Mr Oz sounded relaxed and cheerful, away from the road. 'That should be easy enough. Just call the telephone company.'

'It's urgent. I need it done today.'

'Today? I don't know. You used to have a mobile phone, didn't you? You could try calling them. Why? Is there a problem with Swallow Communications?'

'Let's just say I just have a suspicion that Kwan might develop account problems.' She might cut Mae off.

Mr Oz groaned. Why was he upset? He was not the one with the problem. 'You've got extendable credit with the bank. Make sure they know that. Have the bank references ready, make sure you have your phone account number, and everything about your TV. It's a Hitachi 7700 PDTV. Okay? And Mae? What's wrong?'

Mae thought for a moment about future and past, and then said, 'I am too far ahead of them.'

Then she conferenced Sloop at his desk at the telephone company.

His round face glistened and he chuckled. 'There is no problem. We like new business.'

'I need it done today,' she said.

Sloop blinked. 'Today?'

It was complicated. Mae would have to download her new ID from their servers. Sloop would have to talk her through the process of reconfiguration.

She was at work on that when Kwan and Sunni came back. They hammered on the door. 'Mae! Don't be ridiculous! Open this door!'

'Mae, why are you leaving Swallow Communications?!' Mae looked out from her attic skylight. She looked down on them shuffling in front of her bolted door. They had Mr Wing with them.

Sunni's voice was shrill. 'Mae! We are your friends! We are trying to help!'

Mr Wing chortled, 'Mae, if we wanted to cut you off, it would be just as easy to cut the power!'

Kwan's voice was like a knife, shushing him in anger.

Mae unlatched her window. 'I have my own account, I have my own food, I have my own family. I will carry on my business, and I will continue to tell people about the Flood.'

Kwan puffed out air. 'You will end up damaging the thing you want to save.'

Sunni stepped forward. 'Mae! At least go to see doctors about that baby!'

'Thank you for shouting my business all over the valley,' said Mae. She latched the skylight shut, and went back to work.

'Mae! No one wants to hurt you!' Sunni called.

Mae heard Kwan murmur, 'I think we're just making things worse.'

Mae turned again to her beautiful screens and the messengers like birds.

There was another knocking at the door.

'Mrs Chung-ma'am,' someone called. It was Sezen.

And Mae's response was: What now? She went to the trapdoor. Suddenly it looked a long way down to the kitchen floor. Mae didn't want to move. She wanted to stay in her loft, above the floodwaters, with her machine.

'Please let me in,' Sezen called.

A thought of Mrs Tung's seemed to breathe through Mae.

We all end up alone, with no one understanding.

Mae went back to the TV. She watched as her morning weather data uploaded to Balshang.

There were footsteps on the roof. Mae heard boots skidding on stone tiles.

'Mae, this is Sezen,' said a voice from above.

'Get away, you silly girl, you will fall and kill yourself,' said Mae.

'I'm not one of them, Mae. I wouldn't do that to you. What did they say?' The voice through the stone tiles was as clear as if Sezen were in the room.

'They want me to stop working. They want to take everything away from me and they say they want to help me.'

' Tuh. Typical. You are a wild woman and don't wait for them to approve what you do. You go too far too fast.'

'They want to kill my baby,' said Mae, her voice thickening with rage. 'That bloody woman in the City has been trying to kill my baby all along, and she has been writing to Kwan.'

'Don't you worry, Mae, Sezen will never let you down. Ah? We are wild women together. What do you need me to do?'

'Get down off that roof before you kill yourself

Sezen laughed. 'The view is lovely up here. Okay. I am holding on to the crest of the roof so I cannot fall. So, what do you need me to do?'

Mae considered. She considered being accosted alone in the fields, surrounded by so-called friends. She considered all the hours she worked. She considered the baby in her belly made of fire. She considered the undoubted truth that she was doing too much. Above all else, she considered the village.

'I need you to help collect Info,' Mae said. 'Info about snow.'

'Mae!' someone shouted. 'What is going on?'

Sezen giggled. 'You have shut out Siao.'

'Siao, hold on, is there anyone with you?' For just a moment, Mae imagined that they might be with Siao; for just a moment, that Siao might even have joined them.

'I want lunch!' he shouted back.

Mae went down and let him in. Sezen joined them, grinning as Mae raged, pacing her own kitchen in fury. Siao and Sezen caught each other's eyes and mimed ducking.

'So I got a new wireless account, my machine is up in the loft! I don't need them!'

'Good,' said Siao, with a mild smile. 'You have needed to be independent of Kwan for a while. Don't worry, eh? If they cut off the electricity, I know how to get it going again. I'll put printout through doors, whatever.'

Mae hugged him in gratitude, and he kissed the top of her head. They hung together for a just a moment as if in outer space. Then they remembered Sezen was there. She made a mysterious and somehow knowing gesture, holding up both hands, palms out.

In the evening, an e-mail arrived from Mr Ken.

He had keyed it in, not spoken it, so he must not have wanted to be overheard. It came from Sunni's machine.

If you are in trouble, I will help. You know that. Please call on me to help. But please, also tell me: What is this about a baby?

By all the stars, she hadn't told him. She had not told Kuei about his child. The room seemed suddenly colder, her cheeks burned. She could hear Siao below in the kitchen, cooking dinner for her. The metal spoon tinged against the wok; Siao was humming a song.

Mae! What are you doing?

CHAPTER 22

It was Chinese New Year and Mae was alone.

Kwan was having a party. After everything that had happened, Mae would not attend. Why should she – to be argued at, cajoled, and entreated?

Something was up with Siao. He had come back from the Teahouse looking distracted. He tore off the top of his thumbnail with his teeth, kissed Mae on the cheek, and told her not to worry. Then he was gone in young Mr Pin's car. Old Mr Chung shuffled and shrugged and then left early, perhaps embarrassed, for a gathering of old village reprobates like himself.

Mae had hoped at least to share some warm rice wine at New Year's with her family, with Siao. Whenever she talked to Siao she always got good sense, she always felt secure.

She didn't own him; if he wanted to go off and have fun, okay. He wasn't married, he must need a woman, and perhaps he hoped to find one.

And, ah, Mae, that is it. That is why your hands tumble over themselves, round and round. That is why you cannot sit still. You see another woman coming into the house, and that disturbs you, but more than that, you see another woman with Siao.

Mae? What has happened here? Sit down, Mae, and look at your hands. What do they tell you?

They tell you want to look into his calm, honest blue-grey eyes. You want to see his smooth lean arms, with the silky skin that mixes Karzistan with China. You want to hear his deep, measured voice. You wish he were here. You wish you were with him.

Mae put her head into her hands. Oh, Mae Mae, Mae, Mae, what is this?