"How is he now?"
Through the haze, he heard the Station Head's urgent voice nearby.
"He can't move right now... We've figured out the price for using that sand. The period of immobility lasts for as long as the construction took. The user will only recover once the sand sculpture collapses."
A researcher's voice added from nearby.
"If someone spent a year building a sand sculpture, it would stand for a year before collapsing. And for that entire year, the user would be unable to move..."
The Station Head fell silent at this.
After a long silence, he finally spoke again, his voice trembling as he asked:
"So how long did he take?"
"It's hard to say... We examined his body. He's aged roughly forty years."
Silence fell once more.
"Didn't you people run experiments? Why didn't you give him all the information beforehand? Why are you only figuring out the price *now*?"
