Digging thru Doctrine of the Dead

Digging thru Doctrine of the Dead was an entry in the Speed-IF for July 2004, the rules of which read: "In 2 hours or whatever your conscience allows, write a speedIF on the eternal theme of hubris. Points for including a vestigial tail, environmental policy on ferret populations, phlogiston, a pink parasol, sudden undeath, or crappy madlibs. Go!"

Simmon Keith took this task to heart, because he managed to work every one of the seemingly-unrelated suggested criteria into this one-room puzzler. You play a disgraced ferret-person scientist who needs to prove your latest theory to the scientific community. It's brief but creative, and the writing is sufficiently interesting (although it does become a game of guess the verb).

If you're in the mood for something short, simple and slightly off-the-wall, Digging thru the Doctrine of the Dead is worth a look.

(EDIT: I had to deduct a point when I realized (while going through my transcript) that an important object does not appear until after you try to do something without it. For someone who is not familiar with the criteria of the contest, this would bring the game to a stop.)