- [last lines]
- Dr. Julia Ogden: Despite the darker side of opium, I'll admit I enjoyed our little experiment.
- Detective William Murdoch: Yes, not one that I would care to repeat.
- Dr. Julia Ogden: No? Not even the sensations invoked?
- Detective William Murdoch: I prefer not to alter my reality.
- Dr. Julia Ogden: And why is that?
- Detective William Murdoch: Because nothing could make my reality any better than it already is.
- Constable George Crabtree: This is the Earth and Dragon Society.
- Detective William Murdoch: And its purpose?
- Constable George Crabtree: [reading his notes] "To further appreciate the mysteries of China," apparently.
- Detective William Murdoch: In other words, to smoke opium.
- [first lines]
- Professor Aldous Lawrence: There was a time in China when smoking opium was a sign of wealth - wealth in that it was illegal and only the affluent could escape prosecution, but also because wealth allowed for a certain leisure that the smoking of opium desires, and it was these prosperous patrons who understood opium's value to artists, philosophers, and allowing this golden age of Ch...
- Ling Lawrence: [Byron starts coughing] Only a little.
- Byron Sutton: Apologies, Emperor.
- Professor Aldous Lawrence: Enough history; we are here to enjoy the present. So, let us retire to the den, and let's imagine those noblemen and women of China, resplendent in their robes of silk.