Kestrel spoke to Post Eight through a telephone she could not reach.
Nabil held the field receiver beside the Cairo speaker. Kestrel leaned close to her microphone at the pit edge.
"Post Eight, give your keeper."
Hammering stopped on the old line.
"Night survey keeper Asa Quill. Who has my voice?"
"Kestrel. Cairo Array custodian. I am speaking seventy-two years after your site record."
Asa did not waste time calling her mad.
"Then your clocks stayed wrong longer than ours. Did Post Two receive the wire?"
North Rail's package remained on the East Array table. Its signal wire had rusted without leaving. Asa's block handwriting covered the blank page.
Soma answered, "Post Two records receipt. We have the package at origin."
"Keep it there. We only received its bearing. If you send the object too, it may arrive twice."
Metal scraped near Asa. He called a measurement to someone away from the phone.
