372
You crouch in the trench, along which a heavy opaque green gas pours like a stream. To your surprise the great rock begins to roll along past you and is swallowed up in the yellow fog. You leave the trench and walk warily in the direction from which it came. There is a slight movement in the heavy air and the fog lifts slightly to reveal the most enormous mechanical contraption shaped like a long armadillo. Dust rises from its form and it rumbles slowly across the surface of the planet towards you on caterpillar tracks. Its body is composed of overlapping segments of metal like a woodlouse, which glow dully in the dull rays of the Thrixian sun, which barely penetrates the thick atmosphere. Thrix is cold. Turn to 395.