A Short Story: Martyn's Atmosphere

Martyn’s entrance turned heads as the two walked into the crowded restaurant. A glance in their direction before the diners quickly returned their attention back to the plates in front of them. As if they were not interested.
Yet the shift in the atmosphere was marked by a stillness descending on the room. There was no conversation. They might as well have been carved from wood. They were immobile. They were doing their best to hide. Shrinking like turtles into their jackets and chairs. Hoping it would not be they who were singled out for a glance, or worse, a word from the tall man.
For his part, Martyn appeared to ignore all of them. He directed Storm up a few short stairs to a mezzanine floor and a single large table with two chairs. Storm

“It's like they say. In the Warrumbungles, the skies are free of pollution.
“Dig deeper! So far as astronomy is concerned pollution comes in two main forms. One is from light in the atmosphere. The other is from the particles floating around up there.”
Storm shook his head. “Sorry. I still don’t see it.”
“Using Tesla type technology they created plasma in the atmosphere around the Earth. Now they can produce light in the atmosphere. Brightness, and almost any color. They can make a gray sky red, or a red sky gray or blue or white.”
Storm frowned. “They intentionally light up the sky? Why bother?”
“By lighting up the sky, they disguise what would otherwise be visible. If a light shines through the cloud mass, the controllers brighten the sky to cover it from view. When the light from the object is less bright they use lesser technology to build a dense cloud mass. Again, by making use of the moisture up there.
“They cannot control the sheer force of this vast force outside of the Earth. So there are times when something unusual becomes noticeable. When they are unable to hide it. At those times, they issue a news release to explain it away. They’ve been using news releases to prepare everyone for what will come for