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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 goesall 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