MiNRS

THANKS
FOR DOWNLOADING THIS EBOOK!

We have SO many more books for kids in the in-beTWEEN age that we’d love to share with you! Sign up for our
IN THE MIDDLE books
newsletter and you’ll receive news about other great books, exclusive excerpts, games, author interviews, and more!

or visit us online to sign up at
eBookNews.SimonandSchuster.com/middle

To my brothers,

Doug, Mike, and Tim.

Mike loved space.

He’s watching us from there.

Chapter One

CALCULATIONS

The Earth blinked, and was gone.

I squinted through my binoculars just to be sure. My elbows dug into the dust and pebbles as I steadied my arms on the ground.

Nothing but thousands and thousands of stars stared back at me.

Earth had definitely dipped below the horizon, a full five minutes earlier than the night before. My calculations were right. This also meant I’d found the perfect spot for a big Blackout party.

I got up and brushed off my pants. I paused for a moment to take in the night sky and the flat rocky landscape.

It was cool having no moon. You could see every star so clearly. It was quiet, beautiful, peaceful.

The starlight reflected off the collection pools nearby, reminding me of fireflies back on Earth. I wondered if the adults would actually let us go swimming in one of the pools, just for Blackout night. If the littler kids promised not to pee in them, maybe? No, fat chance of that happening. We filtered the water before we drank it, but the adults still worried about stuff all the time. Adults are always worrying about something.

The temperature began to drop, and the wind picked up, sending tiny waves across the surface of the pools, making the fireflies dance. I turned around and headed back to the compound, running through my calculations one more time.

Five minutes a day. That meant the Blackout was going to arrive in the next week and a half.

My parents had been telling me this, and the constant news reports had too, but I wanted to work it out for myself. If I had to predict, and I didn’t have to but wanted to, the Blackout would begin at 6:11:23 p.m. the following Saturday.

Of course, no one was sure what would happen next.

I couldn’t wait to tell my dad I was right. And I knew
exactly where to find him: just ending his shift in the mines.

I stepped onto the roof of the core-scraper. “Elevator, please,” I said.

A hole opened in the roof, and a grimy metal box rose up. Two
M
s had been etched onto the doors, the logo for the Melming Mining Corporation. The
M
s split apart as the elevator opened and a voice said,
“Please watch your step.”

The elevator had a woman’s voice, but it was a little tinny, like a computer from the old movies we sometimes watched in class. My dad told me the original voice sounded too human, and it made everyone nervous. So the programmers recalibrated the voices on all the equipment to be just slightly off, even though they could have made them perfect.

It bugged me every time I heard one. Melming Mining had done so many things right, like sending us into space to live, so why accept second best when you didn’t have to?

I stepped inside.

“Seventy-fifth floor, please,” I said, and the doors closed.

As the elevator began to descend, the video screen blipped to life. Messages flashed across the screen.

The Great Mission Is Everyone’s Mission.

You are what makes it great.

Melming Mining is a green company.

Remember to always compost your waste.

Put people ahead of profit.

Safety first.

Perses is our home.

We are all caretakers.

Earth thanks you for your sacrifice and your bravery.

The messages were all over the place, on posters in our classroom, the walls of our core-scraper, and the tunnels of the mines.

Each time I saw one, I felt my chest swell with pride. Melming Mining wasn’t just an employer. The company had helped save Earth. It had helped colonize Perses, the planetoid the elevator was now dropping deep inside.

Hans Melming, the man behind the company, was a genius and a scientist of almost unlimited creativity. He was one of my heroes.

And I was part of his Great Mission.

“We have arrived at the seventy-fifth floor,”
said the tinny woman.

The doors slid open, and musty cool air rushed into the elevator. I smiled. The mines were my favorite place to explore, even more than the surface. My best friend, Elena, and I sometimes snuck down here to look around. Elena’s dad was a foreman, and she knew all the best places, like the break room off Tunnel 2 that had a door that didn’t lock and a stash of chocolate bars and potato chips for the taking.

I stepped out into a gigantic hall carved from solid rock. The jagged teeth of an enormous blast door hovered above me. I knew the door was there to protect us in case the miners accidentally set off anything explosive, like a pocket of gas or some unstable ore, but it still looked like the fangs of a giant monster. I had to force myself to pass underneath.

A huge opening at the far end of the hall led to the actual tunnels. There were four main tunnels, with dozens and dozens of subtunnels branching off from them. My dad said it was a like a giant maze the farther and farther you got from the entrance.

Doorways dotted the left-hand side of the hall, leading to the bathrooms and an infirmary. Once, I’d tripped
and cut my head during a not-so-authorized visit and had been stitched up there by Dr. Singh.

Mom had not been happy. Dad thought it was kind of amusing, but still backed up her decision to ground me for the weekend.

Rows of lockers spread out along the right wall. Some contained equipment, blasting caps, shovels, and fire extinguishers, while the others were lockers for the workers. Miners were coming back from inside the tunnels, taking off their helmets, boots, and orange jumpsuits.

The Sunlites above were beginning to fade, mimicking the fading light of a sunset, and pink and gold began to tinge the smooth walls. It was a clever and nice way to signal the end of the workday. I grinned. Melming thought of everything.

I looked for my father and saw him at the far end of the hall, unstrapping his helmet and talking with one of the other miners. They were laughing. My father was a manager, but had been a miner when he was younger. He seemed to get along with everybody.

“Dad!” I called.

“Well, it’s my son, the genius!” He beamed as I ran up to him. He slapped me on the shoulder as I held up my notebook.

“Look, my calculations were right!”

My dad took the notebook in his huge hands and examined the numbers, nodding thoughtfully as he turned the pages. “Nice work. It’s good to know there’s someone keeping those scientists and bigwigs on the third floor honest.”

The miner next to him, I think it was Mr. Spirin, but it was hard to tell with the rock dust on his face, laughed.

Dad was always saying stuff like that—suggesting someone in the upper floors was doing something a little sneaky. He and my mom would argue over that when he got really cynical. She was a teacher (
my
teacher here on Perses, ugh), but was also from a mining family, and would say, “Jim, please don’t,” or, “Christopher doesn’t need to hear that,” or even, “If it’s so bad, then why don’t we catch the next shuttle home?” But she was always smiling when they got into these arguments, and he was too.

I knew he was kidding. My dad even had a Melming Mining tattoo on his arm. His work clothes usually covered it, but I’d caught a glimpse of the double
M
s once or twice when he was walking around the apartment in short sleeves. That tattoo was proof he believed in this mission as much as anyone.

He handed me back the notebook. “Well, there’s no denying the Blackout is coming, and on schedule,” he
said. He was smiling, but his voice sounded quiet, like he was distracted.

An alarm rang from the tunnels. Another miner ran up to my father, hands waving. “There’s been a cave-in in the new section of Tunnel Four.”

“Big?”

The miner shook his head. “No, but the digger hit an air pocket, and some loose rock fell.”

“Anyone trapped?” my father asked, strapping on his helmet.

The man shook his head. “The digger cone got smashed. We can’t account for two grinders, but no miners got trapped, thank goodness.”

My dad’s face twisted in a grimace as he turned to me. “I’ve got to check this out. You head back home.”

“Can’t I come with you?” I asked.

Dad shook his head. “Too dangerous. Tell your mother I’ll be up in a bit.” Then he turned and marched away, the limp from his injured leg barely slowing him down.

I watched him disappear, then walked to the elevator, lost in thought. Too dangerous? My dad had let me inside the tunnels. Sure, there’d never been a cave-in before, but how dangerous could they be, really?
No miners were trapped.
I’d heard that with my own ears.

The doors slid open as soon as I reached the elevator,
and I smacked right into Elena, who was coming out.

“Ouch!” we said at the same time, grabbing our noses and mouths.

“Watch where you’re going!” she said, leaning back against the metal door and checking to make sure she wasn’t bleeding.

“Sorry, I was thinking.”

“That’s a shock,” she said.

Elena bent down to pick up a tin thermos she’d dropped, and I bent down to pick up my notebook.

Of course, we did this at the same time as well, knocking our foreheads together with an audible thud.

Elena stood up and rubbed her head. “Hey, Einstein! I’ll go first. You get your head back here on Perses.”

I nodded, feeling a little dizzy. After Elena stood back up, I reached down and grabbed the notebook.

She pointed at the numbers and notes on the open page. “Those about the Blackout?”

“Yeah. I know exactly when it’s going to happen, and there will still be lots of daylight. I think it will help convince our parents to let us have the party.”

She pumped her fist in the air. “Yes!” Elena was always complaining about how boring things could get on Perses. The idea of a big party had become almost an obsession.

“I think we can even start making some plans.”

Elena beamed at me. “Nice work, Christopher!”

I loved it when Elena smiled at me. Elena and her family had flown next to us on the shuttle from Earth six years before, and she’d practically forced me to share the cookies I’d brought with me. We’d been best friends ever since.

“Hey, I’ve got a couple of minutes. We could do some planning now,” I said.

She held up the thermos. “Can’t. I’m here to bring dinner to my dad. He’s working a later shift tonight or something. I’m supposed to go look for him. Wanna come?”

I knew from experience that “looking” for anything with Elena would end up with us lost and combing through dark places for hours. The last thing I needed to do was get my parents mad at me for exploring the tunnels without permission, especially when I needed their support for the party.

“Actually, I should get back up for dinner,” I said.

Elena frowned, but not for long.

“Oh!” she added. “I forgot to tell you. I just got an awesome new book on the Napoleonic Wars from the library. I think I can even tie it in to that stupid assignment your mom gave us on food history. Sorry, I mean that really,
really
important assignment.”

“Very funny,” I said, mocking a laugh. “I bet it’s a natural fit. Didn’t they invent canned food for one of those wars?”

Elena winked. “Great minds think alike. Anyway, the file is from a library on Earth, so I need to read it before the Blackout.”

“Got it. Enjoy.” Military history was definitely not my thing, even if Elena made it sound thrilling.

“But I can get together tomorrow,” she said.

“Okay. That would be cool.”

“Great. Let’s meet before school starts.”

I gave a thumbs-up.

She turned and began to walk away.

I called out, suddenly hoping she’d stay and chat some more. “I’ve got some other stuff about the Blackout I can show you if we meet up top.”

She turned and rolled her eyes. “Knowing you, it’s probably math. But cool. Gotta go. Before school, at the field.” She pointed to the surface.

“Perfect. Great,” I said.

Elena turned, giving me a little wave. I watched her until the doors slid closed. Then I just stood there, thinking about her, and how her enthusiasm for stuff was so contagious.

“Floor number, please,”
said the electronic woman.

“Fifteenth floor,” I said, and the elevator began to rise.

More slogans ran across the screen.

I didn’t read them this time. I was too busy coming up with a plan to make Elena’s party really happen.