text: [Themes: Surreal]
  
  > look around
  You are in a small annex to the large lab. This room is dominated by a mysterious chamber. The main lab is to the north and a closed wooden door is to the east.
  
  You can see a penguin and an empty cage here.
  
  > look at the chamber
  The mysterious chamber is like a miniature gazebo, a platform supporting four extensible metal posts with a little dome at the top. It's all made of metal, and it's all painted midnight black. A soft pushbutton and a small, bottle-shaped receptacle jut out from one edge of the platform.
  
  > put the bottle in the receptacle
  You put the plain glass bottle (containing salmon-pink smoke) into the small receptacle.
  
  > Open chamber
  That's not something you can open.
  
  The rattling grows louder inside the chamber. The platform starts to glow.
  
  > examine the platform
  The mysterious chamber is like a miniature gazebo, a platform supporting four extensible metal posts with a little dome at the top. It's all made of metal, and it's all painted midnight black. A soft pushbutton and a small, bottle-shaped receptacle jut out from one edge of the platform.
  
  The rattle becomes an infernal thunder coming from underneath the shaking platform, as the glow spreads to the entire chamber.
  
  > look at the platform
  The mysterious chamber is like a miniature gazebo, a platform supporting four extensible metal posts with a little dome at the top. It's all made of metal, and it's all painted midnight black. A soft pushbutton and a small, bottle-shaped receptacle jut out from one edge of the platform.
  
  The thunder peaks, then dies down as the glow fades.
  A little pink-coated rat appears on top of the platform, then scurries away out of sight.
  
  The now-empty bottle pops back into the receptacle from within the chamber.
  
  > open the door
  You open the wooden door.
  
  > go east
  You are in a small utility closet.
  
  The penguin waddles along.
  
  > look at the shelf
  As good-looking as ever.
  
  You are horrendously drunk.
  
  > go to the west
  You are in a small annex to the large lab. This room is dominated by a mysterious chamber. The main lab is to the north and an open wooden door is to the east.
  
  You can see an empty cage here.
  
  The penguin waddles along.
  
  > Go southeast
  This is the room where your mother (also a scientist, who left under mysterious circumstances) worked on her most taboo project. This project not only violated the edicts of Grandfather XVIII, it stood in stark violation of the prohibition against time travel. Rumor had it that once the project was complete, anyone who prayed in the Taboo Room would trigger the creation of a spatio-temporal anchor, something that would alter the very fabric of reality. You were always a little curious about it.
  
  The penguin waddles along.
  
  > Pray
  Enter saved game to store: Save failed.
  
  > Go northeast
  Your father's vast laboratory looks entirely different from when you last were in this house. A frightening contraption fills the west end of the room floor-to-ceiling. A teak desk sits along the east wall. The hallway lies to the north, the annex to the south, and the Taboo Room to the southeast.
  
  On the teak desk is a jagged-edge scroll.
  
  The penguin waddles along.
  
  You can't go that way.
  
  > go to the west
  Improbably, you are in your father's bedroom. It has been ransacked except for the portrait of Grandfather XVIII. A hallway lies to the east; the maintenance room, where you dispatched the troll, to the south.
  
  You can see a steel door and a science fiction novel here.
  
  You notice that a thin layer of sea-green smoke has gathered under the ceiling. It must have seeped in from the maintenance room.
  
  The penguin waddles along.
  
  > go to the south
  This is a small, almost featureless room. A plate sits next to the eastern doorway, and a huge metal door leads north.
  
  A weak red force field shimmers in the western doorway.
  
  You can also see a steel door here.
  
  The penguin waddles along.
  
  > open the bottle
  It takes a surprisingly strong effort to open the bottle. Finally it opens with a shhhhoop sound. In an instant, the sea-green smoke is drawn into the bottle with a whhhhhhhip; then it closes again with a ffffoomp.
  
  > put the bottle in the receptacle
  You put the plain glass bottle (containing sea-green smoke) into the small receptacle.
  
  > wait
  Time passes.
  
  The rattling grows louder inside the chamber. The platform starts to glow.
  
  > Go east
  You are in a small utility closet.
  
  The penguin waddles along.
  
  The rattle becomes an infernal thunder.
  
  > close the door
  You close the wooden door.
  
  The thunder peaks, then dies down.
  You hear the roar of the troll, followed by the howl of the Koskos. The troll stomps off toward the hallway. A moment later, you hear the terrible sound of Koskos-troll combat.
  
  Finally you hear a pitiful yowl, followed by a bang. Then silence returns to the house.
  
  It is now pitch dark in here!
  
  > open the door
  You open the wooden door.
  
  You are in a small utility closet.
  
  You can see a penguin here.
  
  > go to the west
  You are in a small annex to the large lab. This room is dominated by a mysterious chamber. The main lab is to the north and an open wooden door is to the east.
  
  You can see an empty cage here.
  
  The penguin waddles along.
  
  > go to the east
  (first opening the urnstone door)
  
  You are in the foyer of your childhood home. To your north is what remains of the front door. It has been torn off its hinges, leaving the forest beyond it visible. You shudder to think about how one monster died here and the other escaped.
  
  Intact exits lie to the east and west.
  
  You notice that a thin layer of cobalt-blue smoke has gathered under the ceiling.
  The penguin waddles along.
  
  > Inventory
  You are carrying:
  a f-shaped key
  Every Child's Almanac of Lunar Conspiracy
  
  > go north
  Your father's vast laboratory looks entirely different from when you last were in this house. A frightening contraption fills the west end of the room floor-to-ceiling. A teak desk sits along the east wall. The hallway lies to the north, the annex to the south, and the Taboo Room to the southeast.
  
  On the teak desk is a jagged-edge scroll.
  
  The penguin waddles along.
  
  You are in a regally carpeted east-west hallway. At the east end, an urnstone door leads to the foyer, while a secret passageway leads south.
  
  The penguin waddles along.
  
  > Go east
  You are in the foyer of your childhood home. To your north is what remains of the front door. It has been torn off its hinges, leaving the forest beyond it visible. You shudder to think about how one monster died here and the other escaped.
  
  Intact exits lie to the east and west.
  
  You notice that a thin layer of cobalt-blue smoke has gathered under the ceiling.
  The penguin waddles along.
  
  > open the bottle
  It takes a surprisingly strong effort to open the bottle. Finally it opens with a shhhhoop sound. In an instant, the cobalt-blue smoke is drawn into the bottle with a whhhhhhhip; then it closes again with a ffffoomp.
  
  You have a terrible feeling about what you just did. Taboos against time travel notwithstanding, you wish you could undo it.
  
  > Go east
  You are in your father's study. It has been cleaned out except for an urnstone end table against one wall.
  
  On the urnstone end table is a quickpulp scroll.
  
  You notice that a thin layer of dark-orange smoke has gathered under the ceiling.
  The penguin waddles along.
  
  > read the quickpulp
  The quickpulp scroll contains a note to you from your father. It reads:
  
  Dear Dave,
  
  Having made it home first, I wish I had a happier Welcome Back to give to you. I'm afraid I did not treat your mother well, and you have seen how Lucille treated me far worse even than that. I have only now learned the extent of Lucy's cruelty. I pray that you can not only forgive but save me -- and save my beloved Rex, too. (I couldn't handle the "empty nest" after you left. So I added a new nest.) He is the only one who can unlock the doors. If you are reading this message, it means the worst has happened for me.
  
  Well, perhaps not entirely the worst. My experiments in wuolui have borne the most incredib
  
  Here the writing stops abruptly.