Geoff Ryman - Air (or Have Not Have)

'Women hold up half the sky.' -Chairman Mao Tse Tung

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audio file from: Mrs Chung Mae

26 December

Mr Oz

Kwan has an e-mail saying that Teacher Shen has lost his job and is to be replaced. How? The snows have come. You can't get even a tractor up our road now. So is Teacher Shen supposed to go on teaching unpaid? How will it help our children if there is no school? Look, okay, Teacher Shen gave me a big blow and did the Party of Progress great harm. But this will do no good. Please listen to his wife, our friend Shen Suloi.

Mr Oz-sir, I am Mrs Shen Suloi, the wife of Teacher Shen. Gracious friend, you have been all kindness to us and we need your help again. My husband is wrong about the TV and Air, he sees these things as a great flood that will sweep everything away, but he is a good man and he wants the best for the children of our village. Gracious friend, it is a very bad thing that the message he lost his job came through the TV, and came after your visit. This makes many men here think of the TV as an enemy. They think it spies for the government. They think it takes away a man's whole life. Many say they will not let their children go to school if it is taught by a government replacement woman. My husband goes on teaching now for no money, but he is broken-hearted. We are poor people, Mr Oz, okay? That is hard for us to admit – easier perhaps for the women. We have four children ourselves, and no farm. My husband goes to the school with his shoulders hunched. He does not comb his hair. He sits at night by the single candle and weeps. All his life he trained to be Teacher. It was a great accomplishment for a boy from Kizuldah, and now that has gone, and his wife makes more money than he does. So can you talk to the people who did this and explain we have no Teacher? Can you get them to give my husband back his job? This is Mrs Chung. Tell them this mail comes from me, whom he harmed. Winter is when our children traditionally do their lessons. It does no good to have no Teacher here now.

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audio file from: Mr Oz Oz

27 December

Mae, I am angry, too. They didn't even tell me. It is like that – you make a report, and they go off and do something and don't even consult with the person who was there. It is typical of the Central Office to work in that way. I don't know why I stay with them. They never listen. They have no management skills. I feel terribly embarrassed but it is not my fault. What can I do?

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audio file from: Mrs Chung Mae

27 December

I don't care about all of that – what are you going to DO NOW?

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e-mail from: Mrs Wing Kwan

29 December

Dear Secretary Goongoormush,

I am a partner with Madam Chung Mae. Our business was recently featured in the New York Times. The attached files of access statistics and business turnover shows our venture to be one of the most successful under the Taking Wing Initiative. My husband is manager of Swallow Communications, also funded by the Initiative.

I say this only to show that I, along with Chung Mae and others, represent what we here call the Party of Progress. Your representative Mr Oz Oz accurately reported that our efforts have been hampered by the local schoolteacher, Mr Shen Yoh.

However, removing Teacher Shen from his post at this time will slow progress. His replacement will not be able to get up our road in winter. This could leave our children without schooling during this crucial year of Taking Wing.

Teacher Shen has not seen the benefits of Info. But he is a good man, and we of the Party of Progress request his reinstatement.

Yours,

Mrs Wing Kwan

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audio file from: Mr Oz Oz

30 December

Mae, are you crazy? A letter from Kwan? She is not the best-regarded person in Kizuldah. I have raised the issue, but my boss tells me it is all down to the Office of Discipline and Education, and their own 2020 Vision campaign. So, you see how I am prevented at every turn from helping.

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audio file from: Mrs Chung Mae

30 December

I do indeed see what stops you helping us.

It was dawn, and in her loft, Mae could hear the weaving machine at work.

It made a neat whirring sound that reminded Mae of hummingbirds. She could hear it through her walls as she worked. She could imagine it extending a tongue of beautiful new knitware.

Her new TV was strung in a hammock and held up by Siao's pulley. It was early morning and Mae was building a new site. It was not going well. Well, at least one screen worked.

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OLD CARS NEVER DIE,

they just go to Mr Pin-sir's

DYNAMIC CAR SURGERY.

Also their cousins tractors, trailers and vans.

All vehicles are charmed by the Car Surgeon s bedside manner and kind,

skilled hands.

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Mae had written letters telling everyone about her new Net services. Her first customer, Mr Pin, had shown up two days ago.

Mr Pin did not want to speak to Madam Owl. He sat with Siao, ignoring Mae and twisting the letter in his hand. He had no more idea of what to do with the Net than use it to make himself seem more modern. That meant, more modern than his great and murderous rival, Mr Enver Atakoloo.

Siao kept trying to defer to Mae, to direct Mr Pin's questions to her. Finally, to relieve everyone's embarrassment, Mae had gone back upstairs into the loft.

She listened from upstairs, and was surprised at how useful Siao was. Mr Pin was a difficult man to help. He did not understand what the TV was for, and was frightened that the government would see anything about him.

Siao kept explaining. It took hours and a bottle of warmed rice wine. Siao's idea was to put a list on the machine called, 'Mr Pin's Helpful Service that Answers Your Questions.'

It would give people advice on how to check the car was working or to make simple repairs themselves. Mr Pin did not understand the principles of Info mat-unrolling – giving something away for free. Siao evidently did. He explained that free Info made friends with the customers and showed you were expert. More importantly, it got rid of the less profitable parts of your business by giving away all the little pieces of advice that made no money.

Pin, drunk by now, finally got it. 'Ah, Mr Siao-sir, what a brain you have! You should be running a bank, sir!'

Siao coaxed out of Mr Pin everything that could go wrong with a car and whether most people could fix it themselves, and if not, how much it would cost.

Siao then clambered up the ladder with a written list. His manner had no pride in it. Businesslike, he had read it out to Mae and into the machine.

Mae was using that information to make her first intelligent voice-form. It was supposed to ask questions and leave time for the innocent to reply into the microphone.

'Nature of the problem?'

'The car won't start when…'

'Huh? Please repeat the nature of the problem.'

'Won't start…'

'Huh? If you are having difficulty, please make an appointment with Mr Pin. Can you bring the car in? Answer yes or no.'

'No!'

'Can you bring the car in? Answer yes or no.'

'Yes!'

The voiceform did a kind of flip and started to repeat over and over. ' Answer … Answer … Answer …'

'Shitcakes,' said Mae, and thumped the TV. 'Stop. Save.' Mae arched herself backwards to bend her spine in the opposite direction. 'Create e-mail to sloop@karzphone.co.kz. Attach program file Pin-form Three.'