You are in a place called the City. The City is like twenty-first century Earth, although there are many here from other times and universes. The popular theory is that this is a pocket universe, but I have come to believe that that is improbable, since-- [Chekov pauses; he can't remember the rest of it. How many times has he explained all of this? Why--

Oh, right.]

Ay, sorry. There are deities, also, and they have considerable power. They can alter minds, bring people back to life... they may also be responsible for causing anomalies that are called curses, but no one has proved that. Escaping is impossible, there is a very loud clock underground...

[That thought trails off into an embarrassed silence.]