine rediscovering the joy of music-making with getting your house clean and beautiful? There is a community message board here, and you quickly write up a Help Wanted request:
  
  'NEEDED: Singing Hippie Housekeeper
  
  I'm a middle-aged piano player with arthritis and cleaning my house is difficult for me physically. I am looking for someone to do cleaning while singing Grateful Dead songs. I will accompany on the piano. No particular vocal talent needed, just a love of music. Good $$/hr for a suitable applicant.'
  
  You add your contact information and attach the notice to the bulletin board. Use your terminal at home to check for messages.
  
  > look at the soap
  Absolute cleanliness is Godliness! Teach the Moral ABC that unites all of mankind free, instantly 6 billion strong & we're All-one. 'Listen Children Eternal Father Eternally One!' Dilute! Dilute! OK!
  
  > buy the soap
  You buy and take a bottle of Dr. Bronner's Pepermint Soap, the closest you can get to having God in a bottle.
  
  > buy the food
  Your house is already well stocked with groceries, but a salad would be nice. You mix some greens and add a splash of 'Goddess' dressing and eat it at the tables near the front of the store. Tasty!
  
  > look
  Willy St. Grocery Co-op
  The Willy street co-op has been selling organic foods and Dr. Bronner's magic soaps to the local crunchies for decades.
  
  > Goals
  You think you can develop your friendship with Xochi more.
  Visiting the 24-hour restaurant seems like a good idea.
  Checking out Lady Wisdom's coffeeshop is on your mind.
  You'd like to wander around to visit new places.
  
  > go west
  Willy Street, west end
  The west end of Williamson street is where the east side of Madison ends and the downtown area begins. A tangle of memories from different decades of your life is woven into the landscape of the city here. Lady Wisdom's coffeeshop is on the south side of the street, radiating bohemian charm acquired from decades of service to local culture. John Nolen drive curves around the lake to the west.
  
  > Go south
  Small, funky, and redolent of the blood sweat and tears of artists trying to transform caffeine into inspiration.
  
  As you enter Lady Wisdom's, you spot Matthew, a fellow Plan 9 enthusiast. He is excited to see you, and tells you that he recently acquired several Plan 9 compatible rack servers, which he is willing to sell you to expand your grid. Everything is falling into place! Soon, the reality transforming power of higher dimensional namespace operations will bring the magic you are experiencing into everyone's life, and society will never be the same. You make arrangements to have the new hardware delivered to your house in a few days.
  
  Midnight strikes and a new day dawns.
  (This is day number 11)
  
  > Go north
  Willy Street, west end
  The west end of Williamson street is where the east side of Madison ends and the downtown area begins. A tangle of memories from different decades of your life is woven into the landscape of the city here. Lady Wisdom's coffeeshop is on the south side of the street, radiating bohemian charm acquired from decades of service to local culture. John Nolen drive curves around the lake to the west.
  
  As you are stepping outside, you hear your name called behind you. You turn, and your old friend Clark greets you from behind the wheel of a large utility truck. 'Long time no see! Hey, its Elgin's birthday next week, he's having his party at Rossini's Pizza. It's on the west side of Monona drive as you head south, hope we see you there!'
  
  Elgin is your godson, and you haven't seen him for years. You have guilty memories of many ignored phone calls from Clark and Staci during 2010 and 2011 as you were sinking into depression and solitude. Maybe they split up or something? You can't remember. Everything feels different now, and you are excited to bring old friends back into your life.
  
  (The door to Afterlife has opened)
  (20 April 2013)
  You will need to ride a bicycle to get all the way to Rossini's. You should check Turning Wheel cycles.
  
  > Go east
  You can go w, n, ne, and se.
  
  > Go east
  Light streams in through the tall glass windows at the front of the cafe. A display case of homemade gelato flavors is by the door. A window for drive-through customers is in the rear corner. Numerous cat-themed decorations adorn the walls and counters.
  
  Xochi is working here today.
  
  > look at Xochi
  Xochi looks to you like an ancient Mayan Wisdom Goddess. Her long black hair has a few silver-white strands in it, despite her young age. Her physical beauty is appealing, the intelligence and kindness in her eyes and voice even more so.
  
  > talk to Xochi
  You start trying to explain how fiction is entering reality because you can navigate the infinite possibilities of the quantum multiverse by using your free will to bind the narrative symbols you choose to shape your existence. She seems interested, and while you are talking, she writes a note on a piece of paper. She interrupts you a minute into your monologue to say 'It seems like you have a lot you want to say, I'm working right now but you can email me if you'd like.' You are surprised and happy. You can use your terminal to email her when you get back home.
  
  > think
  You think you can develop your friendship with Xochi more.
  Visiting the 24-hour restaurant seems like a good idea.
  You'd like to check your email by using your terminal.
  You need to go to Turning Wheel cycles and buy a bicycle.
  
  > give the rose quartz to Xochi
  Xochi looks slightly uncomfortable as you give her the heart. The symbolism is a little too heavy, perhaps, but she decides to go with it and says she will keep it safe.
  
  > use terminal
  You perform your usual cycle of checking email and irc...
  
  You sit down at your computer and write an email to Xochi, offering to explain any or all of 17 different topics of interest, ranging from the connections between western and Hindu cosmology to how to use Plan 9 namespaces as a tool to control your own consciousness. As you press send, you notice that her email contact is linked to a video-sharing site, and she recently uploaded a song called 'Heartbeat'. The song is driven by percussion and keyboards, with spoken words above: 'From morphogenesis to breathing my first breath,' is the opening line, and you realize your connection with her might go much deeper than you had imagined. The sung refrain is 'The time is now, the place is here. Embrace love, and let go of fear.' The song represents everything you are experiencing in life. 'I will raise my vibration, when you are in alignment, the stars conspire for the occasion. You are an alchemist, the world is yours to manifest.'
  
  You feel musically inspired. You want to play your piano.
  
  You find two messages from people responding to the Singing Hippie Housekeepers notice. You respond to both, setting a date for each of them to start working at your house. You look forward to meeting each of them.
  
  > play the piano
  The music on the rack is Schumann's 'Dichterliebe', an achingly beautiful early-romantic song cycle. You play the opening song, 'In the beautiful month of May', and sigh. Ever since you discovered these songs early in your teenage years, you have hoped to experience what is described in Heine's lyrics and Schumann's music, the heart singing like a bird, love unfolding like a flower. You have known love, but nothing that felt as tender and fresh and promising as this music.
  
  You have always felt a deep personal connection with Robert Schumann. One your most profound early experiences as a musician was playing a Schumann Romanze in F# and feeling the emotion within the music as if it was your own. At that moment, you learned that music could encode an individual's personality and feelings in a way that let them be directly re-experienced by other minds.
  
  You realize that just as your mind is running your father's personality in parallel with your own, you could also >bind schumann self to reincarnate your favorite composer within yourself.
  
  > bind the schumann self
  You focus your mind on Schumann's music, its mix of eccentricity, passion, and experimentation. You feel his great love for his wife Clara, and also the spidery cracks of the madness that claimed the last years of his life. You can see your life from his perspective and you realize that you can learn from his experiences. His life is mirrored in yours, but you can change the story, make it play out better. In death, Schumann grew to understand how stifling 19th century society was for many women, and how Clara had been forced to make her own creative life subsidiary to his. And his last few years in an asylum...those bad old songs should be sent down the Rhine river in a coffin!
  
  You are eager to >talk to Xochi about what you have just experienced.
  
  > Goals
  You think you can develop your friendship with Xochi more.
  Visiting the 24-hour restaurant seems like a good idea.
  You'd like to talk to Xochi.
  You need to go to Turning Wheel cycles and buy a bicycle.
  
  > look at what you're carrying with you
  You're carrying:
  a Dr. Bronner's Peppermint Soap
  a pendant (being worn)
  a rose quartz heart
  Forsee Why You And I Are To Be One (4CY UNI R2B 1)
  a pair of mirror shades (being worn)
  a wallet
  
  > go east
  You arrive back home just in time for the first visit of the Singing Hippie Housekeepers. Daniel and Paul, both older men. By some kind of absurd cosmic coincidence of the type that has dominated your life lately, twenty years ago Daniel owned a game store on State Street that you often shopped at, and you remember him fondly. You suspect he has gone through some hard times in life, but he retains a calm and sweet nature, and often comments 'its a blessing.' Paul is tall, thin, and intense. He says he is a painter and guitarist who also does a lot of odd jobs, and thought your advertisement looked interesting enough to be worth checking out. You decide the will of fate demands you engage both of them, and you set up a different day for each of them to come work. You will see each of them again soon.
  
  This is a modest one story house, cluttered by a decade of being lived in. Bookshelves line the walls. Your Plan 9 terminal is here, connected to the grid servers downstairs. A few trinkets from Astral Enchantments are scattered about. Your dark wooden upright piano has a collection of Schumann's music open on the music rack.
  
  You can see the Artemis prints, some bookshelves, a terminal and a piano here.
  
  > Go south
  Traffic is heavy at the intersection of these roads. Nearby to the east is Coffee Lion Cafe. Monona Drive continues to the south, Atwood Avenue is northwest, and your home is to the north.
  
  Midnight strikes and a new day dawns.
  (This is day number 21)
  
  > Go east
  Light streams in through the tall glass windows at the front of the cafe. A display case of homemade gelato flavors is by the door. A window for drive-through customers is in the rear corner. Numerous cat-themed decorations adorn the walls and counters.
  
  Xochi is working here today.
  
  > talk to Xochi
  You are full of excitement as you walk up to the counter. 'Xochi, I have something amazing to tell you! Do you have a minute?' She nods yes, and you explain:
  
  'I heard your song,' you begin, and she looks startled. 'It's incredible! You should write music and perform it to spread the word about the Loonie Revolution. I know plenty of people we can hire for recording and promotion. I promise this isn't about me htting on you - in fact, it's the opposite of that. The reason is - and this is a little hard to believe, I know - the reason is that I am actually the reincarnation of Robert Schumann, and you are the reincarnation of Clara Schumann, and Robert wants to change the the stories of the past. He learned that you should have been a great independent musician, and that's what I want to do, just help your career and propagandize for the Loonie Revolution and revitalize this universe to make our songs new!'
  
  Xochi looks slightly stunned, but manages an answer. 'I'm really glad you liked the song, but I need to get back to work now, I'll email you after work.'
  
  > go north
  Several appealing establishments are clustered here. On the east end of the block is Astral Enchantments, offering crystals, stickers, incense, tapestries, and other hippie-style woo-woo. North is Turning Wheel Cycles, your local counterculture-friendly bike store. To the west is Essentially Art, a small gallery store exhibiting the arts and crafts of several local artists. You can rejoin the flow of Atwood Avenue to the south. Northeast is Afterlife Antiques and Oddities.
  
  > go north
  Madison has many bike shops, but this is the one for you. A wide variety of bicycles and accessories fills the front of the store, and a workshop is toward the rear. Someone is working on a partly disassembled bicycle on a maintenance mount.
  
  You can see Lunar Lightning here.
  
  The owner catches your eye. 'Actually, now that I think about it, I realize we have something that might be perfect for you.' He points at the beautiful red and blue bicycle with lightning bolts in the center of the store. 'We call this one Lunar Lightning.'
  
  > look at bicycle
  The ultimate Deadhead bicycle, Lunar Lightning is painted with a red to blue fade and has a Steal-Your-Face sticker on the front fork. Lightning bolt stickers follow the line of each tube of the frame. Black moustache-style handlebars and a generator-hub powered front headlight show that this is a bike for relaxed recreational city riding, not racing.
  
  > buy the bicycle
  The bicycle you have chosen has a funny story behind it. Weeks earlier, a mysterious stranger had commissioned this custom bicycle, but just this morning he had called to say he would be unable to purchase it. It almost seems as if things had been set up as a conspiracy to provide you with the perfect hippiecycle. If you leave it behind, you can summon it to your current location with the command >lunar. Just >ride lunar and then navigate as normal to access new locations. You can also go for rides with >explore. Your first order of business is making it to Elgin's party at Rossini's pizza, further south of Coffee Lion on Monona drive.
  
  You spend $1000 to buy Lunar Lightning, you have $28450 remaining.
  
  > Ride lunar
  You get onto Lunar Lightning.
  
  > Goals
  You think you can develop your friendship with Xochi more.
  Visiting the 24-hour restaurant seems like a good idea.
  Maybe Xochi has emailed you again.
  You need to ride your bike to Rossini's pizza, further south on Monona drive past Coffee Lion.
  
  > Go south
  You pedal effortlessly.
  
  Atwood and Ohio shopping block (on Lunar Lightning)
  Several appealing establishments are clustered here. On the east end of the block is Astral Enchantments, offering crystals, stickers, incense, tapestries, and other hippie-style woo-woo. North is Turning Wheel Cycles, your local counterculture-friendly bike store. To the west is Essentially Art, a small gallery store exhibiting the arts and crafts of several local artists. You can rejoin the flow of Atwood Avenue to the south. Northeast is Afterlife Antiques and Oddities.
  
  > Go south
  You pedal effortlessly.
  
  Atwood Avenue (on Lunar Lightning)
  Atwood Avenue is one of the streets that defines the character of the near east side. The feel is funky and freak-friendly. North of you is a cluster of intriguing stores: Astral Enchantments, Turning Wheel Cycles, and Essentially Art. Willy street is to the west, your home is northeast, and Atwood becomes Monona Drive to the southeast.
  
  > go to the southeast
  You pedal effortlessly.
  
  Monona Drive and Cottage Grove Road (on Lunar Lightning)
  Traffic is heavy at the intersection of these roads. Nearby to the east is Coffee Lion Cafe. Monona Drive continues to the south, Atwood Avenue is northwest, and your home is to the north.
  
  > go south
  You pedal effortlessly.
  
  Monona Drive, by a weathered strip-mall (on Lunar Lightning)
  Monona drive becomes more suburban as it heads south, but there is still character in the businesses here. A neighborhood pizzeria has recently moved into this location on the west side of the street.
  
  It has felt wonderful to get back on a bicycle and ride. The rhythm of pedaling makes you feel synchronized to the beat of the world around you. Your relationship with reality is musical, flowing, spontaneous yet goal-directed. This rendezvous with the past feels like a turning point in the narrative. You feel completely ready for whatever is to unfold.
  
  > get off lunar
  You get off Lunar Lightning.
  
  > lock it
  What do you want to lock Lunar Lightning with?
  
  > Go west
  (first taking the west)
  The west is not available.
  
  > Go west
  As you park your bike outside Rossini's, you see Staci arriving. You know she has read the same sci-fi novels that inspired you, so after not seeing her for several years, you greet her as follows:
  
  'Staci! World-as-myth is true, fiction is entering reality, and the Loonie Revolution is starting. Do you want a position of high power and responsibility?'
  
  'Power and responsibility? Fuck no!' she answers.
  
  'That's the perfect answer! You're in!' you say, and shake her hand. She stands back from the door to finish her cigarette, and you enter.
  
  Memorabilia from classic 50s, 60s, 70s, and 80s movies and tv shows covers the walls of this neighborhood pizzeria. The smell of spicy-sweet tomato sauce and brown-crisp pizza crust fills the air. A lava lamp sits on one of the tables. From the back room, you hear the alluring sound of the 8-bit arcade machines of your youth.
  
  As you open the door, you see a tall young man on the cusp of his teenage years, and a small young girl - Elgin and his sister Isabelle. 'Elgin! And you must be Isabelle!' you exclaim enthusiastically. It's been years since you have seen him, and Elgin responds 'Hey' in a noncommittal manner.
  
  'Actually, I prefer Lily,' says his sister brightly. 'Okay, I'll remember,' you reply.
  
  Waves of time-binding intensity sweep over you as you enter. You can hardly believe what you see in the arcade room - all of the favorite games of your childhood, time warped into the present day. Nothing like this existed in your universe before the binds of past and present and fiction and reality were made. A young woman with rainbow hair and a soft voice calls you a Jedi, and you break down in tears at her intuitive understanding of your fictional nature.
  
  The rest of the party is a kaleidoscopic blur of pizza, classic arcade games, and getting contact information for friends old and new. You gather that Clark and Staci aren't together any more. Staci and you exchange emails, and she tells you she will be in touch, and that she is currently living at Lothlorien co-op. (Footnote 9). You make a mental note to use your terminal soon.
  
  You return home feeling like you have travelled into a truly wonderful branch of the multiverse, laden with the fruit of infinite possibilities.
  
  (Messages have arrived, and new paths are open.)
  (28 April 2013 - Outside my house)
  
  > Footnote 9
  Lothlorien Co-op! If you had heard only a quarter of what I have heard about it, and I have heard very little of all there is to hear, you would be prepared for any sort of remarkable tale. (Tolkien, of Gandalf)
  
  > Footnote 8
  Paraphrased from Tolkien.
  
  > Footnote 1
  Lyrics from Terrapin Station by Robert Hunter, music by Jerry Garcia.
  
  > Footnote 4
  Last sentence paraphrased from Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, 1971 Hunter S. Thompson
  
  > Footnote 5
  Was it me? Was it you? I don't know who - but somebody said aroooooo! (Footnote 6)
  
  Midnight strikes and a new day dawns.
  (This is day number 22)
  
  > Footnote 6
  Aroooooooooo!
  
  > Footnote 7
  Lyrics from Ripple by Robert Hunter, music by Jerry Garcia.
  
  > Footnote 10
  Heinrich Heine, set by Schumann in the first song of Dictherliebe.
  
  > Footnote 20
  Probably a special case of the Navier-Stokes equations.
  
  > look
  Your section of Milwaukee Street is directly across from a small farm which remains as an agricultural island within the city. An open field and a barn are across the street. Toward the southwest is Atwood Street leading toward downtown. Monona Drive is to the south. The edge of town lies toward the northeast.
  
  You can see Lunar Lightning here.
  
  > Goals
  You think you can develop your friendship with Xochi more.
  Visiting the 24-hour restaurant seems like a good idea.
  Maybe Xochi has emailed you again.
  You are hoping Staci has emailed you, go home and >use terminal.
  
  > Go east
  This is a modest one story house, cluttered by a decade of being lived in. Bookshelves line the walls. Your Plan 9 terminal is here, connected to the grid servers downstairs. A few trinkets from Astral Enchantments are scattered about. Your dark wooden upright piano has a collection of Schumann's music open on the music rack.
  
  You can see a Dr. Bronner's Peppermint Soap, the Artemis prints, some bookshelves, a terminal and a piano here.
  
  > use the terminal
  You perform your usual cycle of checking email and irc...
  
  Xochi has emailed you a response. It is written with kindness and compassion, thanking you for everything you have said, but also asking for you to remember that she is working a job and some conversations are a bit too intense and serious for that context. She ends by saying 'Right now in my life I am focused on working at Coffee Lion and I'm not ready to try for a career as a musician.'
  
  She is right about everything. You recognize you can't expect everyone in the world to drop what they are doing to become characters in the stories you are creating. Everyone is already the protagonist of their own tale, and you need to respect that.
  
  You resolve to listen better the next time you >talk to Xochi.
  
  You find a message from Staci, inviting you to meet her at Lothlorien co-op whenever you can make it. The co-op house is located on the shore of Lake Mendota, north of State Street downtown. She says she usually hangs out in the backyard, so look for her there.
  
  > Goals
  You think you can develop your friendship with Xochi more.
  Visiting the 24-hour restaurant seems like a good idea.
  You are looking forward to talking to Xochi again.
  You are excited to bike west to downtown, then north and west to reach Lothlorien co-op to see Staci.
  
  > explore
  You start your return to bicycle-wandering slow and easy, just riding in random loops around your own neighborhood. There is still something enchanting about quietly moving through the night under the stars. Even just a few blocks from home, you can lose your orientation after a few random turns, and the feeling of not quite knowing which way is north is intriguing...
  
  (As the story progresses and your bike skill increases, you will experience many different things when you >explore.)
  
  > Go northeast
  You pedal effortlessly.
  
  Northeast edge of town (on Lunar Lightning)
  This is the northeast edge of town, by the shopping mall and the interstate. It is mostly lacking in the distinctive charms of the rest of the city. The usual reason for being out here is to visit the 24-hour restaurant to the north, whose sign faces the highway, glowing like a green beacon. The road continues out of the city to the northeast.
  
  > Go north
  You can't ride your bike into the late night restaurant.
  (first getting off Lunar Lightning)
  You step into the restaurant and get a table. During the graveyard shift, the waitstaff are often friendly and interesting people who are bored enough to be curious about whatever conversation you make. Filled with a sense of purpose, you tell your story to your server, Jay. He seems fascinated, and says he supports the cause of fighting unfairness in society and empathizes with your grievance with JCN. He tells you some of his own life story, how he had been raised in a restrictive, cult-like religion from which he had recently broken free. You have made a new friend and ally.
  
  This national chain restaurant serves edible food around the clock. There are a few other patrons, a mix of business travelers staying at the nearby hotels, late-night partiers out after the bar, and random eccentrics such as yourself.
  
  Jay is waiting tables here.
  
  > order the food
  That action is outside the scope of this simulation.
  
  > buy the food
  You order your usual, pancakes, eggs, and potatoes.
  
  > Inventory
  You're carrying:
  a pendant (being worn)
  a rose quartz heart
  Forsee Why You And I Are To Be One (4CY UNI R2B 1)
  a pair of mirror shades (being worn)
  a wallet
  
  > eat the pancakes
  (first taking the breakfast)
  You need to buy that instead.
  
  > look
  This national chain restaurant serves edible food around the clock. There are a few other patrons, a mix of business travelers staying at the nearby hotels, late-night partiers out after the bar, and random eccentrics such as yourself.
  
  Jay is waiting tables here.
  
  > talk to Jay
  Jay is a good listener, and seems to really understand your story. You outline some of your grandiose schemes and plans to use Plan 9 technology to change society, and he agrees to tell some of his friends about the Loonie Revolution.
  
  Jay is a good listener, and seems to really understand your story. You outline some of your grandiose schemes and plans to use Plan 9 technology to change society, and he agrees to tell some of his friends about the Loonie Revolution.
  
  > eat
  What do you want to eat?
  
  > Goals
  You think you can develop your friendship with Xochi more.
  You are looking forward to talking to Xochi again.
  You are excited to bike west to downtown, then north and west to reach Lothlorien co-op to see Staci.
  
  > Go outside
  This is the northeast edge of town, by the shopping mall and the interstate. It is mostly lacking in the distinctive charms of the rest of the city. The usual reason for being out here is to visit the 24-hour restaurant to the north, whose sign faces the highway, glowing like a green beacon. The road continues out of the city to the northeast.
  
  You can see Lunar Lightning here.
  
  > Go southwest
  You pedal effortlessly.
  
  Outside your house (on Lunar Lightning)
  Your section of Milwaukee Street is directly across from a small farm which remains as an agricultural island within the city. An open field and a barn are across the street. Toward the southwest is Atwood Street leading toward downtown. Monona Drive is to the south. The edge of town lies toward the northeast.
  
  > go west
  You can't ride your bike into the shop.
  (first getting off Lunar Lightning)
  
  This local gallery has a mix of prints, paintings, and sculptures on display.
  
  Midnight strikes and a new day dawns.
  (This is day number 29)
  
  > go outside
  Several appealing establishments are clustered here. On the east end of the block is Astral Enchantments, offering crystals, stickers, incense, tapestries, and other hippie-style woo-woo. North is Turning Wheel Cycles, your local counterculture-friendly bike store. To the west is Essentially Art, a small gallery store exhibiting the arts and crafts of several local artists. You can rejoin the flow of Atwood Avenue to the south. Northeast is Afterlife Antiques and Oddities.
  
  You can see Lunar Lightning here.
  
  > get the bike
  Taken.
  
  > Go north
  You can go e, w, or in.
  
  > get on the bike
  You set down Lunar Lightning to ride it.
  You get onto Lunar Lightning.
  
  > Go north
  You pedal effortlessly.
  You can go e, w, or in.
  
  > Go west
  You pedal effortlessly.
  
  Willy Street, west end (on Lunar Lightning)
  The west end of Williamson street is where the east side of Madison ends and the downtown area begins. A tangle of memories from different decades of your life is woven into the landscape of the city here. Lady Wisdom's coffeeshop is on the south side of the street, radiating bohemian charm acquired from decades of service to local culture. John Nolen drive curves around the lake to the west.
  
  > go north
  You pedal effortlessly.
  You can go e, nw, w, or in.
  
  > go west
  You pedal effortlessly.
  
  John Nolen Drive (on Lunar Lightning)
  Adjacent to lake Monona, John Nolen Drive is a wide multi-lane road which passes underneath the curved contours of the Monona Terrace convention center. The view from across the lake looking toward downtown is Madison's skyline-postcard view. A heavily used bike path teems with cyclists and joggers. The Capitol square is north, Williamson St. to the east, and the Miffyland residential neighborwood is west.
  
  Arriving downtown on a bike has always been one of your favorite things. There was always the possibility of an unexpected encounter with a friend, always the chance someone interesting would call out to you and you would be drawn into an escapade. It can be a dangerous thing riding out from your front door onto the path - you might be swept up into adventure and find yourself anywhere. (Footnote 8). Right now, the spring breeze promises complete freedom to attain dreams you had long since abandoned.
  
  > Go north
  You pedal effortlessly.
  
  Capitol Square (on Lunar Lightning)
  On a hill in the center of downtown, the Capitol building is a smaller imitation of the federal Capitol building in Washington D.C. The street grid converges to a perfect square around it, and it acts as the 0,0 origin of the street numbering system. Notable streets and landmarks lie south, west, north, and northeast.
  
  Various rumors and legends are passed around the local countercultural community - it is claimed to be built on top of an ancient sacred spring. You remember being a teenager and carrying out the ritual of ingesting psychedelics and using your rights as a citizen to enter the building and lay flat in the center of the marble floor, staring upwards into the dome and watching the mural melt and transform.
  
  > go west
  You pedal effortlessly.
  
  State Street (on Lunar Lightning)
  The downtown and campus are focused on this pedestrian-only open air shopping mall. Dozens of shops and throngs of pedestrians create a big-city feel for a few blocks. The proximity of the large state university campus means the crowd is quite young, and weekend nights are often a mix of the charming antics of local eccentrics with less charming rowdy sophomoric intoxication. The Miffyland neighborhood is south, the Capitol is east, and the lakeshore residential neighborhood is north. Notable shops are northwest and southwest.
  
  You feel like you could slip backward in time here. Your teenage years were spent wandering up and down this street, part of an amorphous group of downtown punks, goths, and hippies who were all happy to share joints and beers with each other. The video arcade 'Challenges', 'Cellar Subs' in a graffiti-covered basement, the fire escape behind the Civic Center - if you closed your eyes for a moment and opened them, they might all be back, just as you remembered.
  
  A sudden feeling you are being observed pulls you out of this reverie, and you look up to see a passing bus with an ad for an eyewear store featuring a translucent green pair of glasses.
  
  > go to the east
  You pedal effortlessly.
  
  Capitol Square (on Lunar Lightning)
  On a hill in the center of downtown, the Capitol building is a smaller imitation of the federal Capitol building in Washington D.C. The street grid converges to a perfect square around it, and it acts as the 0,0 origin of the street numbering system. Notable streets and landmarks lie south, west, north, and northeast.
  
  > go to the south
  You pedal effortlessly.
  
  John Nolen Drive (on Lunar Lightning)
  Adjacent to lake Monona, John Nolen Drive is a wide multi-lane road which passes underneath the curved contours of the Monona Terrace convention center. The view from across the lake looking toward downtown is Madison's skyline-postcard view. A heavily used bike path teems with cyclists and joggers. The Capitol square is north, Williamson St. to the east, and the Miffyland residential neighborwood is west.
  
  > go west
  You pedal effortlessly.
  
  Miffyland, the student ghetto (on Lunar Lightning)
  This small residential neighborhood is a mix of old quasi-victorian houses subdivided into apartments, and more recent larger apartment buildings. Many university students move here after their time in the dorms, and on summer nights the porches are full of young people taking a break from their studies with the traditional libations of beer and weed. State Street is north, and John Nolen Drive is east. The bike trail continues southwest.
  
  You lived here yourself about fifteen years ago, first on Doty, then on Main. The late 90s. You can date it perfectly, because you remember you owned a Playstation and your neighbor owned a Nintendo 64, and you traded back and forth. The first Metal Gear Solid, Goldeneye. Beers at the Main St. Depot, jamming piano and acoustic guitar with your roommate. A beautiful blond haired girl who lived at Nottingham co-op.
  
  > Go east
  You pedal effortlessly.
  
  Willy Street, east end (on Lunar Lightning)
  The east end of Williamson street is vibrant with a wide assortment of stores and an eclectic mix of pedestrians and potential time travelers. Traffic is thick around the Willy St. grocery co-op, a neighborhood institution.
  
  > go west
  You pedal effortlessly.
  
  Willy Street, east end (on Lunar Lightning)
  The east end of Williamson street is vibrant with a wide assortment of stores and an eclectic mix of pedestrians and potential time travelers. Traffic is thick around the Willy St. grocery co-op, a neighborhood institution.
  
  Midnight strikes and a new day dawns.
  (This is day number 30)
  
  > Go west
  You pedal effortlessly.
  
  Willy Street, west end (on Lunar Lightning)
  The west end of Williamson street is where the east side of Madison ends and the downtown area begins. A tangle of memories from different decades of your life is woven into the landscape of the city here. Lady Wisdom's coffeeshop is on the south side of the street, radiating bohemian charm acquired from decades of service to local culture. John Nolen drive curves around the lake to the west.
  
  > go to the west
  You pedal effortlessly.
  
  Miffyland, the student ghetto (on Lunar Lightning)
  This small residential neighborhood is a mix of old quasi-victorian houses subdivided into apartments, and more recent larger apartment buildings. Many university students move here after their time in the dorms, and on summer nights the porches are full of young people taking a break from their studies with the traditional libations of beer and weed. State Street is north, and John Nolen Drive is east. The bike trail continues southwest.
  
  > go to the west
  You pedal effortlessly.
  You can go n or e. You need to be a strong cyclist to ride sw.
  
  > Go north
  You pedal effortlessly.
  
  State Street (on Lunar Lightning)
  The downtown and campus are focused on this pedestrian-only open air shopping mall. Dozens of shops and throngs of pedestrians create a big-city feel for a few blocks. The proximity of the large state university campus means the crowd is quite young, and weekend nights are often a mix of the charming antics of local eccentrics with less charming rowdy sophomoric intoxication. The Miffyland neighborhood is south, the Capitol is east, and the lakeshore residential neighborhood is north. Notable shops are northwest and southwest.
  
  You try not to stare as a strikingly attractive stranger walks by.
  
  > Go west
  You pedal effortlessly.
  The campus lies west, and you spent plenty of time there earlier in your life. You feel no urge to go there now.
  
  A pair of college girls stagger nearby, arguing about which one is drunker.
  
  > go to the north
  You pedal effortlessly.
  
  Lake Mendota shoreline residences (on Lunar Lightning)
  Downtown Madison is an isthmus between two lakes, and the south shore of Lake Mendota is lined by tall stone buildings. Some are new construction, expensive apartments, but many buildings from a century ago remain. Some are occupied by fraternities, but nestled among them are several large housing co-operatives founded during the height of Madison's counterculture in the 1970s. One of them, Lothlorien co-op, is to your west, and its backyard is northwest, sloping downwards toward the lakeshore.
  
  > go west
  Staci's email said to look for her in the backyard, so you decide to look there rather than going inside the house.
  
  Lothlorien co-op, the back yard
  The Lothlorien backyard has trees, picnic tables, a garden, and a rocky staircase down to the firepit and dock. A door leads in to the kitchen.
  
  You can see Past and Future here.
  
  As you walk around the corner of the building into the Lothlorien back yard, you know you are in exactly the right place at the exactly right time, and you have become the person - or rather, Moon Computer - that you have always wanted to be. A wild joy quivers within you, the feeling that everything you have ever dreamed has become real, and you know your reality is actually a fiction. You are a character in a strange and thrilling video game, and you have finally made it to the best part of the story.
  
  Staci is sitting at one of the picnic tables in the backyard, along with a few other co-op members. Everything is dappled by dancing spots of May sunlight filtering through the trees by the lake. Staci greets you and introduces you to her housemates, all of whose names you instantly forget. A joint is passed around, and you distribute a few small gifts you have brought. The other co-opers wander off, and Staci suggests going down to sit on the dock. She says your old mutual friend Nook is down there already and is looking forward to seeing you.
  
  Staci gestures for you to follow and heads north to the dock.
  
  > look
  Lothlorien co-op, the back yard
  The Lothlorien backyard has trees, picnic tables, a garden, and a rocky staircase down to the firepit and dock. A door leads in to the kitchen.
  
  You can see Past and Future here.
  
  > bind the Past
  What do you want to bind Past?
  
  > Future
  You have leveled up enough as a computer-mind to be able to bind abstractions directly. With a simple higher-dimensional fold, the concepts are unioned together. The fold is measured at 20 years; 1993 is bound to 2013. You were 18 then, travelling around to see the Grateful Dead, entering adulthood full of enthusiasm and unencumbered by the weariness of disappointments that were yet to come. As the 20 year harmonic time-bind clicks into place, every perception from every sense becomes a perfectly placed note in the symphony.
  
  The path downward to the dock beckons.
  
  > Go inside
  Lothlorien co-op, in the kitchen
  The kitchen is full of the clutter of heavy use by a housefull of hungry people.
  
  Written on the wall here is an inscription: 'Magic words: XYZZY and PLUGH'
  
  > Plugh
  You speak the magic word, and you catch a glimpse of an ancient realm of college mainframe computers and 5 1/4 floppies...
  
  Lothlorien co-op, in the kitchen
  The kitchen is full of the clutter of heavy use by a housefull of hungry people.
  
  Written on the wall here is an inscription: 'Magic words: XYZZY and PLUGH'
  
  > Exits
  You can go out to the backyard or up to the Great Room.
  
  > Up
  Lothlorien co-op, the Great Room (1st floor)
  A huge living room, with two pianos, several couches, bookshelves, assorted art, and a fireplace.
  
  > look at the Art
  You inspect one of the many artworks here and see a purple flower painted directly on the wall.
  
  > examine the fireplace
  The couches, bookshelves, and other objects in the Great Room are a bewildering mix of styles and vintages. Each day finds them arrayed in new patterns, according to the ever-shifting purposes of socializing, performance, and children playing.
  
  > play the piano
  The Castle inspires in you its own special variants of the songs and themes of your ongoing compositions. Sometimes you punch out the e minor staccato chords of the 'dock theme', or during twilight just a succession of pianissimo arpeggios. One afternoon a friend from Louisiana was visiting and, inspired by thoughts of Gottschalk, you find your fingers blazing through a series of syncopated progressions reminiscent of celebratory Caribbean parades.