<img style="width: 70%;" src="https://www.sidekickbooks.com/playpoems/sweet-mistress.png">
is the island’s name. You learn this
in increments. It gathers to you.
[[<i><u>Go on.</i></u>|Aftertitle]]
(if:$key is 1)[You clutch this like a fetysh.(click-replace: "y")[(set: $ys to it + 1)y]](else:)[The sea has had her way with it.]
(display: "First Library")A book made sopping, now dried to soap flakes.
(display: "First Library")A dog-drowned book. Its spells are become bruises.
(display: "First Library")A double-drowned book, its pages a starchy stew.
(display: "First Library")A waterlogged book, full of stormclouds.
(display: "First Library")A book soaked to smeariness. The <span class="extra">author<span class="extracontent" style="width: 40vw; max-width: 400px;">Or their name at least.</span></span> known to you.
(display: "First Library")A brine-blistered book. The author unknown to you.
(display: "First Library")The brackish crust of a book.
(display: "First Library")A foam-buttered book. (You once owned a copy.)
(display: "First Library")A surf-broken book. Almost torn in two.
(display: "First Library")A froth-ravaged book. These running words – laws? Or recipes?
(display: "First Library")A coral-boned book. It smells of your father.
(display: "First Library")A pearl-eyed book. Its gold inlay has turned salmon.
(display: "First Library")A beleaguered book, which seems as if it might have been rich and strange.
(display: "First Library")A reef-rippered book. Its bleached innards spill.
(display: "First Library")A maelstromed book. It nearly explodes in your hands.
(display: "First Library")A scuttled logbook. Its entries are unique, unreadable.
(display: "First Library")A shipwrecked book. Its paragraphs are long, matted tresses.
(display: "First Library")A broth-broiled book. Volume V of a series.
(display: "First Library")A book that has been gargled and retched-up. The slime of chapters.
(display: "First Library")A tide-rifled book. Each leaf fingered to a blurr.
(display: "First Library")A swell-swollen book. An insubstantial pageant.
(display: "First Library")An unfathomable book.
(display: "First Library")A jetsammed book. Little more than scud.
(display: "First Library")A swash-lapped book. A stack of greasy plates.
(display: "First Library")A scuppered book. Like scalded mash.
(display: "First Library")A filleted book. The flesh is dark with oils.
(display: "First Library")A blubbery book. Blanched but stain-strewn.
(display: "First Library")(set: $ys to 0)Begin by thinking of an island.
No, don’t go filling in the details. Leave it
blank as you can for now.
This island, however,
has given you its shore, its brim to grip.
Hold – it seems to breathe beneath you.
Come its noises: human,
animal, industrial –
each individual tremor light as a butterfly.
[[<i><u>Walk, then. Or leap.</u></i>|Sweet Mystress]]
<audio src="https://www.sidekickbooks.com/playpoems/sound/mystwater.wav" autoplay>
At its centre:
a ruined room for books.
A scriptorial husk. A <span class="blurry">cr</span><span class="blurry2">ack</span><span class="blurry">ed</span> aumbry.
This is what you make for.
Past <i><u>(set: $scenery to "the lookout post.")<tw-link class='cyclingLink' data-cycling-texts='["the lookout post.", "the post brooding brokenly.", "the lighthouse.", "the lighthouse like a snapped bone.", "the door.", "the blistered door in the blathered bank.", "the pool.", "the pool of scarf-bright algaes.", "the pool in which a city lies smothered.", "the searchlight.", "the garlanded skeleton of the searchlight.", "the orange and ochre crabs.", "crabs like beachcast, sea-worn pocketwatches."]' onclick='clickCyclingLink(this, "$scenery");'>$scenery</i></u></tw-link>
Sand hot and cold all at once.
Thrift, whiff of nutmeg,
and the stone stairs lovely with salt.
[[<i><u>Up, up.</u></i>|The library]]
<audio src="https://www.sidekickbooks.com/playpoems/sound/mystmusic.wav" autoplay>
Now, then, you are upon a deeper island.
An island within an island.
You have dived, wearing as diving gear
your own snarled organs, their credible gulp and hum.
And you’ve come up in a kind of mechanical theatre,
half-collapsed into the sea,
half-petryfied – a bedlam of barnacles.(click-replace: "ryf")[(set: $ys to it + 1)ryf]
[[<i><u>Root, rummage</u></i>|Theatre 2]].{(print: "<script>$('html').removeClass(\)</script>")(if: (passage:)'s tags's length > 0)[(print: "<script>$('html').addClass('" + (passage:)'s tags.join(' ') + "'\)</script>")]}○
(if:$key is 1)[A hollow book. Empty.](else:)[A hollow book. A hiding place. Inside is a single, badly rusted (link: "<i><u>key</u></i>")[(set: $key to 1)(goto: "The library")].]
(display: "First Library"){<table style="width: 100%;">
<tr>
<td>[[B
O
O
K|A Savaged Book]]</a></td>
<td>[[B
O
O
K|A Mauled Book]]</td>
<td>[[B
O
O
K|A Bludgeoned Book]]</td>
<td>[[B
O
O
K|A Crushed Book]]</td>
<td>[[B
O
O
K|A Concussed Book]]</td>
<td>[[B
O
O
K|A Well-Ground Book]]</td>
<td>[[B
O
O
K|A Blasted Book]]</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>[[B
O
O
K|A Combi-Locked Book]]</a></td>
<td>[[B
O
O
K|A Threshed Book]]</td>
<td>[[B
O
O
K|A Blank Book]]</td>
<td>[[B
O
O
K|A Jammed Book]]</td>
<td>[[B
O
O
K|A Hollow Book 2]]</td>
<td>[[B
O
O
K|A Blackened Book]]</td>
<td>[[B
O
O
K|A Burnt Book]]</td>
</tr>
</table>}{<table style="width: 100%; position: absolute; top: 50px;">
<tr>
<td>[[B
O
O
K|A Combi-Locked Book]]</a></td>
<td>[[B
O
O
K|A Threshed Book]]</td>
<td>[[B
O
O
K|A Blank Book]]</td>
<td>[[B
O
O
K|A Jammed Book]]</td>
<td>[[B
O
O
K|A Hollow Book 2]]</td>
<td>[[B
O
O
K|A Blackened Book]]</td>
<td>[[B
O
O
K|A Burnt Book]]</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>[[B
O
O
K|A Savaged Book]]</a></td>
<td>[[B
O
O
K|A Mauled Book]]</td>
<td>[[B
O
O
K|A Bludgeoned Book]]</td>
<td>[[B
O
O
K|A Crushed Book]]</td>
<td>[[B
O
O
K|A Concussed Book]]</td>
<td>[[B
O
O
K|A Well-Ground Book]]</td>
<td>[[B
O
O
K|A Blasted Book]]</td>
</tr>
</table>}<table style="width: 100%; position: absolute; top: 50px;">
<tr>
<td>[[B
O
O
K|A Savaged Book]]</a></td>
<td>[[B
O
O
K|A Mauled Book]]</td>
<td>[[B
O
O
K|A Bludgeoned Book]]</td>
<td>[[B
O
O
K|A Crushed Book]]</td>
<td>[[B
O
O
K|A Concussed Book]]</td>
<td>[[B
O
O
K|A Well-Ground Book]]</td>
<td>[[B
O
O
K|A Blasted Book]]</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>[[B
O
O
K|A Threshed Book]]</td>
<td>[[B
O
O
K|A Blank Book]]</td>
<td>[[B
O
O
K|A Jammed Book]]</td>
<td>[[B
O
O
K|A Hollow Book 2]]</td>
<td>[[B
O
O
K|A Blackened Book]]</td>
<td>[[B
O
O
K|A Burnt Book]]</td>
<td>[[B
O
O
K|A Combi-Locked Book]]</a></td>
</tr>
</table>A savaged book. Its guts clawed into cypherlings.
(display: "Second Library")A mauled book, its text knifed to filings.
(display: "Second Library")A bludgeoned book. Its brains dashed out, scrambled.
(display: "Second Library")A crushed, heat-welded book. Unopenable. One solid hunk of gneiss.
(display: "Second Library")A locked book.
(display: "First Library")A concussed book, its contents shattered irreparably.
(display: "Second Library")A well-ground book. Pestle-and-mortared. Pounded to ribbons.
(display: "Second Library")A blasted book. A novel in scorch marks.
(display: "Second Library")A threshed book, little more than a forest of paper dolls.
(display: "Second Library")A locked book. But you have the key.
And this book, by the way, is a [[<i><u>gateway</u></i>|The Mechanical Theatre]].
(<span class="tempest"><span class="antique">There be some sports are painful, and their labor</span>
<span class="tempestantique">Delight in them sets off. Some kinds of baseness</span>
<span class="tempestantique">Are nobly undergone. And most poor matters</span>
<span class="tempestantique"><span class="blurry">Point to rich ends. This my mean task</span></span>
<span class="tempestantique"><span class="blurry2">Would be as heavy to me as odious, but</span></span>
<span class="tempestantique"><span class="blurry3">The mistress which I serve quickens what’s dead</span></span> )</div><audio src="https://www.sidekickbooks.com/playpoems/sound/mystwarp.wav" autoplay>(if:$glasses is 1)[Through the glass scute, you can make out writing on the flyleaf:
<i>“Combo reminder:
Our revels now are ended. These our actors,
Act 4 Scene 1 Line ????”</i>
You know your own equipment. You can find your way back.
You know <i><a href="http://www.opensourceshakespeare.org/" target="_new">where to ghost</a></i>.](else:)[A blank book with very few pages left. Running your fingers across the paper, however, it feels as if there <i>is</i> writing here.]
(display: "Second Library"){<script>
function play(){
var audio = document.getElementById("audio");
audio.play();
}
</script>
<audio id="audio" src="https://www.sidekickbooks.com/playpoems/sound/click.wav"></audio>}An iron book, sealed by a four-tumbler lock.
(set: $lock01 to "1")<tw-link class='cyclingLink' data-cycling-texts='["1", "2", "3", "4", "5", "6", "7", "8", "9", "0"]' onclick='play();clickCyclingLink(this, "$lock01");'>$lock01</tw-link> (set: $lock02 to "1")<tw-link class='cyclingLink' data-cycling-texts='["1", "2", "3", "4", "5", "6", "7", "8", "9", "0"]' onclick='play();clickCyclingLink(this, "$lock02");'>$lock02</tw-link> (set: $lock03 to "1")<tw-link class='cyclingLink' data-cycling-texts='["1", "2", "3", "4", "5", "6", "7", "8", "9", "0"]' onclick='play();clickCyclingLink(this, "$lock03");'>$lock03</tw-link> (set: $lock04 to "1")<tw-link class='cyclingLink' data-cycling-texts='["1", "2", "3", "4", "5", "6", "7", "8", "9", "0"]' onclick='play();clickCyclingLink(this, "$lock04");'>$lock04</tw-link>
[[<u><i>Try the lock</i></u>|Locktest]](if:$glasses is 1)[A hollow book. Empty.](else:)[A hollow book. A hiding place.
Inside is (link: "<i><u>a polished, eye-sized scute of green glass</u></i>")[(set: $glasses to 1)(goto: "Bookshelf")].]
(display: "Second Library")This book is jammed in the teeth of the bookshelf, and can’t be wrenched free. Its spine is broken in 12 places.
(display: "Second Library")A blackened book, all soft soot.
(display: "Second Library")A hammered book, flat as your shadow.
(display: "Second Library")The lock gives, you think, a little giddily.
And this book too is a [[<u><i>rathole</i></u>|The Digital Engine Room]].
(<span class="tempest"><span class="antique"><span class="blurry3">There be some sports are painful, and their labor</span></span>
<span class="tempestantique"><span class="blurry2">Delight in them sets off. Some kinds of baseness</span></span>
<span class="tempestantique"><span class="blurry">Are nobly undergone. And most poor matters</span></span>
<span class="tempestantique">Point to rich ends. This my mean task</span>
<span class="tempestantique">Would be as heavy to me as odious, but</span>
<span class="tempestantique">The mistress which I serve quickens what’s dead</span>
<span class="tempestantique">And makes my labors pleasures. Oh, she is</span>
<span class="tempestantique"><span class="blurry">Ten times more gentle than her father’s crabbed,</span></span>
<span class="tempestantique"><span class="blurry2">And he’s composed of harshness. I must remove</span></span>
<span class="tempestantique"><span class="blurry3">Some thousands of these logs and pile them up,</span></span></span> )</div>
<audio src="https://www.sidekickbooks.com/playpoems/sound/mystwarp.wav" autoplay>You may be thinking <i>if I can vanish into a book,
then perhaps I can vanish just as well into a word, or letter-stem,
since a row of books is really a kind of sentence</i>
– and you’d be right, or near enough.
There was an island before I started speaking,
an island before that.
And now you’ve arrived in another: an [[<i><u>island made of light</u></i>|Engine Room 2]].<audio src="https://www.sidekickbooks.com/playpoems/sound/metalchamber.wav" autoplay loop>Stashed behind the cover of this book is an instruction manual.
You turn to a random page:
<div style="width: 90%; margin-left: 4%; margin-right: 4%; padding: 15px; height: 150px; overflow: scroll; font-size: 0.75em;">IF YOU HIT A WALL.
Don’t thrash! If you’re not sure what to do next, clicking everywhere won’t help. Think about what you know already, ask yourself what you need to know, collect your thoughts, and piece them together. Think of related items or places you’ve seen, think of information you’ve been given, pay close attention to everything you see, and don’t forget anything. But most importantly – think of what you would do if you were really there.
Click on the Magnifying Glass icon for a general hint. If you are really stuck, click on the Light Bulb icon to view the solution immediately.</div>
This is clearly of limited use to you.
(display: "First Library")(if: $lock01 is "1" and $lock02 is "8" and $lock03 is "7" and $lock04 is "9")[(goto: "Gateway 2")](else:)[The lock stays clenched.
(display: "Second Library")]<i>Awake, dear heart, awake. Thou hast slept well. Awake.</i>
(if: $ys is 4)[But you were never sleeping.
This is no metaphor for love. I did not slip you anything.
An island is an island is an island.]
<audio src="https://www.sidekickbooks.com/playpoems/sound/mysthull.wav" autoplay>{<table style="width: 100%;">
<tr>
<td>
(if: $bookcount is 0)[[[B
O
O
K|A Corrupted Book]]
]
(if: $bookcount is 1)[[[B
O
O
K|A Hacked Book]]
]
(if: $bookcount is 2)[[[B
O
O
K|A Blue-screened Book]]
]
(if: $bookcount is 3)[[[B
O
O
K|An Outdated Book]]
]
(if: $bookcount is 4)[[[B
O
O
K|A Looping Book]]
]
(if: $bookcount is 5)[[[B
O
O
K|A Password-Protected Book]]
]
(if: $bookcount is 6)[[[B
O
O
K|A Crashed Book]]
]
(if: $bookcount is 7)[[[B
O
O
K|An Infected Book]]
]
(if: $bookcount is 8)[[[B
O
O
K|An Cracked Book]]
]
(if: $bookcount is 9)[[[B
O
O
K|Gateway 3]]
]
</td>
<td>
(if: $bookcount is 0)[[[B
O
O
K|A Corrupted Book]]
]
(if: $bookcount is 1)[[[B
O
O
K|A Hacked Book]]
]
(if: $bookcount is 2)[[[B
O
O
K|A Blue-screened Book]]
]
(if: $bookcount is 3)[[[B
O
O
K|An Outdated Book]]
]
(if: $bookcount is 4)[[[B
O
O
K|A Looping Book]]
]
(if: $bookcount is 5)[[[B
O
O
K|A Password-Protected Book]]
]
(if: $bookcount is 6)[[[B
O
O
K|A Crashed Book]]
]
(if: $bookcount is 7)[[[B
O
O
K|An Infected Book]]
]
(if: $bookcount is 8)[[[B
O
O
K|An Cracked Book]]
]
(if: $bookcount is 9)[[[B
O
O
K|Gateway 3]]
]
</td>
<td>
(if: $bookcount is 0)[[[B
O
O
K|A Corrupted Book]]
]
(if: $bookcount is 1)[[[B
O
O
K|A Hacked Book]]
]
(if: $bookcount is 2)[[[B
O
O
K|A Blue-screened Book]]
]
(if: $bookcount is 3)[[[B
O
O
K|An Outdated Book]]
]
(if: $bookcount is 4)[[[B
O
O
K|A Looping Book]]
]
(if: $bookcount is 5)[[[B
O
O
K|A Password-Protected Book]]
]
(if: $bookcount is 6)[[[B
O
O
K|A Crashed Book]]
]
(if: $bookcount is 7)[[[B
O
O
K|An Infected Book]]
]
(if: $bookcount is 8)[[[B
O
O
K|An Cracked Book]]
]
(if: $bookcount is 9)[[[B
O
O
K|Gateway 3]]
]
</td>
<td>
(if: $bookcount is 0)[[[B
O
O
K|A Corrupted Book]]
]
(if: $bookcount is 1)[[[B
O
O
K|A Hacked Book]]
]
(if: $bookcount is 2)[[[B
O
O
K|A Blue-screened Book]]
]
(if: $bookcount is 3)[[[B
O
O
K|An Outdated Book]]
]
(if: $bookcount is 4)[[[B
O
O
K|A Looping Book]]
]
(if: $bookcount is 5)[[[B
O
O
K|A Password-Protected Book]]
]
(if: $bookcount is 6)[[[B
O
O
K|A Crashed Book]]
]
(if: $bookcount is 7)[[[B
O
O
K|An Infected Book]]
]
(if: $bookcount is 8)[[[B
O
O
K|An Cracked Book]]
]
(if: $bookcount is 9)[[[B
O
O
K|Gateway 3]]
]
</td>
<td>
(if: $bookcount is 0)[[[B
O
O
K|A Corrupted Book]]
]
(if: $bookcount is 1)[[[B
O
O
K|A Hacked Book]]
]
(if: $bookcount is 2)[[[B
O
O
K|A Blue-screened Book]]
]
(if: $bookcount is 3)[[[B
O
O
K|An Outdated Book]]
]
(if: $bookcount is 4)[[[B
O
O
K|A Looping Book]]
]
(if: $bookcount is 5)[[[B
O
O
K|A Password-Protected Book]]
]
(if: $bookcount is 6)[[[B
O
O
K|A Crashed Book]]
]
(if: $bookcount is 7)[[[B
O
O
K|An Infected Book]]
]
(if: $bookcount is 8)[[[B
O
O
K|An Cracked Book]]
]
(if: $bookcount is 9)[[[B
O
O
K|Gateway 3]]
]
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
(if: $bookcount is 0)[[[B
O
O
K|A Corrupted Book]]
]
(if: $bookcount is 1)[[[B
O
O
K|A Hacked Book]]
]
(if: $bookcount is 2)[[[B
O
O
K|A Blue-screened Book]]
]
(if: $bookcount is 3)[[[B
O
O
K|An Outdated Book]]
]
(if: $bookcount is 4)[[[B
O
O
K|A Looping Book]]
]
(if: $bookcount is 5)[[[B
O
O
K|A Password-Protected Book]]
]
(if: $bookcount is 6)[[[B
O
O
K|A Crashed Book]]
]
(if: $bookcount is 7)[[[B
O
O
K|An Infected Book]]
]
(if: $bookcount is 8)[[[B
O
O
K|An Cracked Book]]
]
(if: $bookcount is 9)[[[B
O
O
K|Gateway 3]]
]
</td>
<td>
(if: $bookcount is 0)[[[B
O
O
K|A Corrupted Book]]
]
(if: $bookcount is 1)[[[B
O
O
K|A Hacked Book]]
]
(if: $bookcount is 2)[[[B
O
O
K|A Blue-screened Book]]
]
(if: $bookcount is 3)[[[B
O
O
K|An Outdated Book]]
]
(if: $bookcount is 4)[[[B
O
O
K|A Looping Book]]
]
(if: $bookcount is 5)[[[B
O
O
K|A Password-Protected Book]]
]
(if: $bookcount is 6)[[[B
O
O
K|A Crashed Book]]
]
(if: $bookcount is 7)[[[B
O
O
K|An Infected Book]]
]
(if: $bookcount is 8)[[[B
O
O
K|An Cracked Book]]
]
(if: $bookcount is 9)[[[B
O
O
K|Gateway 3]]
]
</td>
<td>
(if: $bookcount is 0)[[[B
O
O
K|A Corrupted Book]]
]
(if: $bookcount is 1)[[[B
O
O
K|A Hacked Book]]
]
(if: $bookcount is 2)[[[B
O
O
K|A Blue-screened Book]]
]
(if: $bookcount is 3)[[[B
O
O
K|An Outdated Book]]
]
(if: $bookcount is 4)[[[B
O
O
K|A Looping Book]]
]
(if: $bookcount is 5)[[[B
O
O
K|A Password-Protected Book]]
]
(if: $bookcount is 6)[[[B
O
O
K|A Crashed Book]]
]
(if: $bookcount is 7)[[[B
O
O
K|An Infected Book]]
]
(if: $bookcount is 8)[[[B
O
O
K|An Cracked Book]]
]
(if: $bookcount is 9)[[[B
O
O
K|Gateway 3]]
]
</td>
<td>
(if: $bookcount is 0)[[[B
O
O
K|A Corrupted Book]]
]
(if: $bookcount is 1)[[[B
O
O
K|A Hacked Book]]
]
(if: $bookcount is 2)[[[B
O
O
K|A Blue-screened Book]]
]
(if: $bookcount is 3)[[[B
O
O
K|An Outdated Book]]
]
(if: $bookcount is 4)[[[B
O
O
K|A Looping Book]]
]
(if: $bookcount is 5)[[[B
O
O
K|A Password-Protected Book]]
]
(if: $bookcount is 6)[[[B
O
O
K|A Crashed Book]]
]
(if: $bookcount is 7)[[[B
O
O
K|An Infected Book]]
]
(if: $bookcount is 8)[[[B
O
O
K|An Cracked Book]]
]
(if: $bookcount is 9)[[[B
O
O
K|Gateway 3]]
]
</td>
<td>
(if: $bookcount is 0)[[[B
O
O
K|A Corrupted Book]]
]
(if: $bookcount is 1)[[[B
O
O
K|A Hacked Book]]
]
(if: $bookcount is 2)[[[B
O
O
K|A Blue-screened Book]]
]
(if: $bookcount is 3)[[[B
O
O
K|An Outdated Book]]
]
(if: $bookcount is 4)[[[B
O
O
K|A Looping Book]]
]
(if: $bookcount is 5)[[[B
O
O
K|A Password-Protected Book]]
]
(if: $bookcount is 6)[[[B
O
O
K|A Crashed Book]]
]
(if: $bookcount is 7)[[[B
O
O
K|An Infected Book]]
]
(if: $bookcount is 8)[[[B
O
O
K|An Cracked Book]]
]
(if: $bookcount is 9)[[[B
O
O
K|Gateway 3]]
]
</td>
</tr>
</table>
}(put: 1 into $bookcount)A corrupted book:
<div style="width: 90%; margin-left: 4%; margin-right: 4%; padding: 15px; height: 250px; overflow: scroll; font-size: 0.75em;">Far from dotting the globe with fabulous islands, the naval powers of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries remorselessly tracked down any and all such rumours and either confirmed or disproved them. As a result, the 1875 revised Admiralty Pacific Chart discarded 123 unreal islands. unreal islands. unreal islands. nreal islands. nreal islands. nreal islands. nreal islands nreal islands nr l sland nr l sland nr l sland nr l sland nr l sland nr l slandandandandandandandandand andandandandand andand andandandandandandandand andandandandand andandandandandand andandandandand andandandand andandandand l andandandand landandandandand land and landandandandand land and landandandandand land and landandandandand land and landandandandand land and landandandandand land and landandandandand land and landandandandand land and landandandandand land and landandandandand land and landandandandand land and landandandandand land and landandandandand</div>
(display: "Third Library")(put: 2 into $bookcount)A hacked book. The pages eagerly proffer hot, horny local women.
(display: "Third Library")<div style="padding: 25px;">(put: 3 into $bookcount)An exception 06 hath occurred at 0028: C11B3ADC in VxD ChapterTSD(03). 'tis not possible to continueth reading normally.
• Press (link: "<u>ESC</u>")[(goto: "An Outdated Book")] to cancel.
(display: "Third Library")</div><audio src="https://www.sidekickbooks.com/playpoems/sound/spectrum.wav" autoplay>(put: 4 into $bookcount)This book is running an outdated version of its own language and cannot load properly.
(display: "Third Library")(put: 5 into $bookcount)A book that is looping the same sentence over and over:
<i>It continued falling into that starry expanse, of which I had only a fleeting glimpse.</i>
(display: "Third Library")(put: 6 into $bookcount)A copy-protected book. You cannot progress any further than the title page.
<i>Please align the code wheel as follows.</i>
You have no code wheel.
(display: "Third Library")(put: 7 into $bookcount)The book crashes as soon as you touch it, dissolving into a debris field of error messages.
(display: "Third Library")(put: 8 into $bookcount)This book has a virus. Its prynt self-replicates, flooding the pages, which in turn self-replicate and overflow. You are forced to stuff it back into the shelf before you yourself are infected.(click-replace: "ryn")[(set: $ys to it + 1)ryn]
(display: "Third Library")(put: 9 into $bookcount)A book plunged into glossy blackness. Its backlights have gone, so that the pages no longer burn whitely in between the letters.
(display: "Third Library")But this book, this time, is a [[<u><i>plunge pool</i></u>|Ash Island]].
(<span class="tempest"><span class="antique"><span class="blurry3">The mistress which I serve quickens what’s dead</span></span>
<span class="tempestantique"><span class="blurry2">And makes my labors pleasures. Oh, she is</span></span>
<span class="tempestantique"><span class="blurry">Ten times more gentle than her father’s crabbed,</span></span>
<span class="tempestantique">And he’s composed of harshness. I must remove</span>
<span class="tempestantique">Some thousands of these logs and pile them up,</span>
<span class="tempestantique">Upon a sore injunction. My sweet mistress</span>
<span class="tempestantique">Weeps when she sees me work, and says such baseness</span>
<span class="tempestantique"><span class="blurry">Had never like executor. I forget,</span></span>
<span class="tempestantique"><span class="blurry2">But these sweet thoughts do even refresh my labors,</span></span>
<span class="tempestantique"><span class="blurry3">Most busiest when I do it.</span></span> )</div>
<audio src="https://www.sidekickbooks.com/playpoems/sound/mystwarp.wav" autoplay>{(set: $key01 to "not-got")(set: $key02 to "not-got")(set: $key03 to "not-got")
}You’ve come now to a workshop furnished
in unfinished golems –
abandoned attempts at sons, or lackeys.
Some lie, wooden-ribbed, upon operating tables.
Others are pistonned, wired and spasming
under the wonk eyes of projector-lamps.
Then there’s the bubbling muscle: plugged,
lost, it seems, in an aftershock of pleasure.
<i>Character work.</i> Clay. Laserdiscs.
The fake yawn of a hole in a screen.
{
(click-replace: "key")[(set: $key01 to "got")**<span style="color: red;">key</span>**]
(click-replace: "k ey")[(set: $key02 to "got")**<span style="color: red;">k ey</span>**]
(click-replace: "ke y")[(set: $key03 to "got")**<span style="color: red;">ke y</span>**]
}And among all this: a strongbox, <i>triple-locked</i>. If you can find about you (here, now) the corresponding tongues of metal, you should be able to [[open it|Got keys?]].Out of the strongbox tumbles:
{<table style="width: 100%;">
<tr>
<td>[[B
O
O
K|Gateway 4]]</a></td>
<td>[[B
O
O
K|Gateway 4]]</td>
<td>[[B
O
O
K|Gateway 4]]</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>[[B
O
O
K|Gateway 4]]</a></td>
<td>[[B
O
O
K|Gateway 4]]</td>
<td>[[B
O
O
K|Gateway 4]]</td>
</tr>
</table>}... and the first one you open is a [[<u><i>slipway</i></u>|Frisland]].
<audio src="sound/mystwarp.wav" autoplay>To a black island. An ash island.
You sink into the burnt meat of books,
mulchy on top, where the rain has raked them,
still flaking, embery beneath.
A loose soil of text. A flame-tylled library.(click-replace: "tyl")[(set: $ys to it + 1)tyl]
Perhaps,
perhaps somewhere in the wreckage
there remains some appreciable fragment?
[[<u><i>Dig, dig</i></u>|Fifth Bookshelf]].{<table style="width: 100%;">
<tr>
<td>[[B
O
O
K|Gateway 5]]</a></td>
<td>[[B
O
O
K|Gateway 5]]</td>
</tr>
</table>}Snow and snow. Slow snow. Fast slow.
Static. Spittling.
And a single [[<i><u>book</u></i>|Book]].[[B
O
O
K|The End]]<span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWEET MYSTRESS was written in Twine 2.0 by Jon Stone and is dedicated to Joy C. Stone.
It makes liberal use of the original sound files from <i>Myst</i>, published by Cyan Inc. in 1993, and quotes from the <i>Myst</i> manual, the game itself, and Shakespeare's <i>The Tempest</i>. There is also a quote from <i>Off The Map</i> by Alastair Bonnett.
<a href="http://www.gojonstonego.com" target="_self">http://www.gojonstonego.com</a>
(if: $key01 is "got" and $key02 is "got" and $key03 is "got")[(goto: "Fourth bookshelf")]
(else:)[(goto: "Back to Ash Island")]Without all three keys, you’re a dog scraping at the door.
(link: "<i><u>Perhaps they are right in front of you</u></i>.")[(goto: "Ash Island")]{<table style="width: 100%;">
<tr>
<td>[[B
O
O
K|The Tempest]]</a></td>
<td>[[B
O
O
K|A Dog-Drowned Book]]</td>
<td>[[B
O
O
K|A Double-Drowned Book]]</td>
<td>[[B
O
O
K|A Waterlogged Book]]</td>
<td>[[B
O
O
K|A Sea-Ruined Book]]</td>
<td>[[B
O
O
K|A Brine-Blistered Book]]</td>
<td>[[B
O
O
K|A Salted Book]]</td>
<td>[[B
O
O
K|A Storm-Battered Book]]</td>
<td>[[B
O
O
K|A Surf-Broken Book]]</td>
<td>[[B
O
O
K|A Rain-Ravaged Book]]</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>[[B
O
O
K|A Coral-Boned Book]]</a></td>
<td>[[B
O
O
K|A Pearl-Eyed Book]]</td>
<td>[[B
O
O
K|A Barnacled Book]]</td>
<td>[[B
O
O
K|A Reef-Rippered Book]]</td>
<td>[[B
O
O
K|A Maelstromed Book]]</td>
<td>[[B
O
O
K|A Scuttled Logbook]]</td>
<td>[[B
O
O
K|A Shipwrecked Book]]</td>
<td>[[B
O
O
K|A Broth-Broiled Book]]</td>
<td>[[B
O
O
K|A Beached Book]]</td>
<td>(if:$key is 1)[[[B
O
O
K|Gateway]]](else:)[[[B
O
O
K|A Locked Book]]]</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>[[B
O
O
K|A Tide-Rifled Book]]</a></td>
<td>[[B
O
O
K|A Swell-Swollen Book]]</td>
<td>[[B
O
O
K|Diary]]</td>
<td>[[B
O
O
K|An Unfathomable Book]]</td>
<td>[[B
O
O
K|A Hollow Book]]</td>
<td>[[B
O
O
K|A Jetsammed Book]]</td>
<td>[[B
O
O
K|A Swash-Suppered Book]]</td>
<td>[[B
O
O
K|A Scuppered Book]]</td>
<td>[[B
O
O
K|A Filleted Book]]</td>
<td>[[B
O
O
K|A Blubbery Book]]</td>
</tr>
</table>}(if:$glasses is 1)[You palm this new trinket.](else:)[There’s little worth rescuing.]
(display: "Second Library")The thousand-marionette engine is intact,
as are the <span class="extra">jaws<span class="extracontent" style="width: 50vw; max-width: 500px;">Speaking of, what is it drags you? Why on, on, in this way? Is it the story? The way it acts all suspicious?</span></span> that pluck audience members from their stalls.
And rammed in the mouth
of the actor-smelter,
as if there’d been a desperate attempt (and need)
to destroy it,
is another [[<i><u>bookshelf</u></i>|Bookshelf]].<audio src="sound/metalchamber.wav" autoplay>A kind of digital engine room,
or the spectre of one. Preserved, as if in ice,
<span class="extra">glitching soundlessly<span class="extracontent" style="width: 50vw; max-width: 500px;">Perhaps this is what tugs on your nose-ring? The itch in every half-won game.</span></span>
The gangways have no mass – are vapour trails.
The turbines are a cinematic projection,
a crude animation cast upon the wall.
All kinds of costume are available to you.
You can robe yourself as <i><u>(set: $engine to "a magician")<tw-link class='cyclingLink' data-cycling-texts='["a magician", "an outcast magician", "a mendicant magician", "a mad magician", "a magician in darkness", "a magician ripped from their magic", "a clown", "a clown who was once a magician", "a harlequin"]' onclick='clickCyclingLink(this, "$engine");'>$engine</tw-link></i></u>.
Meanwhile a [[<i><u>bookshelf</u></i>|Digital Bookshelf]] hangs before you
like a tree of rotted fruit.These titles too appear to have been lost.
(display: "Third Library")