CLOUD NINE

Chapter 3

The next few minutes were a confusing mix of screams, cries and silent prayers as the plane groaned and jolted, almost jerking their intestines out of their bodies.

Alizeh held onto her seat, frantically. Nina, on the other hand, was squeezing the life out of her as she clung fiercely. For once she didn't mind because if she died today, Nina would be the last person she would ever see.

The plane was constantly losing altitude, rising and dipping, rising again - staggering with the monstrous winds, being tossed like a cork in the sea when a strong force seemed to be pulling it back.

Alizeh looked out of the window to find a net of stainless steel, woven with shining threads which had been cast over their plane. The jolts stopped and in a few minutes, they had been engulfed by a grey haze.

As soon as the plane touched solid ground, people scrambled to get down, only to be held at gunpoint and forced back into their places. Alizeh stopped in the middle of her search for her glasses and slid into her seat.

Four people had forced their way in. They were dressed in casual jeans and tees, but each had a laser gun in their hands. The gang looked messy - unshaved with matted hair. But the look in their eyes was what bothered Alizeh. Their eyes were glassy, unseeing, their mouth, set in a hard line as they scanned all the people.

"Excuse me, sir, could we talk?" the pilot appealed, arriving at the door of the cockpit. We didn't see them coming but apparently they were concerned for us.

One of the men whipped around. He was a tall, burly fellow with exquisitely sculpted chest and eyes like pools of onyx. The eyes only spewed hate as he looked at the captain.

"And why do you care, Captain?" he spat. "Don't feed me the bullshit about how you care about their lives. I saw, you trying to abandon them and escape through your safety hatch with the whore!"

His chin jerked to the direction of the air hostess who visibly stilled. She looked ready to bolt.

"I-Aa-I" the Captain struggled for words.

"So you admit that you prick," Nina shouted from beside Alizeh.

The man with the gun just gave her a bored look. "He'd have escaped had we not snared the plane in time."

The crowd gasped as a whole. Murmurs started floating around.

"Silence" another gunman barked.

"But how did you trap the plane? I've never seen anyone do that before. It's like you fished us out of the sky." the girl with the green eyes spoke out.

Black eyes darted to her. But she met the gaze... unflinching and unrelenting. There was something in her face that conveyed utter coldness. Her voice, however, had the authority of a queen.

"You see. Every engineering project needs an artist. An artist to dream up the model. Everything isn't science and math. But the people in the business and corporate worlds think we're useless." growled the other man.

"So we learnt engineering as a hobby. It's something we really need to survive around here." black eyes looked levelly at her before addressing the crowd.

"So we need to test whether you are an artist or not before we let you in. This is no place for amateurs. Our cloud gets no supplies and hence we rely on ourselves to survive and that also includes selling your creations to the high clouds and getting money. Anyone that can't contribute is just an extra burden for us, bar the kids."

The crowd just gaped at him, speechless.

"Did you just understand? Now one by one you show me your works and you can get off the plane. And be fast. We haven't got all day."

His rudeness jolted Alizeh awake. The words struck like splinters in her gut. That was what was wrong with Cloud Nine. All those funny stares, the taunts, it all made sense.

The words of the green-eyed girl kept ringing in her ears.

They're just hoping that we die out by ourselves.

Rage - blind, annihilating rage filled her, thinking of the narrow mindedness of the world they lived in. Humans were baying for each other's blood.

Alizeh looked up at getting a nudge from Nina. The line was already progressing. People had taken out their own books, artworks and others were scrolling through their galleries in a frenzied craze, to find a picture worthy of being allowed to stay.

Alizeh looked around for her glasses and found them under the seat of another passenger. She could feel eyes following her as she dropped on all fours and grabbed her glasses, thankfully putting them on. She then picked out the copy of her book from her handbag and joined the crowd.

Black eyes lifted the book from her and leafed through it, turning it over from cover to cover. He seemed impressed.

"No inciting content?" he asked. There was almost a wink in his voice.

"No," Alizeh answered curtly.

"Nice plotline!" he mumbled in that monotonous voice of his.

"Did you just compliment her?" Nina blinked at him. "I thought you were an unfeeling asshole!"

I froze. A black fire raged in his eyes. The atmosphere suddenly turned to pin-drop silence, all eyes on them, anticipating the worse. He had a gun for God's sake. What was Nina thinking?

Alizeh almost volunteered to support Nina with a half-cooked lie when the man laughed out aloud.

"This one is fierce." he winked. "I love the spirit. We need some of that here, man!"

Nina blushed scarlet as Alizeh almost dragged her out of the plane.

The passengers were pooled out around the exit of the plane, chatting in low voices when the sound of a commotion alerted them to the exit door.

The green-eyed girl from earlier was standing there, hands on her hips, her nose flared red.

"You can't go in if you haven't done anything." a gruff voice commented.

"But I've not started out yet, but I love weaving. I could show you if you get the materials but I have no proof." her voice faltered.

"No proof, no entry." black eyes commented.

"Ash, we can consider -" another man reasoned. "She looks talented and she's young. May come of help."

"No." his voice was steel. "Who'll take responsibility till she masters her craft? "

The girl looked around in a desperate search for help. Her perfectly cool facade crumbling. Alizeh could see her lips shaking.

"I'll take care" she blurted suddenly. "I am taking responsibility."

All eyes turned to her, assessing and probing. But Alizeh was focused on a pair of green eyes, so deep that they could as well have been emerald. Only gratefulness shone in them.