text: > Go downwards
  You descend the ladder.
  
  This is a small featureless room, no bigger than a closet. There is a metal ladder ascending straight up into the darkness. The upper end of the ladder is not visible. The exit is to the south.
  
  > Go southwest
  The hallway connects all the rooms in your apartment. The living-room is to the east while the kitchen is to the west and your bedroom is to the southwest. Rather unnervingly, the front door leading out, to the south, seems to have disappeared completely. Somewhat unexpectedly, there seems to be an extra room to the north.
  
  Beside your bed is a small nightstand. A wardrobe stands opposite your bed and there's a writing desk by the window. There is an inexplicable black hole in the floor. There is a door in the northeastern corner of the room, leading to the hallway.
  
  > enter the hole
  You feel now that you ready to enter the vortex. With the small bird as your companion, what harm could possibly happen to you?
  
  You're standing outside your apartment, on the tenth floor landing of the condominium. In a way, finding yourself here is a sort of anticlimax; on the other hand, you're happy that you managed to escape from your apartment. Some doors leading to other apartments on this floor are visible, but the front door of your apartment is still nowhere to be seen. Ordinarily a flight of stairs, to the left of the elevator, leads down and another one, to the right of the elevator, leads up. Presently, however, both flights of stairs have disappeared and there are just two abysses that you feel dizzy gazing into. Well, there's always the elevator. Conveniently, it happens to be right here.
  
  > examine the elevator
  The elevator is empty.
  
  > enter the elevator
  Finding no other sensible alternative, you decide to enter the elevator.
  
  You're inside the elevator. There are only two buttons, up and down. That should make things simple.
  
  > go to the west
  You deem it not worth starting to walk randomly in the knee-deep water. Also, entering any of the buildings around you looks highly unsafe.
  
  Out of nowhere, a small boat without any oars floats into your reach.
  
  > enter the boat
  You get into the boat.
  
  A strong current leads the boat forward between the towering buildings. Soon you're out of town. Even the highest buildings disappear into the horizon, and there's nothing but water in sight.
  
  The current pushes the boat northward.
  
  > Wait
  Time passes.
  
  The current pushes the boat northward.
  
  > look at the cage
  It's a small metal cage.
  
  In the cage is a canary bird.
  
  The current pushes the boat northward.
  
  You see a tiny island looming in the horizon, to the north.
  
  A wedge of pigs, in a perfect V-formation, flies past far above your head and disappears into the horizon.
  
  > wait awhile
  Time passes.
  
  The current pushes the boat northward.
  
  The island is getting closer.
  
  > wait a while
  Time passes.
  
  The current pushes the boat northward.
  
  The island is getting closer.
  
  Your boat reaches the island which now looks rather big; it must be over a mile wide. When the boat touches the ground, you get off it and wade to the shore. A yawning hippopotamus appears from nowhere. The boat disappears in its huge jaws and the hippopotamus swims away.
  
  You are standing on the shore of an island. A path leads up the slightly ascending cliff to a wide red curtain, the kind you might see in a theatre. The shore continues to the west and to the east.
  
  > go to the east
  This is a particulary stony part of the shoreline. You can go back to the west to where you originally landed on the island, but the landscape becomes impassable in other direction due to thick vegetation.
  
  The wreck of a small cargo ship lies on the stones here.
  
  You can also see a crowbar here.
  
  > examine it
  It is a rusty old crowbar.
  
  > examine wreck
  It is an old cargo vessel. Some gunnysacks lie on the rocks around the wreck.
  
  > examine the sacks
  Sacks made of rough burlap. A couple have broken, revealing sunflower seeds inside.
  
  > get the seeds
  You take some sunflower seeds from an open sack.
  
  > check your inventory
  You're carrying some sunflower seeds, a crowbar and a cage.
  
  You can also recall a map drawn on your bedroom desk.
  
  > recall the map
  You think about the treasure map you found drawn on your bedroom desk. There was an irregular line (a river or a road) going across the map , and to the right, or east, of it was a big X. The X was inside a circle, but it was difficult to guess what the circle could represent.
  
  > go to the west
  You are standing on the shore of an island. A path leads up the slightly ascending cliff to a wide red curtain, the kind you might see in a theatre. The shore continues to the west and to the east.
  
  > Go west
  This is a small sandy stretch of the island shore. There's various flotsam and jetsam here. You can go back to the east to where you originally landed on the island, but the landscape becomes impassable in other directions due to steep cliffs.
  
  You can see a bowler hat here.
  
  > examine hat
  It's a slightly worn but still usable bowler hat.
  
  > get the hat
  Taken.
  
  > wear it
  You put on the bowler hat.
  
  > Go north
  You find a gap in the wide, red curtain and enter it.
  
  You're standing alone on a large theatre stage. The house is full, with the audience waiting for your next move in the dark auditorium. Even the balconies, to the second and third floors, are seated to the last place. A fat, wealthy man sitting in one of the boxes eyes you through a pair of opera glasses. The red curtain is behind you.
  
  The audience bursts into a wild applause seeing you. You feel you have to give them your best shot. Now, let's see... you can sing, dance and whistle. Or at least you think you can.
  
  The audience shifts restlessly, waiting for your next move.
  
  > Dance
  You start your Vaudeville act. Wearing the bowler hat and using the crowbar as a makeshift cane, you manage to convince the crowd to an extent, in spite of your lacking dancing abilities. However, you shouldn't have opened your mouth; your singing and whistling are still abominable. Maybe you should find someone who is better at it than you are.
  
  You stop as the crowd boos angrily.
  
  The audience shifts restlessly, waiting for your next move.
  
  > examine the cage
  It's a small metal cage.
  
  In the cage is a canary bird.
  
  The audience shifts restlessly, waiting for your next move.
  
  > examine bird
  It's a small yellow bird.
  
  The audience shifts restlessly, waiting for your next move.
  
  > give the seeds to the bird
  The cage isn't open.
  
  The audience shifts restlessly, waiting for your next move.
  
  > open the cage
  You open the cage carefully and give some seeds for the canary bird to eat. It pecks them for a while and starts then chirping happily from its heart's content.
  
  The audience is stunned by the performance and is now waiting for you to complete the show.
  
  The audience shifts restlessly, waiting for your next move.
  
  > Whistle
  You start your Vaudeville act to the chirping of the bird. As it takes care of the singing/whistling part of the performance, your job is just to dance. Wearing the bowler hat and using the crowbar as a makeshift cane, you manage to convince the crowd in spite of your lacking dancing abilities. In fact, they are quite charmed, and the applause at the end of your one-man and one-bird show is deafening.
  
  Someone who looks like the theatre manager comes to the stage and shakes your hand.
  
  "That was absolutely fantastic", he congratulates, "now, please, let us escort you out."
  
  A horse-drawn carriage drawn by two white horses appears from the backstage and you enter it. The horses then lead the carriage down a ramp from the stage and pull the carriage through the central aisle of the auditorium while the crowd on both sides of the aisle claps in a standing ovation and shouts bravo.
  
  Once you're out of the main doors, you step out of the carriage. The horses disappear back into the theatre and the main doors close with a bang. Gosh, was that weird or what. Again, you're on your own.
  
  You're on a north-south path in a forest. To the south is a theatre while to the north the path disappears into the trees. The theatre itself seems to be in the middle of the forest, a cultural oddity in the general wilderness of things.
  
  Someone has left a shovel here.
  
  > get the shovel
  You try to pull the shovel out of the ground, but it is stuck surprisingly stubbornly. The task is made the more difficult as the handle is missing. As you keep pulling, the shaft of the shovel comes loose. The blade remains in the soil and cannot be retrieved. You take a look at the dark shaft you're holding. It has a white end that was not visible when the shovel still was intact. Hey, it's a magic wand!
  
  There is a loud sound, and the ground is shaking. Somewhere nearby, a meteorite must have hit the ground.
  
  > look at the wand
  It is magic wand with a black shaft and a white end.
  
  > Wave wand
  Nothing happens.
  
  A bright ball of fire is seen falling from the sky in the distance and splashing into the sea far away from here.