“The ore would have to be refined to pure aluminum oxide before it could be smelted,” George said. “And you can’t smelt aluminum ore in an ordinary furnace⁠—only in an electric furnace with a generator that can supply a high amperage. And we would have to have cryolite ore to serve as the solvent in the smelting process.”

“There’s a seam of cryolite in the Eastern Hills, according to the old maps,” said Lake. “We could make a larger generator by melting down everything we have. It wouldn’t be big enough to power the hyperspace transmitter but it should be big enough to smelt aluminum ore.”

George considered the idea. “I think we can do it.”

“How long until we can send the signal?” he asked.

“Given the extra metal we need, the building of the generator is a simple job. The transmitter is what will take years⁠—maybe as long as fifty.”

Fifty years.⁠ ⁠…

“Can’t anything be done to make it sooner?” he asked.

“I know,” George said. “You would like for the Gerns to come while you’re still here. So would every man on Ragnarok. But even on Earth the building of a hyperspace transmitter was a long, slow job, with all the materials they needed and all the special tools and equipment. Here we’ll have to do everything by hand and for materials we have only broken and burned-out odds and ends. It will take about fifty years⁠—it can’t be helped.”

Fifty years⁠ ⁠… but that would bring the Gerns before Big Winter came again. And there was the rapidly increasing chance that a Gern cruiser would at any day intercept the first signals. They were already more than halfway to Athena.

“Melt down the generator,” he said. “Start making a bigger one. Tomorrow men will go out after bauxite and cryolite and four of us will go up the plateau to look for iron.”