At about 1500 hours, Sorrel heard scratching sounds. Peak heat had passed. She touched her mother’s foot with hers and placed a finger on her lips. Bibi’s eyes opened. “D’you hear that?” Sorrel whispered.

Bibi cocked her head. “Wind,” she said. “The bushes against the car.”

“I think it’s an avian.”

“If it is, it’s dangerous. And there won’t be just one. They travel in flocks.”

Then they heard a sound like gravel thrown against the roof by a giant hand. “Rain!” Bibi said.

Sorrel shot to her feet. “I’m going outside,” she said. “Right now!”

“No, wait –”

Sorrel ignored her mother’s warning and climbed out under a low grey sky. Big drops of water splashed onto leaves and soil, making small pools, which disappeared in seconds.

“What’re you doing?” Bibi shouted from inside the car. “Come back inside!”

“I’m staying!”

“If it really rains and we leave the hatch open, the car will fill up and we’ll drown. Come inside!”

Sorrel heard the worry in her mother’s voice, but if she was to drown, she wanted it to be a fight with rocks and water, a battle with the elements. She didn’t want to drown inside a closed space. She could face broken bones but not a fight for air. “You come up,” she shouted to her mother. “Take the PlAK – put it away and stow the packs off the ground. Bring the algaskins.”

“Suppose it’s a rain bomb?” her mother cried. “The cable car will be washed away with all our stuff!”

“If it’s a rain bomb, we’ll be washed away long before the car.” Sorrel jumped off the roof, collected the PlAK and charger and handed it to her mother inside the cable car. “I’m staying outside. Pass the algaskins and the funnel, then shut the hatch.”

She stood outside with the algaskins and funnel at her feet. The big drops became more frequent and closer together. She turned her face upwards and closed her eyes, letting them hit her in the face, welcoming the slight sting. Then she heard a slashing, hissing sound and the drops became a deluge. Real rain. Drenching rain. Rain that could make waterfalls. She stood with her head back, eyes closed, mouth open. The water tasted sharp. It streamed off the hill in muddy channels, circling the cable car, digging at her feet, making mud. She filled the algaskins one by one and wished they had brought more, although water was heavy to carry.