Cloud Atlas: Chapter 9 Summary & Analysis

40. The cold water shocks Luisa Rey back to life. She struggles to get out of the vehicle before she realizes that Rufus Sixsmith’s report is still in the car. She goes back to get it and pulls it free but gets disoriented and can’t find the way up. She fears she’s going to die trying to get the report back.

41. On an airplane, Isaac Sachs wonders whether he did the right thing by giving Rufus’s report to Luisa. A suitcase in the plane’s baggage area holds enough C-4 to blow the whole plane up. Near him on the plane, Grimaldi (whom Isaac betrayed) is laughing, smiling, and drinking a cocktail. Isaac writes in his notebook about how imagined pasts and futures help to influence ideas about real pasts and futures. Suddenly, someone hits the C-4 detonator, and the plane blows up.

42. Lloyd Hooks gives a speech outside the Swannekke Hotel. In the back, he notices Bill Smoke, who holds up three fingers to indicate that Grimaldi, Isaac, and Luisa are all dead. Lloyd continues his speech undisturbed. 43. On Swannekke Island, Hester Van Zandt watches divers looking for Luisa’s VW. She tells a curious teenager that Luisa died, but in fact, Luisa survived and is recovering at Hester’s place. Luisa plans to go into hiding at her mother’s (Judith Rey) place, at least until her enemies realize she isn’t dead.

44. One of Hester’s men goes to a payphone and calls Joe Napier. He hints Luisa might be alive and asks how much Napier would be willing to pay for her whereabouts. 45. Luisa returns to her apartment and smells popcorn. She scolds Javier for frying with oil while she was out, but Javier says “Uncle Joe” made the popcorn. Luisa finds Napier sitting on her couch. She orders him to get out, but Napier protests he’s the only one at Seaboard who doesn’t want her dead.

46. Napier reveals to Luisa how he used to work with her father (Lester Rey) as a police officer. He explains that when Lester took a grenade, he was actually kicking it away to save Napier. Napier says that, for Luisa’s sake, she should forget about Rufus’s report and leave town. He adds that Grimaldi doesn’t even know he’s with her. He also claims that he didn’t kill Rufus, although he is guilty of sometimes looking the other way. Eventually, Napier leaves. Javier calls Luisa a hypocrite, saying that she scolds him for jumping across balconies while she’s off living an even more dangerous life.

47. As they leave the apartment, Javier asks Luisa if she wishes she could see the future. They debate whether seeing the future would allow a person to change the future, and Luisa doesn’t give a conclusive answer. She shakes hands with Javier, and they part ways. 48. Bill Smoke watches Luisa enter the home of her mother, Judith Rey. Bill Smoke hopes his next attempt to kill Luisa is more intimate than a car crash.

49. Luisa’s stepfather has guests over for a fundraiser, many of them young men, and they discuss Cold War politics. Luisa gives her own theory of evaluating leaders: how did a person get power, how are they using it, and how can they lose it? 50. Judith says the fundraiser guests find Luisa abrasive. She suggests that since Luisa is single, she should try to be nicer to men. Just then, Bill Smoke knocks on the door and pretends to be a party guest from the backyard who’s leaving. Judith calls Luisa over to say goodbye to him, but just then, Luisa sees a report on TV about a jet accident that killed 12 people, including Grimaldi (and Isaac).

51. Next Monday, rumors swirl at Spyglass that the magazine is going under. Meanwhile, Luisa ponders the recent jet explosion. She knows why people might want Isaac dead but can’t understand who’d want to take out Grimaldi at the same time. Her boss, Grelsch, is late to work. When he arrives, he tells them the magazine got sold and there will be layoffs.

52. Napier gets called into the office of the vice CEO of Seaboard, William Wiley. He’s surprised to see Fay Li already there. Wiley says that although Napier was very loyal to Grimaldi, they will have to let him go. They offer a generous retirement package. Napier accepts at once, although he plans to keep a gun strapped to his calf until he’s safely off Swannekke Island.

53. Luisa goes to the music store that carries Robert Frobisher’s Cloud Atlas Sextet. Although it’s a very rare recording, Luisa swears she’s heard it before. 54. Back at the Spyglass office, Grelsch calls Luisa into his office. Out of all the staff writers, she’s the only one who gets fired in the buyout. Luisa asks questions to a man from the new company, Trans Vision, Inc., including whether or not the new company has any connection to Seaboard Power, but the man doesn’t give straight answers.

55. Joe Napier feels good as he leaves Swannekke Island. He hears a rattling in his car but ignores it. But then the sound keeps getting worse. He goes out to a cabin in a remote location, keeping his gun with him just in case. As he goes to sleep that night, he’s haunted by visions of how he witnessed Bill Smoke assault Margo Roker but did nothing.

56. The next morning, Judith wakes up and is surprised to see Luisa already eating breakfast. She’s up early to go pick up her things at the office. As she reads the morning paper, she notices an article about Lloyd Hooks taking over Seaboard Power after Grimaldi’s death. In the article, William Wiley says he’s happy to welcome Lloyd. Luisa tells Judith she’s still following the story, even if it means she has to work freelance.

57. On her last day at Spyglass, Luisa gets coffee at a diner first and is surprised to see Grelsch there. Grelsch says he’s a regular at the diner—he and Luisa just always arrive at different times. Grelsch implies that he’s known for a while that he’d have to fire Luisa for a while—he explains that Spyglass’s new owners made veiled threats about Grelsch’s wife’s leukemia and his insurance coverage. He slips Luisa a document that shows that Trans Vision, Inc., pays several unlisted corporate advisers, including Hooks and Wiley. He connects Luisa with a writer at another magazine who is interested in the story—if Luisa gets evidence. 58. Luisa’s coworkers help her carry out her things and complain about how unfair her firing is. An envelope came for Luisa in the mailroom—it contains a safe-deposit key and a note.

59. The note is from Rufus. In the note, Rufus explains that he heard about possible danger to his life, so he stashed a copy of his report in a safety deposit box at a bank. Luisa drives to the bank but doesn’t notice a beat-up black Chevy parked out front.

60. Already inside the bank, Li reflects that Napier looks dumb but is smart, while Bill Smoke looks smart but is dumb, since Napier knows when to quit but Bill Smoke gets too involved in his job. Li is waiting for Luisa, and Li’s men pounce on Luisa when she goes into the vault. In Cantonese, Li orders one of her men to shoot Luisa cleanly in the head and dispose of the body. Li goes to claim the Rufus report, but when she opens the drawer it seems that Bill Smoke set up a bomb.

61. The bomb blast sends Luisa flying. Someone helps Luisa out of the rubble and forces her toward a black Chevy. 62. Napier grabs Luisa and pulls her away from the black Chevy. He tells her that if she wants to live, she needs to come with him; she doesn’t protest. They make their way down the block, but Bill Smoke is reaching into his pocket for a gun. They try to escape by bursting into a warehouse.

63. Bill Smoke curses Wiley and Hooks for trusting Napier to retire quietly. They enter the warehouse and split up to try to find Luisa. 64. Napier and Luisa enter a storeroom and wedge the door shut behind them. They run through rows of cardboard boxes, trying to avoid giving their pursuers a clear line of sight to shoot at them. Suddenly, they reach an emergency exit door that seems to be locked. Napier fires four bullets at it with no luck, then he finally kicks the door open. Inside is a sweatshop full of mostly Mexican women at sewing machines. Luisa and Napier try to exit through a locked door, but one of Bill Smoke’s henchmen catches up to them. He asks them for their last words, but before he can shoot, one of the workers hits him over the head with a metal wrench, killing him.

65. Napier and Luisa get out of the warehouse and take a subway. Napier says he’s taking Luisa to see someone who just flew in. 66. Megan Sixsmith (Rufus’s niece) just got into town from Hawaii. She and Luisa meet at a modern art museum, while Napier stands discreetly nearby. Megan asks Luisa if she thinks Rufus was really murdered, and Luisa says she knows so. After deciding that she can trust Luisa, Megan tells Luisa that Rufus kept drafts of his academic papers on a yacht called the Starfish.

67. Napier parks at a marina that advertises itself as “Proud home of the Prophetess: Best-preserved schooner in the world.” At the art museum earlier, Megan gave Luisa a map that shows that the Starfish sits just a little past the Prophetess. Now, as Luisa approaches it, her comet birthmark seems to throb. She and Napier break into the Starfish and find a draft of the report on the Swannekke nuclear plant. Just then, there’s motion on the stairs, and someone shoots. Luisa sees Napier fall. An unseen shooter tells Luisa to put the report on a table. Luisa does so. She asks the man if he’s Bill Smoke, who killed Rufus.

68. Napier’s thoughts become hazy. He thinks he sees Bill Smoke. Napier struggles to pull out his own gun. As Napier dies, he pulls the trigger to shoot Bill Smoke. 69. Meanwhile, Hester visits the comatose Margo Roker at the hospital. All of a sudden, while Hester is reading Margo a poem, Margo gasps for air, and her eyes fly open.

70. Luisa reads an article about new Seaboard CEO Hooks skipping his bail. As an eyewitness to the shootout between Napier and Bill Smoke, Luisa herself gets mentioned in the article. Now that the authorities are on the case, she no longer has to worry about “Seaboardgate.” Luisa then turns to a postcard she recently received from Javier, who has moved with his mom to a new house. He says he saw Luisa on TV and hopes she won’t forget him now that she’s famous. Finally, Luisa looks at her last item of mail: a package from Megan containing the eight remaining letters that Robert sent Rufus.