I wasn't expecting to read a Hyperion reference in this thread, such a great book.

(And if you haven't read the book you can guess what could possibly go wrong with this setup.)

I feel like that house was a _bit_ of a Chekhov's gun; I think it was the first point in the story where what was going to happen became clear to me.

(This wasn't Simmons' invention, incidentally; Larry Niven did it first.)