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The giant slide was made of polished steel, slick and cold, but children did not use it for fun. It stretched high and wide, just how far and how wide couldn’t be determined, but by all reasonable accounts it was safe to assume that the slide extended a broad and tremendously dizzying distance.
The remote screams stirred a man near the bottom of the slide. Slowly, he licked his lips and pressed his sleep-weary limbs against the steel sides, approximately three feet in width. The realization of awakening in a condensed space did not frighten him; in fact, it did little more than draw a tiny crease between his thickly shaped eyebrows. He drew a deep breath and stared at the golden sky. The air was dense but sweet, scented with an aroma familiar to the man but for the moment elusiv
