They then discovered that they were not only not the first to make this journey, but that they were not the only ones making it now. Some way ahead of them an awkward low shape was heaving itself wretchedly along the ground, stumbling painfully slowly, half limping, half crawling. It was moving so slowly that before too long they caught the creature up and could see that it was made of worn, scarred, and twisted metal. It groaned at them as they approached it, collapsing in the hot, dry dust. “So much time,” it groaned, “oh, so much time. And pain as well, so much of that, and so much time to
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