Project: Rain.

It was a dark afternoon that day in January. The clouds covered the bright afternoon sun, the wind was cold, it gave a tingly feeling when it touched the skin. Then, drops of water fell from the sky, bit by bit, and then just in an instant later, it rained. It rained so heavy that you couldn't even stand in the rain without getting slightly bruised. It kept on raining for awhile.

Mustafa Azim stood by the window inside his three storey house. Looking out into the dark afternoon sky. His back facing me, as I sat there clutching my laptop atop my lap as I rested my legs on the footstool. The room was furnished with a long table and a few chairs, two armchairs, which one of it I was sitting on, shelves of books and folios, a glass pane in the middle of the room drawn on complex equations and graphs, a large wall which was turn into a whiteboard, it too was stuck on by newspaper articles and numerous mathematical equation and a coffee machine on the counter by the door.

I put my laptop onto the side table, and stood up. I walked towards Mustafa, and held his shoulder. He didn't look back, he just stood there staring blankly into the dark afternoon.

I joined him and looked at the dark sky with him, then he slowly turned his head to me;

"Do you think this will work?"

I look back at him, my eyes narrowed, "Where is your faith my brother?"

He smiled and gave a slight nod. He turned and went to sit in one of the armchairs. He leaned back and stretched his arms behind his head. With my back facing him, I said,

"Look, Mustafa, it is only a matter of time before the government notices our contributions to the country. I mean how rich can people be?"

I heard him giving out a small grunt. He and I both knew that one day or another the government will give in to our project. Everyone knew that this is a project that no other country will turn down. The only thing that kept us from selling our technology to the Americans, Russians or the EU was our patriotism. We believed that our mother land, Malaysia will give their full support in this.

But now we have doubts.

"Our own country funded us with fifteen million Ringgit; and how much did they fund that ridiculous movie about a teenage love gone wrong in Johor? twenty-five million!?" Mustafa said it clearly with contempt in his voice.

I turned to look at him. He was right, the government funded tax payers money on entertainment more on science research. I swallowed the truth. I walked towards one of the glass panels in the middle of the room. I touched the panel with a finger. It gave a soft hum, then a screen appeared before me, it showed a blue glowing sphere, I touched the middle of it. Immediately the room brightened a little, the afternoon sun shone through the dark clouds, though scarce, the warmth could be felt.

Mustafa stood up, "Well, either us or them are idiots, this technology can save lives!"

I stared at the window, a wave of doubt flowed over me. What are we doing selling this to a government who has no interest in saving the world? I sighed and went to sit again.