MiNRS (3 page)

Elena slumped as the elevator began to slow down, but I was warming into my speech.

“The ones who did come back returned with riches, gold, new foods, minerals, spices. That’s what we’re doing here. We’re taking risks, but trying to save life back on Earth. And I’d rather be here than—”

“You have arrived at the tenth floor,”
interrupted the elevator.

We stepped out. The auditorium doors were closing, and we slipped in just in time. The auditorium was barely a third full, but Elena grabbed two seats in the last row. We settled in, and I continued my speech.

“I feel like a modern-day Magellan or James Cook, and that wouldn’t happen on Earth anymore.”

“You read too many adventure stories,” Elena said.

“Those guys were amazing.”

Elena shrugged. “Those guys were okay, but they weren’t as cool as Caesar or Alexander the Great. Those guys kicked butt. And they wanted everyone to know it. They’d win these big battles and then build huge monuments to show everyone how much butt they’d kicked. They’d have huge parades with prisoners and elephants. Then they’d have huge feasts that would last for days.”

“Are you suggesting we have some elephants at the Blackout Bash?”

“Ha-ha. No.” Then she got very quiet. She turned to me, her brown eyes staring deep into mine. “Christopher. You’re the smartest person I know. Is there really a reason to be nervous about the Blackout?”

She leaned in close and touched my hand. The truth was that I didn’t know, or I did know but didn’t want to say, things could go wrong. Something in her eyes told me she wanted assurance, and she wanted it from me.

“Nothing a good party can’t solve,” I said, smiling.

She nodded and smiled back, keeping her hand on mine. “Good. Then a party it is. And if everything goes
all
pshfhgfhttttt
”—she made a kind of spitting noise—“at least we’ll be part of history!”

“Maybe they’ll put us in the next Great Mission movie!”

“If only,” Elena said, and sat back in her chair, taking her hand away.

Just then Jimmi’s dad came to the podium, and the assembly began.

Chapter Three

The Great Mission

Jimmi’s dad stood in front
of the giant screen. “Good morning, students and teachers.”

“Good morning, Mr. Murphy,” we said back.

“We are about to watch the history of our mission here to Perses. What Hans Melming dubbed the Great Mission.”

Elena gave out an audible groan next to me. It was a risky move in a school where all the teachers knew what you sounded like.

My mother turned around and frowned at her. Elena gave her most innocent smile back.

“Shhhh,” my mother said.

I shrugged and slid down in my seat.

My mother frowned at me, too, but turned back around.

Mr. Murphy had heard the complaint as well, but he held his hands up and nodded. “I know. This movie will be old news to many of you. But we at Melming Mining feel it is important to remind ourselves why we are here. Especially as we begin our first Blackout. So sit back and enjoy a history about the Earth, the human race, and your role in our Great Mission.”

He bowed and walked off the stage.

“I don’t know how you can find this boring,” I whispered.

Elena leaned back in her seat and closed her eyes. “If I start snoring, jab me in the ribs before your mom catches me.”

The lights dimmed.

The grainy image of a really old newscast filled the screen. A serious-looking woman stared at the camera and spoke.

“And before we go, one interesting little story from space. Scientists at the lunar observatory say they have discovered a large shadowy mass in the far reaches of our solar system.”

An image of distant stars twinkled as the woman continued. I was mesmerized.

“Deep-space telescopes have observed a wobble in the orbits of the outlying satellites and asteroids in the Kuiper Belt, the band of floating matter and asteroids that sits outside the main planets of the solar system. It might sound like a Hollywood movie, but scientists say whatever it is, it poses a mathematically insignificant chance of ever impacting the Earth.”

The image faded and was replaced by an image of children playing in a field of waving grass.

A man’s voice spoke over the pictures.

“Earth was as close to paradise as it had been since the beginning of mankind’s reign on the planet. Technology had solved many of the problems humans had been dealing with for centuries.

“Clean energy had cleared up the skies.

“Terra-forming, originally intended for space exploration, reclaimed farmland that had gone fallow, rivers that had run dry.

“With food, water, and shelter for all, war practically vanished from the Earth.

“Eden? Perhaps not, but it was a time of peace and plenty.”

I mouthed along to the words. Elena leaned in close to me and whispered, “Whoever wrote this should have been sent on a one-way trip to Jupiter.”

I ignored her.

A series of images passed across the screen as the man described all the wonders technology had brought to the world—solar energy, medical miracles, superfast computers.

Then dramatic music signaled a change in the story.

“For centuries miners had uncovered the minerals and nutrients that kept the whole system of civilization working smoothly. But resources are finite. Silicon, platinum, gold, silver, and titanium had been depleted.

“Crops failed.

“Technology failed.

“Earth was running out of the building blocks for life.”

I shuddered each time I heard that line. We’d learned in school how war had returned in the fight for dwindling resources, how close the human race had come to destroying itself.

The screen was now filled with a view of the solar system.

“And then fate intervened, although no one could have foreseen the silver lining that would accompany the storm clouds.”

There was a more modern news report. The newscaster’s mouth was a thin line as she delivered her information.

“We have breaking news. Scientists at the Global Observatory in Oslo say Earth is in the path of a massive asteroid. How big and how much time will it take to reach Earth? They have named it Perses, after the ancient Greek god of destruction.

“We will have more details as they become available.”

The screen showed a rapid-fire series of images as the object emerged from shadow into reflected sunlight. The closer it got, the more clearly scientists could gauge its size and shape. Then yet another news anchor appeared.

“Scientists say Perses is actually an enormous planetoid, and it is hurtling toward Earth. Perses doesn’t
need to directly strike the Earth to destroy everything. If it passes close enough, its gravitational pull could rip our atmosphere off like a sheet from a bed.”

The anchor ended the report by staring at the camera in disbelief.

The voiceover returned.

“The world was again united. United in fear, but united in purpose. The world’s best scientists gathered in Norway to work together to try to save the Earth.”

A series of newspaper front pages twirled on the screen with huge headlines.

SCIENTISTS: BLOWING UP PERSES WON’T WORK

NOT ENOUGH BOMBS TO BUDGE PERSES AN INCH

MOVE THE EARTH WITH A MASSIVE EXPLOSION? SUICIDE, SAY TOP SCIENTISTS

PEOPLE URGED TO PRAY FOR A MIRACLE

My heart raced, knowing what was coming next.

The booming music ended, replaced by the sound of boat horns, seagulls, and rocking waves. The camera showed a young bearded man sitting on the edge of a
cliff, watching as boats came and left the docks below.

“The answer, in the end, was . . . tugboats.

“Hans Melming, a brilliant young scientist, knew time was quickly running out as Perses grew closer and closer to Earth. He decided to visit his beloved seashore, perhaps for the last time.

“As he sat on the cliff’s edge, he watched tugboats moving huge transport tankers into the port.”

Now there was a clip of an interview Melming had given a reporter a few years later, his beard now flecked with white.

“The tugboats are so tiny, they look like they should get crushed. But they use their smaller mass to tweak the movement of the bigger object ever so slightly. I instantly realized that the same approach would work in space. It had to do with gravity. The closer something is, the more its mass pulls on the objects around it.”

“I’m not sure I totally understand,”
said the reporter.

Melming smiled like a kind uncle.

“Take Jupiter, for example. Jupiter is huge, but it’s so
far away from the Earth that it has almost no gravitational effect on us at all.

“The Moon is miniscule in comparison, but because it’s so close, it changes the Earth’s orbit slightly and even sets the tides. See?”

The reporter nodded, and Melming continued.

“We couldn’t move something as big as the Moon, but we could send small rockets into the asteroid belt, out past Mars. These rockets, targeted precisely, would move small asteroids, which would then move bigger asteroids and then even bigger asteroids, and so on and so on, until there was a kind of fleet of space rocks heading right for the flight path of Perses.

“The collective mass of all those rocks had a powerful gravitational pull, and they nudged Perses just enough to make the plan a success.”

“To save the Earth, you mean,”
said the reporter.
“You are a hero.”

Melming smiled but shook his head.
“Those are very kind words. I am just a scientist who had a theory that worked in practice, that is all.”

The voiceover returned.

“There was one more miracle that even Melming had not anticipated. The Sun caught Perses in its orbit, pulling it into what is known as the habitable zone, not too hot or too cold for life.

“The Sun’s heat melted the surface. There was water. Spectral examination showed Perses also had everything else the Earth desperately needed—minerals, nutrients, precious metals.

“Hans Melming founded a space exploration mining company, with invention after invention bringing the exploration of Perses closer to reality. Melming Mining is a nonprofit scientific company dedicated to providing equal resources to all the nations of Earth. The world’s governments pledged their support to Melming’s vision to mine Perses to save humanity. Hans Melming called this plan the Great Mission.

One last news report closed the movie. I always liked this one because it showed a picture of a little me, waving as we got into our shuttle to Perses. And my dad and mom even got interviewed.

A smiling reporter stood outside the launch pad.

“Melming Mining is about to launch the Great Mission—a manned mining colony on Perses. Terra-forming has been in place for the past two years, making much of the surface habitable.

“A handful of brave men and women have signed on to help mine the resources of the planetoid for transport back to Earth. And families are more than welcome.

“James and Susan Nichols are even bringing their son along.”

There was a close-up of my father.

“Melming Mining has a longer vision, settling Perses as a colony. So there are a number of families, like ours, who are coming. Happier employees are better employees.”

My mom’s face filled the screen.

“Besides, our son, Christopher, has wanted to go to space since the day he was born. I think he’s more excited than we are!”

There was a close-up of me, beaming.

The reporter came back on-screen.

“
Melming Mining expects it will take up to six years to make the colony fully operational and ready to send the first shipments home. One thing is for certain. Everyone on Earth is cheering for these brave men, women—and children—hoping the Great Mission is yet one more miracle.”

There was a swell of music as the screen showed our shuttle blasting off into space.

The lights came back up in the auditorium.

My heart was racing. I wanted to pump the air with my fist and let out a loud whoop!

Mr. Murphy walked back to the podium.

“Now, that’s why we are here. We are here to help. That means we need to be brave and we need to make sacrifices. I know that can sound a little frightening. But I have a surprise announcement that might make the Blackout a little less scary.”

An electric murmur shot through the students.

“As you were making your way into the auditorium, more than a few people, managers, teachers, and even my son, Jimmi, approached me with a suggestion.”

Elena turned to me, a huge grin spreading across her face.

We looked over at Jimmi, who was also grinning
from ear to ear. He looked at us and nodded.
“I rock,”
he mouthed.

“I have quickly conferred with my management team, and it has been decided that we should greet the arrival of the first Blackout of the Great Mission with a party.”

Elena leaped up onto her chair seat and began whipping her hand over her head. “Yes! Yes!” she said.

My mother turned around quickly, motioning for Elena to sit down.

As Elena sat down, she slapped me on the shoulder. “A party! A real party! We did it!”

She gave me a high five, and then stared at me, eyes wide.

Mr. Murphy was announcing some of the possible plans, but Elena was just staring at me. It was making me feel uncomfortable.

“What? Do I have something on my face?”

She shook her head. “No. I was just thinking. This will be the first real party we’ve ever had up here.”

“We’ve had birthday parties and stuff,” I said, not getting it.

“Not the same thing. This is like a big New Year’s Eve ball. This is special.”

“And?”

“People go to parties like that
with
someone.”

Elena’s eyes stayed locked on mine, but she didn’t say anything else. I was totally confused. Was she asking me out? Was she asking me to ask her out?

Did I want to ask her out? We were just friends, weren’t we?

Why wasn’t she saying anything?

Mr. Murphy’s voice broke through the silence between us.

“But it takes a little research to put on a perfect party. So, we are giving you the rest of the school day to come up with some plans and suggestions for how to make this party, the Blackout Bash, the best party ever! To the library!”

There was a cheer from the students as they and the teachers got up and headed for the doors.

Finn, Alek, and the others all gave us thumbs-ups as they got out of their seats.

Elena began to stand up, her smile fading. She lowered her eyes from mine.

I stumbled around, trying to think of what to say. “I mean, we’ll all be kind of going with everyone else in our class, won’t we? Is that what you mean?”

“Yeah,” she said. “I can’t wait.” Then she turned and joined the crowd.

“Wait, Elena!” I called, but Elena was now chatting
with Maria and Mandeep about what music they were going to request. Then they were gone.

I slumped back down in my seat. What the heck was going on?

My mother walked up the aisle and smiled at me. “I’m glad I had such a great idea.”

I grinned but didn’t say anything.

She sat down next to me.

“Everything good?” she asked.

I wanted to ask her for some advice, ask her what Elena might have been thinking. But when I looked at her, it just seemed too weird.

“No. I’m good,” I said, standing up. “It’s going to be a great party.”

“I agree,” she said. “And you better remember to suggest the fireworks.”

We walked out of the auditorium together.