MiNRS (2 page)

Chapter Two

Plans

The next morning I woke
up early, slid on a clean pair of jeans and a button-down shirt, and grabbed my backpack. I stopped in front of the bathroom mirror and made sure my shirt was on properly and then ran a comb through my hair, trying as best I could to get the tight curls to behave. I took a deep breath and practiced my smile.

Elena would be waiting for me up top, but I had to do something down here first—get Mom and Dad on side with the idea of a Blackout party. A teacher and a manager would hold a lot of sway. Elena and I had come up with the idea, but it was no use planning specifics if the adults were just going to kill it straight off.

Mom was in the kitchen, packing up lunches. Dad was sitting at the table, reading some report and finishing off a plate of eggs and fried potatoes.

The eggs smelled slightly chalky, like they’d been made from one of the pre-mixes we’d brought with us from Earth. But the home fries smelled amazing. I smiled.

“Are those potatoes from here?” I asked eagerly, making my smile even bigger.

Dad nodded. “Yup. The first crop from the new agri-zone. The terra-forming is really working well. It was all just rock a few months ago. Amazing.” He slid the plate over to me, and I eagerly gulped down a forkful.

“These
are
amazing!” I beamed. Then I turned on the charm. “Mom. You are a genius with home fries! A genius!”

Mom stepped into the room, hands on her hips.

“What are you after?” she said, narrowing her eyes.

My smile faded.

Dad let out a huge belly laugh.

“Don’t try the sweet talk, son. Your mother has special radar. Melming has been trying to steal her secret for years.”

She walked over and gave him a good-natured swat on the shoulder.

“And that’s why it’s stayed a secret!” he said. “Not worth the risk.”

She laughed and swatted him again.

“Okay, you win,” I said, trying to wrap this up quickly. “I am after something.”

“So why the sweet talk
and
the clean shirt? It must be
huge
,” Mom said, turning her attention back to me.

I took a deep breath. “It might be.”

“Honesty is always the best policy,” Mom said, taking a seat at the table and popping a home fry into her mouth. “Although you are right—I am a genius with these things. So, what are you after?”

“Okay, you know how everyone is worried about the Blackout.”

Mom and Dad exchanged glances. There were traces of frowns on their lips, or was I imagining that? “I don’t know if
worried
is the right word,” Mom said.

“It’s just that it’s something new,” Dad said. “We’ve never gone through one before.”

“I know. It’s just that—” I started, but they kept going on without me.

“It’s a stupid name,” Mom said. “The Sun isn’t going anywhere. We’re not going to be in total darkness or anything. No wonder the kids are worried.”

“I’m not—” I started, but they ignored me.

“It is a communications blackout. I didn’t pick the name,” Dad said.

Mom went on. “Why not call it the Perses Break or Vacation? That’s all it is, a break from the Earth for a while.” She looked at me and turned on her teacher voice. “The Earth and Perses will only be on opposite sides of the Sun for a short time.”

“Too much noise from the radiation. Can’t talk,” Dad said.

Mom nodded. “It’s more like we’re going on an unplugged vacation for the summer. No computer chats, no texting, no phone calls, no contact. But life continues on as normal here on Perses and on Earth.”

“Then in two months we’ll get back together for a big ‘family reunion’ and compare notes.”

“Nothing to worry about,” they finished together.

“I’m
not
worried,” I said a little too loudly. I needed to get this conversation back on track. “I think it’s cool, actually. But I know that lots of kids are just kind of freaked out a bit. Some of the adults, too, and don’t deny it.”

My parents stole looks at each other again.

“I’m just wondering if, rather than talking about it like a big mysterious thing all the time, we could celebrate the Blackout. Maybe we could do something fun to show how cool it is that we’re in space and that this thing is happening here.”

“You mean, like throw a party?” my Mom said.

“That’s an
awesome
idea,” I said, beaming. “Wow! A party would be great!”

“Hmmmmm,” my dad said, rubbing his chin with his fingers. “It might be just the thing to get everyone relaxed.”

“We could even invite all the farmers to come over for the day, have some games for the kids,” Mom said.

Dad nodded. “We don’t all get together enough.”

A rush of excitement ran through me. “The Sun will still be up when Earth disappears. Elena and I have already made some plans for snacks—chips and chocolate cakes. And maybe we could shoot off fireworks.”

Mom narrowed her eyes at me again, a smile playing on her lips. “So, a party is an awesome idea. I’m
soooo
glad I thought it up on my own.”

“See, son,” Dad said, tapping a finger against his head. “Special radar.”

“But it
is
a good idea, right?” I hoped I hadn’t blown it. Why didn’t I know when to keep quiet?

Mom walked back into the kitchen. “We’ll think about it. Now, get moving or you’ll be late for school. There’s an assembly today. First period. Mandatory.”

I slid off my chair. “Okay, but promise me you’ll think about it?”

Dad nodded and winked. Mom continued folding up the paper bags for lunch but said, “Promise.”

I walked into the hallway. I thought I heard them both sigh, but it might have been the front door swishing closed behind me.

•   •   •

I hoped Elena was still waiting for me on the outdoor field. The field was the one grassy bit on our quadrant of Perses. It used up precious water and terra-firmed soil, but stepping onto the cushy grass in bare feet was like being instantly transported home, so everyone put in a little time and sacrificed a little water to keep it growing.

It was also where we had gym class, so we kids felt like we had first dibs.

There was a poster just outside the school office that proved it was meant for us.

MELMING ACADEMY BELIEVES IN FRESH AIR AND EXERCISE.

THEY HELP BUILD A HEALTHY AND HAPPY STUDENT BODY.

So I wasn’t too surprised when the elevator doors opened, and there was a whole crowd of kids chatting with Elena.

My spirits fell—a little bit anyway. I’d been hoping it would just be us two.

Instead almost our entire class was there—Alek Lotar, Pavel Spirin, Brock Louis, Jimmi Murphy, Maria Agneli, and Mandeep Singh. Some of the little kids from the primary class were up top too, swinging and climbing on the field’s playground.

We all came from different backgrounds and countries. Jimmi was actually the son of the general manager of the colony, the head honcho for the whole Perses operation. Most were from miner families. Some were the kids of the scientists or, in my case, managers. But we all got along pretty well. We had to. There were only about twenty kids total on Perses, and only half of those were as old as we were, so you couldn’t really afford to be too much of a jerk.

Jimmi saw me first. “Hey, it’s Little Melming!” he called out. “How’s the superbrain today?”

I stopped, unsure if it was a compliment or a jab.

Elena frowned at him, clearly convinced it was the second. “Well, we all know
your
brain doesn’t work, Little Murphy.”

Everyone laughed, even Jimmi, although his face flushed red a bit as well.

Elena waved me over. “Okay, Fearless Leader, tell us what you’ve found out.”

I sat down on the field and opened up my notebook.
“The Blackout is going to happen just before sunset, but we’ll still have about a half hour of daylight left.”

Mandeep gave a cheer. “So we can have a party where even the little kids can stay up.”

Elena nodded. “The adults will like that.”

“There’s only a couple of
really
little kids,” said Maria. Her sister, Angela, was born here and had just turned four. “I’ll start working on my parents.”

“Good idea,” I said. “My parents bought in already. I think they’ll pitch it to management.”

Jimmi snorted. “Don’t you think that would have more weight coming from
me
?” His tone annoyed me, but he had a point.

“I think that’s a great idea, Jimmi,” I said, smiling and hoping he didn’t have the same radar as my mom. “So, let’s move on to some details.”

Pavel pointed to the center of the field. “We could put the tables around there in a kind of circle, and then do games where we go around the outside, like Perses around the Sun.”

“Cool! Orbital musical chairs,” Brock said. “I’ll pick the music.”

“I have a great idea for the music!” came a voice from behind me. Finn Shannon ran up. He’d only been promoted to our class this year. He must have seen us
talking, and then came over. “Why don’t we tune into a radio station on Earth? We can get them to play us some Blackout songs and maybe even send some messages!”

Everyone thought about this for a second. “Maybe they’ll take requests,” Maria said.

“And we can send some messages to our families back home.”

“We’ll all be listening together.”

“Could be really cool,” Elena said. “The Blackout Party officially ends when the music ends.”

Jimmi looked skeptical. “Would that even work?”

Everyone turned toward me. Little Melming the science guy. “Actually, yes,” I said. “There would be a delay because of the distance, and some of it would get distorted as we got closer to the actual Blackout, but for the most part we could make it work with a little coordination. It’s a good idea, Finn.”

Finn beamed.

Everyone threw out more ideas for foods, snacks, cakes, and even costumes, and I hurried to write them down in my notebook.

The school bell rang out from the core-scraper.

“Ugh, school.” Alek groaned.

“At least we have an assembly to start things off,” Maria said.

Jimmi shrugged. “My dad is giving some kind of rah-rah speech.” He was trying to sound disinterested, but you could tell by how straight he was standing that he was proud.

“I hear we’re watching the Great Mission movie again,” said Alek. “I can recite that thing from memory.”

“And my mom is going to go over emergency procedures all week,” Mandeep said.

“Sounds great,” Pavel said, but I didn’t need special radar to know he was being sarcastic.

“
That
should help the little kids not get nervous!” Maria joked.

The bell rang again.

Everyone began walking toward the elevators. Elena reached out and tugged at my shoulder. “Can I talk to you for a sec?” she whispered.

“Um, sure,” I said.

Elena kicked a stone as the other kids disappeared into the core-scraper’s elevators. The gravity on Perses was slightly weaker than on Earth, and the stone flew, pinging off the metal support of the swing set.

“Nice shot,” I said. “But I bet I can match it.” I pulled back my foot and prepared to send a pebble zinging into the distance, but Elena didn’t trash-talk me at all, which was odd, so I stopped.

Her eyebrows were furrowed. She was biting her bottom lip.

“Everything okay?” I asked.

“Yesterday, when I was looking for my dad, I went to one of the break rooms. I could hear everyone arguing inside, but as soon as I opened the door, they just stared at me with these fake smiles, and shut up. I’m not a little kid anymore. I can tell they’re nervous about the Blackout.”

“It seems pretty normal. We don’t really know what’s going to happen. The Sun could send out a flare at the wrong moment and fry all our tech. Although, at least that would shut up that voice on the elevators.”

Elena chuckled. “And I guess the school bell won’t work anymore.”

“Or the terra-forming equipment,” I said, then winced, realizing this wasn’t actually that funny.

Elena’s smile vanished. “I think my dad and mom wanted to go back to Earth to wait it out.”

I flinched. Elena had almost gone back? The thought of life on Perses without her around was . . . horrible.

She kicked another stone and watched as it flew away.

The school bell rang a third time.

“We’d better get going,” I said. The thought of my
mother’s eyes boring into me as I walked into the assembly late made me shudder.

“They’re just showing that dumb movie again,” Elena said, but she began walking back to the core-scraper.

“That’s my favorite movie!” I said, and I meant it. It was a history of the Great Mission and the near collision between Earth and Perses. I loved it.

Elena clearly didn’t.

“Why did they even bring kids here?” she asked as the elevator doors slid open.

“I’m glad they did. This is an adventure.”

“Uh-huh,” she said, rolling her eyes. “Tenth floor,” she said.

“You have two minutes until school begins,”
said the elevator.

“An adventure with elevators that think they’re your mother,” she said.

“Imagine the elevator is a ship.”

Elena took in the walls of the shiny metal box. “I’ll try.”

“Back in the age of exploration, merchants and sailors—and lots of them were
our
age—they would head out on ships to who knows where. Maybe just some rumor of an interesting place.”

“Here we go again,” she said under her breath.

“They would be gone for months with no way to talk
to anyone back home. Some never came back—lost at sea, or shipwrecked on a deserted island, dead from disease—but more still went out each year. Why?”

“Because it was
exciting
,” she said, doing her best to mimic my voice.

“Yes! More and more died, more and more explored. They made the modern world as we know it.”

“They also did a lot of bad stuff, like stealing land, killing the people they found.”

I waved my hands. “Sure, sure. I know. But we don’t do that anymore. The main point is the adventure. And that hasn’t changed. If you don’t take risks, you’ll never see what’s possible.”