CLOUD NINE

Chapter 38

“Sir. I think you have a meeting at ten-thirty followed by lunch at the great hall with the ministers,” Alizeh adjusted her wide-rimmed glasses and looked straight at the President of Audra.

“Hmm,” he mused, his hands still stroking his chin, as he poured over a faded piece of paper with great interest. The paper looked like it had been passed through many hands which made it acquire a brittle and ‘frayed at the edges’ appearance.

Alizeh wanted to look at the paper, but she was bound to be on the other side of the table.

“Which cloud are you from, Lydia?” the president jolted her out from her pondering.

“Cloud four, sir,” she answered crisply.

“Are you an inventor?”

“My father was, sir. He passed away when I was ten, leaving me behind with almost no fortunes. I don’t know scientific work and so I came to Cloud One to find something clerical,” she ranted out the memorised lines out of her bio, like a parrot.

“Hmm, interesting,” the President mumbled.

“Is anything bothering you, sir?” Alizeh tried to bring velvet smoothness in her voice.

“No. just trash this,” he thrust the sheaf of papers to her.

Alizeh’s eyes widened as she realized what it was, “It’s a bill passed by both the houses of your parliament sir,” she couldn’t keep the alarm from her voice.

“And I don’t approve of it, so you may trash it,” he pointed towards the dust bin.
Panic was ensuing in Alizeh’s mind. Her heart was leaping. She had read parts of the bill within that time and it was a bill to do away with the reservations in the cloud of stay based on your line of work. This could be the first step towards their dream of getting people off Cloud Nine.

“Sir,” she squeaked, making the President look up again, “I mean the paper is scarce, so I think I should take this bunch for recycle.

“Do whatever you want. Don’t ask me for silly things,” the President waved her away, visibly annoyed.

Alizeh grabbed the paper and exited the room, moving towards the recycle machine. She was totally aware of the cameras following her. Out of the corner of her eyes, she realized the cameras were focused a little higher, towards the large windows, probably to catch intruders.
She let the papers drop from her hand, and bent down after it, away from the view of the camera. Quickly she unbuttoned the folder and shoved the papers in, taking out a random sheaf at the same time and got up.

Once she had trashed the blank papers, she clip-clopped down the empty halls in her stilettoes, uncomfortable from the feelings of her tight dresses and bone-breaking shoes.

She slipped into her room and closed the door, placing the paper on the bed. Ruffling through her luggage, she took out the watch, aiming it at the papers. Cloud One…Nina…she thought in her mind. The papers disappeared.

A ping alerted her in her mobile.

‘Got the food you sent. It looks delicious – Mom’

Alizeh giggled, going back to her work again.

The meeting at ten again ended in a heated argument as all his ministers tried in vain to make him understand that the citizens are getting restless. He needed to make a public appearance.

He was dead set on staying incognito, saying it was a threat to his life if he went outside these protected gates. Sullen faces glared at each other throughout the regal dinner. Nobody spoke as they ate in silence. The tinkering of cutlery was the only sound heard throughout the session.

“Sir,” Alizeh confided in the ears of the president, as if telling a secret only meant for him, “I have a suggestion which will appease the public and yet you don’t have to step out.”

His ears cocked up to her voice. He nodded silently, glancing uneasily at the companions of his luncheon.

“You could do a conference from your residence and stream it live to these people. In that way the people will know the President. You won’t have to go out and the rebellions would be quelled for some time,” Alizeh proposed sweetly. She was aware of the elaborate scheming going on in her mind as to how her plans would finally fall into place.

“That’s a good idea. You’re a smart girl,” the president guffawed, turning to the others. His tablemates narrowed their eyes at him, wondering what was suddenly so funny.
Mr Fletcher outlined the idea for them.

Alizeh looked at each one of them individually. Her mind was at the highest frequency as she hurled a strong wave of ‘YES’ through the room. A few eyes became unseeing, a few lips dropped open, but the whole room seemed to have been affected.

“That’s a good idea,” the finance minister mused. One by one everyone joined in. Alizeh could see confusion in the eyes of the members as they themselves wondered why they were all agreeing to a stupid idea. But they didn’t groan much as the idea was settled.

Once the guests left, Alizeh was called aside by the president and handed over more files related to the presumed press conference.

“Sir, there is one issue,” she said slowly, as if in a dilemma.

“Speak up.”

“Sir, as you know photography is not allowed, so it’s difficult to find a photographer at a short notice. Besides, we never know how people use those clips of yours…” Alizeh said unhurriedly, letting the words sink in before delivering her masterstroke.

“Sir, I know someone from my cloud, who was a family friend and he used to be a photographer before coming here to enrol in engineering works. Should I call him?”

“Okay. We’ll try him out. Tell him to bring some good samples.”

“Done, sir,” Alizeh compelled her voice into normalcy to avoid suspicion. Time to bring Derek into play.