text: [Themes: ghost, gender-neutral protagonist, surreal]
  
  > go downwards
  You make the somewhat less arduous trek back down the path.
  
  This flat, paved road runs from southwest to northeast. However, you also spot a steep path leaving the road and winding its way north up the hillside.
  
  > go northeast
  Apparently the royal road doesn't lead anywhere; you've come to a dead end. You may follow it back to the southwest.
  
  > Go west
  You make your way west through the void. As you do, you feel an electrical impulse course through you. You find yourself in...
  
  You are standing in the great hall of a large, cobwebby castle. A long table stretches from one end of the hall to the other. The entryway of the castle is to the east. Exits west and south lead to other parts of the castle.
  
  On the long table is a pile of old coins.
  
  The Count is here, sitting at the table. He mumbles something that sounds like "three."
  
  > Go west
  This small chapel does not appear to be dedicated to God or gods; instead, it looks like a place for the worship of numbers. Icons are placed at regular intervals around the walls. The exit to the Great Hall is back east.
  
  > look at the icons
  Most of the icons are highly stylized representations of a single number, such as three, one, or four. One icon, though, is a little different: It consists of a number triangle.
  
  > examine the triangle
  The number triangle on the icon looks like this:
  
  1   2   1
  1   3   3   1
  1   4   6   4   1
  1   5  10  10   5   1
  1   6  15  20  15   6   1
  1   7  21  35  35  21   7   1
  1   8  28  56  70  56  28   8   1
  
  The words "Pascal's Triangle" appear underneath the numbers.
  
  > look up pascal
  (in your math book)
  Blaise Pascal was a French mathematician, scientist, philosopher, and theologian. He is known for constructing one of the first mechanical calculators, for his work in projective geometry, and for his work in hydrodynamics. A unit of pressure is named after him, as is the triangle of numbers known as "Pascal's triangle."
  
  Pascal was also one of the founders of the field of probability.
  While his initial work in probability was to solve gambling problems, he applied his insights to other areas of human knowledge as well.
  For example, Pascal's wager consists of one of the first uses
  of expected values. In it, Pascal argues that, in the absence of conclusive evidence as to the existence of God, the payoffs for believing in God (infinite happiness if God exists, nothing if God does not) versus not believing in God (eternal damnation if God exists, nothing if God does not) are such that it is more reasonable for humans to bet on belief in God.
  
  > look up pascal's triangle
  (in your math book)
  Pascal's triangle is a triangle of numbers that have several interpretations. One meaning is that the number in the nth
  row, kth column (denoted C(n,k)) is the number of
  committees of size k that can be formed from n
  people. An equivalent interpretation is that C(n,k) is the
  number of sequences of 1's and 0's that have length n and
  contain exactly k 1's.
  
  Another, different kind of meaning of the numbers in Pascal's triangle is that they are the coefficients when expanding
  (x+1)ⁿ in powers of x. For example,
  (x+1)⁵ = x⁵ + 5x⁴ + 10x³ +
  10x²+ 5x + 1, and the coefficients 1, 5, 10, 10, 5,
  1 are the numbers in row 5 in Pascal's triangle.
  
  Pascal's triangle can be generated very easily: The numbers in the leftmost column are all 1's, and the numbers in the right diagonal are all 1's as well. Otherwise, to get C(n,k), you add
  C(n-1,k) and C(n-1,k-1). In other words, to obtain
  the number you want, you add the number to its "north" and to its "northwest" in the triangle.
  
  Pascal's triangle is indexed starting with 0 rather than 1: The initial row is row 0, not row 1, and the leftmost column is column 0, not column 1.
  
  (Unfortunately, the page giving the first several rows of Pascal's triangle appears to be torn out of your math book. You did buy it used, after all.)
  
  > go to the east
  You are standing in the great hall of a large, cobwebby castle. A long table stretches from one end of the hall to the other. The entryway of the castle is to the east. Exits west and south lead to other parts of the castle.
  
  On the long table is a pile of old coins.
  
  The Count is here, sitting at the table. He mumbles something that sounds like "two."
  
  > go south
  This is a smaller, cozier room than the great hall to the north. A sumptuous tapestry hangs on one wall, and there is a side table beneath it.
  
  A large bronze box lies on the side table.
  
  Another large purple puppet is here, fiddling disgruntledly with the bronze box.
  
  > look at the puppet
  She looks much like the Count, except that she sports a large mop of blonde hair.
  
  > Greet the puppet
  You approach the purple puppet and introduce yourself. She steps back from the bronze box and says, "Please forgive my manners! I was preoccupied with my mechanical calculator.
  
  "I am the Countess of this castle. Like my husband, I love to count! And I love to work large multiplication problems with my mechanical calculator. Unfortunately, it seems to be broken now, and I'm not sure how to fix it.
  
  "If you have any questions for me, please feel free to ask.
  Otherwise, I'd really like to get this fixed."
  
  She turns back to the bronze box.
  
  > Examine box
  This bronze box has several knobs and small wheels on it. It appears to be a primitive mechanical calculator.
  
  > ask the puppet about the box
  "It seems to be broken. It would be nice to have it fixed!"
  
  > look at the tapestry
  This is a beautiful tapestry, consisting of several mathematical symbols woven together in an intricate pattern.
  
  > examine the symbols
  They're symbolic.
  
  > go to the north
  You are standing in the great hall of a large, cobwebby castle. A long table stretches from one end of the hall to the other. The entryway of the castle is to the east. Exits west and south lead to other parts of the castle.
  
  On the long table is a pile of old coins.
  
  The Count is here, sitting at the table. He mumbles something that sounds like "three."
  
  > Go east
  As you move east, you feel an electrical impulse course through you. The space around you seems to fold in on itself.
  
  The space is now partially-formed, but it is still mostly unshaped matter. Besides the way up to the manifestation of one, you can now sense several more "paths" through the void: north to the Lyceum, south, east, and west to the Great Hall.
  
  > go to the south
  You make your way south through the void. As you do, you feel an electrical impulse course through you. You find yourself in...
  
  This appears to be the head librarian's office in the Great Library of Alexandria. Scrolls litter the floor. The main part of the library is north of you.
  
  The numbers from 1 to 100 are carved on the wall here, in some kind of puzzle.
  
  > examine the puzzle
  On the wall are carved numbers from 1 to 100, in ten rows of ten each. It looks like you could push any of the numbers. Next to the numbers is a switch, with two settings: "Remove Number," and "Remove Larger Multiples of the Number." The switch is currently set to "Remove Number," although you could easily move it to the other setting by flipping the switch. The numbers currently look like this:
  
  21  22  23  24  25  26  27  28  29  30
  31  32  33  34  35  36  37  38  39  40
  41  42  43  44  45  46  47  48  49  50
  51  52  53  54  55  56  57  58  59  60
  61  62  63  64  65  66  67  68  69  70
  71  72  73  74  75  76  77  78  79  80
  81  82  83  84  85  86  87  88  89  90
  91  92  93  94  95  96  97  98  99  100
  
  At the bottom is a challenge from the librarian: "To access the map room, leave just the primes between 1 and 100 by pushing only five numbers."
  
  > look up the primes in the book
  A positive integer is prime if it is divisible by exactly two positive integers: itself and 1. The numbers 7, 29, and 43 are all examples of primes. The number 1 is not prime because it is only divisible by one positive integer (itself), rather than two.
  
  > look up the prime numbers
  (in your math book)
  A positive integer is prime if it is divisible by exactly two positive integers: itself and 1. The numbers 7, 29, and 43 are all examples of primes. The number 1 is not prime because it is only divisible by one positive integer (itself), rather than two.
  
  > Go south
  This room is quite large to be a side room just off the librarian's office. The walls are covered with maps, and an exit leads back north to the librarian's office.
  
  A huge globe sits on a pedestal in the center of the room.
  
  > examine the globe
  This appears to be the librarian's model of the earth, and it is much larger than you are. It's incomplete, as it only shows the parts of the world that were known in Alexandria at this time. However, it does have lines of latitude and meridians of longitude marked on it.
  
  The globe doesn't fit perfectly on its pedestal, though; there is a small gap between the pedestal and the globe.
  
  > look at the pedestal
  This short pedestal supports the globe. The globe doesn't fit perfectly on the pedestal, though; there is a small gap between the pedestal and the globe.
  
  > look at the maps
  The maps are mostly of parts of the eastern Mediterranean world: Egypt, Libya, Greece, Palestine, Anatolia. None of them look particularly useful.
  
  > Go north
  This appears to be the head librarian's office in the Great Library of Alexandria. Scrolls litter the floor. The main part of the library is north of you, and a side room lies to the south.
  
  You have solved the number puzzle on the wall here.
  
  > look at scrolls
  There are many scrolls here. None of them particularly catches your eye.
  
  > go north
  As you move north, you feel an electrical impulse course through you. The space around you seems to fold in on itself.
  
  The space is now partially-formed, but it is still mostly unshaped matter. Besides the way up to the manifestation of one, you can now sense several more "paths" through the void: north to the Lyceum, south to the Librarian's Office, east, and west to the Great Hall.
  
  > greet Euclid
  "Do you have any ideas about how to prove my parallel postulate?" Euclid asks. "Or have you found any examples with no other lines through the point that don't touch the first line? Or maybe examples with two or more lines through the point that don't touch the first line? If so, please tell me about them!"
  
  > tell Euclid about the globe
  "A spherical model of the earth, huh? Aristotle argued that the world is round, and so I'm not surprised that someone has created one of these. Anything interesting marked on it?"
  
  > tell about the latitudes
  (to Euclid)
  Euclid says, "I don't think that will help me prove or disprove my parallel postulate."
  
  > tell about the latitudes and the longitudes
  (to Euclid)
  You describe the meridians of longitude that you saw on the globe in the Library of Alexandria. Euclid becomes more and more agitated. As you finish, Euclid almost cuts you off in his excitement.
  
  "That's it!" he says. "If you take a meridian of longitude and a point not on that meridian, a second - parallel - meridian that goes through the point must intersect the first meridian at both the north and south poles! So my parallel postulate is actually false: If we think of lines as meridians of longitude, then there is no other line through the point that doesn't intersect the first line!
  
  "Wait." He stops himself and thinks carefully for several minutes. You're afraid to interrupt him. Suddenly, he starts laughing. Soon he is laughing so hard he is doubled over, holding his stomach. It takes him a few minutes to pull himself together.
  
  "I've been asking the wrong question! The meridians of longitude don't prove my parallel postulate false; they just represent a different system of geometry! The parallel postulate as I first stated it is true on a flat plane. The meridians of longitude
  help describe a 'parallel postulate' that would be true on a
  sphere! You get a different system of geometry if you're on a
  flat plane versus a sphere!
  
  "The meridians of longitude were a brilliant suggestion! I can't thank you enough, but please take this as a token of my appreciation." He hands you a copy of his Elements.
  
  "I've got to go write this down.
  
  "Hmmm... No, on second thought I won't bother. Trying to prove my parallel postulate will give mathematicians something to do for the next two thousand years!"
  
  Euclid walks down the winding path, laughing as he goes.
  
  [Your understanding of Geometry has increased. You estimate
  that your score on tomorrow's final has just gone up by three
  points.]
  
  > Inventory
  You are carrying:
  Elements
  a scribbled scroll
  your math book
  
  > examine Elements
  This is a copy of the Elements of Euclid. It's actually
  divided into thirteen books.