Meanwhile on Cloud Nine

Since humanity seems forever doomed to have more questions than answers, the author apologizes that Meanwhile on Cloud Nine does not point the way to any profound revelation. He asks only that you content yourself with an entertaining speculation of what might be if we all somehow managed to reconsider our tendencies to stray onto the more treacherous side paths with which life tempts us. Take your cue from the cloud sprites: "...if Cloud Nine did not exist, you would have had to invent it. Joy is not a state that stays for long with creatures such as you. You wallow too readily in deep despair once its bloom has faded." Think of this tale as the antidote.