The man hated this place.  He hated coming out here, into the depths of the Badlands, hated meeting with those withered creatures, hated waiting for them in the cold shadow of this great, unsettling thing.  Yet, here he was, nonetheless.   He first saw their tiny figures when they mounted a distant dune.  He watched them steadily descend its face into the next valley, then several moments later they appeared again, closer now, still coming at an even pace, unhindered by the rising heat that