text: [Themes: Science Fiction]
  
  > describe your surroundings
  At the center is the inner pharmacy of prescription drugs, with over-the-counter medicine and more traditional remedies around it and soaps and such in the next ring. Various other goods, ranging from books to toasters, are displayed along the walls.
  
  > use computer
  Your nTerm is still flickering along, so the update must be compiling properly. You play a quick game of Minefield, losing, as always.
  
  > use the computer
  Your nTerm is still flickering along, so the update must be compiling properly. You download and watch another hilarious reality-based video snippet of mobile robots guarding a warehouse.
  
  > Go northwest
  Your apartment building is on the southwest corner. Opposite it is a windowless, blocky building. On the southeast corner Pharmicopia sprawls. Otto's Automat is to the northwest.
  
  > go southwest
  Clean, if not homey. The doorman waits in a Plexiglas cube that looks curiously bulletproof.
  
  You're now really pretty tired, such that the phrase "keel over" keeps running through your hazy mind.
  
  > Up
  The palate-cleansing corridor that leads to your apartment.
  
  > go inside
  The old-style lock opens to you with already-practiced ease, and you walk in. You switch the light on.
  
  It's your residential canister. Your lime-green couch is against the longest wall. And it looks like we also have a heap of clothes.
  
  > Sleep
  Sleep is a great idea, and would be a great state of being for you right now. But even if you have the time to sleep, you aren't on an appropriately cushioned surface.
  
  > get on the couch
  You get onto the couch.
  
  > Sleep
  You release yourself into slumber.
  
  You feel a bit more rested, at least.
  
  The pager buzzes and jars you, its motor driven to disrupt and demand attention.
  
  > use the computer
  Your nTerm is still flickering along, so the update must be compiling properly. You attempt to reset Gus's password, but get "UNABLE [562] to acquire resources [e.g., 472, 83] for password reset during download/compile progression" as a response.
  
  > stand
  You get off the couch.
  
  > Down
  Clean, if not homey. The cube by the doorway is unattended.
  
  > Go northeast
  Your apartment building is on the southwest corner. Opposite it is a windowless, blocky building. On the southeast corner Pharmicopia sprawls. Otto's Automat is to the northwest.
  
  Two men on unicycles, the larger one with a third unicycle over his shoulder, wobble along the street and away.
  
  > Go east
  You head east on Fifth Street...
  
  To the northeast is Public Char. A Starbucks is on the southeast corner. A complex of tall apartment buildings, The Planar Forest, is southwest. To the northwest is a shoe store.
  
  > go to the east
  You head east on Fifth Street...
  
  The building to the northeast houses "Scales," a restaurant. The government-looking neo-something architecture of City Hall offers an entryway to the southeast. On the southwest corner is "Wheel-Man," a personal transportation dealer. The final business here, to the northwest, is Mailboxes Ultra.
  
  > go to the east
  You head east on Fifth Street...
  
  The eastern corners are occupied by the two nicest residential options in town, The Maple Copse and Yew Village. City Hall has a face turned this way to the southwest. On the northwest corner are the colors and leafy tufts of the city gardens.
  
  > go north
  You head north on Octopus...
  
  The nWare Media Campus is north; Octopus turns into the campus's main path on the north side of Fourth Street. To the southwest are the city's gardens, complementing the green of the campus with other herbifarous colors. A store called "Beverage Rack" is to the southeast.
  
  > go north
  You head north on Octopus...
  
  The south part of the campus is deceptively pleasant, with nWare Media buildings scattered about. You particularly note F7, which you're cleared to enter, to the northwest.
  
  > go to the north
  The north part of the campus is deceptively pleasant, with nWare Media buildings scattered about. Specifically, F2 is to the northeast.
  
  > go to the northeast
  This particularly uninviting room may have been included simply to reassure those without proper clearance that they are in the wrong place. To the north is the building's main floor.
  
  An unwashed hacker paces here fretfully. Noticing you, he freezes and turns. "I AM GUS," he says feverishly, "AND YOU MUST BEAR MY NEW PASSWORD!"
  
  > ask GUS for the the time
  "PASSWORD DESIRED NOW," he says. He does some quick exercises designed to relax his lumbar region.
  
  > use the computer
  Righteous. Everything actually compiled and built successfully. You install the update.
  
  You get that satisfied feeling that you usually get after accomplishing a work-related task.
  
  > use the computer
  Deftly you request a photo of Gus for purposes of positive ID, reset his account, and store in your short-term memory his cryptic-yet-memorable temporary password. Now you just need to share this important bit of information with Gus, and you'll have executed your responsibilities most gloriously.
  
  And people wonder why you fantasize about being a astronaut.
  
  > give password to Gus
  You tell Gus his cryptic-yet-memorable temporary password.
  
  His face lights up with some combination of relief and prophetic rapture. He pulls a miniscule PDA from one of the pockets on his photographer's vest and taps happily, presumably gaining access.
  
  You get that satisfied feeling that you usually get after accomplishing a work-related task.
  
  Some glitch, neurological or digital, causes Gus to scream "ODYSSEUS" and run toward the exit. This involves his running right over you, knocking you down. Your head strikes the floor in a painless and consciousness-eliminating way.
  
  "... tests were, again, all just fine," some woman in a doctor costume tells you. Or maybe she is a doctor. You're both walking along an aqua-colored corridor now. There are pictures of semi-rigid airships on the walls. "You shouldn't have any problems except perhaps for a bit of short-term memory loss, but if you do have any other trouble, come back and tell it to the kiosk. Oh, and you'll want this back." She hands you your pager, which, annoyingly, is buzzing and vibrating. "Take care!"
  
  You find yourself here in the lobby.
  
  The shuffling of those in despair, the rapid, professional pace of the strained nurses and assistants, the occasional groan -- all of these are absent, since this pale green lobby, curiously, holds no one besides yourself. It's also completely without furnishings, except for a kiosk, placed dead center.
  
  Remembering the menu of health insurance options that you were presented, you congratulate yourself on buying the extended warranty on yourself.
  
  The pager buzzes and jars you, its motor driven to disrupt and demand attention.
  
  A window pops up in the lower right corner of your nLap. In it, the uncanny red stapler wiggles its hinged head to the accompaniment of a cheery robot voice:
  
  Hey, this looks like the hospital! This is where you can go if you're sick! If you're really sick, sometimes emergency medical workers will helpfully bring you here!
  
  The window winks away.
  
  > Close computer
  You close the nLap 500.