Changes

Cate, Junebug, Clara, and Ezra sit playing a card game while listening to music on a cassette tape over the ''Mammoth'''s P.A. system. [[Conway's dog]], Val, and a [[black cat]] lounge about and relax.

Cate tells Ezra she's going ashore to hunt for mushrooms, and asks him to wake Will so he can man the shiptugboat. On his way to the lower deck, Ezra records various sound samples. Next to Will's bunk, Ezra records a cassette tape playing a recorded university lecture titled "History of the Philosophy of Death," in which the lecturer discusses personalities lingering after death and quotes [[wikipedia:Thomas Edison|Thomas Edison]]. At one point, the lecturer takes a question from a student in the audience named [[James B. Carrington|James]]. Will wakes up and tells Ezra of his dream about being a cat aboard the roaming ''Iron Pariah''.

Shannon either {{anchor|The Mucky Mammoth 6|makes soup in the kitchen}} with Will or {{anchor|Echo River Central Exchange|sets out to deliver a package}} with Conway or {{anchor|. === The Mucky Mammoth 6|makes soup === Will cooks mushroom stew in the kitchen}} with while Ezra records more sounds and talks to him. He says he learned the recipe from Ida, of the eatery [[Sam & Ida's]], where they'll be stopping soon. Willrecounts that he was taught the recipe only under the condition that he immediately forget it, and says he trained trained rigorously in the art of forgetting, studying under a master amnesiac, for the occasion. Cate interrupts to ask Shannon if she and Conway would mind making a delivery in the dinghy, as the ''Mammoth'' can't fit through the narrow passage to the Exchange.

{{expand}}Cate thanks Shannon and Conway for making a delivery to the [[Echo River Central Exchange]] — or, as the power company has called it since they took over, "Consolidated Auxiliary Switch Number 30." She says they'll want to talk to [[Poppy]] about the parcel, reminds Shannon to meet Dashiell, and says that they'll rendezvous on the other side at Sam & Ida's for an early breakfast stop. To reach the Exchange, the two pass through a bat sanctuary. At its entrance is a shrine to miners who died in the flood of the [[Elkhorn Mine]], comprised of a a central pile of helmets spilled out into the water and large wooden beams with signs nailed on: <div class="inconsolata">:WE CLAIM THESE HELMETS IN THE NAMES OF THE FOLKS WHO WORE THEM AND WE PLACE THEM HERE IN THEIR MEMORY BUT ALSO AS A SPIT IN THE GREEDY GREEN EYE OF THAT POWER COMPANY WHO BOUGHT UP OUR OLD MINE AND TRADED OUR BROTHERS' AND SISTERS' SAFETY FOR A LITTLE MORE YIELD BUT ONLY YIELDED TWENTY-EIGHT GOOD MEN AND WOMEN DEAD WHEN THE WALLS COLLAPSED AND THE TUNNELS FILLED WITH WATER :THEIR LUNGS WERE BLACK BUT NOW THEY'RE WASHED CLEAN AND FULL OF WATER TOO AND SWEPT THROUGH HIDDEN TUNNELS INTO SOME AWFUL CAVE WE NEVER WILL FIND AND SO WE GUESS THE WATER BURIED THEM FOR US SO LET THIS HERE BE THE MARKER FOR THEIR GRAVE :AND IF ANY SON OF A BITCH FROM THAT POWER COMPANY WANTS TO TAKE BACK THESE HELMETS AS COMPANY PROPERTY JUST YOU TRY IT AND SEE WHAT WILL HAPPEN</div> <!-- SHANNON: I don't think you ever forget anger like that. --><!-- CONWAY: I guess that's what a memorial should do, huh? Help you hang on to your feelings. Otherwise, they fade away; that's just what time does. -->As they drift away, two skeletal figures pass by in a small boat and wave at Conway, who waves back with his skeletal arm. Shannon looks at him oddly. He tells her his leg and arm don't hurt anymore, and instead feels as if nothing's there. He says the distillery workers can help him take care of his medical bills for his leg, and help him get everything together on a plan, and consolidate it. Worried, Shannon tries to talk him out of it, but he says he has a feeling everything will work out. He suggests that Shannon take his truck, as the antique shop is closing and the distillery has its own trucks. In the sanctuary, which also functions as an artificial hibernaculum, Shannon and Conway encounter a number of facts about bats, echolocation, diet and agriculture, and information about the history of [[wikipedia:White-nose syndrome|white-nose syndrome]]. In the darkness, they talk about Conway's family, Lysette's illness, and the friend that Shannon was speaking with on the phone when they first met. <!-- FLORA: I'm a romantic. <br />SHANNON: Really? What does that mean to you? <br />FLORA: It means I like poems and rivers and mysteries. -->The two pull into the entrance to the Echo River Central Exchange. Shannon sees [[Flora]] who has come to retrieve her paper boat. She reveals she drew a picture of Ezra inside it, and that it's traveled 250,000 miles. On the other side of the river, Shannon talks with Dashiell who is repairing old phones at a reception desk. He tells her about its history as a train station, reclaimed by the Bureau for the phone company after a flood. He mentions he works on wiring for WEVP in the Crystal Room, an underground area of resonant, amplifying rock formations where the cable signal is located. He says he used to work with Weaver, who handled archives, but doesn't know where she ended up and that she isn't too popular around the station anymore. For more information, he directs her to the Silo mail stop, where other volunteers are located.

* The [[Silo of Late Reflections]]