Brass Legionnaire

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Working his wrench with the deftness of long experience,Julius Brutus Caesar tightened the bolt on the exposed sprocket. When it wasconnected to the rest of the engine, the engineers could begin the finalassembly of yet another mechaniphant. Not for the first time, Julius wonderedwhy on earth someone had wanted to invent such a mechanical monstrosity in thefirst place. Although it was impressive, he had to admit. Standing over fifteenimperial feet tall, with a protected driver’s seat and razor-sharp chain tusks,it was perfect for crashing through the center of an enemy’s battle line,especially when combined with other mechaniphants in a thunderous charge.

Julius shook his head to clear his wandering mind andstudied his work in the light from the gas lanterns burning all around thefactory. He wiped a sheen of sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand,product of his exertion despite the large open windows far above his head, justbelow the steam pipes haphazardly crisscrossing near the ceiling amidst spindlygantries and support struts. The whole factory was a safety inspector’snightmare, but of course the inspector had been bribed, so the whole situationwas swept under the rug, so to speak.

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