Air (or Have Not Have)

CHAPTER 15

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e-mail from: Miss Soo Ling

15 September

Of course I remember you, Mrs Chung-ma'am. You were always so appreciative of my work, and so generous in payment. It is good to know I have such good friends back home. I am enjoying my job in Balshang very much. I contribute to designs now, but cutting and sewing are my secret weapons. No one thinks I can, so then I do and people's eyes widen.

You are kind to enquire after Bulent. I am afraid we are no longer together though we are still good chums. We advise each other on how to survive working with all these Foxes and Otters and talk about the Green Valley and all the people we left behind.

Regarding your appreciated offer to purchase my stocks of cloth: The cloth is stored in Yeshibozkent with my mother, Mrs Soo Tung. I have written to her to ask her to arrange the shipping of the cloth via your bank.

Thank you also for the fascinating review of your work under the Taking Wing Initiative. I am not a follower of technology, and you opened new windows for me on this new world. Do stay in touch. Will you be visiting Balshang?

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e-mail from: Lieutenant Chung Lung

6 October

Mrs Chung Mae,

Is my mother really on e-mail? Dad told me that you work on the Wings' machine. My sister is thrilled, too. The army allows us an allocation of personal correspondence. They assume most of us have no e-mail addresses to write to! Please let me know if I have the wrong Mrs Chung.

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audio file from: Mrs Chung Mae

6 October

My son

You cannot know the joy getting your message has given me. You are being so discreet about all that has passed and so sweet not to mention it and so I am even happier to hear from you because no one in the village talks to me and I must talk to people because, Lung, the future is not just coming, it is here now and no one at Kizuldah is ready for it. They are all like quivering mice, trying to pretend there is no hawk, no cat. I have learned many things, my son. I took a Question Map of the village. At first I thought to find out about what clothes people wanted, but I began to ask what they felt about the Test. This is what I learned: They think the Air will be like TV. They do not want to see that it will be in their heads, will change their heads. They just think it will be all football and games. They are frightened of what is coming and that means they will not face up to all they have to learn. I tried to start a school to teach them, Lung, and they came for a while. Then, to stop the school, Shen told your father what I have done. So the school ended. Oh, Lung, I am so sorry for you, and how confused you must be by what has happened. I fell in love, a silly thing for an old woman to do, but I ask you who are still young and can still grab life, to try to understand that when you are old you can suddenly see that there is something you have missed, and that you must have now or get used to never having it. I mean love, Lung. I know how much you respect your father, and how, as an officer in the President's army, you value good behaviour. I behaved badly. Now I am a fallen woman. You know what that means in a little village. Let me know if this is embarrassing, and I will not call again like this. I must go. Oh, I have a business on the Net; look at www.native/fashion/wing.htvl. Give your sister all my love.

EYE OF THE BEHOLDER

Around the world, nothing is more beautiful than authentic expression of native culture combined with simple elegance.

Here you will see beautiful native embroidery incorporated in modem designs. Please choose the item that most appeals, to see it modelled by the native women who produced these magnificent clothings.

But the beauty that exists will have been produced in your own beautiful eyes, for you wish to see what a forgotten part of the world can produce.

FRIENDS IN NEW PLACES

If you have visited us before, we can show you new things that might interest you especially. So please do leave a Calling Card, so we can be friends. Please tell us what you think, for we are ignorant peasants in the hills and yearn to hear from you.

OUR FASHION TAKES WING 'TAKING WING' SUIT

This simple trouser suit in oatmeal cloth has authentic Karzistani embroidered panels. No designer thought of them. This ancient 'Swallow' pattern means good luck in marriage. This would make excellent wedding outfit or a present to hopeful, happy bride. The suit is modelled by tribal craftswoman Shen Suloi, she of the happy smile. Her husband is our schoolteacher.

I AM A JOYFUL PERSON WORKWEAR

This is whole native coat and hood, meant to be worn in fields and in sun or rain. It banishes resentment. One chooses what one is in life, and so it is foolish to resent the need to work. Wearing this shows that one is brave to face real life.

Worn by Sezen Ozdemir, who is not a native woman. She is a good girl who goes a bit wild sometimes. Buy this, and she will save the money for a motorcycle.

LISTEN TO GOD SPECIAL DRESS

Let this special pattern speak secretly to your heart on important days. This is special dress for big occasion, say if your son marries or you go to high school prom. What this panel does is tell the gods that you listen to them. It is not for mankind to understand what the gods say. We just must keep listening. So this is a most noble panel.

Wing Kwan, a four-farm wife, wears this dress and she made all the panels.

Native people have many gods in shamanistic tradition. Chinese folk in Karzistan are Buddhist, but trueblood Karz tend to be Muslim. We even have Christian family living in our village! All are welcome here.

SEE OUR HOUSE

KIZULDAH – OUR VILLAGE

We held the TV's camera from the roof to show our village and terraces. We are lucky to live in such beauty. It is more beautiful now that so many people can see it. We plant rice on the terraces. They are 2000 years old.

THIS IS US

The models all stand in front of Mr Wing's machine in his courtyard. He is four-farm owner. Videos from this screen show us and the house of our business. We work in the barn, all us ladies together. We are very happy, and you will see us all, even me.

I am wicked Madam Chung Mae. I am not popular in the village. I try to tell our people about the future. Also, I am a fallen woman, but my friends forgive that. My nickname is Madam Owl, which is not respectful at all!

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e-mail from: Lieutenant Chung Lung

8 October

Thank you for such a long letter. At first I was going to give you short note only. But then I realized that it would look as though I was angry with you.

I feel many conflicting things hard to put into words. I know my father and I respect him, but he is human and I can see his failings. I take no sides. I wish that both of you had behaved properly and stayed together. I regard this love as a kind of disaster, but you cannot be angry with the victim of a flood.

I see you alone, living in Kwan's attic with no position, and I grieve for you. Then I see your screens and feel that you are also in some way happy, and I have to ask: What has happened to my mother? How is she able to do this?

I showed the screens to some of my fellow officers who thought them very impressive. Some of their wives were also impressed and thought the clothes looked very modern. Others said that it made Karzistan look undeveloped and uncivilized. I noticed it was the more intelligent ladies who said that, no, it was like Americans talking about their Indian Heritage. One woman said you know when you love something that you have truly bested it and are mature. They regard our peasant days as something to be overcome.

Are the clothes selling?

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audio file from: Miss Soo Ling

10 October

Mrs Chung-ma'am

I must say I was enthralled by your screens, both the content and the fashion ideas they display. So original and of the moment. Really. Congratulations. It was good to see my oatmeal cloth put to such fine use.

You are quite right, Horsemen do get you listings, but they charge you, and magpies do not. Our fashion house will only work through magpies. They harvest opportunities for enterprises and build up lists of people with particular interests. Magpies charge distributors and not you. I attach a list of excellent magpies to contact. I hope this is helpful. With fond memories of a good friend.

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videomail from: bugs@nouvelles

27 October

Hiya! People call me Bugsy and I run the Nouvelles fashion magpie for Media, Inc., and I just want to say that I love your screens and I love the things you sell, and I think they are just right for the people we have built up relations with, and that therefore we would be delighted to sell information about you to stores here in the US, and to tell our magpie about you. I know my people and they will love you just as much as 1 do. Also, you might like to note that I've pegged myself one of your 'Listening to the Gods' special dresses. Believe me, I could use a little spiritual refreshment here in the middle of New York.

Your,

Bugsy (Adele) Harris

Editor, Nouvelles Magpie

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audio file from: Mrs Chung Mae

28 October

Dear Bugsy Nouvelles-ma'am

Our hearts are singing after so kind a missive. A link with such a prestigious entity gives us as much joy as a marriage in the family, for like all marriages it will bring both love and money. And middle-aged ladies in Karzistan need both! Please be kind and send us terms and conditions. Kindness and blessings.

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videomail from: bugs@nouvelles

2 November

Hiya! No terms and conditions except one. Let us know if any stores get in touch with you, and tell them to go through us. We charge them a finder's fee and take a cut on sales to our people. We started out, believe it or not, running the software that found people the TV shows they wanted to see. We got real big, and started different kinds of TV interest groups like fashion. We then realized we could use our software to find anything, not just TV shows. We got the idea of selling information to suppliers and then telling our groups how to buy the stuff. So you pay us nothing.

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audio file from: Chung Mae

4 November

Lung, Please tell your officers' wives that Nouvelles Magpie in New York lists us as an important fashion resource. Tell them that we are big news in the New York fashion world. Tell them they are undeveloped for not knowing the future is upon them and that they should have shame for not doing something about it. I have clipped onto this record our Ahk Sess numbers and addresses and you can see that we are a great success. Show that to the officers' wives. Tell them that humble wild girl Sezen learned to tell the computer to produce new instructions to send special messages to each of our customers.

Thank you for your kind words. Your sister sent me a very kind and informative card a few weeks ago.

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audio file from: Lieutenant Chung Lung

4 November

Are you angry? I meant to say I was proud of your site and that I forgive what you have done.

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videomail from: bugs@nouvelles

10 November

Hiya! I just wanted to let you know that we are getting plenty of comments in our newsgroup about you guys. Can I make a few suggestions? Put who you are and your address on each screen. Incredible as it may seem, some people still print out screens. Usually they give them to other people, but if the address doesn't show, then people can't find you. Second, people love you. They want to know more about how you live, how things are going in your lives. Really! So more hot gossip. Also, forgive our ignorance, but people here know absolutely nothing about Karzistan. Your President looks like a lovely man, but we have one of those ourselves. So, a few more links to other sites about Karzistan would be go down well. Finally, do you have any music you can put on the site? The Collaborationist movement here is desperate for new sounds to share and build on and something from the roof of the world (are you guys in Tibet?) would be very popular. And remember, we love you, so give us more news.

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videomail from: Mrs Chung Mae

15 November

Dear Mrs Bugsy-ma'am

It is very strange because I am speaking Karz and my lips are doing one thing and the voice is coming out in English! I do this for the first time because this is a special occasion. We have a deal from big New York store and they say Nouvelles drives people crazy for Eye of the Beholder screens. This plays our hearts like a harp. We do feel you are family, and Mrs Wing Kwan offers suggestion for a special token. Native women make a circle of friends. A circle of women all work together. They spin, wash, crack nuts, sort beans, beat old tough lamb, sew, do everything but clean house together. So they can sing and tell stories and smoke pipes. Each woman wears a special collar for that Circle, which they all embroider together. It is a small sign of belonging among friends. Would readers of Nouvelles like to join our Circle and have a collar? We promise special low price, to cover cost. Available only to friends of Nouvelles through big New York store. Oh, and we clip on a file of our access statistics, which show how powerful Nouvelles is as a way to make new friends in many lands. One final request: Can you send me any information you have on Air and the difference between the Formats?

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voicemail from: bugs@nouvelles

16 November

Mae-honey. It'll drive ' em wild. No sooner said than done, but I need a shot of the design. I have to say, despite the mismatched lips, you look and sound great. You should get on TV more often. But hey, where's my News from Kizuldah screens? Like I said: gossip, girlfriend, gossip. But hey, I've been speaking English to you, what language have you been hearing?

SIZZLING SEZEN'S POP PICKS

Hello, young people, this is hair-in-eyes Sezen who is impatient with everything, except my Auntie Mae. We may not be having Madonna sixtieth birthday parties, but we are full of music here in Karzistan and it is great mix of modern and old. We got Arabesque, we got Lectro, we got Traditional, many different musics, and this is where you can hear what we sound like and use it in Collab.

GIVE US MONEY

You can listen, but don't keep the music unless you pay. Our musicians are poor, okay? So try to send us something. We are starving up here – well, not starving, but my mother keeps corncobs in our chic diwan, and our neighbour keeps a pig in her kitchen. And it is very bad-tempered. So don't steal these poor people's music or you are dried shitcake!

That noise was Auntie Mae telling me off for being rude. I talk too much anyway. So here are my 'Pop Picks.'

'BALSHANG' BY CHEN TUI

Start with my favourite. Tui is Chinese girl who writes all her own stuff. She plays Karz flute and the violin, she used to do Lectro dance, but this is both real and Air music at once, and it's so beautiful, about girl who falls in love with a married man and his city at the same time. So she talks about the city and the man using the same words at the same time. They say there is an Air version full of pictures and memories as well. I want to see what her beautiful beau looks like!

'KISH MASHALI' BY ERCHAN PEKER

How is it that fools can make good music? This guy thinks he is pretty, and pastes his face all over everything. He is good-looking, but we should discover that for ourselves. This is a fun song about school, the words are really good, and he wrote them but he is a Balshang Otter, which means he is small, smooth, and vicious. Listen to the rhythm and the way his voice jumps about. That is pure Karz, like he is.

'KLASIKLERI' BY MUSA

Just how smart are you? This word comes to us from Europe, it is your word. you should just say it and you will know what it means. This is new song but played in completely Traditional way and it is about all things classical and Karz that are going away, like Musa himself – soon. I hope. Musa is how all Karz men would like to be: big, fat, hairy, full of bristle and moustache, and everyone says how handsome he is, but I think he is old and ugly, and he says some very dull things about new music. But everyone loves him and so do I. in a way, like a good father. One of his other songs is called "Yorgun.' which means 'Tired,' and that is very appropriate.

'MUT' BY YULDUZ

'Mut' means 'Destiny,' and the singer's name means Stars, so she has high opinion of herself. She used to be backup singer with Chen Tui and she would like to be Chen Tui, but Chen mixes Chinese, Karz, and New York Air. Yulduz is just another Balshang Fox. Most of her stuff doesn't work, but this is really good, nearly as good as Chen she imitates. It is about our country and how it mixes things and how it is lost now, but will find itself.

'HARP HATAMAHLARI' BY BULENT DO-UDAN

War memories. This is the story of our country in the 1980s when there was a terrible war. My Auntie Mae's father was murdered. She has to run from the room whenever this song is played. So the song is harsh, big, it roars at you. Now, look at the picture, the only one on this page. Isn't the singer beautiful, all makeup, polished hair, lipstick, a woman as shiny as the front of a new car? You will get a shock when you hear the voice, because that person used to look like Musa. And one day, Bulent suddenly looked like that instead, no explanation. The voice stayed the same. The name didn't have to change either. Nobody cared. Don't you find our country is surprising place?

GOODBYE, AND REMEMBER TO PAY

So that is some of our music. We don't have many books, our television is all kung fu. All our heart and soul is in our music. It's where all our brains are, too, in the little tapes. They play around our heads like swallows even here in a dump like Kizuldah.

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audio file from: bugs@nouvelles

18 November

Just thought you'd like to know that there's a Collab sharemind base called the Sezen Drop. You can't go into any New York club without hearing Karz music. Your little girl's a fashion leader. Oh, brace yourselves. Got the collar offer up on my home. And thanks again for telling us about the store. Attached to this you should find an article about the difference between the Formats and who's behind it. You may be interested to know how hard the cable people fought against all this! That's my old industry!

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e-mail from: Lieutenant Chung Lung

20 November

Mother,

It pains me to write to you like this, but I feel I must point out that the things you put on your machine are open to the world. Sezen Ozdemir recalls my grandfather's murder. There are people here who misread the site as being full of backsliding minority nationalism. I urge you to have a care and to be less of a wild woman.

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audio file from: Mrs Chung Mae

20 November

Son, it pains me to write to you like this, but I am not entirely cut off like a thread from the world and news does reach me. You married and did not invite me or even tell me. I would have understood that you could not have your mother there, and that only your father would be invited. If only you had explained, I am adult enough to understand. You chose not to tell me at all. I am open before the world, you are hidden even within the family. So, is that the difference between good and wild behaviour? So go fuck yourself. Is that wild woman enough for you? By the way, all my mail is private, unless you have been using army decoders to read it. Have you? Are you a spy as well? Tell your army friends that they will find a world they cannot control, and that I am glad that they are all asleep.

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audio file from: Mrs Chung Mae

28 November

Bugsy, you are the only one who can help us. Bugsy, we have over five hundred orders for the collar. We make our embroidery special, we cannot make five hundred collars, not at special deal price. We were very foolish not to think of this and apologize humbly for causing our good family friend such difficulties. It is not our way to make native designs by machine, it is not what our business is for. What can we do? Also, why is your name Bugsy?

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audio file from: bugs@nouvelles

28 November

First things first. Bugsy is a gangster's name and people call me that as a joke, because they say I remind them of a gangster. Second, I attach info about a machine that embroiders to order. Yes, it's a machine, but listen, you give it the ID files of your guests, and it will weave their names and or a message into the collar. It won't be handmade, but it will still be special, and the design will still say a Circle of friends.

Now, on the distribution. I've talked to the store, and hey, live the changes! Nouvelles is now a distribution centre. What you do is send all the collars once to us and we'll send them out. But. We need our own customer's barcode on each one to be read and shipped. Attached is a file with all the customers with our barcode details for each. If you can get the machine I suggest, it will also weave in the barcode in the back of the collar just where we need it. Now listen up. If you get the machine, it's so smart that you will be able to do individual things for your customers. Customize! Live that change! You're in business, not a museum. Don't apologize for not making everything by hand. Love the new screens.

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audio file from: Chung Mae

29 November

Bugsy-ma'am, I will not lie, I need a friend. Kwan has been better to me than a mother would be. But even a mother can tire. My business is in her barn, and she lets me live with her. There are people in the village who want to stop the future, and so they tried to stop me. They stopped me with the truth. They told my husband I was in love with another man. It was true. And so I became a fallen woman, and only my little tribe of women will talk to me. They suffer too, especially brave Shen Suloi. It was her husband who tried to stop us, and who told my husband about me. Mrs Shen is Eloi and is loyal to me because I show the traditions of her people to the world. She believes that the soul of her people is growing in the world through me. Her husband is Chinese and does not understand.

Many of the husbands think this thing with all the women is strange. So Shen Suloi and I work and laugh and help each other and there are things we cannot say. We all have to put our feelings in little boxes in this village, or we would end up killing each other. Kwan tells me I should go out. I do not have the heart. People treat me like I am a ghost. They try to walk through me. All I try to do is help them, but they are so suspicious now and fear even to be seen with me. So I stay in and talk to the machine. I am lost to the machine, I spend all my time on it.

I am trying to find out about the Gates Format, I am trying to find out about the Air before it kills me. I can see why the UN Format was tried, but I agree with those who want the Gates opened. UN imitates the machine, the Gates open like our own heads. Also, I have personal reason that I will not unburden to you, to hate the UN Format. I am become its opponent. Can you help me by telling your powerful friends that those who are as dependent on you as children, should at least be asked what we want done to our heads? The Test killed people in Kizuldah. Can you please get them to understand that we are real, that we are here? We are frightened, and ignorant, and we are trying to catch up. I hope opening the door to all this misery does not lose me friendship.

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audio file from: bugs@nouvelles

30 November

Every time you write me, I wonder what have we done to the world. Three billion of us live in a world with lights, cameras, action; the other four billion can't get clean water, let alone bandwidth. There are times when I want to do an article: 'Mae's Story.' Then I think what a nasty thing to do, turn a friend into copy. But Mae, you got me jumping, wanting to tell people: 'Look, look over there, look what you've forgotten.' But what I want to show them is too big. I can't do it, only you could. Only you could tell them. If it's not too much to ask, could you do a talk about your life and let me magpie it? Bugsy.

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audio file from: Mrs Chung Mae

1 December

Listen Western woman all painted in finery, we survived the Japanese, who at least look human. We survived a war of liberation that cut off our men's heads and left them in a row by the roadside. We survived childbirth, disease, joints, worms, hunger, winter winds, drought, the Red Guards who ate everything, the guerrillas who made us pay them tax, as well as the government. We ate rotten seed rice, we boiled up grass, we pulled out our own teeth, sewed up our own wounds with thread. Do you really think you can obliterate us with your lights cameras action, your shows, your wires? We who are rooted in the earth like trees? Who do you really think is stronger? Who will be dead in one hundred years, you or us? I hope you die like vermin, all of you.

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audio file from: Mrs Chung Mae

1 December

Bugsy, that last mail was not from me. I heard it with horror. But I see I must explain at last. I said that the Air Test killed. The Air Test killed my neighbour Mrs Tung who was ninety. I saw her every day and I loved her, for she was kind and gentle and was my teacher from earliest days. She always saw something special in me because she loved pretty things and I was good at making things pretty. We talked every day, as if I had a good angel of a mother. When the Air Test came, she was visiting me. We were all in panic and in terror, and the shock killed my friend, my dear Old Mrs Tung, and I called her, called her, and the mail put me inside her, and I died with her, and when I woke up she was copied inside me. At first it was like having a well-wisher inside my soul. But it is not wholesome, and she has curdled like goat's milk into hatred. She wants a separate life. I have been studied. I have been told such a thing could not happen if Air came by the open Gates; that is why I hate the UN Format, why I study it, why I try to find ways to undo it. It turned my beautiful friend into a monster. It turned me into someone who can be surprised by a dragon erupting out of her own mouth. The past talks out of me, instead of the future. I am fighting for the future, she fights for restoration of the past. Please, please, do not think I am mad, sick in the head. If you do not believe me, talk to Yeshiboz Sistemlar in Yeshibozkent. They did the study on me. Beware, for that place does things that would be illegal in the West. But Satan sometimes tells the truth, while goodness hides itself in soft lies. It was not me who said those things.

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audio file from: bugs@nouvelles

2 December

That does it, Mae. I am writing my article. I don't do it to embarrass you or your country, but because my own people must know what is happening. Your Old Mrs Tung was right, we are so far from the soil. Mae, I don't know what to say to you, except I'm on your side, too, kid. I'll let you see the article before I send it out. Any news about the machine?

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audio file from: Mrs Chung Mae

3 December

Wise criminal, you recall me to business. No, we do not have the machine. I have sent repeated messages to Mr Saatchi Saatchi at the bank and I believe the thing has been ordered and even paid for. I fear the worst. The worst is that in this country someone has paid someone else to lose it on the road. So we cannot deliver collars as planned. Our Circle is sewing day and night; even I am sewing day and night, which means I have less time for miserable reflection.

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e-mail from: Mr Oz Oz

4 December

Mae,

Many thanks for your voicemail. I am very sorry not to have replied to your others, but I have not been in a position to help anyone until just a few days ago. You were so worried about brigands in hills; so was I. But I felt secure in the main pass down from Yeshibozkent. I pulled over to sleep late at night on the road, and woke up with a gun in my face. Mae, they took everything – the van, the computer, all my clothes, even the beautiful coat you gave me. I was left barefoot by the side of the road. I walked into Sogan (Dilapidated) which lived up to its name and did not open a single door, except for the police, who put me in jail. I am young, Mae, and like a child I wondered why they treated me like a thief. I found out soon enough, for I was going to be treated like a thief by everyone.

I didn't know, but it is a racket: government officials go out, and come back shoeless, saying everything is stolen, when in fact they've sold everything, especially the computer. I was the third Taking Wing operative that had come back that way, and the government was sick of it. They held me under house arrest until the computer was sold to a foreigner in Balshang. The thieves were so dumb they did not even know about the hard-disk watermark, and, thank heaven, it was an honest bumpkin of a thief who said that, yes, they had stolen it from me. He was so foolish, he even said that he had been the one to persuade the others not to kill me, thinking it would save his neck. It saved mine. The government expects its operatives to be killed defending its property, or spend time in jail. It was Allah's will – all my material on your village, including both your and Sunni's question maps had been sent online, and were received as a model of what the operatives were supposed to achieve. So, having been a thief and in serious trouble, I was restored to my former favoured position as the only operative who had succeeded in doing anything.

Thanks to God who sent you to me. Mae, it is all your work, and I have tried to tell my boss that it is so and he waves it away. After all, you are an ignorant peasant woman as far as he is concerned. Still, I have written a further report on you and I have not been short of wind in describing what Teacher Shen did to you. I expect that there will be a result there. This is not cheap revenge, Mae, for truly we cannot have teachers who block the education of our people.

It also means I am back in a position to chase your machine. As an honest victim of theft, I am in a strong position to denounce corruption. So I am making a big stink. We have traced your machine to a depot in Balshang where we have a signature. Naturally the signature matches no one who works there, so we arrested the shipping agent. Now I know why the government arrested me. The shipper is a tough but civilized man. He keeps saying he knows nothing, and probably does not. But we keep him in jail, and have seized all his goods and thrown all his people out of work so they have no money. The idea is simple. With no job, one of the employees will rat on the one who did it. All we can do is wait.

Your site makes full use of audio, video, and customer database, so everyone at Taking Wing is proud of you. But, a suggestion: Perhaps you could have something more about how much the government has done for all the united peoples of Karzistan? I know your simple heart bubbles with gratitude for the government, for I heard your words and saw your face when we opened the bank account. But some people here do not know you, and are concerned that people abroad might get an unbalanced picture of the variety of peoples in the Happy Province.

Your friend in waiting,

Mr Oz

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audio file from: Mrs Chung Mae

4 December

Mr Oz-sir

My heart delights in news from you, and I add to the chorus of voices that can confirm your innocent youth and innate honesty. I am overwhelmed that the government makes such efforts to restore my machine to me. I really am not worthy. Do make sure they know how much I owe to you and how I would not have known what to do without you. Your coming was like an angel from the Lord for us. I knelt and praised Allah, for I saw that the government of Karzistan had given me hope. I did not feel it was the place of humble fashion expert to describe the work of government, which passes my understanding. But your just admonition has shown me that however embarrassing my crude efforts would be to myself, I must add my voice to the chorus of earned praise. Please see the new addition to my site and please express my gratitude. I attach a letter for your boss, and if it is worthy, please show it to him.

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e-mail from: Lieutenant Chung Lung

7 December

I am not a son to choose to lose a mother, even when she is lost to herself. Your material at your home site has recently much improved. I trust that it was because you listened to your son's advice. Encouraged, I write again.

Yes, I married, and in confusion did not tell my mother. And my honest sister in an innocent card told the truth for me, and that is humbling. I've clipped on a picture of your new daughter. Her name is Sarah. You see perhaps why it was a bit more difficult to tell you?

Sarah is from Canada, and has chosen to cast her lot with your son, though I cannot think why. She is beautiful and intelligent, and regards your son as an educated man because of Army College. She stayed in the American Institute here while studying the history of Attila the Wonderful. She is not a model of Karzistani femininity, but she opens a world for me. She is very good with the other officers' wives, who tell me they find her delightful. She has seen your screens and your last letter and likes both very much!

I did decode your personal mail. Either I did it, or someone else would. Your friendship with the fashion magpie is well regarded by officials here. I thought I would set your mind at rest.

Your son,

Lung

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audio file from: Mr Oz Oz

9 December

Mae

Your letter was well received here. All our hearts were warmed by such simple, truthful words from a good Karzistani woman who works so hard for her people. We know what happened to your machine. You will not get that one again, but we have arrested your Mr Saatchi Saatchi. He will be executed next month. The warehouse boss who I thought was innocent, was not. My boss has personally approved a repurchase for your business. It will be delivered by the army!

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audio file from: Mr Hikmet Tunch

9 December

Mae,

I am sorry to slip back into your life, perhaps unexpectedly. Don't worry, you will not need to escape me again – though you should know that I have watched the development of your fashion screens with interest. Do you really intend to become part of a romance for Americans? They do so like foreign pets. And how is your little inner friend? Both of them. A file is attached. It is a scientific paper about you. It is about to appear in the Journal of Medical-Computer Interface. It shows that no physical change has happened to you. It shows instead that a mangled imprint of two selves have been united in Air. It shows how this could happen, due to real flaws in the UN Format. It also proves that such a catastrophe could not have occurred if the Formatting process had been achieved by opening the Gates. It suggests that elements of the Gates Format be copied across and made part of the UN system.

One further thing I meant to tell you when I drove you back. You are in the Information business, Mae. That means everyone you know will betray you. You can relax with me. I already have done that.

Your guardian angel,

Hikmet Tunch

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audio file from: Mrs Chung Mae

12 December

Bugsy, I was pleased to hear about your new apartment. I understand how lovely it is to have a place of your own and how living even with best friends produces sadness. I was so happy for you, to think of my good friend in her own place. Please send me pictures of your apartment. It will ease my heart. Oh, woman, I am avoiding telling my news because I do not know how to begin. It is so strange, the workings of life. I do not say the workings of God, because I am not sure He would do anything like this! Last night, the electricity was shining in Kwan's barn. The Circle has been sewing our beautiful collars late into the night. Naughty girl Sezen brought in some rice wine from her boyfriend's village. Why not? Her mother Hatijah, who was frightened to join the Circle at first, is becoming lively and outgoing. It is now Hatijah who warms up the wine, and it warms us, and soon we are all singing. Then the door is thrown back with a loud bang, and in comes Mr Hasan Muhammed. He is strict Muslim gentleman, white lace cap and long beautiful beard, but he is carrying a whip. He strikes the whip against the walls of the barn, and we all scream and clutch our work, for we never lose our embroidery place. There could be an earthquake and none us would lose a stitch. So we all are pressed against the wall and he prowls and curses us as wicked women all – little singing old women who sip a bit of wine.

Well, Kwan is courageous and she arrives and says, 'Mr Muhammed, have you left your brain behind? Why do you frighten guests in my barn as they work so hard?' And he says, This all the work of Shytan, all of the women have gone mad since this thing has come, most especially that bride of Shytan,' and he points at me. I hardly need say that this is not an amusing thing. But listen to how destiny plays like a cat with your friend Mae. Mr Muhammed still jabs his finger like a knife towards me and says: 'That devil woman leaves her husband, and now my wife has left me to live with him.' And he cracks his whip. And all us women try hard not to laugh, even Kwan. For you see, we all know his wife Tsang. Tsang is a pincushion, she has had every man she can get. She is plump, ripe, shameless, lots of fun, and about as devoted a wife, and devout a woman, as a gerbil. In my fashion-expert days, I was always giving Tsang a makeover for her latest paramour. Poor old Mr Muhammed has finally discovered what the rest of the village knows. So there is now a closing of Tsang's always-welcoming doorway. That Tsang finally should have taken wing with my dull old husband strikes our humble peasant sense of humour like a blow to the elbow. Poor Mr Muhammed yells like a character in an old play, They have run off to live together in Balshang!' It is terrible but we all have to fight not to laugh, though the poor man is in agony. Kwan says kindly, 'It is not Mae's fault that your wife strayed, we are all scandalized by such behaviour.' And Mr Muhammed points again at me and says, 'Why, then, do you welcome that viper into your midst?' And Kwan answers him: 'Because though she strayed, she helps the whole village build business.' He screams back, 'She is the mother of all whores! My sweet and faithful wife has had her mind poisoned by that creature and her machine!' And Kwan puts her hand on his shoulder and says, gently, 'It was not Mae who corrupted her. Your wife just this spring lured my young son and had sex with him until I asked her to stop, for my son was growing confused. And she had both Mr Alis before that, and before that, Mr Pin's eldest boy, just before his marriage. Tsang corrupted herself. Mae had nothing to do with it.'

And poor old Mr Muhammed's face melts like candlewax. 'You all knew?' he says, and drops his whip. 'Didn't you?' asks Kwan. He does not answer but, hollow like an old crisp pinecone, he goes out of the barn. So we all wonder, Did he know as well?

But oh, woman, there was further news to come. Joe has sold our house. He has sold it to Mr Haseem and taken the money to live with Tsang in Balshang. The house and lands I fought all this year to pay for and save, those are deserted. The kitchen I cleaned for years, it is dark, with only moonlight for lighting. The brazier I kept alight for thirty years is now cold and full of dust. The chairs and tables are lonely, the cupboard hastily emptied, as if by thieves. I sit wearing all my clothes in Kwan's unheated attic, listening alone to the happiest time of year, to the harvest, the parties, and the various Circles. I hear life waft up like smoke from the village below. My life has been unstitched, cousin, like embroidery needing to be reworked. Oh. Joe. Joe. You always thought money was quick, because you were slow. So you have quick money to make new life in the city with Tsang. That old mattress, she will be bouncing with other men the instant your back is turned. You will be a dolt in the city. You will lose tools, you will not get work. And you will come back here, and be surprised when your friend Mr Haseem does not give you back your house. And your father and your brother Siao – what of them, Joe? They now have the indignity of living with your first wife's brother, Mr Wang Ju-mei. Oh, Joe, what will you tell the spirits of your fathers? You sold their land? For how much, Joe? Would your good friend Mr Haseem, knowing you were desperate to be away, be so generous as to give you half of what it is worth? Oh, Joe, you will go to live near your beloved and clever son Lung. You should love and honour him, for the son is far wiser than the father. But you do not understand him. Your son is Army Officer. Your son is Balshang Fox, who has married the Western world. He does not want a dolt of a country father embarrassing him, staying all weekend long when he has to be entertaining the Colonel and his lady wife. Oh, Joe. You will return lost and befuddled with no money, no woman, no son, and wondering, wondering where it all went. Now I know what a man's chin feels like. It gets shaved clean, everything scraped away, with everything needing to grow back. What else, I wonder, can happen in this year of shaving away? To speak of business: Eye of the Beholder is getting fewer visitors. We have no new orders for the collars, which is great relief and worry at the same time. What can I do to speak to my friends in the world?

____________________

e-mail from: Mr Ken Kuei

13 December

Hello.

I am very proud, for I have sent you a message like this. You see, I am learning. I have taken your words to heart, and so I learn on Sunni's machine. I have had to learn without you.

I am good at learning. And good at waiting. Your friend, Mr Ken Kuei

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e-mail from: Miss Soo Ling

13 December

Mae,

I hear that many houses here are imitating your success, selling collars, etc. In

any case, all fashions come and go. Have you been thinking what you will do next? There is a Western phrase used by all: Live the change. It means, 'Get in first and get out first.'

____________________

e-mail/videomail: no sender

They have found the Eloi site. They will raid. Get your business off Kwan's machine now. Move it onto Mr Haseem's if you can – now, tonight – but move it in any case.