text: [Themes: Horror, Science Fiction, amnesia, sea, ocean, beach, horror]
  
  > Look around
  This is a one room shack; the only light comes from a waxy
  window. There is a damp cot in the corner, and a simple dresser with one leg against the other wall. On top of the dresser is a grey glass fish bowl.
  
  There is a small table next to the cot; on top of it is an
  answering machine. The machine appears to be dead.
  
  On the dresser is a waterlogged paperback book.
  
  You can also see your shack door here.
  
  > look at the book
  It is a waterlogged book of sea legends. On the cover is a woodcut illustration of a sea monster, mostly hidden underwater, wrapping its tentacles around an old sailing ship.
  
  > read it
  (first taking the waterlogged paperback book)
  The book has been largely obliterated from being under water,
  but one passage still stands out from the grimy paper:
  
  "... he was found three days later, floating near the reef. Miraculously he still lived, and we pulled him aboard, even though he struggled against our attempts. He told us that he no longer belonged aboard ship. Though previously an able sailor, it was clear to us that his ordeal in the sea had taken his reason from him. We tried to restrain him, but he eluded us; standing on the bow of the ship, he said again that he no longer belonged aboard ship, and threw himself over the side, quickly disappearing beneath the black water. God have mercy on him."
  
  You put the book down; sea water begins to ooze from its sides, only gradually slowing to a trickle.
  
  > look at Bowl
  It's an empty grey glass fish bowl, slightly dusty on the inside. You can't for the life of you remember how you got it or, for that matter, why you put it here.
  
  In the Fish Bowl is a dead fish.
  
  > examine dead Fish
  It's emaciated form looks strangely vulnerable.
  
  > pour the bucket into Bowl
  No more water remains in the bucket.
  
  > go outside
  (that is, outside)
  You step out onto the cold sand.
  
  Around the shack is long dry grass and bits of broken glass. Down a little ways to the north you see the grey shoreline, and then the black, roaring ocean.
  
  You can see your shack door here.
  
  > go to the north
  Yellow, strong-smelling foam is building up where the surf meets the land.
  
  > look at the foam
  Yellow foam builds up on the shore.
  
  > take the foam
  Er ... no.
  
  > take the water
  (the bucket)
  You already have that.
  
  > fill the bucket
  (with the ocean)
  You can't do that here.
  
  > go north
  You wade out into the dark water.
  
  The Shore (in the ocean)
  Yellow, strong-smelling foam is building up where the surf meets the land.
  
  > fill bucket
  (with the ocean)
  You fill the bucket up with water from the ocean.
  
  > Go south
  You trudge out of the water.
  
  Yellow, strong-smelling foam is building up where the surf meets the land.
  
  > Go south
  Around the shack is long dry grass and bits of broken glass. Down a little ways to the north you see the grey shoreline, and then the black, roaring ocean.
  
  You can see your shack door here.
  
  > pour bucket into Bowl
  The bucket is now empty: the Fish Bowl is now partially full of
  water
  You pour the brackish water over the dead fish.
  
  The dead fish seems rejuvenated by the dousing; a thin layer of
  slime is developing on its scales, and the hollows in its eyes are beginning to cake with inky meat.
  
  Unfortunately, there isn't enough water in the bowl.
  
  > go south
  You have a strange feeling as you leave the ocean. You can't tell whether you live on the shore and walked into the sea, or live in the sea and just walked onto the land. You hold your eyes shut, and the disorientation passes.
  
  Yellow, strong-smelling foam is building up where the surf meets the land.
  
  > pour the bucket into Bowl
  The bucket is now empty: the Fish Bowl is now full.
  
  You fill the fish bowl with water. You can't believe the fish
  was ever dead - it is an elegant, slim creature that moodily swims
  back and forth in the bowl.
  
  > examine Fish
  (the fish)
  You are getting more exhausted.
  
  It is a grey, slim fish with intelligent eyes. It swims slowly back
  and forth.
  
  > take Bowl
  You are getting more exhausted.
  
  It is not wrong to carry around a fish bowl. You would be
  breaking no laws. On the other hand, because one can do a
  thing does not mean one should do a thing. You decide to
  leave it where it is.
  
  > get on the cot
  You collapse on the cot. You can't find where your mind ends and
  the sound of the ocean begins. They are both an interconnecting knot. You plunge into darkness, green darkness that rushes over you with a wet gurgle.
  
  In the fog of your dream, the fish looks at you through the
  glass of the fish bowl, the water around it turning sickly pink. You feel a terrible guilt, a sorrow you can't explain or contain.
  
  "Forgive me," you say.
  
  The water lowers in the fish bowl. The fish withers, becomes desiccated, and lies on the bottom of the dry glass.
  
  start screaming, but the darkness fills your mouth and chokes you, and you wake remembering nothing.
  
  Through the waxy window, you can tell that it's dark outside.
  
  The Shelter (on the cot)
  You are inside a hastily constructed shell made of pieces of
  sheet metal and plastic welded together. One wall is open, with a flapping piece of tarp serving as the only protection from the wind. Bits of equipment litter the sandy ground.
  A recording device rests on the ground. The message light is
  blinking.
  
  There is a mirror propped against the wall. A partially buried
  helmet lies nearby. There is a fish bowl on top of a stainless steel piece of equipment. A dead fish lies inside. A long crack is beginning to form down the side of the bowl.
  
  > get up
  You get off the cot.
  
  sheet metal and plastic welded together. One wall is open, with a flapping piece of tarp serving as the only protection from the wind. Bits of equipment litter the sandy ground.
  A recording device rests on the ground. The message light is
  blinking.
  
  There is a mirror propped against the wall. A partially buried
  helmet lies nearby. There is a fish bowl on top of a stainless steel piece of equipment. A dead fish lies inside. A long crack is beginning to form down the side of the bowl.
  
  > About yourself
  Your skin has taken on a grey sheen. Your breath, when you make yourself breath, comes out in a quiet hiss of steam. It smells like seawater.
  
  > check what you're carrying
  You are carrying:
  your rubber boots (being worn)
  your clothes (being worn)
  canvas sneakers (being worn)
  
  > look at the mirror
  You stand in front of the mirror propped against the wall. Your eyes are growing farther apart, turning black and cold, like marbles. Your skin has taken on a grey sheen. Your breath, when you make yourself breath, comes out in a quiet hiss of steam. It smells like seawater.
  
  > look at the helmet
  Where the bucket was, there is now a helmet half buried in the cold sand. It's constructed of bent grey chrome, and its transparent visor has cracked. On the side is etched the name WYNDHAM, L.
  
  > look at Fish
  (the Helmet)
  Where the bucket was, there is now a helmet half buried in the cold sand. It's constructed of bent grey chrome, and its transparent visor has cracked. On the side is etched the name WYNDHAM, L.
  
  > examine the machine
  It is a sophisticated black recording device, torn away from a panel. Its message light is blinking.
  
  > Play machine
  ... Doctor Gabriel Lucas, ship's scientist. This will probably
  be my last log. I found Janice on the beach just now. Larry killed
  her. She went looking for him, and he killed her. She should have waited for me, of course, but she hasn't ... didn't accept what I
  know. I hope this message gets to someone. This planet is almost completely ocean, so I'll think of this as a message in a bottle.
  Our engines failed when we entered the atmosphere. Laurence
  Wyndham was the ship's pilot. He ejected the emergency pod, and we crashed into the ocean near a small land mass. The pod had been
  damaged and broke apart on impact; Bob and Dewey were killed. Janice, me and Larry were hanging on to debris in the water. It was cold; we were having trouble hanging on.
  I know I thought at the time ... I'm most certain now, that
  something was in the water with us. I remember feeling that something was wrong, beyond the obvious. Something was ...
  ... circling beneath ...
  "... circling beaneath us. Larry couldn't hold onto the
  wreckage. He went under. Janice and me swam ashore with some of the wreckage. Larry was under more than five minutes, but he came up after us while we dragged the remains onto the beach. He seemed unchanged.
  It is my belief that Lawrence Wyndham was somehow ... infected
  by an unknown form of life in the oceans of this planet ..."
  ... it'ssocoldOPENcan'tholdontoOPENcan'tididn'tiOPENcirclingOPENcirclingben eathOPEN!!!
  ...
  "... at night, his appearance underwent alteration. I have no
  surviving equipment to track this process, but his body is becoming ..."
  ... underneath,circlingunderneathTHEBEASTthebeastiscirclingunderneathMURDER ERnot,amnot,amKILLEDicanseeHEARME?circlingunderneath
  ...
  "... infected ..."
  ... beneathcirclingbeneathOPENseeyouIseeOPENcircling ...
  "... it's becoming ..."
  ... circlingCAN'THOLDONbeneathTHEBEASTcan'tholdon ...
  "... it is my belief that Laurence Wyndham is dead."
  The voice grinds down to a syrupy rumble as the recording device
  breaks down.
  
  > take Helmet
  As you reach for the helmet, you see the skeleton of a fish. You close your eyes. You cannot take this.