In the morning, before starting to tinker, Olan sat with Peter to walk him through the principles of how the echo stations work. She tried to recall some of the Earthside ham radio terminology she learned during her Earthside year, now over 60 years ago.

"It's a bit different," Peter said. "But the basics are the same. I think I'm getting the idea. How do you want to proceed?"

Not long after they settled in, Vossey stumbled into the shed, sobbing, "Gun people take Quill. Shoot Aldo."

Olan and Vossey spoke rapidly in dialect. The old woman hugged the little girl. Tears leaked from her sightless eyes. "A bird came in the night. She just saw the message," she told Peter.

Peter gripped Olan's arm and squeezed Vossey's shoulder, "We'll get this working. And we'll do everything we can to save Connie and Quill. We won't let them down."

Olan nodded, "You and I can do this. We must." After she spoke to Vossey in dialect, the girl wiped her eyes and left.

"I told her to send Zatch one of his birds and return Lina's bird and let them know that we're working on fixing the echo station. And I told her, if Aldo was dead, the message would have said so. They'll take care of her like they did Brome. How terrible for Tori and Lina and everyone. I also told her they may frighten Quill, but they won't hurt him." She closed her eyes tightly. "I hope I'm right."

"I think that's true. Most, but unfortunately not all, Earthside people consider it taboo to harm a child. This will make Connie frantic."

"Vossey told me the message said Connie knew the woman who shoot Brome. The one who came and took Connie. Her sister?"

"What? Connie doesn't have any sisters. Oh god, could that be Ainsley? She's Connie's stepsister...sort of. That's terrible."

"You know her?"

"She's a very bad person, Olan."

"Then we better get moving. I told Vossey to bring a few builders. Though I think the village is a little empty right now."

"You have people who know about echo stations?" Peter said, "Maybe you don't need me."

"Oh, I definitely need you. Not a lot of nerds, as you call them, in this neighborhood. No, it's for something else. I'm not going to make the same mistake twice."

Vossey brought four people from the village. Peter thought two women and two men though wasn't sure, gender indicators being much more fluid in Dahria. He was vaguely aware of others also arriving at different times with planks of wood and other materials. They went farther up the mount. He could hear noises carrying down as he and Olan worked on putting components together.

"What are they doing? They've been at it for a while."

"They're building a shelter for the new station. It needs to be well hidden. Once we're able to transmit, Ladore will probably pick us up fairly soon. If the mercenaries come back here, I want it to look like this echo station is still broken. We made a mistake not hiding Connie well. I'm not going to repeat that."

Olan and Peter fell into a productive routine, using her touch and knowledge and his agile fingers and intuitive sense of her objective. She felt fairly certain that the station would work but wanted to wait until everything was set-up and hidden away at the shelter on the mount before she began transmitting to farther-away stations.

While they did the tedious work, Peter encouraged Olan to tell him stories about Misgy. Many were about Zatch and his youthful escapades, which she laughingly said seemed to infuriate everyone but her.

Peter returned to the half-burned station to re-clutter it and ensure that it looked like nothing had been touched since it was trashed.

The builders finished their work and came down to move the refurbished echo station components to the hidden site. Peter helped them carry things and Vossey led Olan through the woods.

The shelter was tucked into the forest. One side was built against a bluff and covered with a wall of tightly packed, thick branches. The remaining three sides of the shelter were open. Tree boughs concealed the metal roof. A long, plank table sat against the branch-covered side. Three wooden chairs held thick pads covered with green and grey patterned material that blended in with the forested surroundings. An antenna stood hidden in the trees. And a little farther away a spinning propeller.

Peter placed the components he was carrying on the table, "My god. This is incredible!"

Vossey led Olan to one of the chairs. She told him, "Misgy always provides comforts. I told them my old bones would need some cushioning. Come, let's get this set up. It's time to raise Arden."

On their way back down, the builders fluffed up the plants and grasses behind them to wipe away evidence of the footfalls leading to the echo station shelter.

The hum came through immediately after Peter hooked together the components. He threw out his arms and hugged Vossey and Olan.

Olan said, "Take me to the echo cone," and Peter guided her to the microphone cone. She spoke first in dialect, then in travel English. "Olan GC 340. This is a Gallin Council alert. I'm calling from Misgy in Selchia. Earthside has taken over the Ladore Passage. They are bringing in guns and killing equipment. Standard swarm will be dangerous. Find Arden GC 343 and patch in."

Olan paused a few minutes. Repeated her message. And paused again.

"Are you good now, Olan?"

"I'm good now, Peter."

"I'm worried about Connie and Quill. I need to go help her. What else do you need? Who should I get to help you? I don't need to go right away. I can at least transmit in travel English, though I might not understand when someone answers."

"Peter, Peter. I'll be fine. Go to your friend. Vossey'll help you and bring others to help me. I'm hardly alone. I'll stay here until someone answers me. It won't take long." Olan reassured him. "You know, I like you, Earthside man. Are you going to stay in Dahria?"

"That's what I want. More than anything. Absolutely."

"You can live with us."

"You mean it? I can't imagine anything better."

They jumped as a voice crackled through the speakers, "Olan, you old darling. What in Dahria is going on?"

Olan waved Peter off, "Go now. I know who this is. We're in business." She turned to respond to the voice, "Kitslyn, just the person I was hoping to reach. Crustic trackers send others to smash Misgy echo stations and maybe in all of Herlie. We've fixed ours, which they will eventually realize. With luck, maybe not for a while. Listen carefully. Things are happening quickly. I'll explain..."

Peter and Vossey left and walked back to Zatch's enclave, carefully hiding any trace of their passage to the hidden station. Peter insisted he could find his way back to Lina and Tori's on his own. He worried about leaving Olan alone even for a short while.

"I'll see you soon, guardian angel," he called out as he headed up over the mount.

It was after dark by the time Peter stumbled into Lina and Tori's compound. Of course, no Aldo came bounding up to greet him. As he came within the halo of light shining out the front of the house, a young woman stepped out of the darkness. She stood in front of him, halting his steps.

"I'm Peter. Earthside."

She nodded and stood aside to let him pass. Zatch and Tori had returned. They were talking with a group of younger people seated around them in a circle. A somber Brome sat to the side; his wounded leg elevated on another chair.

Seeing Peter, Zatch challenged him, "What are you doing here? Does this mean you couldn't fix the station?"

"It's working. When I left, Olan was speaking with someone named...Krystal or Kit something..."

"Kitslyn?!?"

"Yeah. I'm pretty sure that was the name. It was someone who knew Olan. She called her darling."

Zatch boomed, "You did do it! Old Olan and Earthside man. But she's needs protection."

Zatch spoke quickly in dialect to two of the young people in the circle who stood up to leave.

"Wait," Peter put up his hands. "Just a minute. Let me explain." He described the work the builders had done and the location of the new station.

"Okay, that's better. It will buy more time. But it's still dangerous for Olan. They'll find it eventually. I don't understand why you didn't stay with her."

"So, you can trade me - for Quill."

Hearing his son's name, Brome jerked his head toward Peter, and Zatch translated Peter's words.

No one said anything for a moment. Lina, followed by Tessa carrying her baby girl, came in from the adjacent bedroom where they'd been listening.

Peter looked around at the faces, "You know this is what needs to be done. We just need to figure out the best way to do it. Olan is calling in the calvary - though you probably have no idea what that is." He muttered, "Sorry, I'm taking too long. Point is, that won't happen right away, and that little boy needs to come safely back to his family now. They know I'll be as good a bargaining chip as Quill for getting Connie to do what they want. Sorry again, do you understand bargaining chip?" He looked at Zatch, "I'm not explaining this well, but you know what I'm saying, don't you?"

Zatch nodded and translated the essence of Peter's words. Tessa walked over to Peter. She broke down in tears before she got to him. He enfolded her in his arms and a single tear ran down his cheek.

Zatch got up, clasped a hand on Peter's shoulder and spoke with unexpected warmth, "Enough. Otherwise, I'll start crying too."

The plan they came up with was simple enough. They would send a bird to Ladore first thing in the morning, suggesting the trade be made near Joyund Farm later in the day. At first, they were stuck on how to make the trade enticing enough for the Crustic trackers & Earthside to move quickly on the offer.

Lina had the answer, "Return the gun."

Zatch balked. "But that's our secret weapon. You said Connie told the blonde woman that she'd thrown it in the river. It's such a good surprise to have over those Earthside hooligans."

"One gun? They have many. You heard Connie. We can't out-gun them. We need to outsmart them."

He took the handgun out of his pouch and held it in his hands, "You're right, Lina. There's nothing else we have that they would want." He looked up, "But I'll keep a few bullets, maybe get a chance to throw them in a fire like Connie's friends."

Peter said, "I think offering the gun will work. They believe that guns are everything. They'll want to get that back." He frowned. "There's one more thing...Aldo. What happened to her? The bird message said she was shot."

Everyone turned to Lina. "I treated her as best I could. I don't have Tori's gift for healing, but she told me she wouldn't have done anything differently." Tori went to Lina and put her arm around her. "Aldo lost her back leg. She's in her house at the edge of the woods in back. Tori whistled in Aldo's daughter and her pack from the hills to be with her. They can do more for her now than we can."